John 6.25-35
Delivered on Sunday 27 July 2008 in All Saints, Preston-on-Tees
John 6.25-35 & Exodus 16.1-5
'I am the bread of life'
This morning we start a summer series looking at the seven 'I am' sayings in John's gospel. Here they are:
- I am the bread of life (6.35, 48, 51)
- I am the light of the world (8.12; 9.5)
- I am the gate (10.7, 9)
- I am the good shepherd (10.11, 14)
- I am the resurrection and the life (11.25)
- I am the way, the truth and the life (14.6)
- I am the true vine (15.1, 5)
To understand how important these seven sayings are, we have to look back to the book of Exodus, before the reading from it we had this morning. The people of Israel have been enslaved by the Pharaoh for many years, and they cry out to God for deliverance. So he sends Moses to deliver them. When Moses asks God his name, God replies,
'I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: "I AM has sent me to you." ' (Ex 3.14)
So when Jesus says 'I am' seven times, the people know exactly what he was claiming. This man, Jesus of Nazareth, is the Son of God come down to earth to live among us.
Together with the 'I am' sayings, there are seven signs (eight if you include the catch of 153 fish after the resurrection):
- Jesus turns water into wine (2.1-11)
- Jesus heals the official's son (4.43-54)
- Jesus heals the invalid by the pool (5.1-15)
- Jesus feeds the five thousand (6.1-14)
- Jesus walks on water (6.15-21)
- Jesus heals the man born blind (9.1-41)
- Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead (11.1-57)
- [[ The disciples catch 153 fish (21.1-14) ]]
The fourth sign—the feeding of the five thousand—happens shortly before our reading today, and we need to understand what went on there, before we can understand what Jesus is talking about in our reading. (If you want to ask me about the eighth sign, grab me after the service.)
Signs and swimming pools
We use signs all the time. We moved to Stockton a few weeks ago, and I'm finding it really difficult getting my head around the road system. Apparently lots of people find it hard!
Well, I thought I was going to get lost every day—until I realised that if I followed the signs to 'Splash' I'd end up at the Parish Church, and if I followed the signs to 'Wellington Square', I'd be able to turn down the road to our house.
Now I reckon you would all think I'm a bit stupid if I got confused between the road sign that says 'Splash', and the swimming pool itself, wouldn't you? Obviously they aren't the same thing. If I wanted to go for a swim, I wouldn't go to find a sign saying 'swimming pool' and try to swim in it, I'd follow the sign to the pool, wouldn't I?
We need to think of the 'signs' in John's gospel like this. The important thing isn't the miracle itself—that's like the sign saying 'Splash'—but Jesus, the Son of God, the one to whom the sign is pointing—like the swimming pool in our example. (I can't believe I've just compared Jesus to a swimming pool. That's not something you hear every day!)
Feeding the five thousand
So, the fourth sign is the feeding of the five thousand. You all know what happened: big crowd, no food, disciples find a packed lunch, five loaves and two fish feed thousands. In verse 14 John writes,
After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, 'Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.' (Jn 6.14)
They were referring to Moses' prophecy in Deuteronomy:
The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your own people. You must listen to him. (Deut 18.15)
Another prophet, like Moses. Wow—you can see why the people got excited! Another prophet, like Moses. We all know what amazing things he did!
They wanted to make Jesus king by force, so he slipped off with his disciples. When the crowd realised he'd gone, they leapt into their fishing boats and chased him across the lake, to Capernaum. And so we come to verse 25, where our reading this morning began.
Believing in the Son of Man
I have in my head a picture of Jesus sitting quietly in the shade, relaxed and chatting with the disciples. Suddenly there's a commotion as a load of hot and sweaty people crash their boats onto the beach, throw themselves out and rush into the town looking for Jesus. No wonder he was fed up!
You see, he knew the reason why they had chased him across the lake. In verse 26 he tells them they only wanted to find him because he fed all of them the previous day. They were being ruled by their stomachs, and therefore missing the point. So Jesus tells them in verse 27,
'Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.' (Jn 6.27)
Like good Jews, brought up to obey the Law, they focus on the first word: 'work'. So they ask in verse 28:
'What must we do to do the works God requires?' (Jn 6.28)
But they missed the important part of what Jesus says. This is their first misunderstanding. Let's look carefully at what Jesus says: 'Work... for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.' This food is not something we can earn: it's a gift from Jesus. So in verse 29 Jesus explains that the 'work' we must do is not a work at all, but simply to believe in the one the Father has sent to give us this food.
