11/8/24
Trinity 11
Ephesians 4:25-5:2
John 6:35, 41-51
Throughout the month of August we are stuck into John chapter 6 which begins with the feeding of the 5000 on a mountainside in Galilee. This crowd witnessed the miracles Jesus had been performing. They began to follow him and the disciples around with curiosity and in hope of another free lunch after Jesus met the physical hunger of the crowd in the multiplication of the loaves and fishes.
Next, Jesus walked on the water through a storm in the dark of night to the fear and amazement of the disciples. There is no mention whether the storm stopped or not; what seems to matter is that the disciples’ fear was dissipated when Jesus reached them. One of the beautiful things about the Christian faith is the amount of creativity and imagination it requires of its followers.
The next day, the hungry crowd is back for more fish sarnies but none are on the menu. Jesus tells them not to work that food that will perish but the food that endures for eternal life. The heart-breaking and beautiful proclamation of ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whosoever believes in me will never be thirsty’ follows. This is where we start this morning.
At each turn throughout John 6, Jesus is ratcheting up what is at stake. He is making it clear he is not just a miracle sandwich-maker or a favourite history teacher as he corrects the beliefs of Jewish people listening to and arguing with him. Jesus is reminding them the bread that came down from heaven after they crossed the Red Sea was given to their ancestors came from God; Moses was only the means of delivery. This would have been difficult for the Jews to hear. Their beliefs were firmly held, rules were rules and needed to be followed.
We are living in a world right now, in a country right now where people are hearing things they do not like and reacting. Firmly held beliefs, however right or wrong, or extreme to either end are being challenged. It feels very unsettling and knocks our security. Riots over immigration, Facebook posts decrying the cut to the winter heating credit for pensioners. I am a Canadian so will not comment on the US election. Ukraine, Russia, Israel and Gaza. This is a sad state of affairs.
What can be done? Imagine for a moment that we took Paul’s instructions in the letter to the Ephesians. Paul is instructing the churches to focus on God and for the new believers in Jesus to to live in the light of Christ with specific moral commitment, to conduct relationships in the right way.
We spoke the truth to our neighbours instead of lying to them?
Paul says it is okay to be angry but do not sin. Be angry in the right way about the right things; the true injustices of the world.
Do not steal. Get a job and work honestly.
Share with those in need.
Don’t gossip and slander other people with either your tongue or your thumbs – let your words be graceful and kind.
Put away bitterness, wrath and anger, slander.
How about we be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you.
Live in love and Jesus loves us and gave himself up for us.
This is the world that all children, all of us should grow up in!
Maybe there are better ways to resolve differences and challenges to beliefs. Jesus is trying, I think, to expand their thinking and believing about God. Some of the crowd are willfully determined not to understand. Have you ever met people like that? They are not stupid or unintelligent, they are willingly incapable of seeing any other point of view. The crowd tries to divert the question by turning attention to Jesus’ family (son of a poor carpenter) and ‘who does he think he is?!’
Jesus is offering the crowd something better. Eternal life. Like all offers from God, we are free to turn it down or not recognize it at all. We can choose dust and ashes over the bread of life. Jesus knows this. We choose death rather than the life we were made for. Jesus chooses death too. He chooses to be in our death. He chooses to be the bread of life who dies so that we may live.
We need to choose life. We have all been given physical life; of course. We have all at some point experienced birth. Some more recently than others. There is more to life than just what we can see, touch, smell and experience. Again, back to imagination and creativity! We need to choose life because one day death will come. It is not the end of life but the start of eternal life, safe in the everlasting arms forever.
We all need to be fed spiritually. This is what we are doing in Communion. In the breaking of the bread we are receiving our bread for the next stage in the journey. We are choosing the bread of life over the dust and ashes. Jesus is the bread of life. May we choose this bread always.
