John 6:41-51

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost  -  12 August 2018

Rev. John Derme

Why do you eat? Your first answer might be something about how eating is necessary for survival. That's true! But that's not the only reason you eat. Most of us don’t only eat the amount of food or the kinds of food that would keep us alive. Most of you also eat, because you enjoy it. It can be fun to eat a big meal! Yet, for the meal to be beneficial, it needs to provide adequate nourishment.

When Jesus fed the 5000, he provided for the people’s nourishment and he gave them plenty to enjoy, as evidenced by the twelve basketfuls of food that remained. Last Sunday, we saw that the people had enjoyed it so much that they chased after him for more free meals and other impressive miracles. Then Jesus tried to give them something even more nourishing. In the Gospel for today, we look even more closely at the meal Jesus offered them and the meal he offers us. At first glance, it may not look all that enjoyable. But it’s the only food you’ll ever really need. Fill up on Bread from heaven! It may not look like a feast, but it nourishes for eternity.

Why did the crowd demand another sign from Jesus when he invited them to believe in him? Why did they grumble when he said, “I have come down from heaven”? He sure didn’t look like he’d come from heaven. He was a human being, just like each of them. They knew his parents – or, at least, they thought they did. They never questioned their assumption that Jesus was the son of Joseph. They thought they knew all about God and they thought they knew all about Jesus – Mary and Joseph’s kid. “How can he all of the sudden claim to have come from heaven?”

The Jews weren’t opposed to the thought of a person coming with a message from God. They knew the Old Testament prophets had come from God. They weren’t opposed to the thought of someone coming from heaven. They were anticipating the coming of the Messiah. But they didn’t believe that this man could have come from heaven! They were too busy complaining about him! He didn’t fit their qualifications. So even though they had seen him do great miracles, they weren’t interested in the spiritual food that he offered them.

How about you? Does Jesus fit your qualifications? --- “A lot of people make fun of the Christian faith. If Jesus truly came from heaven, sent by God, shouldn’t he stop people from making fun of us and make them believe in him?” --- “Sure, I can see times when God has blessed my life. But what about all the bad things that have happened to me? Shouldn’t the Son of God from heaven do something to protect my health or my job or my family members?” --- “Shouldn’t the Son of God from heaven be able to make our Christian congregation grow faster and grant us success in everything we do?”

Whatever qualifications your sinful nature has for Jesus, it makes it difficult for you to see how he came from heaven. It would love for you to see him as an ordinary person, the son of Joseph and Mary, and to think of the fact that he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin as humble foolishness. But it would be just as happy for you to be unsatisfied with the humble way that he works in your life, that he doesn’t wield his power to solve all your problems and give you everything you want. Your sinful nature would love for you to doubt him when you look at the humble way he works here in the church, through humble people and words, humble water, bread, and wine. If you would lose your trust in the humble way he works, you will lose the blessings he offers and forfeit the eternal life he gives.

Jesus humbly offers you himself, the Bread of life. He may not look like God, as he teaches in the synagogue of Capernaum. His words don’t dance or jump off the page, as you read them in your Bible. That’s because he veiled himself in flesh. That’s because he hides his power behind black and red ink on a white page. Jesus offers you food that will nourish you forever, but the very way he offers it proves that you can’t accept it on your own. Fill up on Bread from heaven! It may not look like a feast, but it nourishes for eternity.

In the Gospel Jesus says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” On your own, you can’t come to Jesus. You can’t accept the food that he offers. And even if you could, you never would. It’s too simple. He’s too humble. He doesn’t fit any human qualification for Messiah from heaven. So the Father uses his humble means to draw people to the Son. Jesus rules out any chance that you or I could cooperate in our coming to him. It’s God’s work from first to last. And it has always been God’s work. Jesus proved that by pointing back to the Old Testament: “It is written in the prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’”

But do you still think Jesus is too humble to be the one who was sent from heaven? Jesus warns that there is no such thing as a relationship with God without a relationship with him: “Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father.” By his grace, you have been taught by God. The Father has drawn you to his Son. You have received Jesus – you have eaten the Bread of life! And in this relationship that you share with God the Father and God the Son, you are the recipient of all the benefits.

Jesus continues, “I tell you the truth, whoever believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a person may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever.” If you go a while without eating, you are going to get hungry. If you go too long, you may even starve to death. So you eat food. If you eat, you’ll be nourished and live. But you realize that you’re going to get hungry again. You realize that no matter how much food you eat, you’re still going to die.

Jesus, however, offers you bread, which you may eat and never be hungry again, which you may eat and live forever. His offer would be interesting if he were talking about physical food that ends physical hunger and gives physical life. But the food he has to offer is far better. He offers himself as spiritual food. Receive him and your soul will always be nourished. You’ll never need proof to assure yourself that he is working in your life. His words are all the proof you’ll need. You’ll never need any physical blessings to show you that he’s protecting you. To be sure, he will send you physical blessings. But even if he didn’t, you could be satisfied in his care. You’ll never need any miraculous signs that he is blessing our church, because he’s given us all the blessings we need.

Yes, Jesus has given us himself. He says, “This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” When he gave his flesh into death on the cross, he won forgiveness for the times we were unsatisfied with him, any time that he didn’t fit our sinful nature’s qualifications for the Son of God from heaven. And because he rose from the dead, he can assure us, “I will raise you up at the Last Day.”

Brothers and sisters, God the Father sent his Son from heaven. His Son, the Bread of life, has given his flesh into death for you. The Father has drawn you to his Son so that you may receive him in faith. Fill up on Bread from heaven! Take every opportunity to enjoy the spiritual feast he has prepared for you.

No matter how filling your Sunday dinner is, you don't limit yourself to that one meal per week. Why is it then that we often come to church on Sunday to eat the Bread of life, only to starve ourselves the rest of the week? Don’t limit your soul to one meal per week. Enjoy the bread you receive here everyday! Spend some time with your family at Jesus’ table when you read from the Bible around your own table. Meet one-on-one with Jesus in a devotion for some much-needed personal time with him. Take advantage of the opportunities for nourishing your faith that your congregation offers to you in Bible studies on Sunday mornings and throughout the week!

Parents and grandparents, any of you who take care of children, you like to feed your children food that will help them to grow up healthy and nourished. It shows that you love those children. Don’t forget to feed them the food that will nourish them for eternity. Share the Bible’s gospel message with them as you read them Bible stories. Bring them to Sunday School to learn more. Your church is eager to assist you in giving your children more opportunities to feed on the Bread of life.

The Bread of life doesn’t always look like a feast. He looked like an ordinary man to the Jews in the synagogue of Capernaum. His work among us often appears humble as well: parents bringing their newborn to the font, so the pastor can pour water over his head, a father reading from the Bible to his family after a meal, a mother reading a Bible story at bed time, a grandmother teaching her grandson hymns, a Sunday School teacher telling her students that their sins are gone because Jesus died on the cross. None of these activities is going to win you any special award or recognition, at least, not until Jesus raises you at the Last Day. But when he does raise you from the dead, you will hear the Bread of life himself say to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Come and enjoy my feast for eternity.” And there you will sit to be with God the Father and God the Son forever with all those whom you brought to fill up on the Bread from heaven.

Until that day when you feast forever, enjoy the feast that Jesus serves you here, the feast that nourishes eternally. Fill up on the Bread of life until you are so well nourished that you can sit at your table and pray, “Jesus, only Jesus! He is my food eternal, my life, my salvation! Even if I starved to death, I would be full with him for all eternity!”