John 6:35-51 / Don’t Forget …

Don’t Forget the Bread | John 6:35-51, Proper 14-B, August 8, 2021 | by Paul C. Sizemore |

A well-known Christian author Max Lucado tells of a time when his wife Denalyn phoned him ONE AFTERNOON, shortly before the end of his workday. She wanted him to stop by a local supermarket to purchase and bring home to her a loaf of bread.   An important part of this story, however, is that they had recently moved to a new subdivision of San Antonio, Texas, and Max Lucado had never even set his foot into this new SUPERMARKET before.

“Supermarket?” You talk about a “supermarket?”  Max Lucado contends that he had never stepped into a grocery store before as large as this one which truly was “Texas-sized!”  This grocery store was a super-doper supermarket!

Well, he entered the front doors, looked around, and saw this really large sign hanging from the northwest corner of the store that read: “Bread and Other Baked Goods!” but it was quite a long walk back there, and along the way he had become distracted.  A few initial steps into that grocery store, and he saw a great display of one of his favorite types of breakfast cereals, that he used to enjoy as a boy, that he had not seen in a long time.  So, he grabbed a box and put in into his grocery car.

Well, apprehending that box of breakfast cereal, caused him to take a direct walk to the “Dairy Section” of that supermarket, where he bought a gallon of milk; which was not the type of milk, Denalyn usually brought home, that which was only 1% milkfat in its content. He went for that variety of milk he had grown up in, known in Texas, and through the country really, as “Vitamin A WHOLE MILK.”

Reflecting on that particular type of milk, very cold, in the dairy section behind glass doors, reminded him also how he used to enjoy dunking “OREO” cookies into milk just like that when he was a child, too. Therefore, Max heads next to the cookie and cracker aisle, from which he places a package of the chocolate oreo cookies, with the white icing in the middle of them.

Well, one thing led to another, which led to another, so that when Max Lucado got home and placed five bags of paper grocery bags on his wife’s kitchen counter, she was certainly surprised to not even find one loaf of bread anywhere in all the groceries, from the gigantic supermarket, that her husband had purchased on that day. And yet kind of thing can happen to any of us, if we are not careful, can it not?

We all know the meaning of distraction, and how we set out to accomplish a certain goal in our lives one day, only to discover that our lives went into a totally different direction at the end of that day.

 

Two weeks ago, our Gospel lesson was Mark 6:45-56, in which we read Mark’s version, about how Jesus had planned a day of rest and relaxation for his disciples and him, only to have their scheduled disrupted because the profound sense of compassion Jesus exercised to an extremely large crowd of people, totaling in the “thousands,” and how at the end of the day Jesus fed those 5000 men, in addition to many women and children, a meal that was multiplied forth from only 5 small barley loaves of bread and two fish. And all ate and were satisfied. And after that meal 10 basketfuls of bread were gathered up.

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Last Sunday, on August 1^st, our Gospel Lesson from John 6:22-35 told us how that same group of people gathered before Jesus a second time, saying to him: “Do it again, Lord! Do it again!”  And on this day Jesus challenged their whole sense of priorities, informing them and us, how quickly we can shortchange ourselves when we allow our lives to be misshaped through an unwise view of priorities.

Jesus said to them in John 6:27, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on him, God the Father has set his seal!”

Jesus spoke of this “food that endures to eternal life” already during those 40 days he spent in the wilderness, being tempted by Satan in every way which we are, although he never sinned!

Satan said to him, “If you are the Son of God then command that round stone laying there on the desert ground at your feet to become a loaf of bread!”

But Jesus refused to do so, quoting Deuteronomy 8:3 as his Scriptural support for not doing so! “Behold it is written man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God!”

When did God the Father sent his seal on his Son? Well, he did this in a number of different ways, but especially at the time when Jesus as the Son of God, was being baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.  The sky opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove, and the voice of the Heavenly Father was heard saying: “This is my Beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased!”

Getting back to the crowded who wanted Jesus to repeat the “sign” had had given them on the previous day, of feeding the multitudes of people with free bread and fish, again, a crowd of people said to our Lord, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”

Jesus answered them: “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent” (John 6:28-29). “It was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (John 6:32-33).

Last week, we dealt with the feeding of the 5,000. At the end of the story, the crowd is so excited about Jesus that they want to crown him King. This, of course, was not the purpose for which he was sent. Therefore, he withdrew to a nearby mountain.

The Apostle John tells us that once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there at the site, where he fed the multitudes, they got into boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”  Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me not because you saw the signs I performed, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

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Remember how we said last week that John always uses the word “sign” instead of miracle when he was describing the wondrous things that Jesus did. John sees these signs as evidence that Jesus is the Messiah.

The feeding of the 5,000 with the fishes and the loaves is a sign pointing to Jesus as the Messiah. Jesus says to the crowd, “You are looking for me, not because you saw the signs, I performed, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill . . .”

In other words, Jesus is trying to point them toward a spiritual reality rather than a physical one. All they are interested in is having their bellies full.  This was obviously frustrating to Jesus.

