The bread of life
May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight now and for evermore O Lord our strength and our redeemer. AMEN
I remember preaching on the these readings during the time of the swine flu pandemic and the suspension of distributing wine at communion and it seemed particularly appropriate that we had 2 readings which concentrate solely on bread ! (Exodus 16:2-4,9-15 and John 6:24-35). Of course though, bread has always been considered an important and basic part of a diet.
Today, in the Old Testament we have the account of the bread coming down from heaven to feed the Israelites as God had promised. This was something that satisfied a physical hunger but which pointed far more to a greater message that God will provide for his people. And then in the gospel we have Jesus being followed by many people, and they are following him because they have seen or heard about his miraculous feeding of the 5,000.
And Jesus knows that’s why they are there ! They haven’t come to be spiritually fed, to hear Jesus teaching, but they have come because Jesus has become associated with drama, or even with throwing a good party with plenty of food for everyone !
Now this reputation of Jesus throwing a good party or providing abundantly for people is not a bad one to have, and the Church would be blessed to enjoy such a reputation today, but it wasn’t and it isn’t enough – the bread must point to something more.
People must see beyond the bread to see their Saviour. Jesus of course was born in Bethlehem, and Bethlehem literally means, ‘House of Bread’, but it was beyond the baby Jesus and beyond Bethlehem that people saw Jesus the Saviour.
Now there are some foods which we like as treats, some would call them comfort food – for me it might be Jaffa Cakes – although low in fat and high in energy it’s probably not good for me to eat too many of them, and then there are the essentials in the house – things like tomato sauce ! It always amazes me that chips were invented before tomato sauce, because without tomato sauce there is just no point to them at all !
But anyway back to essentials and joking aside, bread is an essential part of a diet, a fundamental and basic food. When Jesus talks about bread, he is certainly pointing to something more than just the crusty loaf, but he is not ignoring that !
The people who came to see Jesus that day were not looking for anything beyond the literal bread, and he explained that they needed to be looking for more than that whilst not ignoring the fact that they needed that as well.
When the people asked him what sign he would give them that day he knew that he was being treated almost as just a novelty item – he took them back to the Old testament and explained that it was not Moses who provided the bread from heaven that their ancestors had eaten, but God himself, and it was God who was the one who would constantly feed them with life changing and life enhancing food.
That is the bread we need for all eternity, and that is the bread we eat, not just at communion, but each time we offer our thoughts and prayers, each time we worship him, we praise him, we read and study the Bible, when we enjoy fellowship with other Christians and so on…
That is the bread which will last, that is the bread which will sustain us through good times and through bad times, and that is the bread we will feast on into all eternity. There is no more important bread than that with which we fill ourselves spiritually – Jesus tells the people that whoever comes to him will never be hungry and whoever believes in him will never be thirsty, and that is a message that is still true today – to satisfy hunger and thirst we must turn to Jesus.
But that doesn’t mean we can ignore the physical need for food. Globally it’s impossible to provide a definitely accurate figure but upwards of 13 million people die of starvation each year, some sources reckon it’s about 18 million people. In a world where that is happening, and where there are enough resources to go around for everyone a number of times over, then we can never ignore the physical plight of people. In a country where comparatively most of us have so much, then much will be expected of us.
It’s no coincidence that Jesus met the physical needs of people before going on to talk about the spiritual – he fed the 5,000 and then went on to talk about bread that was even more important and even longer lasting as he addressed their spiritual needs. Following his example, we must be ready to meet the physical needs of people, and often we must meet those needs before they will listen to anything that we have to say that is spiritual.
The needs of people come in all kinds of different forms. For some it will be literal starvation, perhaps for those closer to home it will be in depression, loneliness, anger, drink or drugs, homelessness, or any of so many other forms of misery which hurt people. We can’t ignore these things – we may never be able to do enough to solve the problems but anything we can do to help in a small way will help someone somewhere.
As Churches, as Christian people, we need to be people who feed others physically and spiritually, and who care about their needs and look to answer need.
The people who came to see Jesus looked for answers as to how they could satisfy God through doing his works – commendable as that was and is, it is not the way to God, although doing those works will hopefully be a natural response for all those who find God… But the fact remains that no works can get us to God because he actually makes it easier for us than that, just call on his name, believe in him, and he will give abundant life, satisfying hunger and thirst, strengthening and sustaining us every moment of every day.
