Sermon / Pr. Ted Giese / August 9th / John 6:35-51 / More of The Bread Of Life

More Bread You Didn't Make - The Bread of Life: Mount Olive Lutheran Church / Rev. Ted A. Giese / John Chapter 6 Part 2. (John 6:35-51)

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given Me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise Him up on the last day.”

So the Jews grumbled about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will 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 He who is from God; He has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers 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. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord. Amen.

Grace peace and mercy to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Good Christian Friends. Our Gospel reading today starts with the words that ended our Gospel reading last week, where Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst." Today we're in the 2nd of 3 readings from the Gospel of John chapter 6.

Last week we talked about how Jesus is the Bread of life that you didn't have to make, that you didn't have to bake, that He was given to you from your heavenly Father, His heavenly Father, as a heavenly food that gives eternal life. You might have noticed in the Gospel reading that Jesus says, "whoever comes to Me shall not hunger," sometimes people get hung up on that because it sounds like something you have to do, as though its hard work. Today's text also says, "that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life," Jesus is the Son of God. So we have coming to Jesus, and we have looking to Jesus, and we have believing in Jesus. Sounds like a lot to do, coming, looking, believing.

These things are paralleled with some other things though: Jesus also says today that, "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me," He says this right before He says, "whoever comes to Me I will never cast out." Then you get Jesus saying that the will of His heavenly Father is that Jesus should lose nothing of all those whom His Father has given Him. You also have Jesus saying "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him," and that, "‘they will all be taught by God.’ [and because of this] Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.

So on the one hand we have, 'coming to Jesus, and we have looking to Jesus, and we have believing in Jesus' and on the other hand we have God the Father, 'giving, drawing, teaching.' And all that drawing people to Jesus, all that teaching people Jesus, all that leads to people being given to Jesus. Once they have been drawn in and taught and given to Jesus it is then that they look to Jesus, come to Him and believe in Him. Putting the looking, believing and coming to Jesus before the drawing, teaching and giving is like putting the cart before the horse.

"But, [you ask] does not the Gospel demand faith? [Didn't Jesus says, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst." Aren't those commands? Come to me, believe in me] Yes; that, however, is just the same kind of command as when you say to a hungry person, “Come, sit down at my table and eat.” the hungry person will not reply: “[forget that nonsense]! I will not take orders from you.” No, he will understand and accept your words as a kind invitation. That is what the Gospel is — a kind invitation to partake of heavenly blessings,"[1] to partake in the Bread of heaven, to partake in Jesus the Christ.

And yet "the Jews grumbled about [Jesus], ... [saying], “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” The man before them didn't meet there expectations, He wasn't turning out to be the sort of person that they expected, they had excuses ... isn't this just like the man invited to eat saying to the host, “[forget that nonsense]! I will not take orders from you.” Yes it is, but with the Jewish people gathered around Jesus there is something more going on, there is this problem, they don't know their hunger, or rather they feel like they have things covered spiritually - remember they came seeking Jesus because He gave them food for their bellies, and because they were focused on their bellies they were blind to the fact that Jesus has something to give them in addition to the earthly bread, in addition to clothing and shoes, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all that they have as He stands in front of them.

They are blind to their need when it comes to the spiritual blessing He has for them, they are convinced that spiritually they are not hungry. It is the hungry man who takes the kind invitation of the Gospel, the woman, the child with a spiritual hunger who hears the words of Jesus as sweet words, who in the preaching of the Gospel tastes and sees that the LORD is good. "Hunger is the best sauce," Food that is needed will be received most readily.[2] "It is not necessary to advertise food to hungry people, fuel to cold people,"[3] or clothing to naked people. The challenge is when a person doesn't not see that they are spiritually hungry, exposed to the spiritual elements of life, when they can't see that they are spiritually naked.

