Bread of Life
John
6:35, 41-51
August 13, 2006
Vs. 6:35:
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.
Vs. 41-51:
Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said,
“I am the bread that came down from heaven.”
They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son
of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have
come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered them,
“Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come
to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person
up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be
taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes
to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God;
he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has
eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the
wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven,
so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came
down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the
bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Sparky Anderson was the manager of the Cincinnati and the Detroit
professional baseball teams. I happen to believe that he was one of the
best to ever manage the game. He was creative and he knew how to utilize
the strengths of all of his players.
Kate DeSmet wrote: "Clubhouse Prayers Inspire Tiger
Players," for a Detroit News article.
Sparky Anderson, the manager of the Detroit Tigers, made this candid
admission back in 1984, the year that the Tigers swept thru the season,
the playoffs, and the World Series without any serious opposition
whatsoever. This statement actually appeared in a major Detroit newspaper.
Don't forget, too, that Sparky was the manager of the "Big Red Machine"
(the Cincinnati Reds) back in the mid 70's. Sparky Anderson said: "But
I'm not lying when I say that this (religion) is so important to me. If I
had one great wish, it would be that I could honestly say that I was one
of His (God's) people. That's the one emptiness I have. "I'd give up
all the pennants and all the honors just to know that I was doing right by
Him."
In verse 35 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.
In life we set goals and that is good. We need to set goals so that we
will continue to move forward in our lives. We do not want to become like
a stagnant pool of water. Why does it become stagnant? It has water
flowing in it but it has none flowing out. Day after day the water stays
in the same place and becomes stagnant because it is not giving as it
receives. The water in the pool does not move forward thus it becomes
stagnant. By setting goals, we assure others and ourselves that we will
continue to move forward in life and that is great.
There can be one major bump in the rode of life as we move forward. When
we become so focused on our goals and our accomplishments of those goals,
we tend to lose our peripheral vision. We place blinders around our eyes
and we only see one pathway. That narrow vision keeps us from seeing the
“Big Picture” of life.
Jesus simply informed those around him that he was the Bread of Life. God
had sent him into the world to give the true gift of life to all who would
accept it. Jesus stood before the people and offered them that great gift
from God. The folks who heard the offer started mumbling among themselves.
They started grumbling at his words. The blinders were on and it kept them
from seeing the truth that stood before them. They were so caught up in
their own individual lives that they could not believe that this son of
Joseph and Mary could be a representative of the Creator God. It was
impossible for them to accept him as the one true Son of God who was sent
into the world to offer the bread of life to all persons. Their hearts,
souls and voices stated quite clearly: “How dare he say, I have come from
heaven.” They had become spiritually stagnant and they could not see the
greatest Truth that this world has ever known standing right there before
them.
Now before we are too hard on those who were present with Jesus that day,
we probably need to do some deep soul searching ourselves. I once heard a
person state: “I am a Christian.” In his next breath, he stated: “ I
believe Jesus was a good man and I follow his teachings. I am not sure
that I believe that he was the true Son of God.”
Some of us here this morning will remember a popular song from the 1960's.
It, I guess one could say, dealt with the apparent insignificance of life.
It asked this question, "Is that all there is?"
Humanity needs hope in order to survive the pressures
of the world today. We open up the newspaper and there is all this
negative news. The Middle East is exploding. People are being killed daily
because people refuse to talk with each other and seek a true higher way.
We turn the page and read of another murder or a robbery. It seems that
those violent acts are getting closer and closer to our neighborhoods. We
then flip over to another page and read of companies that are closing and
of people losing their jobs. Some of us go to the sports page for “good
news” and we discover stories about steroids, plagiarism, corruption and
immorality. That is how many of us start our mornings. The news that we
read makes it seem that all is lost and that we exist in a hopeless world.
Many years ago a submarine was rammed by another
ship and quickly sank off the Massachusetts coast. Although rescue was
impossible at that depth, a diver was dispatched to determine if there was
still life aboard the disabled vessel. The diver placed his helmeted ear
against the sub's hull and heard a faint tapping sound. Carefully he made
note of the dots and dashes and decoded the following question:
"is...there...any...hope?" With great remorse he slowly signaled back:
"Hope...in...God...alone."
God's Word as revealed by the evangelist in this Gospel passage proclaims
loudly to the world that Christ is the hope of the world; indeed Christ is
the basis of all human existence. It proclaims clearly that Jesus of
Nazareth is the bread of life. He is the bread of life that sustains all
life even during the negative times as well as during the great times.
Jesus stated to those who were having a hard time believing that day these
words: ”Everyone who has heard and learned from
the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one
who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever
believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.”
One’s Christian walk starts by believing in someone that might seem
unbelievable to others. It is having faith in Jesus of Nazareth. It is
believing and knowing in ones heart and soul that Jesus is the Son of God.
It is knowing that he is the bread of life.
Someone might ask: “How do you know?” It is by faith that one knows that
Jesus is the bread of life. There is a story about a woman in India who
had learned that she was a sinner and that God is holy and cannot pass by
sin. She often said, "I need some great prince to stand between my soul
and God."
After a while she heard that the Bible contained the account of a Savior
who had died for sinners. So she asked a Pundit to read the Bible to her.
He began at the first chapter of Matthew, and as he read the list of names
in the genealogy of Christ, the woman thought; “What a wonderful Prince
this Jesus must be to have such a long line of ancestors!” And then the
Pundit read: "Thou shalt call his name Jesus: for He shall save His people
from their sins." The woman exclaimed, "Oh, this is the Prince I want!
This is the Prince I want! This is the Prince who is also a Savior!"
She took that leap of faith and believed in Jesus as the bread of life.
She accepted him as her Savior from the words that were read to her. She
did not allow anything to be a stumbling block to her. She opened up her
heart and soul and received the greatest gift ever given to this world.
Christ stands before each one of us today making the same statement that
he made to the people of his community those many years ago. He stands
before us offering to each one of us the opportunity to receive the bread
of life. The bread that will empower us to be God’s people is here right
now. The bread that established God’s kingdom on earth is being offered to
all who would receive it.
Years ago, I had a person tell me why he did not come to church on
communion Sunday. He said: “I am not worthy to receive it that is why I do
not come when the church serves it.” To be honest, none of us are worthy
to receive the body and the blood of Christ. We are all sinners. We all
have gone against the will of God. God understood and understand that part
of our nature as a creation with free will is to go against the creator.
Due to that wisdom and His understanding of His created children, God sent
into the world the one source that would lead people back into the arms of
God. God sent the bread of life into the world to redeem God’s children
and to return God’s children back to the family of God.
William Barclay wrote: “The bread of life is ours for the taking. The only
way to that new relationship is through Jesus. Without him it would never
have been possible; and apart from him it is still impossible. No
searching of the human mind or longing of the human heart can fully find
God apart from Jesus.”
Jesus of Nazareth is the bread of life. He stands before all of us today
and before all in the world and states: “I am the
bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever
believes in me will never be thirsty.”
When we reach out and receive the bread of life then two things happens in
our lives. First, the hunger and the thirst that has been with us is now
gone. It is being provided to us daily by the source of life. Our hearts
and souls discover what they have been looking for in life. Our lives are
much more than just mere existence. Our lives are now thrilling and are at
peace. The second thing that happens to us is that we are safe and secure
in the bosom of God the Creator. God is walking the walk with us because
we reached out and accepted the true bread of life as revealed to all by
Jesus of Nazareth.
The offer that Christ made that day and makes today is one for eternity.
May we reach out and receive the bread of life, Jesus of Nazareth.
In the name of the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit.
Amen
