Sermon for August 2, 2009: "Bread of Life"

GOSPEL: John 6.24-35

²⁴So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

²⁵When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" ²⁶Jesus 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. ²⁷Do 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." ²⁸Then they said to him, "What must we do to perform the works of God?" ²⁹Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." ³⁰So 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? ³¹Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" ³²Then 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. ³³For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." ³⁴They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always."
³⁵Jesus 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.

24 ὅτε οὖν εἶδεν ὁ ὄχλος ὅτι Ἰησοῦς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκεῖ οὐδὲ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ, ἐνέβησαν αὐτοὶ εἰς τὰ πλοιάρια καὶ ἦλθον εἰς Καφαρναοὺμ ζητοῦντες τὸν Ἰησοῦν. 25 καὶ εὑρόντες αὐτὸν πέραν τῆς θαλάσσης εἶπον αὐτῷ· ῥαββί, πότε ὧδε γέγονας; 26 Ἀπεκρίθη αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν· ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ζητεῖτε με οὐχ ὅτι εἴδετε σημεῖα, ἀλλ’ ὅτι ἐφάγετε ἐκ τῶν ἄρτων καὶ ἐχορτάσθητε. 27 ἐργάζεσθε μὴ τὴν βρῶσιν τὴν ἀπολλυμένην ἀλλὰ τὴν βρῶσιν τὴν μένουσαν εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον, ἣν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ὑμῖν δώσει· τοῦτον γὰρ ὁ πατὴρ ἐσφράγισεν ὁ θεός. 28 εἶπον οὖν πρὸς αὐτόν· τί ποιῶμεν ἵνα ἐργαζώμεθα τὰ ἔργα τοῦ θεοῦ; 29 ἀπεκρίθη ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· τοῦτο ἐστιν τὸ ἔργον τοῦ θεοῦ ἵνα πιστεύητε εἰς ὃν ἀπέστειλεν ἐκεῖνος. 30 Εἶπον οὖν αὐτῷ· τί οὖν ποιεῖς σὺ σημεῖον, ἵνα ἴδωμεν καὶ πιστεύσωμεν σοι; τί ἐργάζῃ; 31 οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν τὸ μάννα ἔφαγον ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, καθὼς ἐστιν γεγραμμένον· ἄρτον ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς φαγεῖν. 32 εἶπεν οὖν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, οὐ Μωϋσῆς ἔδωκεν ὑμῖν τὸν ἄρτον ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ἀλλ’ ὁ πατήρ μου δίδωσιν ὑμῖν τὸν ἄρτον ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τὸν ἀληθινόν· 33 ὁ γὰρ ἄρτος τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστιν ὁ καταβαίνων ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ ζωὴν διδοὺς τῷ κόσμῳ.

34 εἶπον οὖν πρὸς αὐτὸν· κύριε, πάντοτε δός ἡμῖν τὸν ἄρτον τοῦτον. 35 εἶπεν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· ἐγὼ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς ὁ ἐρχόμενος πρὸς ἐμὲ οὐ μὴ πεινάσῃ, καὶ ὁ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμὲ οὐ μὴ διψήσει πώποτε

+ In nomine Domini.  Amen.

Things have been a bit crazy for Jesus and his followers in the last month of Sundays along the northern shoreline of the Sea of Galilee.  

It all started back on the 4th of July weekend, while reading from the Gospel of Mark, we found Jesus teaching in the synagogue in his hometown, Nazareth, resulting in many people taking offense at him.

The next Sunday, we heard that Jesus and his followers had stirred up so much interest among the people that Herod Antipas commented that he thought John the Baptizer whom he had beheaded, had risen from the dead.

The Sunday after that, Jesus and his followers board a boat searching down the shoreline for a quiet place to take a little break from the activity, only to find when they land that the people have figured out where they were going and have gone along the shore on foot to meet them, so pressing was their need for healing and compassion.

Last Sunday, we switched Gospels, from Mark (the very earliest gospel to be written) to John (the very latest gospel), but still on the northern shoreline of the Sea of Galilee –

although the comment is made in John’s Gospel that it is also called the Sea of Tiberias, so named for the city of Tiberias, founded in the year 20 CE by Herod Antipas as his capital city in the Galilee … Tiberias the city was by Antipas for his patron, the Roman Emperor Tiberius – one of Rome’s greatest generals, but who came to be remembered as dark and reclusive, labeled by Pliny the Elder as tristissimus hominum (the gloomiest of men).  In fact, when his own son, Drusus, died in the year 23 CE, the quality of Tiberius’ rule declined significantly and ended in terror.  The ruler who took over as Emperor of Rome when Tiberius died was his adopted grandson, Caligula … but that is another, and more terrifying tale.

