Feasting on the Living Bread
John 6:22-35
I’m sure that most of you have heard the old saying, “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” I don’t know if that is exactly true but it points out something about human nature. We spend a lot of our time and energy centered around food. Food is necessary for life. You need to fuel your body in order for it to work properly. That helps us to understand why Jesus used this word picture to talk about the importance of staying close to Him and feasting on the bread of life.
The whole idea of bread and eating dominates this chapter of John’s Gospel. It started two weeks ago in our Gospel lesson when we heard about the feeding of the five thousand. With five loaves of bread and two fish Jesus demonstrated his divine power by multiplying the bread and fish so that everyone had something to eat and was satisfied. Last week we heard about what happened after the miraculous meal and how Jesus walked on the water to his disciples as they were struggling with a contrary wind. In today’s reading we hear what happened when the crowds caught up with Jesus again. They were very interested in Him but Jesus could perceive that their interest was only in the free food. His words to them went right to the heart. He said, “Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life which the Son of Man will give you.” Try to put yourself in their sandals for a moment. If you had been there or if you had only heard about the miraculous sign that Jesus did, how would you have reacted. Would your first thought be to hear more of Jesus’ wisdom and teaching about repentance and forgiveness or would you be interested in how he fed so many people with so little food and wonder if and when He was going to do it again? If you are honest with yourself, you would probably have to admit that you would be more interested in the food.
Our human nature is often tempted to ignore the important spiritual matters in our lives in favor of the material needs that seem more pressing. What am I going to have for dinner seems a lot more important at times than where am I going to spend eternity. That concern with material things can even become a distraction to the church. Down through the history of the church there have been times when leaders were more concerned with building the biggest and most ornate churches they could. At the time before the Reformation, the material excesses of the church caused them to lose their focus on Christ and the Gospel. Even today, there are often many distractions in the church that cause us to put the spreading of the Gospel to the world on the back burner when it should always be right up in front. We find ourselves consumed with church work but it is only material things that take up all our time. To try and prevent that at the district and synodical levels, the conventions that are held always have time for worship and spiritual growth. At our district convention in June, for example, we had a presentation on understanding true Biblical Stewardship. The speaker, Dr. Joel Biermann from the St. Louis Seminary, helped us to remember that true Biblical Stewardship involves more than just how much money is put in the plate. All of life and life’s resources are a gift from God and the Christian steward has been charged with the faithful use of those resources to the glory of God. After being spiritually focused, the convention can then get down to the business of the district.
In our congregations, we also can get so caught up in the business of running a large operation that we can easily forget that God has placed us here to carry out His task of making disciples, spreading the Gospel and caring for those in need. That, by the way, is a summary of our mission statement as a congregation. Is that what we are really doing?
Jesus was not exactly talking to congregations though. He was talking to people who were curious about what He was going to do next. You have to look at yourself then figure out why you are interested in Jesus. Often today when people look for a church, their search is not necessarily for the bread of life. The question becomes, “What can this church do for me? What programs do you have for my children? Will I get to make new friends?” These are all good questions but they are, as Jesus put it, about food that perishes. Things that are only about this life seem important to us because they have an effect on our lives right now but those things change. There aren’t many of us who have the same interests that we had when we were younger. Those things are here today and gone tomorrow. They have no lasting value. Jesus, on the other hand, calls you to feast on the bread of life.
That bread of life gives you something that you can’t find anywhere else. It brings you the forgiveness of sins. That is the most important blessing that you receive from the bread of life. When your concerns are merely on the things of this life and satisfying your hunger for material things, you are tempted to turn your eyes away from the true giver of all things. You are tempted to take the credit for the earthly possessions that you have accumulated and forget that all good things come from God. When you do that you have sinned against the First Commandment which tells us to have no other gods. Luther explains it by saying, “We should fear, love and trust in God above all things.”
The Bread of Life came to bring you forgiveness for this sin and all the others that are related to breaking that First Commandment. With that forgiveness of sins then comes the restoration of the broken relationship with the Father that was brought about by sin. With sins forgiven, the barrier between you and God has been broken down and you can have the sure and certain hope of being with the Lord forever in heaven. The Bread of Life brings you eternal life. With the certainty of that eternal life, you also have a new outlook on your life now. You live now in joyful response to the blessings that you have received through the Bread of Life.
The word picture that Jesus used here also can be extended to describe your life of response to God’s grace. Bread, when it is used in the Bible, is a kind of all-encompassing word that describes everything that we need for the support and wants of everyday life. Think of what Jesus said when He taught His disciples what we call the Lord’s Prayer. After praying about God’s kingdom and His will being done, the next line says, “Give us this day our daily bread.” In the Catechism, Luther describes daily bread as everything that belongs to the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like. The faithful stewardship of all those blessings is part of the joyful response of the child of God who feasts on the Bread of Life.
In addition to that, the reality is that we daily need to have nourishment for our bodies. We are told to eat the right kinds of food so that we can be healthy. That too is part of good stewardship of the blessings that God has given to us. In that same way, you need to feast on the Bread of Life, our Savior Jesus and His Word, regularly so that you can remain spiritually healthy. Through the power of the Holy Spirit who works in you through the Means of Grace, God’s Word and the Sacraments, your faith in Jesus as the only source of the forgiveness of sins and eternal life is strengthened. At the same time you are given strength for your life now. You are still living in a world where your faith is under attack all the time. You are being tempted daily to look away from God and look instead to your own wisdom and accomplishments as the basis for your claim to heaven. When you give in to those temptations, it’s like eating the wrong kinds of food for your body. Only now you are taking the wrong kind of spiritual food for your soul when you yield to the temptations of the devil, the world and your own sinful nature. Why would you want to do that when you have the opportunity to feast on the Bread of Life regularly in worship, in your own private devotions and in regular Bible study?
Listen to Jesus and follow Him alone when He says, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” Amen.
And the peace which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen
Rev. Gerald Matzke
August 5, 2012
