Sunday
08/05/18 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “The Eternal Bread”
(“I
am the bread of life” Series – Part 1 of 4)
Old Testament
Scripture: Psalm 51:1-12
New Testament
Scripture: Ephesians 4:1-16
Gospel Lesson: John
6:24-35
Welcome again, my friends, my brothers and sisters in
Christ, on this the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost.
This morning, I am beginning a new sermon series that will
go all through this month of August. This sermon series is called the “I am the
bread of life”. Of the many ways that Jesus Christ tried to communicate to us, just
who he was and is, he often used metaphors.
In our lectionary scriptures for the entire month of
August, Jesus tells us in the gospel of John reading every Sunday of this month
that he is “the bread of life” (Jn. 6:35, NRSV). This is one of Jesus’ seven “I
Am” statements in the gospel of John. What are these seven “I Am” statements?
Here they are:
(https://letterpile.com/misc/7-I-Am-Statements-of-Jesus)
It
is important first of all once again, to understand that these statements are
metaphors that are being used by Jesus to communicate to us who he is. Jesus
isn’t saying this morning therefore, that he is a literal loaf of bread,
instead he is saying that he is the bread that feeds our hearts and souls.
Jesus is saying that he is the “Eternal Bread”.
Also, it is interesting to note that Jesus says, “I Am,”
instead of just saying, sure, “Bread of the World, yep that’s me”!
What is significant about saying the statement “I Am”? Well
in the Book of Exodus, which is in the Jewish Torah, or our Old Testament,
Moses is standing before the burning bush. Moses doesn’t understand how this
bush is burning and how he is hearing it to speak to him. Moses then demands
that the voice from the burning bush tell him his name. In response God says to
Moses in Exodus 3:14:
“I am who I am.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you’”
(Ex. 3:14, NRSV).
So in the Book of Exodus, God is
telling Moses who speaks to him through a burning bush, “you don’t demand to
know my name, I Am Who I Am” (Ex. 3:14, NRSV). Of course when I was a little
kid, my grandpa told me that God’s name was “Andy,” because in the Hymn “In the
Garden,” it says, “And he walks with me, and he talks with me”.
This morning then, we have one of the
famed “I Am” statement from Jesus Christ. Much like God spoke to Moses through
a burning bush, telling Moses “I Am,” Jesus this morning tells his disciples
and others, “I am the bread of life” (Jn. 6:35, NRSV). The only logical
conclusion one can draw here, is that Jesus is saying that he is the full
embodiment of God on earth. Jesus is saying that he is God in the flesh, fully
God and fully Human.
For the gospel of John begins by
saying in verses 1:1-2:
“In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (Jn. 1:1-2, NRSV).
“The Word” in
this scripture, or the “Logos” in Greek, is Jesus. Before time itself John
says, Jesus and the Father were face to face with other. The scripture then
says in John 1:14:
“And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have
seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth” (Jn. 1:14, NRSV).
So Jesus, or “The Word,” or the “Logos”
was with God before time, and that “Word,” God’s only son, “became flesh and
lived among us” (Jn. 1:14, NRSV).
This means my brothers and sisters,
that Jesus Christ, our Lord, was the fullness of God and human while on earth.
He was God wrapped in human flesh, as John 3:16 says:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so
that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life”
(Jn. 3:16, NRSV).
So God the Father and Jesus were face
to face before time, and God the Father sent his Son to earth to be with us.
In the Book of Exodus, Moses asks God
his name, and God says:
“I am who I am” (Ex. 3:14, NRSV).
This morning, and all through the
lectionary readings for August, Jesus says, “I am the bread of life” (Jn. 6:35,
NRSV). Do you see the connections between God speaking to Moses, and Jesus
speaking to us?
For example, Jesus said in John 14:9:
“Whoever has seen
me has seen the Father” (Jn. 14:9, NRSV).
Further, in John 8:58 Jesus says:
“Very truly, I tell
you, before Abraham was, I am” (Jn.
8:58, NRSV).
The scripture then says:
“So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid
himself and went out of the temple” (Jn. 8:59, NRSV).
So in John 8:58-59, so offended by
Jesus’ claim to be God on earth, people picked up stones to hit and kill him,
as this was blasphemy in the Jewish faith.
I tell you all of this to place
emphasis on Jesus’ “I Am” statements or metaphors. Now again, Jesus isn’t
saying he is like a sandwich at Panera Bread, he isn’t saying is like a loaf of
bread at Price Chopper, he is saying he is the eternal source of life. As many
of us are nourished by bread daily, Jesus is saying this morning that he can
feed us eternally in a different way. Jesus is saying that while real bread will
fill your stomachs, that he can fill your hearts and your souls.
In looking more closely at our gospel
reading for this morning again, there is reason that Jesus compares himself specifically
to bread. Let’s take a look again. Our gospel of John reading says:
“So 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. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him,
“Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus 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. Do 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” (Jn.
6:24-27, NRSV).
So
Jesus had just hours before feed the Five-Thousand with the loaves of bread and
the fishes. Then those people grew hungry again, and came to find Jesus to get
more food. Jesus then tells them that only reason that they came looking for
him was simply because they wanted more food to eat. Jesus explains to them after
this just who he is.
The
gospel continues on to say:
“Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the
works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe
in him whom he has sent.” So 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? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is
written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Then 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. For the bread of
God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the
world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always” (Jn. 6:28-34, NRSV).
In
response to this:
“Jesus 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”
(Jn. 6:35, NRSV).
I remember the first time that I saw
the movie “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” I was excited to see the
chocolate factory and of course the “oompa loompas”. Anyone else like that
movie?
I used to imagine as a small child what it would have been
like to actually go into this chocolate factory, if it existed. In this movie,
for those of us that have seen it, the tour of the chocolate factor was really one
big test. Willy Wonka wanted to see the character of the children and their
parents in person.
For those of us that have seen the
movie, we know that Violet turned violet. We know that “Veruca” fell down the
garage shaft after a “Golden Goose”. We know that the cowboy kid shrunk himself.
And in being a chubby kid of German ancestry, we all remember the German kid “Augustus”
who fell in the chocolate river and got sucked up through the tube.
It’s interesting to me that after each
one of these kids failed Willy Wonka’s test, that the “Oompa Loompas” would
then sing a song about what was wrong with what the kid that failed just did.
Yet at the end of Willy Wonka, the main
character “Charlie” passes the test, because he is honest, and puts others
before himself.
Now what is the comparison with this
morning’s gospel reading? The comparison is this, that Jesus feed many physically,
just like Willy Wonka invited the children and their families in to eat their
fill of sweets. Yet, there was something much bigger than the food. What was
bigger was truths behind the food.
Just for the record though, I would
very much love to own at least one “Everlasting Gobstopper”.
This
church, the Sidney United Methodist Church is great at feeding people real
bread, but when we bring people into this place, into our “chocolate factory”
let us remind them what the true treasure is. That Jesus Christ our Lord, lived
and died for us, and that he is indeed “The Eternal Bread” of the world. Amen.
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