For us, if we haven’t asked Jesus to fill us spiritually we must ask him and trust him to provide all that we need. If we have already, then we must take on his message and share that message meeting physical and spiritual need wherever we can, and rejoicing in that message that for us who have believed, and for those who will believe, Jesus will satisfy all hunger and all thirst. AMEN
I remember preaching on the these readings during the time of the swine flu pandemic and the suspension of distributing wine at communion and it seemed particularly appropriate that we had 2 readings which concentrate solely on bread ! (Exodus 16:2-4,9-15 and John 6:24-35). Of course though, bread has always been considered an important and basic part of a diet.
Today, in the Old Testament we have the account of the bread coming down from heaven to feed the Israelites as God had promised. This was something that satisfied a physical hunger but which pointed far more to a greater message that God will provide for his people. And then in the gospel we have Jesus being followed by many people, and they are following him because they have seen or heard about his miraculous feeding of the 5,000.
And Jesus knows that’s why they are there ! They haven’t come to be spiritually fed, to hear Jesus teaching, but they have come because Jesus has become associated with drama, or even with throwing a good party with plenty of food for everyone !
Now this reputation of Jesus throwing a good party or providing abundantly for people is not a bad one to have, and the Church would be blessed to enjoy such a reputation today, but it wasn’t and it isn’t enough – the bread must point to something more.
People must see beyond the bread to see their Saviour. Jesus of course was born in Bethlehem, and Bethlehem literally means, ‘House of Bread’, but it was beyond the baby Jesus and beyond Bethlehem that people saw Jesus the Saviour.
Now there are some foods which we like as treats, some would call them comfort food – for me it might be Jaffa Cakes – although low in fat and high in energy it’s probably not good for me to eat too many of them, and then there are the essentials in the house – things like tomato sauce ! It always amazes me that chips were invented before tomato sauce, because without tomato sauce there is just no point to them at all !
But anyway back to essentials and joking aside, bread is an essential part of a diet, a fundamental and basic food. When Jesus talks about bread, he is certainly pointing to something more than just the crusty loaf, but he is not ignoring that !
The people who came to see Jesus that day were not looking for anything beyond the literal bread, and he explained that they needed to be looking for more than that whilst not ignoring the fact that they needed that as well.
When the people asked him what sign he would give them that day he knew that he was being treated almost as just a novelty item – he took them back to the Old testament and explained that it was not Moses who provided the bread from heaven that their ancestors had eaten, but God himself, and it was God who was the one who would constantly feed them with life changing and life enhancing food.
That is the bread we need for all eternity, and that is the bread we eat, not just at communion, but each time we offer our thoughts and prayers, each time we worship him, we praise him, we read and study the Bible, when we enjoy fellowship with other Christians and so on…
That is the bread which will last, that is the bread which will sustain us through good times and through bad times, and that is the bread we will feast on into all eternity. There is no more important bread than that with which we fill ourselves spiritually – Jesus tells the people that whoever comes to him will never be hungry and whoever believes in him will never be thirsty, and that is a message that is still true today – to satisfy hunger and thirst we must turn to Jesus.
But that doesn’t mean we can ignore the physical need for food. Globally it’s impossible to provide a definitely accurate figure but upwards of 13 million people die of starvation each year, some sources reckon it’s about 18 million people. In a world where that is happening, and where there are enough resources to go around for everyone a number of times over, then we can never ignore the physical plight of people. In a country where comparatively most of us have so much, then much will be expected of us.
It’s no coincidence that Jesus met the physical needs of people before going on to talk about the spiritual – he fed the 5,000 and then went on to talk about bread that was even more important and even longer lasting as he addressed their spiritual needs. Following his example, we must be ready to meet the physical needs of people, and often we must meet those needs before they will listen to anything that we have to say that is spiritual.
The needs of people come in all kinds of different forms. For some it will be literal starvation, perhaps for those closer to home it will be in depression, loneliness, anger, drink or drugs, homelessness, or any of so many other forms of misery which hurt people. We can’t ignore these things – we may never be able to do enough to solve the problems but anything we can do to help in a small way will help someone somewhere.
As Churches, as Christian people, we need to be people who feed others physically and spiritually, and who care about their needs and look to answer need.
The people who came to see Jesus looked for answers as to how they could satisfy God through doing his works – commendable as that was and is, it is not the way to God, although doing those works will hopefully be a natural response for all those who find God… But the fact remains that no works can get us to God because he actually makes it easier for us than that, just call on his name, believe in him, and he will give abundant life, satisfying hunger and thirst, strengthening and sustaining us every moment of every day.
For us, if we haven’t asked Jesus to fill us spiritually we must ask him and trust him to provide all that we need. If we have already, then we must take on his message and share that message meeting physical and spiritual need wherever we can, and rejoicing in that message that for us who have believed, and for those who will believe, Jesus will satisfy all hunger and all thirst. AMEN
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