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The Bread of Heaven
Exodus 16: 1-15 =
&nb=
sp; =
John 6: 24-35
The s=
cene was
a Methodist church camp where my brother and I had gone during the summer a=
fter
I’d finished sixth grade. Among my memories of that week is a lakeside
campfire the last night we were there. The minister who was chaplain for the
week was expounding on one of the stories about Jesus that involves boats a=
nd
water. He was speaking to us from a rowboat just off shore to add drama to =
the
message. Meanwhile, the boys around me were placing bets on whether he̵=
7;d
finish still dry.
At th=
e end of
his sermon he gave an invitation, asking those of us who wanted to
“accept” Jesus into our lives to come forward, pick up one of t=
he
small sticks that were conveniently piles between us and the bonfire, and m=
ake
our wooden contribution to build the flames of faith as a symbolic gesture =
of
our new commitment. Now you must remember that Methodists trace their origi=
ns,
not to John Calvin, but to John Wesley who described his conversion experie=
nce
in terms of “a heart strangely warmed.”
IR=
17;ll
make no comment as to the strangeness of what went on in camp that night, b=
ut
were I responding to that invitation today, I would be far less literal-min=
ded
than I was at the age of twelve. I would have done my part to warm (or re-w=
arm)
everyone’s heart (and other body parts) by helping to build an even
bigger campfire. But I was not yet able to be philosophically --- or, in th=
is
case, theologically --- reflective about such matters, so unlike most of the
kids around me I remained, quite literally, a ‘bump on a log.’ I
had quickly sorted out the nature of that invitation and said to myself:
“I’ve already done that. . . . That’s why I’m at th=
is
camp rather than some other.”
Littl=
e did I
realize at the time that such a cerebral evaluation of what was, for many, a
very emotional moment, foreshadowed my pre-destination to become a
Presbyterian! I’m sure my brother, two years older, had already commi=
tted
his life to Christ, as well, but he joined the large majority of other kids=
who
got up and took their symbolic branches to the campfire. My brother was more
inclined to go along with the crowd than I, a trait also pre-disposing me to
becoming a Presbyterian.
To th=
e extent
that a twelve-year-old can apprehend the mysteries of faith, I felt like I =
had
already responded to Jesus’ claim upon my heart and was in the early
stages of a life-long journey of discovering what that commitment means. Th=
at
journey still goes on. . . .
In
today’s gospel passage a crowd that had gathered near the Sea of Gali=
lee
to see and hear the prophet and miracle worker from Nazareth is trying to
apprehend the mysteries of faith, as well. As with me at the age of twelve,
their literalism was getting in the way of their understanding the deeper
meaning of things. At the end of the day described in John’s narrativ=
e, we
are left to wonder if many of them departed more confused about the God
business than when they’d started. All of us have days like that, too=
. .
. .
In ad=
dition
to the preaching and healing the crowd had witnessed, Jesus had been the me=
dium
through whom they had been provided a meal with what seemed, at first, a
totally inadequate supply of food. Being sufficiently impressed by all they=
had
seen and heard, many among them became convinced that Jesus must be “=
the
promised one of God,” and wanted to crown him king.
Like =
others
who witnessed Jesus talking about and demonstrating the ‘signs’=
of
God’s kingdom, the crowd misunderstood the nature of that to which all
his works pointed. Pressing metaphors of faith too literally can, in any ag=
e,
lead to trouble. Confusing spiritual kingdoms with worldly ones still happe=
ns,
of course. Scary things were said and done in our own country at least seve=
ral
times in our history as result of language virtually identifying the Americ=
an
way of life with the kingdom of God. A lot of people have been hurt as a
consequence. The State of Israel behaves as if the spiritual vision in their
scriptures of Jews as the “chosen” people of God living in a la=
nd
promised them thousands of years ago now justifies their seizure of land fr=
om
current residents and justifies violence and injustice toward others in the
Middle East. A lot of people =
have
been hurt as a consequence.
So be=
fore
things gets similarly out of hand with the crowd in today’s story, Je=
sus
escapes to a spot where he can be alone, perhaps to re-center himself
concerning the purpose for which he had come into the world. Had he allowed
them to make him a national political idol, a lot of people would have gott=
en
hurt by the Roman occupiers and their Jewish sympathizers who enjoyed speci=
al
privileges and had a vested interest in keeping things just as they are.
Luke’s version of ‘the temptation story,’ you may remembe=
r,
ends by saying that when the devil had finished his testing of Jesus, the
tempter departed from him until an opportune time. This was surely one of t=
hose
“opportune times” but, to use a contemporary sports metaphor:
“Jesus stuck to his game plan.”
