Sermon - Tarrytown United Methodist Church

I am the Bread of Life

Reverend Helen Almanza
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

August 6, 2006

Text: John 6:24-35 Proper 13B

The Scripture that we heard today seems to be pretty straightforward. There is a large group of people who have been following Jesus asking for healing and signs of who he is. He has both healed the sick and given them signs. Today they are asking for more. Jesus tells them they are willful and blind.
When He proclaims who he is the people don’t believe him. He uses the words of God in Exodus 3:14. Do you remember in Exodus when Moses sees the burning bush and then receives commands from God? Moses asks what he should say when Pharaoh & the Israelites want to know the name of the god who has sent him. And God says to tell them, “I Am Who I Am.”
In John’s Gospel, Jesus says, “I am the Bread of Life.” John wants to be sure we know who Jesus is. It is the first of many times in John where Jesus uses the phrase, “I AM,” followed by a description of who is he is. For example, in John 9:5 Jesus says, “I am the Light of world.” In John10:11 Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd.” This happens more than 10 times in John, and it is his way of revealing Jesus’ true nature.
The crowd in this story does not believe Jesus but they don’t know the end of the story, do they? We do. Jesus is the Son of God
This revelation of Jesus as the Christ is a beloved piece of Scripture. Those of us who are here today understand its meaning. We find our salvation through Jesus. Jesus is essential to our lives. Our religious needs and human longings are met in Him. We celebrate the reading and understanding of this Scripture as John has Jesus proclaim his identity.
Let’s examine the Scripture more closely for other clues of meaning for our lives today. Let’s start at the beginning. Just before this reading, the large crowd has followed Jesus across the desert and across the Sea of Galilee. They didn’t take any food with them, so Jesus fed all of them. He fed 5,000 people using 5 barley loaves and 2 fish that were offered by a small boy. It is a miracle and a sign of who he is. The Disciples leave in the only boat, and the crowd spends the night thinking that Jesus is with them. He is not. Jesus has walked on the water to join the disciples after they were three or four miles out to sea. The crowd does not know about this miracle, but they do know there was only one boat and Jesus didn’t get on it.
Our reading today begins the next morning when they find that Jesus is gone. They begin searching for him, and they finally find him in Capernaum. This required them to cross the Sea of Galilee again and journey many miles. When they find him they say, “When did you get here?” Jesus ignores the question and tells them that the only reason they are following him is because they only want more food to fill their stomachs. He has already fed them once but they are not satisfied. They want more. Jesus offers them eternal life through belief in him but they only want bread to fill their stomachs.
Have you ever been offered the “real deal” but settled for less like these people?
Jesus offers us a satisfying, life-giving way of existence. We are to follow him and we want to follow him, yet sometimes we settle for less.
For example:

We know that an important project at the church that relieves suffering among people needs funding, yet we buy the 60” TV instead of the 42”. The difference could have gone to the project. We settle for less.
The Sunday school class is scheduled to work at the homeless shelter, but the guys want to play basketball. So we make the choice and basketball it is! Someone else will have to pick up the slack. We settle for less.
We have disposable income yet we just don’t have enough to tithe. There are so many wonderful experiences we need to have. We would rather have those experiences than give as God requires. Maybe next year, we will tithe but next year never seems to come.

Yes, we are offered the “real deal.” We have the opportunity to experience and follow Jesus, but instead we settle for less.
Let’s get back to the Scripture. :Jesus tells them not to work for food that spoils. The Son of Man will give them food that endures to eternal life. The crowd wants to know “What must we do to perform the works of God.” Jesus says, “the work of God is faith in the one God sent.” So they say, “Show us a miraculous sign” (remember they have already seen Jesus do many healings and have actually participated in the miracle of the Feeding of the 5000 ). They remind him of Moses who gave them bread in the desert. “What will you do?” Jesus reminds them that Moses didn’t give them the bread, God did.
These people want to be in charge of their own lives and future. Even when they are told that all they have to do is to have faith in the One God has sent to them, they still want to be in charge. They want to be in control of receiving and in control of believing:

Show us a sign!
We’ll see.
We’ll weigh the evidence.
We’ll draw conclusions.
We might even decide to believe.

This makes it impossible for them to receive the gift of Jesus from God.
Think of the gifts we receive from God. God gives us comfort, hope, grace refuge, love, forgiveness. If I gave you the opportunity to call out the gifts you have received, I imagine that we could fill this room with them.
Love
Let’s take love. God loves us so that we may love others. God’s love lives in us when we see a need and respond with help. But are we able to have God’s love within us when:

we keep our hands in our pockets and turn away when we see a homeless person so that no one will think we are a sucker
we turn down the opportunity to work at Habitat for Humanity even though we have the skills and the time.
We write a check to the homeless shelter so that we don’t have to spend an evening there actually interacting with those “ poor, unfortunate people.”

Have we truly accepted God’s love if we don’t love others? Are we so in charge of everything that it makes it impossible for us to receive God’s love?

Forgiveness
What about the gift of forgiveness? It’s been said that forgiveness is an offer of hope for the future that we won’t be defined by the sin of the past. Surely that is a desirable and an easy gift to receive. The miracle of forgiveness makes it possible for us to forgive others. Yet, how often do we:

forgive the sister or brother who truly wounded us deeply and purposely?
forgive the co-worker who has stabbed us in the back?

Forgiveness allows us to be freed from sin so that we are free to serve. There are so many needs and so many places we can serve. Just think about here in the church. Yet, how often do we:

work with the youth of our church?
deliver for Meals on Wheels?
teach a Sunday school class?
provide transportation to those who can’t get around by themselves?

Have we really accepted the gift of forgiveness if we don’t serve others? Or again, do we have to be in charge of everything that it makes it hard to receive God’s forgiveness?
The Scripture ends today with Jesus saying. “I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to me will never go hungry and he who believes in me will never go thirsty”.
This is the good news of the Gospel. It is the good news for all of us. We don’t have to settle for less than the full gift of Jesus Christ. We can accept the gifts that God offers. Our souls can be filled with the presence of the bread of life.
Remember Ezekiel 36:26? “….A new heart I will give you and a new Spirit I will put within you.” We can receive that gift.
Today, we come forward to meet Christ in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. He will come to us with gifts of forgiveness, healing, and strength. He will give us life-sustaining nourishment. If we are very still, we will hear God speak to us.
We can be transformed and penetrated by the mystery of Christ. Jean-Marie Howe writes
“Our being, our substance, must be porous in order for the Mystery of Christ to enter, to penetrate…………We must let ourselves be plowed so that the furrows of our person become deeper and deeper, so that our earth becomes softer and softer.……..(then) grace can penetrate us….. the Mystery can fill us with the Holy Spirit”*

“I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to me will never go hungry and he who believes in me will never go thirsty” Let us now celebrate the Feast of Thanksgiving so that we can accept that Bread, accept the gifts of God.

* Jean-Marie Howe, “Cistercian Monastic Life/Vows: A Vision” p 367.