John 6:24-35
Jesus is always concerned about feeding hungry people.
- In John…he reminds the crowd that their ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness.
- He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
- And then here in our reading today Jesus calls himself the bread of life and shifts the focus from physical to spiritual hunger.
But we need to remember that after the resurrection…Jesus cooks breakfast and asks his disciple Peter about his love for Jesus:
- “Yes…Lord” replies Peter… “you know that I love you.”
- Jesus says to him: “Feed my lambs.”
- When Jesus tells Peter to feed his lambs…he is not talking about fighting world hunger.
- But Jesus is saying that to love him involves more than words and emotions.
- If we are going to love the Christ of God…we need to do
- We need to put bread in the stomachs of hungry people.
Food is a necessity…as essential to life as air…water and shelter.
- Much of the world’s population…throughout history and today…have concerns about where their next meal will come from.
- Despite all the technology we have developed since biblical times…
- Providing bread for hungry people is still a constant challenge.
- We feed the lambs of Jesus whenever we find a way to put bread in empty stomachs (DayStar Life Center).
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Jesus is not satisfied…though…by simply giving fish and bread to a crowd of hungry people.
- He tells them that: “the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
- The crowd perceives that this is precious bread…so they say:
- “Sir…give us this bread always.”
- Jesus says 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.”
In the novel City of Peace…a Methodist pastor named Harley Camden is moved by his bishop to a tiny church in Occoquan, Virginia (Quantico).
- In that new community…he meets a couple named Youssef and Sofia…Coptic Christians from Egypt.
- The pastor is surprised that they are close friends with the Bayatis family.
- The Bayatises are Muslim immigrants from Iraq.
- “The Bayatises have become some of our closest friends here in Occoquan” Youssef tells Pastor Harley one night at dinner…
- “Mostly because we have shared so many meals.
- Back in Egypt…Christians and Muslims are getting together less and less…which has caused the animosity and violence to increase.”
- “Food is important to us” Sofia says.
- “Think of the many times that Jesus sat down to eat with people…
- Even tax collectors and sinners.
- Christian hospitality is very important to Youssef and me.”
“I do appreciate it” says Pastor Harley.
- “Think of how much better the world would be if people actually sat down and ate with each other.”
- Pastor Harley Camden is right.
- The world would be a better place if people made efforts to sit down and break bread with one another.
- Shared meals have physical benefits…
- But also emotional…mental and spiritual benefits.
- Throughout his ministry…Jesus showed the people around him that meals can feed the soul as well as the body.
Luke tells us that on the road to Emmaus, the risen Jesus comes alongside two disciples…but they do not know who he is.
- Then…when he sits down to dinner with them…he takes bread…blesses it…breaks it and gives it to them.
- Then their eyes are opened…and they recognize him…and he vanishes from their sight.
- It is then that they realize their souls have been nourished by Jesus…the bread of life.
This story reminds us to feed the soul as well as the body.
- Such nourishment happened at Emmaus…when the eyes of the disciples were opened.
- Soul-feeding happens when the risen Christ nourishes us today…through the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.
- Whenever bread is broken…in a Communion meal…
- Or in an ordinary meal (our own monthly potluck) …
- We open our hearts to the presence of Christ.
- When we eat together…Jesus feeds us and fills us with his love.
The Emmaus story ends with the two disciples racing back to Jerusalem to share the news of their experience with the other disciples.
- They tell the others what happened on the road…and how Jesus “had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.”
- That is where they came face to face with the “true bread from heaven.”
- Their story teaches us how to welcome one another around a table…
- To strengthen our bonds with Jesus and with each other and to feed each other in body and in soul.
After lecturing at a Winnipeg university…Pastor Fred Craddock found himself stranded in a bus station during a surprise October snowstorm.
- Cold and wet…he finally found a seat at the depot’s café counter.
- A cranky…tired man in a greasy apron took his order.
- All they had was soup…one kind.
- So…Pastor Fred ordered the soup.
- The gray goop was the worst thing he had ever eaten.
- He wrapped his hands around the bowl…at least it kept his hands warm.
The door opened again…letting in the icy wind.
- “Close the door!” somebody yelled.
- In came a woman in a threadbare coat.
- She took a seat not far from the minister.
- The cranky man in the greasy apron went over to take her order.
- “Glass of water” she mumbled.
- He brought the water.
- “Now…what do you want?”
- “Just a glass of water and a chance to get warm.”
- “Look…I have customers that pay…what do you think this is…a church or something?
- If you’re not going to order…you’ve got to leave!”
- And he got real loud about it…so that everyone there could hear him.
So…she got up to leave.
- And almost as if rehearsed…everyone in that café got up and headed to the door.
- If she was going to have to leave…they were going…as well.
The man in the greasy apron saw this happening and blurted out:
- “All right…all right…she can stay.”
- Everyone sat down…and he brought her a bowl of soup.
- Pastor Fred asked the person sitting next to him: “Who is she?”
- “I never saw her in here before” …was the reply.
The place grew quiet…all that the minister heard was the sipping of that awful soup.
- The minister decided to try it again and put his spoon into the bowl.
- “You know” …the minister said later… “it really wasn’t bad.
- Everybody was eating the soup…and it was pretty good soup.
- I have no idea what kind of soup it was.
- I don’t know what was in it.
- But I do recall when I was eating it…it tasted a little bit like bread and wine.”
God’s compassion manages to transform the most horrible soup into the banquet of heaven.
- And a group of stranded travelers into a community.
- This is the “bread of heaven” that Jesus speaks of today.
- The food that will not perish.