How o=
ften
does the evil of this world tempt us to use in self-aggrandizing ways whate=
ver
powers we may have over others, though we know what the Word of God says ab=
out
such things? How often do we tolerate, even defend, the injustices of this
world --- like our broken healthcare system --- because we are among those
having special privileges or a vested interest in keeping things the way th=
ey
are. Take a look at the millions of dollars being spent by health-care and
pharmaceutical companies to influence in their favor the current debate goi=
ng
on in Congress. Our health-care coordinator has put some of those informati=
on
sheets in various locations around the church.
As a =
church
that responded to the health-care crisis by starting and hosting a free cli=
nic
in our building, we should be among those most interested in changing what =
has
become an inadequate and unjust system. There are many in the larger church=
who
believe --- correctly, I think --- that meaningful reform will never come u=
ntil
the faith communities weigh in as they did in the Civil Rights Movement, not
necessarily designing for a worldly kingdom the aquaduct system, but demand=
ing,
as did the prophets of that spiritual kingdom of God, that “justice r=
oll
down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
After=
rowing
and walking across the Sea, Jesus and his disciples are tracked down by a p=
osse
of boats and a crowd once more gathers around him in Capernaum. They ask him
the first of four questions that frame today’s lesson: Rabbi, when did
you come here? On the surface the question is chronological and geographica=
l,
but it’s also a play on words. Whether the questioner knows it or not=
---
a characteristic ploy in John’s gospel --- it also asks when and how =
did
the Son of God enter the affairs of humankind, why should I be interested in
him, and where can he be found? They are questions still relevant to us.
Jesus=
tells
them that they are looking for him for all the wrong reasons. Somehow,
miraculously, they had gotten their bellies full of bread the day before but
missed the point of it all. They’d been wowed by the feeding miracle =
as
if it were an end in itself. Surely Jesus in his ministry tended to the
physical needs of those he met --- and we who follow him must do likewise. =
But
the feeding of the multitude, as well as the other “signs” or
miracles he performed was intended to produce in them faith in the living G=
od
and in the Son whom God sent.
The c=
rowd
once again is looking for something tangible about this “bread.”
Was it like the manna given their ancestors to prevent starvation in the
wilderness? After clarifying that the source of that life-sustaining manna =
was
God, not Moses, Jesus goes on to say that the “bread” of which =
he
speaks is still being given to those who will receive it.
God l=
oves us.
God cares for us. God provides ways to get us through our times of need but
knows we are needy beyond the everyday necessities of life. There is more to
life than feeding our faces, and until the crowd --- and we --- catch on,
we’ll never find what can satisfy our deepest longings --- our hunger=
for
love and peace, for meaning and belonging. Only faith in God and in the one=
God
has sent --- the “Bread of Life”--- will provide that food, and=
do
so eternally.When the crowd asks about doing the work of God in order to ob=
tain
that eternal bread, Jesus’ answer is not a ‘laundry list’=
of
good deeds they need to perform, but faith.
Willi=
am
Willimon, a former professor and Dean of the Chapel at Duke University̵=
7;s
Divinity School and now a Methodist bishop, suggests that the difficulty in
understanding this passage has to do with the peculiar kind of truth it add=
resses
for which mere intellect is inadequate to reveal. Willimon explains:
“What if the idea we are attempting to think about is related to
‘the way, the truth, and the life?’ What if the kingdom under
consideration is ‘not of this world,’ the bread being considere=
d is
‘from heaven’ rather than from here? What if we have a truth he=
re
that we are unable to ‘get’ (just like the crowds and even the
disciples didn’t seem to ‘get it.’ It may be a truth that
must be given. We ‘get it’ as a gift.”
The g=
ift, of
course is faith. Willimon goes on to say that “‘faith,’ as
the word is used here, means more than clarity about the facts, belief in a=
set
of propositions. Faith means encounter with a person who is ‘the way,=
the
truth, and the life.’ The one who speaks to us in this peculiarly
metaphorical way is the one who desires not only that we think about him but
that we feed on him, ingest him, implying that we could starve to death wit=
hout
him.”
As we
approach the Lord’s table this day and take unto ourselves the bread =
that
is somehow the body of Christ, just as we are somehow the Body of Christ, l=
et
us consider the ancient, yet ever relevant, proclamation we’ll hear in
the liturgy of the Lord’s Supper: “Great is the mystery of fait=
h:
Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.”