Scripture lesson-John 6:22-59
I’M SURE WE’VE ALL WATCHED TV SHOWS WHERE, JUST BEFORE THE EPISODE BEGINS THE NARRATOR REVIEWS WHAT HAPPENED THE PRIOR WEEK. THIS USUALLY TAKES THE FORM OF HIM SAYING; PREVIOUSLY ON ‘LOST’ OR LAST WEEK ON ‘DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES’. THIS IS DONE SO THE VIEWER IS BROUGHT UP TO DATE WITH WHAT HAS TRANSPIRED BEFORE; SO VIEWERS CAN MAKE SENSE OUT OF WHAT IS TO COME NEXT. THIS IS NOT A BAD APPROACH TO TAKE WHEN EXAMINING SCRIPTURE, SINCE MOST BIBLICAL ACCOUNTS ARE PART OF A LARGER STORY. SO, LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT’S HAPPENED ‘PREVIOUSLY IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN’. JUST THE DAY BEFORE A CROWD OF 5,000 FOLLOWED JESUS AND HIS DISCIPLES TO THE FOOT OF THE MOUNTAIN WHERE HE WAS TO TEACH. JESUS SAW THAT THE PEOPLE WERE HUNGRY AND ASKED PHILLIP; ‘HOW ARE WE TO BUY FOOD FOR ALL THESE?’ A YOUNG BOY IN THE CROWD HAD FIVE LOAVES AND TWO FISH. JESUS BLESSED THE BREAD AND FED THE 5,000 WITH THE FIVE LOAVES, AND EVEN HAD 12 BASKETFULS LEFT OVER. THAT EVENING THE DISCIPLES LEFT THE SHORE OF THE SEA OF GALILEE IN A SMALL BOAT, ROWING TOWARD CAPERNAUM. JESUS ‘MISSED THE BOAT’ SO TO SPEAK, SO HE WALKED ON THE WATER FOR THREE OR FOUR MILES IN ORDER TO CATCH UP WITH THEM.
NOW HERE WE ARE THE NEXT MORNING, AT CAPERNAUM AND JESUS IS ASKED BY THE CROWD ‘WHAT SIGN ARE YOU GOING TO GIVE US SO THAT WE BELIEVE IN YOU?’ JOHN TELLS US THAT THIS CROWD IS MORE OR LESS THE SAME GROUP OF 5,000 THAT WERE FED THE PREVIOUS DAY. JESUS HAD ALREADY PERFORMED TWO RATHER IMPRESSIVE MIRACLES. MOST OF THE ASSEMBLED CROWD HAS WITNESSED THEM, AND YET THEY ASK ‘WHAT SIGN WILL YOU GIVE?’ CAN’T YOU JUST IMAGINE WHAT JESUS MUST BE THINKING TO HIMSELF? I’VE FED ALL 5,000 OF YOU WITH A COUPLE OF BARLEY LOAVES, THEN I WALKED ON WATER; HELLO! …DID I MENTION I WALKED ON WATER, AND STILL YOU ASK ME FOR A SIGN? BUT CHRIST KNOWS THAT THE TEACHING HE GIVES THIS DAY IS A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH, SO HE DECIDES FIRST ON THE SUBTLE APPROACH. HE REMAINS PATIENT WITH THE PEOPLE BECAUSE IT’S ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE THAT THEY UNDERSTAND PRECISELY WHAT IT IS THAT JESUS IS BRINGING TO THEM.
