Meditation
on John 6:24-35
Aug.
2, 2015
***
***
“So
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.
When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to
him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ Jesus 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. Do 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.’ Then they said to
him, ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’ Jesus answered them,
‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’ So
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? Our ancestors ate the
manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to
eat.” ’ Then 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. For the bread of God is that which comes down
from heaven and gives life to the world.’ They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this
bread always.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I am
the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never hunger; whoever believes in
me will never thirst.”
***
A while ago, someone shared with me how
hard it was for their family to get up early on Sunday morning for church
because they were so tired from their activities during the week. Full time
jobs, school, sports, FFA, 4-H and other activities kept them busy. I listened
sympathetically, remembering when my kids were teenagers, and it seemed like we
were always in the car and always in a hurry, staying up late to finish things
there just wasn’t time to finish during the day. I hear families with young
children tell a similar story about their struggles to get to church--and I
remember how hard it was to get my three little ones ready for church and
Sunday school, especially when one was still a baby--and we often drove a half
hour or more to get to our church. It was exhausting! Then we would get there
and the baby would wake up and cry and need to be fed or changed, and the older
boys sometimes acted up in the nursery or toddler room. I ended up missing so
much of the service, I wondered sometimes if it was worth all the effort.
Looking back now, I never wonder that. Yes! It was worth it, even if the children were
fussy and wiggly during the sermon or started to kick one another during the
pastoral prayer. And all the whispered promises of ice cream or threats of
early nap and no video games didn’t do any good. It was worth all the effort to
get them to church and Sunday school--as much as we made it there. In fact, I
wish we had gone more often. And I’ll tell you why. Not just because they have gaps
in their Bible knowledge or because we missed out on Christian fellowship,
though learning the Bible and growing relationships with other believers are important,
too. It was worth all the effort and frustration because when we did make it to
worship, we experienced the power and presence of God in a way that we could
not experience alone with our own families at home, even if we did read the
Bible and pray or watch a church service on TV.
When we gather around God’s Word together in person in worship, when we
sing our songs of praise, and celebrate the Sacraments of Holy Communion and
Baptism--both of which we are celebrating today--we experience God in a whole
new way. And we are spiritually fed! We are nourished and strengthened to go
out and be Christ’s Body for the world!
I had to smile this week at a story I
read in a book by Ronald Byars, a pastor and seminary professor. In The Future of Protestant Worship: Beyond the
Worship Wars, Byars writes of a couple with a grown son who is
developmentally disabled.
“The family is
active in the church, and they seldom miss worship. One winter Sunday morning,
they awakened late and breakfast took longer than usual, and everything seemed
a little off balance. The parents decided, for this one Sunday, to stay home
from church. They told their son, who seemed to accept their decision. But
after pondering this news for a while, he asked his father, ‘Won’t Jesus miss
us?’” [1]
This man with special needs,
“developmentally disabled,” was on to something! He may have understood
something that others that are more “intellectually sophisticated” may fail to grasp!
We come to church on Sunday morning to
meet the Risen Lord! The faithful enter into Christ’s presence by the two means
that God has given us--God’s Holy Word and the Sacrament of Holy Communion. We cannot meet the Risen Lord without the hope and desire to meet Him here. We
cannot partake of the spiritual food unless we come with humility, realizing our own sinfulness. We cannot be
nourished unless we believe our souls must
be fed. And we cannot experience the Risen Lord without a longing in our hearts to see Christ, face to face.
***
Last Sunday, when we read the first part
of John 6, we heard about the faith of a child and Jesus miraculously feeding
5,000 people with a couple of loaves and a few fish--and having 12 baskets of leftovers,
after the hungry crowd had been “filled” or “satisfied,” like they never had
before. But when the people misunderstand the “signs” of God’s grace and love,
Jesus returns to the mountain before the crowd can take him by force and make
him their king.
The crowd doesn’t give up easily when they can’t
find Jesus and his disciples. They follow them by boat all the way to Capernaum,
a fishing village--population around 1,500--on the north side of the Sea of
Galilee. This is where Jesus makes his home after leaving Nazareth during his
ministry years.
Jesus doesn’t answer their question of,
“When did you get here?” He gets right to the point. “You are looking for me,”
he says, “because you ate your fill of the loaves--not because you understood
the “signs.” He explains the spiritual
realm by contrasting it with our physical world. He says, essentially, don’t “work”
for “food that perishes”--food for our physical bodies-- but for the “food” you
need for your soul. Then he surprises them by saying they don’t need to work
for this food at all! For the Son of Man--Jesus--will give it to them! But they don’t understand; they ask what kind of
“work” they must do for God to get this food?
