I Kings 19:4-8
PS.34:1-8
Eph.4:25-5:2
John 6:38,41-51

Pentecost 9
Proper 13B RCL

THE BREAD OF LIFE

Credits: Pulp.Resource 8/3-10/97, 2000, 2003
Previous: 97,00 (revised 06)

***************

"I am the bread of life ... I am the living bread that comes down from heaven". I don't know about you, but I never met a bread that I did not like. Flat, chewy Near Eastern bread- hearty, hard-crusted Greek bread - that dark, heavy German bread - French croissants - mother's biscuits. I love just about every bread that I have tasted.

Food can get fancy and elaborate, but it never gets much better, certainly not more basic, than bread ..

Well, in today's Gospel, Jesus adds another kind of bread to the list. He is bread that comes down from heaven, bread of life.

Throughout the Gospel of John, we meet words that mean more than we normally think they mean. Water is more than water; it is living water. Bread is more than bread; it is bread from heaven. That is a favorite device in this Gospel.

The crowds followed Jesus, apparently looking for more bread in the literal sense. But Jesus wants to give them bread that is beyond mere bread. Surely Jesus does not deny that physical needs are important; He had fed the crowds, after all. And we know that gnawing feeling in the pit of the stomach when we go without food. But we also that gnawing pain in the center of the soul. I know lots of people today who are hungry, but not just for bread. Jesus seems to be talking about that kind of hunger here.

Maybe you came to church today because you are hungry in that sense. When we are physically hungry, it is a reminder that we are creatures, animals that need nourishment, or we die. But there is another kind of hunger among us, the death of the soul, that wasting-away when we lose our appetite for life, and when our eyes seem to have become dull to the world, and when we don't know if we can go on. Death is known to us, all right. Not dramatic, momentary death, but death that comes day by day and drop by drop.

Maybe you came to church today because you are hungry, and dying in that deeper sense. And if you came for that reason, no amount of pot-luck suppers will be any help to you.

So think of Jesus today in the way that He urges here - as Bread from heaven. He is that bread which satisfies you when nothing else can. Your soul will never be satisfied with the things that fill your belly. No food, no loved one, no job, no wealth, no success, no fulfillment, will satisfy your deep hunger. The heart that is open to that kind of hunger will understand when Jesus says He is the Good Shepherd, the Vine, the Door of the sheep, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Today, He tells us that He is the Bread from heaven. Just as the Israelites had manna in the wilderness to sustain them during the exodus from Egypt and the wanderings in the wilderness, Jesus says He is like that bread, come down to sustain us. The stress here is on Bread that is given, more than on bread that is eaten. He is the Bread that comes down from heaven, as a gift.

So take your time; chew on that Bread, bit by bit. It is not dramatic; it is just life-giving. Take time to enjoy Him, to let Him become part of your life and in the process give you life, and satisfy your deepest hunger.

When I ask people why they are here is church Sunday after Sunday, this is one of the main reasons they give: "I am here to get nourished and make it through the week." In this church, there is rarely anything too dramatic, or too striking. Mostly, when we are at our best, it's just the weekly, ordinary reading of Scripture, praying of prayers, singing of hymns, preaching and listening to sermons. Perhaps that is why the Lord's table is the focus, the visual center of the church building: for that is where we are fed.

There are times, of course, when even a person of faith loses his or her vision. To live in the world means to be bombarded by its calculating ways. These hits take their toll and weary the imagination. At such times, faith can seem distant and impractical. These are the times when we rely on the power of the words of Jesus. In a way that defies observation, in a way that cannot be measured like sugar content or calories, the Bread of Life becomes Bread and Wine. Eating that Bread and drinking from thatS Cup: they don't much fill your belly, but they provide nourishment for the soul and strength for the imagination. What we thought was unreal becomes real. What we thought was just a metaphor becomes a meal. The deepest hunger is satisfied. Whoever eats of this Bread will live for ever.