• From verse 32 on Jesus tries to correct the crowd’s perception of what just happened in the feeding of the 5,000. He wants to point them back to God. Therefore, in his explanation, he alludes back to the “MANNA” that God the Father gave to the people of Israel, back in the wilderness, to the children of Israel, one of which was no doubt one of their greatest watersheds that they would ever experience throughout their whole lives! For many Jews, Moses was the greatest of all the prophets. It was he who gave the Israelites manna.
• Therefore, Jesus corrected their perception of that event in three ways:
• (1). First, he reminded them it was God, not Moses, who provided the manna.
• (2). Secondly, he wanted them to see that God is still giving manna now, not just in the past.
• (3). And thirdly, he tried to make them understand that he, Jesus, is the true Bread from Heaven. Manna was food for the body, but Jesus is God’s full provision for the soul. Jesus himself is the Bread of God.

The crowd didn’t understand what he was talking about. Just like the woman at the well (John 4:1-14), who didn’t understand about the water that Jesus was offering her, the crowd didn’t understand Jesus when he said that the food which he offered was better than the manna with which Moses fed the children of Israel.

Both water and bread in scripture are used in reference to that which gives life. Jesus called Himself both bread and water for truly he is the giver of life (John 10:10b; John 3:16).  “I am the Bread of Life . . . He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Certainly, Jesus was not referring to the bread and water that only fills and satisfies a human being for a while. For as he said to the woman at the well, if she drank of the well’s water, she would surely thirst again, but the water he was offering her was Living water that would satisfy her thirst forever.

And now, in our lesson for today, he was offering this crowd bread that would satisfy them forever.

You see, Jesus was making a profound point in the statement, “I am the bread of life,” that, as Westerners, we may not fully grasp.

 

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For us, bread is optional. We may enjoy it, especially the variety of breads we can purchase in our supermarkets today.

We can get our bread as white bread, whole wheat bread, multigrain bread, cornbread, flatbread, cinnamon bread, rye bread, buckwheat bread, Italian bread, yeasted bread, unleavened bread, sourdough bread, etc. We can get our bread as a biscuit, a roll, a waffle, a bagel, a bun . . . and the list goes on seemingly forever.

But in Palestine, bread was not looked upon as an add-on to a meal. Bread was the essential staple. You might have nothing else to eat, but so long as you had bread, you could survive.

Bread was seen as that which provides life. Jesus was saying to the crowd and is saying to us today, “I am the one who provides life abundant and everlasting. I am not an option, if you really want life. I am essential. I am necessary.”

You may remember that story that came out of World War II. The Germans forced many twelve- and thirteen-year-old boys into the Junior Gestapo. These boys were treated very harshly and given inhumane jobs to perform.

When the war ended, most of these young people had lost track of their families and wandered without food or shelter. As part of an aid program to post-war Germany, many of these youths were placed in tent cities. Here doctors and psychologists worked with the boys in at attempt to restore their mental and physical health.

These boys were suffering serious emotional problems.

Many of the boys would awaken in the middle of the night, screaming in terror.

One doctor suggested that the boys’ fears might relate to a lack of security. What could they do to make them feel more secure?

Someone had an idea for handling that fear. After feeding the boys a large meal, they put the boys to bed with a piece of bread in their hands, which they were told to save until morning. For children who knew the pain of near starvation, this bread represented security to them.

That night, all the boys fell asleep peacefully, each clutching his bread. The boys then slept soundly because, after so many years of hunger, they finally had the assurance of food for the next day.

Because we are not as dependent on bread as Jesus’ original listeners, we may not appreciate as much as they what he meant when he said that he is the bread of life. He is saying, in effect: “You cannot live without me. I am essential to your life.” This may be why the first petition in the Lord’s Prayer is, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

For many people historically, life without bread was impossible. People in less affluent lands have a much greater appreciation of this idea than we do.

That seemed to be the end of the story, but it so happened, in the Providence of God, there was a man anxiously seeking for truth walking along the line that very day. He picked up a little bit of paper as he walked along and looked at it. The words on the bit of paper were in his own language. They said simply, “the Bread of Life.”

He didn’t know what that meant; but he inquired among his friends. One of them said: “I can tell you; it is out of the Christian book. You must not read it or you will be defiled.”

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The man thought for a moment and then said: “I want to read the book that contains that beautiful phrase, the Bread of Life.”

He bought a copy of the New Testament. He was shown where the sentence occurred in today’s lesson, “I am the Bread of Life.” As he studied the gospel, light flooded into his heart. He not only became a follower of Jesus Christ! He also became a preacher of the gospel in the Central Provinces of India.

As a result of our first human parents falling into sin, through their disobedience of God’s clear command, there is a void within all of us, of God’s own Spirit, that results in our so often suffering a lack of meaning and a lack of purpose in this world, as to what their whole lives should be about in this world.

Jesus promised one day that he is the fullness of life that all of us are looking for (John 10:10).  And in his model prayer that he gave us in the “Lord’s Prayer,” we ask him to: “Give us this day our daily bread.” Of course, this includes “bread” for our bodies, all that we need to support us daily in our bodies and lives! But we also need the “Word of the Lord” to be fully alive in this world.  That bread is Christ. Who else loves us as much as he?

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, true God begotten of the Father from eternity, and true Man born of the Virgin Mary, was conceived by the Holy Spirit, to enter our world as One of us and make a selfless sacrifice 2000 years ago on our behalf, so that we could have eternal life. Of all the humongous sacrifices that have been made by loving human beings throughout the centuries, to save other, none has even been greater than that of the sinless Son of God, so that ours also might be the greatest gain.

The Bread of Life has come so that we can have life! Are we going to respond with indifference, or will we, because of our gratitude and appreciation, surrender our whole lives in loving service and thanksgiving to him?