Jesus says, “Believe in him whom God sent.” Believe
in me.
And how do they respond? “What else are you
going to give us so that we believe? Our ancestors got manna (bread) from
heaven.” One day after Jesus miraculously feeds the 5,000, they want another
miraculous feeding! They stand in the
presence of the Son of God, without knowing or caring who he is. Jesus knows their needs are far greater than
bread for this world. But they have looked for Jesus so that he will give them what they want. He tells them they need, instead, “the bread
of God… that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” And
they can’t think past their bellies. Sure, they say. Sounds good. Give it to
us. “Give us this bread always,” they say.
“I am
the bread of life,” Jesus goes on, showing his love and compassion. “Whoever
comes to me will never hunger. Whoever believes in me will never thirst.”
Our lectionary passage ends before we find
out how the crowd responds to Jesus’ invitation. In verse 36, we find out that
what we expect would happen--happened. Jesus says, “But I said to you that you
have seen me and yet do not believe.”
***
Brothers and sisters, it is easy to find
fault with the hungry crowd that only cared about their immediate bodily needs
and did not want to hear Christ speak of their need for nourishment of a
different kind. We, too, need that nourishment! But we don’t often think of our
spiritual needs when we come to Christ. We more often ask for our needs in this
world--physical healing for ourselves and our loved ones, better jobs, better
weather, better crops, more money, and help with decisions that affect only our
future in this life, without a thought to our life in the world to come--or the
salvation of the world that God so loves. We come to Jesus like the crowd, not
trusting that God knows our real needs and that what we think we need is really
not what we need at all. The conversation is one-sided. We talk to God, and we
don’t want to wait and listen for his answer. We want our bellies filled, our
families blessed. We aren’t grateful for the many miracles we have seen in our
lives. We say to the Lord, “What have you done for us lately?” In the meantime,
some of our neighbors have never heard the gospel. Some of our neighbors around
the world have barely enough food to eat or adequate housing, and we aren’t
anxious to help them. We blame others for their problems; we blame the Lord for
ours, without admitting that sin is what often gets us into trouble. We say we
believe in Christ; He is our Lord and Savior, but then we don’t seek out His
will or His strength to obey. We go our own way.
Friends, in a few moments, we will prepare
to serve Communion. I will share with you the “Invitation to the Table.” This
is the table of God’s mercy and grace. This is the Table for sinners. You will
only find love and acceptance--not condemnation-- here. It is the table
of “company with Jesus, and all who love Him.
It is the table of sharing with the poor of the world, with whom Jesus
identified Himself. It is the table of
communion with the earth, in which Christ became incarnate.” I will say, “So
come to this table, you who have much faith, and you who would like to have
more; you who have been here often and you who have not been for a long time;
you who have tried to follow Jesus, and you who have failed; come. It is Christ Himself who invites us to meet
Him here.”
Come to this table, anticipating His comforting presence and to be nourished
on the “Bread of God, the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to
the world.” Come because, friends, if you don’t, Jesus will miss you! This
is the table of welcome. There are no “outsiders.” You don’t have to be a
member of our congregation or any congregation. You only have to believe in
Jesus, the Son of God, and seek to follow in His ways. We are united and
reunited as One Body as we commune together in Jesus’ name. We come, humbled by
our sinfulness, to drink the cup of forgiveness and partake the bread of eternal
life. We come because we know our souls must
be fed. We come with hope. We
come by faith. We come with a longing in our hearts to see Christ, face to
face.
Let us pray.
Holy One, Bread of Life,
thank you for loving us so much that you allowed your Son to be broken and
spilled out for the sake of our salvation. Thank you for your Word that reminds
us who you are--and how sinful we are, how we are just like the crowd who
experiences miracles every day and yet asks you, Lord, for more and more. “What
have you done for us lately?” we say. Thank you for your mercy and grace! Lead
us into your presence, Lord, anticipating your Spirit’s transforming power
working in our hearts, in our congregation, in our community and in our lives.
Nourish our faith, Lord, so that we are empowered to love and serve you and
love and serve our neighbors, as you call us to do. Teach us to seek your will,
listen for your voice, and courageously obey. Be with us as we seek to minister
in your name, as our group travels to Spirit Lake Indian Reservation to share
the hope of Christ and feed children in need. Keep us safe. Help us to be a
blessing, to be your hands and feet. In Christ we pray. Amen.
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