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Pentecost 10B
August 1, 2021
John 6:24-35
INTRODUCTION
This is week two of the 5-week Bread of Life series from John’s Gospel. After hearing last week the story of the feeding of the 5000, today we get into some of the explanation of it. (Each of Jesus’ signs in John is followed by a dialogue and lengthy discourse explaining it.) People were so impressed by the sign, that now they are seeking out Jesus and trying to figure out what is going on and who this is exactly, and Jesus tells them: “I am the bread of life.” (It’s one of Jesus’ famous I AM statements in John, linking him to the Great I AM of burning bush fame.)
In this first part of the dialogue/discourse, the crowd will refer to the story of their ancestors being fed by manna in the wilderness – which conveniently is today’s Old Testament reading. A reminder of that context: the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, and Moses finally led them out, through the Red Sea, and they are on their way to the Promised Land… but meanwhile they have to spend 40 years in the wilderness. This is toward the beginning of that time, and they are getting pretty hangry and complainy. (Complaining is a major feature of their time in the wilderness.) But God, being God, provides for them just what they need – just like God still does for us today.
These stories feature a lot of hungry people, people who, like us, often look to what does not satisfy instead of toward God. As you listen, consider what it is that you are hungry for, and what might satisfy that hunger. Let’s listen.
[READ]
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
For what do you hunger?
This is the question that has been on my mind this week, as I have entered more deeply into this discourse on Jesus as the Bread of Life. For what do I hunger? For what do people in general hunger? What is it that we want to fill us from head to toe? What would make us feel… satisfied?
And then the logical next question: what food do we seek, so that we feel fed, and satisfied? Where or to what do we go to find satisfaction?
These are the questions at the heart of this portion of the Bread of Life discourse. It is the day after Jesus’ miraculous feeding of 5000 people with only five loaves and two fish, and the crowd is hungry for more, and they seek him out. Jesus immediately sees what’s happening here: “Back for more, are you? I know what you’re up to. You’ve come not because you saw God in my actions, but because I fed you a free meal, and now your tummies are grumbling again, so you want another serving. Don’t you see that another serving of bread and fish, this food that perishes, will not, finally, fill you up? Work instead for the food that endures, that will nourish you all your life.”
I feel very convicted by this exchange. I feel convicted because I know that I often try to satisfy the hunger of my heart with things that don’t endure, that don’t actually feed my particular hunger. Part of that is that I, and I would say most people, don’t always really know what it is we hunger for, in the depth of our being. We only know we are hungry, so we walk into the figurative kitchen, open the snack cupboard, and just find whatever is in there to take the edge off until dinner, whatever will taste good, rather than think about what will really satisfy us. We grab the metaphorical M&Ms or the Cheez-its, instead of, say, the whole wheat bread with hummus. It does the trick for a moment… but it does not last.
Or the other problem we run into, the other way we seek food that perishes, is we think what we hunger for is something that is really an expectation of someone else (like, we hunger for people to be kinder, or less messy, or more forgiving). It may be a good thing, even a needed one, but it is not one we have any power to change ourselves.
The challenge of each of those – lack of clarity about our own hunger, or mistaking our hunger for our expectations of others – is that we go about feeding that hunger in all the wrong ways. For example, I hunger for a cleaner house, I think, and so I make a chore chart, or just yell at my family to pick up their stuff, and that may help get it cleaner… but what I really hunger for is more internal, perhaps a hunger for rest or peace, and I have just convinced myself that it is the messy house is the thing getting in the way of that. So I go after the low-hanging fruit, even though I know that a clean house won’t bring me lasting peace (especially with two small people living there, the clean will only last about 15 minutes if I’m lucky – far from enduring!). It will certainly help – it just won’t last.
So what is it that will really, truly satisfy the hunger – such that we are still filled up and satisfied even when our external circumstances and the ways other people are acting are not as we would prefer? How can we still be satisfied? The crowd had the same question. “What must we do to perform the works of God?” What must we do to be a part of this hunger-satisfying, cup-filling, soul-restoring work God is doing? Tell us! And as is so often the case, Jesus’ answer is simple, but not always easy: “Believe in the one whom God has sent.” Believe in Jesus. Abide in Jesus. Have a relationship with Jesus. In John, those things all mean the same – in order to find the life we seek and satisfy our hunger, we must find ourselves in intimately close contact with Jesus.