EVERY VERSE IN JOHN’S GOSPEL SO FAR IS LEADING UP TO THIS POINT, AND CULMINATES IN THE NEXT FEW LINES JESUS SPEAKS. IN THE FIRST FIFTY OR SO VERSES IN THIS CHAPTER, THE WORDS ‘BREAD’ OR ‘LOAVES’ APPEAR NINETEEN TIMES…NINETEEN! AS A METAPHOR FOR HIS MESSAGE JESUS USES THE MOST BASIC FOOD IN THE PEOPLES’ DIET; COMMON, ORDINARY BREAD. INITIALLY, HE TELLS THEM THEY MUST COME TO HIM AND THEY WILL NEVER BE HUNGRY. NEXT THEY NEED TO BELIEVE IN HIM, AND THEN FINALLY, EAT OF THE BREAD OF HEAVEN. THE MULTITUDE STILL DOESN’T GET IT; SO HE ABANDONS ALL PRETENSE OF SUBTLETY AND TELLS THEM THEY MUST EAT OF HIS FLESH AND DRINK HIS BLOOD TO HAVE ETERNAL LIFE. THE GREEK WORD USED BY JOHN IN THE EARLIER VERSES FOR ‘EAT’ IS ‘ESTHIO’, AND SIMPLY REFERS TO THE ACT OF EATING A MEAL. NOW THE WORD USED IS ‘TROGO’. THIS VERB IS USUALLY USED TO DESCRIBE THE WAY AN ANIMAL FEEDS, AND MEANS ‘TO MUNCH’ OR ‘GNAW’. IT CONVEYS A SENSE OF RAW HUNGER, URGENCY AND NECESSITY. CHRIST IS TELLING THE PEOPLE THAT IT’S CRUCIAL THAT THEY PARTAKE OF THIS ‘HEAVENLY BREAD’. HE WANTS THEM TO KNOW THAT EATING THIS BREAD OF HEAVEN; THAT BELIEVING JESUS IS THE WAY TO ETERNAL LIFE, IS EATING AS THOUGH LIFE DEPENDS ON IT…BECAUSE IT DOES!
IT’S NO COINCIDENCE THAT JOHN QUOTES JESUS TELLING THE PEOPLE THAT THEY MUST EAT THE FLESH OF THE SON OF MAN. LET’S GO ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE FIRST CHAPTER IN JOHN, WHERE IT’S WRITTEN THAT ‘THE WORD BECAME FLESH AND LIVED AMONG US’. BELIEF IN CHRIST, REPRESENTED BY THE EATING OF THE BREAD OF HEAVEN, THE ‘TAKING IN’ OF JESUS’ VERY BEING, IS THE MEANS NECESSARY FOR GAINING A LIFE WHICH NEVER ENDS. THOSE WHO EAT ONLY WORDLY BREAD, THE STUFF OF GRAIN, YEAST AND WATER, WILL BE SUSTAINED FOR THE DAY, BUT THEY WILL ULTIMATELY DIE. BUT THOSE WHO PARTAKE OF THE BREAD OF HEAVEN, OF THE VERY FLESH OF CHRIST HIMSELF, WILL OBTAIN THE LIFE-GIVING FOOD WHICH LEADS TO EVERLASTING LIFE. JESUS TELLS THEM THAT IF THEY DO PARTAKE OF HIS FLESH (AND BLOOD) HE WILL ABIDE IN THEM AND THEY IN HIM. THAT’S WHY HE WAS SO URGENT IN HIS MESSAGE, SO INSISTENT THAT THE PEOPLE UNDERSTAND AND COME TO BELIEVE. BECAUSE HE KNOWS THAT ONCE THEY ACCEPT THE TRUTH OF WHO HE IS THEIR VERY LIVES WILL BE SAVED. THE PEOPLE MUST FEED ON THE BREAD OF HEAVEN, THE VERY BREAD OF LIFE WHICH COMES FROM THE FATHER FOR THE SALVATION OF THE WORLD.
