Gospel: John 6:24-35
A reading from the Gospel of John.
Glory to you, O Lord.
When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were [beside the sea,] they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
Now let the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you O Lord, our strength and Redeemer
INTRO
Welcome to bread month! Over the next four weeks, the Gospel lessons will return again and again to this common New Testament symbol. We will be offered many opportunities to think about the meaning of this symbol. Our lectionary creators want to make sure we understand the importance of bread in the ministry of Jesus.
You might say that you already know. You take communion every week. You’ve heard that story of the loaves and fishes multiplying. Maybe you even pay attention to the bread that you buy each week as you choose the most nourishing loaves. Maybe you savor some bread and wine with your cheese on any given week-end, and you contemplate the life-giving properties of your snack. Despite all the recent attacks against carbs, most of us know that some variation of grain has kept most of human civilization alive more reliably than any other foodstuff.
TEXT
The Gospel this week, however, reminds us that there is much more to life than sustaining our human bodies. We hunger and thirst and we crave anything which might guarantee that we’ll never hunger or thirst again. Jesus reminds us that it’s natural for humans to want bread, but he tells us that we sacrifice so much if we stop with physical bread. Jesus reminds us of our larger purpose, which is communion with God.
Instead of hearing this as wonderful news, we might feel burdened. We might sigh heavily, thinking of all tasks we must do simply to keep body and soul together. We might wonder how we can find time for one more obligation.
We might miss the simpler lives that we may think believers once enjoyed. But we can enjoy that easy relationship too.
Again and again in the Bible, we see God, who simply wants to be with us. We don’t have to transform ourselves into spiritual superheroes. God will be content to watch T.V. with us, to have fun with whatever creative play dates we’ve arranged with our children or our friends, to go for a walk in the neighborhood.
The Bible reminds us that God even wants to be with us during the not-so-fun times. When we’re stuck at work eating microwave popcorn instead of dinner again, God wants to be there. When we’re trapped in traffic, God doesn’t mind commuting with us. When we’re so immersed in child rearing that we wonder if we’ll ever get to talk about adult topics again, God wants that experience too. When we’re feeling lost and lonely, God is willing to endure that too. When we don’t know how we’re going to put food on the table, God will help us sort that out.
The sustaining bread of life is right there, always ready, always smelling good and nourishing. The enduring food is ready to be shared, ready to be multiplied. The table is ready; come and eat.
LIFE
This is such an extravagant gift that God offers us, but we don’t know what to do with it. Not a strange git though, like almost every family has a relative who is infamous for giving strange gifts. Think of poor Ralphie in the movie “A Christmas Story,” getting a pair of pink Easter Bunny pjs from his aunt. They came complete with big feet, bushy tail, and long ears. Though they were horrible, they were at least recognizable. Many times, it is almost impossible to tell what the bizarre present is—much less why anyone would think a child would want such a thing. As you may have guessed, I had such relatives.
My siblings and I were taught what to say when we received a gift from her, “Thank you, it’s very nice.” We were also taught, quite specifically, what we were not allowed to say. It was not a long list, it began and ended with “What is it?”
Apparently, the Israelites did not get this lecture from their mothers about the inappropriateness of responding to generosity with rude questions. God dealt with their complaints and grumbling about not having enough to eat by providing them with food. I suppose they were expecting room service—trays appearing at their tent flap each morning laden with still warm baked bread, cooked meats hot off the spit, and a variety of fresh fruit and veggies. Instead, they got live quail in the evening—which they had to catch, and kill, and clean, and cook. In the morning, before dawn, they received some bizarre flaky stuff they had to go pick up off the ground.
In the somewhat convoluted and confusing conversation between Jesus and “the crowd”, some of these same dynamics are at work. Word play abounds throughout this story, but not in a humorous, joking, punning, manner. The writer is exposing the meaning of Jesus by exploring ways to understand these bread from heaven miracles—the crowd in the wilderness and Israel in the desert. The gospel story begins after the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus and the disciples are being chased around the Sea of Galilee by the crowd. When the people catch up with them, Jesus gets a little testy, accusing them of looking for him because they want more bread, “because you ate your fill of loaves.” (John 6:26) and pushing them to work for “food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” (6:27)
And the crowd says—“Manna?” “What is it?” What is the work we are to do? What is the sign that you will give us? What work are you performing?
“Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” Jesus responds to this by reminding the folk that it was not Moses who gave them the bread—it was God! And, that it was not just any bread, it was “the bread of God which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” When the crowd then asks for this bread, Jesus makes the jaw-dropping statement, “I am the bread of life.” “I am the manna.” “I am “What it is!”
Many people in Palestine had, for many, many years, been looking for the true “bread from heaven,” a Messiah, a Savior, a Christ—a person sent from God to rescue them from a desperate and hopeless situation. Most of the folk who hoped for such a person imagined someone along the lines of the great poet and warrior king David; someone who would both rout the Romans and renew the spiritual heart of the nation. What they did not expect was a man like Jesus: a peasant preacher, a rambling, homeless miracle worker who slept outdoors and mooched free meals and wine off friends and admirers.
CONC
How often have we been like the Israelites in the wilderness—not only complaining to God about our situation, but also having a specific way we expect God to respond to and fix our problem?
And when God’s answer is different from what we want, how often have we thought, “What is this?” And how often have we been like the crowd chasing Jesus around, expecting our faith to lead to happiness and prosperity, on our own terms, in the way we want to be happy, in the way we desire to be prosperous? We want our “daily bread” served up to us on a silver platter, cooked according to our instructions.
Instead, we get quail complete with feathers and droppings; we get “manna,” flaky stuff scattered about on the ground, bread that must be gathered and cleaned before it can be eaten. We get Jesus and with him a burden which must be taken up and carried as we follow him on his way, the Christian way, the way of the cross.
So what is the Christian Life? Well, it probably isn’t what most of us expected. If we fully embrace following Jesus wherever that leads us, we will at times feel as ridiculous at little Ralphie, standing on the steps in pink bunny pjs. No, it’s not exactly what we asked for—but it is exactly what we got, and exactly what we and the world need.