If you look at all the stories in the Gospels, there's one that stands head and shoulders above the others.

Now you may be thinking about the resurrection - or the raising of Lazarus.

But the resurrection story is only mentioned in three of the Gospels, if you go by the oldest manuscripts.

And the raising of Lazarus is only in one of the Gospels.

But there's one story that's told six times, that's right six times in four gospels.

It was so popular that it became the basis for the very first symbol of Christianity, yes even before the cross.

You've probably guessed it, it's when Jesus feeds the multitudes - with bread, and fish which was the first Christian symbol.

What made this story so popular?

What resonated so with early believers?

The first century hearers of this story lived precariously short, dangerous lives - where nearly everyone was a subsistent farmer, fisherman, or craft person. And so the daily provision of something to eat was the number one agenda item nearly every single day.

So the carefree and simple provision of such an important commodity made an indelible impression on these folk.

And Jesus' message was quite clear: if you're most important need is to be fed, I will feed you.

Don't worry about things like food, or even clothing or housing; concentrate on me, and my mission for you, to do the work of loving and redeeming the world, and I'll take care of you.

Fast forward 2,000 years to you and me, and acquiring food does not take on the same urgency, in fact most of us would be just fine if we had less of it...

But Jesus' message endures because our hunger endures:

We still hunger.

We hunger for purpose.

We hunger for meaning.

We hunger for social acceptance.

We hunger for approval.

We hunger for security.

We hunger for health.

We hunger for peace.

And Jesus' promise, that spans the centuries, is that he will feed us.

Sure, we may have wanted steak, a burrito, or spaghetti, but we find that bread and fish do the job, it's enough, while God doesn't always give us everything we want, it's usually what we need.

No matter the hunger, Jesus will feed us.