Turns out our modern experience in life is not all that new. People had Jesus standing right in front of them and they refused to eat because they believed that they were just fine. They were physically hungry sure, but because of the teachings of the Pharisees and all their little rules, because they had their heritage as Jews, because, because, because they thought they were doing everything necessary for their spiritual well being, all of this was a distraction. In Psalm 51 we read, "O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise. For You will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; You will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise."[4] The Jews were focused on keeping the law with little tricks, with making their sacrifices but they were missing the point - they were distracted. In today's reading you have Jesus setting Himself in their path, God the Father is drawing them away from their distractions and putting His Son Jesus in their path in such a way that they will either have to go around Him, trip and stumble over Him or stop and have Him as their own. Today Jesus is still placed in the path, and people are still being called away from the things that distract them, and they are still being invited by the Father to come to Jesus, to look to Jesus, to believe in Jesus.

The bigger distractions today are not generally the spiritual ones but rather they are the physical ones, life is comfortable, comfortable enough that people can be distracted by a feeling of fullness. They have money, they have food, they have leisure time, but strangely this makes most people not hungry for what they are missing spiritually, it seems only to whet their whistle for more physical things. They lustre of the physical wears off quickly and they are given over to the sin of coveting what they don't yet have. Their hunger is co-opted and redirected to lusting after bigger houses, more farmland, better skidoos, boats, and cabins on the lake, more vacations, and better electronics. More of ... everything, more of practically anything you can imagine, a new spouse a new life. They are like a woman hording beach wear, bikinis, while she freezes in the midst of a Spiritual winter, all the while distracted to think she's frolicking in the sand and surf.  

In Capernaum, in today's Gospel reading, Jesus says to those gathered there, to the Jews who were part of the 5,000 He'd fed with the 5 loaves and 2 fish, to the others who heard of it and came now to see if they too could fill their belies with that same physical food, to His disciples and followers, to the 12 He's handpicked, to all of these Jesus says, "Your fathers 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. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.” With these words Jesus does two things: 1) He draws a line in the sand - on the one side are those who hunger for the Bread He gives and on the other side those who are pushing away from the table before they've even had one bite, 2) He is pointing to the cross and to His passion.

They have before them the Bread of heaven that will not satisfy the hunger of the day only, but will give satisfaction and salvation eternally. His flesh and blood, the very flesh and blood they are looking at will be nailed to the cross for their sin for your sin, will be buried in the tomb dead, and will walk alive out of the tomb on the third day to give them life, to give you life. In that crowd there are those who will see Jesus, and touch Him, and eat with Him after His resurrection, people who will see Him ascend to heaven, who will receive that same Jesus in Holy Communion. You this day will receive that same Jesus in Holy Communion for the forgiveness of your sin and for the strengthening of your soul unto life everlasting. Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst.

Next week we will see how they, those gathered around Jesus that day, will respond to that line drawn in the sand. Are they going to be counted with those who hunger for the Bread He gives or will they be on the other side with those who are pushing away from the table before they've even had one bite, with those who are blind to their spiritual hunger.

Look at your life, have you been blind to your spiritual hunger, have you been distracted by life, have you fallen into the sin of coveting while failing to appreciate the thing God has already given you, have you been one of those who is pushing away the Bread of Life, pushing away Jesus? Dear ones, Jesus died for all of these sins, for all of your sin, and in Him you have forgiveness, for all of this and more. Jesus has more forgiveness than you have sin. You are forgiven, come now - taste and see that they Lord is Good, "Arise and eat for the journey is too great for you."[5] Pray for a hungry soul that daily desires the bread of heaven, that clings to Jesus and His cross.  Amen.    

Let us pray:

Lord have mercy on us, Christ have mercy on us, Lord have mercy on us, “take our minds and think through them, take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire; for the sake of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen.

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[1] The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel, C.F.W. Walther, Concordia Publishing House 1986, pg 9.
[2] 16th Century English Proverb, Oxford Treasury of Sayings & Quotations, Susan Ratcliffe,  Oxford University Press 2011, pg 89.
[3] ibid, pg 9.
[4] Psalm 51:15-17
[5] 1 Kings 19:7