THOSE SAME TELEVISION SHOWS WHICH REVIEW PREVIOUS EPISODES ALSO GENERALLY OFFER A GLIMPSE OF WHAT WILL BE SHOWN THE FOLLOWING WEEK. IF WE DO THE SAME WE MIGHT DISCOVER THAT MUCH HAS CHANGED YET MUCH REMAINS THE SAME. IT’S BEEN TWO THOUSAND YEARS SINCE JESUS TAUGHT THE CROWDS IN PERSON, YET WE TODAY ARE BLESSED WITH THE ABILITY TO READ AND STUDY THOSE VERY SAME LESSONS. PEOPLE STILL NEED TO EAT WORDLY BREAD, EVEN IF IT TAKES THE FORM OF McNUGGETS AND FRENCH FRIES. AND WE MODERN FOLKS STILL NEED THE BREAD FROM HEAVEN; WE MIGHT EVEN SAY THAT WE NEED IT EVEN MORE THAN OUR FOREBEARS. OUR WORLD TODAY IS A COMPLEX, COMPLICATED PLACE. BUT THERE IS SIMPLE TRUTH IN ORDINARY THINGS. BREAD MAY BE UNCOMPLICATED, YET THE CONSTANT NEED FOR IT TO SATISFY US CONTINUES UNABATED. BUT HOW MUCH MORE ARE WE IN NEED OF THE BREAD OF HEAVEN? TO HAVE JESUS ABIDE WITH US, TO ENJOY A RIGHTEOUS RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD THE FATHER, FACILITATED THROUGH BELIEF IN CHRIST THE SON? TO NAVIGATE OUR DEMANDING WORLD, TO REMAIN TRUE TO OURSELVES AND FAITHFUL TO OUR GOD, WE MUST CONTINUALLY PARTAKE OF THE GIFT THAT HE PROVIDES. PERHAPS WHEN JESUS RESPONDED TO THE DISCIPLES’ REQUEST TO TEACH THEM TO PRAY, HE HAD THIS IN MIND. WHEN THE LORD TELLS US TO ASK GOD TO GIVE US EACH DAY ‘OUR DAILY BREAD’, MAYBE HE WAS THINKING ABOUT BOTH KINDS, WORDLY AND HEAVENLY.
WHILE EARTHLY BREAD MAY GO STALE OR BE UNFIT TO EAT BECAUSE OF MOLD, THE BREAD FROM HEAVEN, THE ABIDING SPIRIT OF CHRIST WITHIN US WILL NEVER SPOIL, WILL ALWAYS BE FRESH. IT WILL SUSTAIN US BODY AND SOUL THROUGHOUT ETERNITY.
SO, WE FIND OURSELVES AS DAILY RECIPIENTS OF GOD’S GRACE, PROVIDED THROUGH THE HEAVENLY BREAD WHICH IS CHRIST JESUS. HE ASSURES US THAT HE ABIDES WITHIN US ALWAYS. SO WHENEVER WE LOOK INWARD WE SHOULD BE WATCHFUL FOR SIGNS OF HOW CHRIST’S SPIRIT IS MANIFESTED IN HOW WE ACT. MORE IMPORTANTLY, WHEN WE CAST OUR GAZE OUTWARD, TOWARDS THE OTHERS WE ENCOUNTER IN OUR LIVES, WE NEED TO REMEMBER THAT THE HEAVENLY BREAD IS WITHIN THEM AS WELL.
AS WE GO FORTH INTO THE WORLD, LET’S REMIND OURSELVES TO LOOK FOR THE BREAD OF HEAVEN THAT ABIDES IN THOSE WE MEET. HOPEFULLY THEN, WE WILL ACT COMPASSIONATELY TOWARD THE HOMELESS VETERAN ON THE CORNER HOLDING A ‘WILL WORK FOR FOOD’ SIGN. OR THE AGED WOMAN HOLDING UP THE CHECKOUT LINE AT THE STORE AS SHE SEARCHES HER PURSE FOR THE COINS NEEDED TO PAY FOR A FEW SMALL ITEMS. OR EVEN THE PERSON WHO CUTS US OFF ON THE HIGHWAY WITHOUT SIGNALLING. IF WE PAUSE A MOMENT TO LOOK INTO THEIR EYES, WE JUST MIGHT FIND THAT THE BREAD OF HEAVEN IN THE FORM OF CHRIST JESUS, IS LOOKING BACK AT US.
AMEN.