However, last Sunday, Jesus and his followers, once again crossing the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias) by boat came to a spot on the northwestern shore called in Arabic Tabgha, in Hebrew Ein Sheva.  Here it was that Jesus fed the multitude with the miraculous sharing of the loaves and the fishes. 

You remember that the author of the Gospel of John told us that the crowd wanted to make Jesus their King, their “Bread and Fish King” if you will … and so he retreated into the hills, while the disciples took off in a boat and landed in Capernaum (in Hebrew Kfar Nahum, which means “Nahum’s Village”).

There was a little episode on the trip where they disciples see Jesus walking on the water, but John doesn’t make too much of that story … just tells us that the boat finally reached the shoreline and Capernaum.

Now after a month of Jesus being dismissed by his own village, and all these things having taken place, and he and his followers crisscrossing the northern part of the Sea of Galilee/Tiberias ... complete with healings and storms and miraculous outdoor picnics … now we are in Capernaum.  We learn that the crowd is a bit confused because now they see Jesus, who has somehow miraculously appeared in the city, perhaps having walked there upon the water (?!).

They ask him, “When did you get here?  We just saw you at Ein Sheva … you remember, the bread and the fish …”

And he answers, “Aha!  You were looking for me, not because you experienced what the feeding of that many people signified and meant, you wanted me because you were filled up on bread!”

Jesus continues, “Do not live and act and labor for the food that goes stale, but for the food that gives life … and by the way, if you follow me, if you believe in me, then you will know that life and you will be full indeed.”

The crowd doesn’t quite get it.  They respond by asking, “Well, give us another sign.  You know, like Moses, in the wilderness, the manna, the bread from heaven which he gave to the people to eat.”

And Jesus replies, “No, it wasn’t Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, it is the Eternal One, who gives you the true bread from heaven.”

And the people reply just like the woman at the well (you remember the story … it’s about Jesus and the woman and a conversation about living water and the woman says, “give me this water always”) the people respond by saying, “Sir (the Greek word used by John is κύριε (Kyrie, “Sir” or “Lord”), give us this bread always.

And Jesus responds to them with the phrase that we have heard in the Eucharistic moment this season when the Bread is broken and with the Cup is held up for everyone to see, “I am the bread of life.  Whoever comes to me will never be hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

And next Sunday, this whole episode will be summarized and repeated again, where Jesus speaks of “bread of life” … not getting filled up on loaves, but being filled up with meaning, with living life as life was meant and intended to be lived … not with greed and selfishness (remember, Jesus didn’t take the 5 loaves of barley bread and 2 fish and eat them himself along with his disciples … rather he shared them with the crowd … the miracle is found not in the extravagant number, the miracle is found in the sharing … and the sharing becomes the bread of life, the life that is lived as life was meant and intended to be lived.

This Eucharistic-like story is of course what we act out every Sunday, it is our Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Lord’s Supper.  But when we come to the Altar and hold out our hand in anticipation of the Bread of Heaven and the Cup of Salvation, what happens is nothing less than the dividing up of the Bread of Heaven and the Cup of Salvation so that everyone (repeat everyone) is fed, and no one (repeat no one) is ignored.

That’s the meaning of the miracle!  It is not just that we receive a part of Jesus and our sins are forgiven … it is that we receive a part of Jesus, our sins are forgiven, and having been given the Bread of Life, we see in this meal a teaching moment … aha, as we have been given, so now we must give!

You see, if we come to the altar, bow our heads, hold out hands, eat and drink, return to our pews, say a prayer, leave the service, go home, and never do anything all week long to share life as it was intended to be lived with anyone else … I’d say that’s a sin, we have missed the mark, we have not understood the miracle.

If all we do is eat and drink for ourselves, then it’s just piety.  If we do not think, and pray, and most importantly turn thinking and praying into action that will feed those who are hungry for the Bread of Life – and I do not mean bringing more and more people to Holy Communion – if we do not think and pray and act for the hungry and the homeless and the needy and the forgotten and the neglected and the lonely and the abandoned …

If having taken holy bread to our mouths and holy wine to our lips we not work to repair broken relationships in our homes, in our city, in our nation, in our world … if we do not try to heal that which is broken, bring peace where war is raging, still the voices of hate with the sense of love and understanding …

If having communed we do not work with God in partnership and our brothers and sisters alongside us, to welcome and include all in the circle of love we have experienced …

… then better we skip the Sacrament and go back and read and re-read and learn and re-learn the Story all over again … until we have experienced the overwhelming, overpowering, irresistible love of God for us … the love that will not let us go, the love that will not let us be until we take the gift of that love and put it to work in our world.

Let us pray.

Nourish us, O God, with the bread that gives life to the world.  Bring wholeness to our broken relationships, that they may become sacraments of your boundless generosity.  And give us the courage to speak truth to power, and bring love and light to darkness.  Amen.