Now, the crowd is a bit skeptical. “Hm… What sign are you gonna give us to show us this is really going to work? Moses fed people in the wilderness with manna – what have you got?” (Like, duh, did they forget he just fed 5000 people with five loaves and two fish? Sheesh!) But if I’m honest, I can also be skeptical about this at times. Can Jesus really satisfy all my hungers? It’s one thing when he’s right there in the flesh, but now, today? Is Jesus going to clean my house for me? Is Jesus going to convince people to get vaccinated so we can have our lives back? Is Jesus going to help us communicate better with our spouses or our children? Is Jesus going to keep us safe in a world of increasing violent crime? Is Jesus going to heal our past traumas that wreak havoc on our efforts at living a healthy life? Can Jesus really satisfy all those hungers? If so… prove it. Give us a sign.
Jesus gently reminds them from whom all blessings flow: “That wasn’t Moses who gave you that bread in the wilderness,” he says. That was God. God provided for you in the wilderness. God is the one who gives you true bread from heaven. God is the one who gave, gives, and will give life to the world. God has given you everything. There’s your sign!
And something in his words does convince their hearts that this is the real deal. “Sir, give us this bread always.” In those few words, we hear a confession, a plea, a prayer. Their hearts are ready, their hands are open. They are ready to receive this bounty. They are ready to receive this grace. They are ready to be satisfied. And Jesus does not leave them wanting: “I am the bread of life. [I am that bread you seek.] Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” Jesus will satisfy.
But do we, 21st century skeptics believe it? How does this come about for us, without Jesus walking about, multiplying loaves, walking on water, and kicking death to the curb? We can return to Jesus’ first response: “Believe in the one whom God sent.” Our first place to go is to Jesus himself, to pray and abide there. I know that even prayer can seem at times elusive – where do we begin? How will Jesus satisfy our hunger in prayer?
Well here’s where I would start: first, ask Jesus to help you figure out what it is you hunger for. And don’t stop with the surface things, those first things that come to mind. Go deeper – why do you want that? What emotions do you have about it? What is it that you are lacking that makes you feel that hunger? Why is that thing lacking? Did you ever have it before? If you did, what did it feel like? Let Jesus guide these questions, and take time to listen for a response. Journal about them or talk with a trusted friend of advisor – or even your pastor! – or just sit in quiet meditation on them. (Make sure to breathe deeply and a lot!)
Once you have discovered and named your true hunger, ask Jesus to satisfy it – if you can feel the fullness that Christ offers even just for that moment in prayer, that is valuable. If you can remember how it felt to be satisfied, you will be better equipped to recognize what will satisfy you when you experience it again, and to find that place of fullness and satisfaction even when what is going on around you tries to impose its emptiness on you. Like the muscle memory we gain from hours of practice (whether it’s typing, or playing an instrument or a sport, or even making a cup of coffee), our hearts become trained and ready to receive the bread of life that Jesus offers.
And eventually, we find our hungers can be satisfied even when the world would try to take away that satisfaction. When we’ve trained our hearts in this way, through prayer and abiding with Christ, we can find peace, even in a messy house, and safety in a violent world. We can find wholeness and healing amidst the brokenness. We can find meaning, purpose, and connection. When so much around us is trying to make us conform and fit in, in Christ we can find true belonging and unconditional love. We can be fed in Christ.
Friends, Jesus wants to be more for us then a nice guy and a good teacher we can emulate. He wants to be our food. He is our food, our basic sustenance, a staple in our daily diet. Are we hungry for him? Will we let and even invite him to sustain us? The bread of life is ours – in abundance! – if we would but take a taste and see.
May we absorb this bread, and share it. May we desire it above all things. And may the nourishment it provides permeate us through and through until we, like Jesus, become life-saving bread for the whole world.
Let us pray… Jesus, you are our bread. You are our sustenance. Show us how to come to you when we are hungry, that you would show us where we hunger, and nourish us with the true bread from heaven. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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