The Bread of Life

 8/1/21

Peace statue from Korea in memory of and solidarity with the enslavement of Koreans as "comfort women during the Second World War...

Just back from 10 days in Berlin visiting with family and friends. Another city struggling to deal with the continuing reality of Covid 19.  I had to prove  vaccination to get there and be tested negative to return home, But home I am again…and reflecting with Beverly Church on the Bread of Life…

’'Bread of Life”

Just one week ago, I was spending a long and wonderful day with my two grandchildren at the Berlin Zoo.  The first time I had seen my grandchildren in two years. My little grand daughter, now over 2 1/2, has become a little girl  with her own unique personality. 

As usual, much has happened since least we were together. I was in Pittsburgh for the memorial service, long delayed, for a good friend who had died of Covid last November. So many people came out. It reminded me of what Oz saids to the Tin Man…the quality of a heart is revealed not in how much you love but in how much you are loved. 

Yes Covid is  still with us. This new variant spreading fast. While much remains mysterious, one thing is clear…vaccination does work. And still….and still…I had to have a negative test three days before my flight in order to return to the US. 

The Olympics are happening.  With no spectators.  And we continue to reopen, step by uncertain step. Smoke from west coast wild fires wafts over New York City.  And we go about our own lives, each in our own struggles. And of course, my friend and our sister Geraldine is in the hospital. 

And just this week, we lost a great Presbyterian, Don Shriver, former President of Union Seminary, a child of the south who was a tireless witness for faithful following in the path of Jesus for justice and righteousness, spiritual mentor to a generation…

So what do you think about when you think about bread?  I have to say in Germany, they take bread seriously. It’s thick and it's dark and crunchy with seeds. My son goes out most mornings to bring fresh bread back from the bakery. 

I can also still remember the smell of fresh bread at the bakery I would go to with my grandfather as a little boy in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.  Or the fresh  baked bread we use to wipe out the apple butter pots at our annual family event.  And how many of us got into sour dough and other bread baking during the pandemic?

What we’re here to talk about today’s the  bread of life.  Having fed 5000, Jesus and his  disciples need a break.  But the crowd finds them anyways and wants to know “when did you get here?” Literally they were asking “How did you come to be here?” Which could be an even deeper question.  It was the same verb used for his Cana wedding wine event and the question about being “born from above.”  Look…they’re trying to figure out just who this Jesus is.

Jesus suspects that they’ve followed him not because they have understood a “sign,” but because he’s just fed them. So they want to know what signs? Like feeding 5000 wasn’t enough? We’ve always got this “what have you done  for me lately Jesus?” thing going on. 

Like faith is transactional. Like in the impeachment hearings…looking for quid pro quo. You do this for me, I’ll do this for you. 

The great Kentucky poet Wendell Berry says we have a “one night stand” culture, consumption without responsibility or relationship. 

I suppose we could ask ourselves, what are we looking for?

Jesus does what he does not out of a desire to “wow” us with magic tricks…or spectacular performances like David Blaine…he does what he does what he does in response to real human need. In the doing, he shows us who he is and more, who God is….and we see, but….

Look he says, Moses didn’t send the manna, God did..

Even Jesus didn’t provide food for 5000 or more, God did.

And Jesus is showing that what God gives goes further than any king, ruler, political party our President, past, present or future.

Jesus did not come here to make us feel better. He came to invite us into a new way of life. A new way of being …

Let me ask a question….why do we want people to come to church with us? What do we have to offer? What do we ask of them? It’s worth asking ourselves…

Ultimately, it has to be about God’s invitation, God’s desire, God’s offer…of abundant life for the world. And God provides us the means to that life…in the love of self, others and God….we must always see those together….THIS is the true BREAD of which Jesus speaks…which sustains us always …even when bread is hard to come by…

When Jesus announces I am the Bread of Life, that is the first of 26 I am statements he will make in John…

As we share in Holy Communion this morning, we take part in that Bread of Life…we celebrate our participation in a global, timeless community of abundant life…one commentator has said (Robert Foster?) that in this communion there is a new a Trinity….Jesus is the table, the food and the waiter…

As we join together today, each with our own elements, let us look at our bread…see it as part of one loaf we all share…

35Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever com

es to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Let those with ears to hear, hear…..We pray for each other. And ourselves. And for the healing of the world. And then each in our own place share in our virtual common loaf and cup. And then go out to our own lives....until we meet again

John 6: 24-35

24So 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.

25When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" 26Jesus 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. 27Do 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." 28Then they said to him, "What must we do to perform the works of God?" 29Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." 30So 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? 31Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" 32Then 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. 33For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." 34They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always."

35Jesus said 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."