I wonder how often we try to earn God's blessing. If I do this, if I pray harder, if I read my Bible more, if I sing with my eyes closed, if I give my money to the church, if I help the poor fight injustice, if I recycle my paper... if, if, if... if I do these things, maybe God reward me by blessing everything I do.
Now, I don't know about you but I get paid at the end of the month. (I'm quite looking forward to it actually, my first real pay-cheque as a vicar!) I do a month's work, and get paid for it. But with God, it's like he pays us at the beginning of the month and says, 'Now go, and use it for my glory.' God doesn't give us life as a reward for pleasing him. He gives us life, and tells us to go and make disciples of all nations. We don't earn God's blessing by what we do, we use the blessing he's already given us.
Each of those things I listed just now is good, and we must do them; God doesn't give us the gift of life to do whatever we want with it, but whatever he wants with it.
Give us a sign
The crowd's next question is a bit odd. They have just seen Jesus feed a crowd of five thousand, with leftovers, from five loaves and two fish. So why in verses 30-31 do they ask,
'What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: "He gave them bread from heaven to eat." ' (John 6.30-31)
Surely Jesus has just given them a sign like this?! But if you remember at the end of the feeding sign, the people made a connection between Jesus and Moses. Moses fed the whole nation of Israel (about one and a half million people) every day for forty years. Jesus only fed five thousand people, once. The people are saying to Jesus: 'Great party trick, but Moses fed us for years. What are you going to do, that we might believe in you?' And so Jesus responds, in verses 32-33:
'Truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.' (John 6.32-33)
'Wow!' they think, 'Jesus is going to feed everyone in the whole world!' And so they say to him:
'From now on give us this bread.' (John 6.34)
'We don't want the stuff from yesterday any more, we want the good stuff! This bread from heaven sounds delicious!' They could almost taste it as they spoke to him. They were like the woman at the well, who also misunderstood Jesus. She wanted him to give her 'living water' so she wouldn't have to draw her own water out of the well. They were looking at the sign saying 'Splash', not the swimming pool. They thought Jesus was talking about loaves of bread.
But he wasn't.
The bread of life
Finally, Jesus puts them out of their misery and tells them:
'I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.' (John 6.35)
[Repeat] Jesus isn't talking about loaves, but about himself.
So, if Jesus is the bread of life, what did the sign mean?
Well, first think about the twelve baskets left over. These represented the twelve tribes of Israel—if they had all been present, the whole nation—past, present, and future—Jesus would still have fed them all.
Second, back in Exodus each family was given as much as it needed to eat. But here there is a super-abundance of food.
Third, Moses had nothing to do with the manna coming, it was all done by God. But here, Jesus is the one who blesses the bread and distributes it. He is no prophet; he is God.
In the same way that Jesus fed those thousands of people, with more than enough to spare, so he is able to give life to all who come to him and believe. The sign doesn't satisfy—even those who ate the bread blessed by Jesus were hungry the next day—but the giver of the sign does satisfy, forever.
Jesus is the bread of life, the bread that gives life, the bread without which there is no life, only hunger and thirst. There is nothing we can do, but simply 'come' to him and 'believe' in him and he will give us life.
Why do you come to Jesus this morning? The crowds came to him wanting something to eat, and went away unsatisfied. I promise that you will be unsatisfied if you seek Jesus as they did. If you settle for the sign, ignoring what it points to, you will be unsatisfied.
But I promise you today—no, Jesus promises you—that if you come to Jesus and believe in him, he will give you himself, the true bread from heaven, and you will be satisfied.
Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us signs to help us know you better. Thank you for giving us gifts we haven't earned and don't deserve. We are sorry for the times when we have accepted your gifts, and acted as if we have earned and deserve them.
Thank you for sending your Son Jesus to be the bread of life for us, to give us eternal life. Please help us to see through the signs to him, to come to him, to believe and trust only in him, and the life that he gives. Please, give us today our daily bread.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Viewed
236 times since
05:12 28/07/08
Permanent Link