t says, "Come and dine," men will not come, for they know that
there is nothing there for them. Let Christ prepare the meal and all
is different then. When He says, "Come and dine," there is "enough
for each, enough for all, enough for evermore." And as Jesus spoke, I
think there flashed upon the memory of these men the scene when Jesus
fed the five thousand, and by that memory they knew their Jesus. No
one else ever spoke like that, with such certainty and such authority.
And the same Voice speaks even now to your hunger-bitten soul, to your
famished heart, "Come and dine."

V. "Then Jesus taketh bread and giveth them, and fish likewise."

There is no mistaking the act; it was a sacramental act. Here, upon
the lake shore, without a church, without an altar, the true feast of
the Lord was observed. For what does the Holy Supper, which is the
bond and seal of the Church's fellowship, stand for, if it is not
for this, the sanctification of the common life? Bread and wine, the
commonest of all foods to an Oriental, are elements indeed, because
they are necessary to the most elementary form of physical life,
things used daily in the humblest home. By linking Himself
imperishably with these commonest elements of life, Christ makes it
impossible to forget Him. Once more the thought shines clear, Jesus
among the common things of life.

And then there comes one last touch in the beautiful story. While
these things happened, the day was breaking. Is there one of us
long tossed on sunless seas of doubt, long conscious of failure and
disappointment in life? Are there those of us whose sorrow lies deeper
than that which is personal--sorrow over our failure in Christ's work,
pain over a life's ministry for Christ that has known no victorious
evangel? Turn your eyes from that barren sea to Him who stands upon
the shore; He shall yet make you a fisher of men. Turn your eyes from
that bleak, dark sea of wasted effort where you have fared so ill; it
is always dark till Jesus comes, it is always light when He has come.
There is a new day breaking for the churches--a day of widespread
evangelistic triumphs that shall eclipse all the greatest triumphs of
the past, if we will but go back to Christ's school and learn of Him
how to save the people. And to each of us He says to-day: "I am the
living bread; I am the bread of life come down from heaven. If any man
eat of this bread, he shall live forever." "Come and dine." Will you
come?