The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. George Pejakovich, Assistant to the Dean
Grace Cathedral
08/09/09

John 6:35, 41-51

THIS IS THE SECOND OF OUR FOUR GOSPEL READINGS ON THE SUBJECT OF JESUS AS THE BREAD OF LIFE. AS YOU WILL HOPEFULLY RECALL, JESUS BEGINS THIS DISCOURSE BECAUSE OF THE MISUNDERSTANDING ON THE PART OF THE PEOPLE ABOUT HIS MIRACLE OF THE FEEDING OF THE FIVE THOUSAND. THE PEOPLE FOCUSED ON THE PHYSICAL BREAD HE PROVIDED AND MISSED THE WHOLE POINT OF WHAT HE WAS DOING. IN THE GOSPEL FOR TODAY, AND IN THE COMING WEEKS, WE HEAR JESUS TELLING THE PEOPLE EXACTLY WHAT IT WAS HE MEANT TO SHOW THE PEOPLE BY WHAT HE DID. AS WE HEAR HIS WORDS, OR EVEN WHEN WE READ THE TEXT, WE MIGHT JUST MISS THE EXTREME RADICAL NATURE OF WHAT HE IS SAYING TO THE CROWD AND TO THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS AMOUNG THE CROWD. AS WE DIG DEEPER INTO THE MEANING OF WHAT JESUS SAYS, WE BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND JUST WHY THE PEOPLE, AND THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS, GRUMBLED AND MURRMERD ABOUT WHAT HE SAID. WHEN WE GRASP THE CONTEXT OF THE RELIGIOUS, CULTURAL AND THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF HIS WORDS, WE UNDERSTAND THAT JESUS WAS FIGURATIVELY BEATING THEM ABOUT THE HEAD AND SHOULDERS OVER THEIR FAILURE TO GET HIS MESSAGE.

BREAD IS, AS WE HAVE HEARD, ESSENTIAL FOR LIFE. IT IS THE VERY FIRST FORM OF PRESERVED FOOD AND, WITH THE WHEAT OR BARLEY STORED FROM THE HARVEST GROUND UP INTO FLOUR MIXED WITH WATER, THERE IS FOOD AVAILABLE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. EARLY IN THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL, AND IN MOST OTHER BREAD – MAKING CULTURES, BREAD BECOMES ASSOCIATED WITH THE DIVINE, THE BLESSING OF GOD. IN ANCIENT ISRAEL, BREAD IS SO LINKED TO THE BLESSING OF GOD THAT EACH MORNING A FRESH LOAF OF BREAD WAS PLACED ON THE OFFERING TABLE IN FRONT OF THE HOLY OF HOLIES TO REMIND THE PEOPLE THAT BREAD, AND LIFE, IS A GIFT FROM GOD. THIS ASSOCIATION IS SO PERVASIVE IN THE LIFE OF ISRAEL THAT THE FIRST PRAYER FOR THE SABBATH MEAL HAS LONG BEEN “BLESSED ART THOU, O LORD GOD, KING OF THE UNIVERSE, WHO BRINGS FORTH BREAD FROM THE EARTH;” THE PRAYER WHICH IS STILL SAID EACH SABBATH EVE AROUND THE WORLD.

BY THE TIME OF THE FIRST CENTURY, THE TALMUD, THE COMMENTARY ON THE TORAH, TELLS US THAT THIS LINKAGE HAD BECOME SO FIRM IN THE MINDS OF ISRAEL THAT THE RABBIS WERE CALLING THE TORAH, THE WORD OF GOD, THE BREAD OF HEAVEN, OR THE BREAD OF LIFE.  WITHOUT GOD THERE CAN BE NO LIFE, AND HIS WORD, THE TORAH – HIS LAW, IS THE BREAD WHICH SUSTAINS THE LIFE OF HIS PEOPLE.

WHEN JESUS SAYS, “I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE,” IT ABSOLUTELY STUNNED THOSE WHO HEARD HIM. THEY BEGAN TO GRUMBLE AND MURMUR AND COMPLAIN TO EACH OTHER ABOUT HIM BECAUSE HE SAID THAT, AND SAID “I AM THE BREAD THAT CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN.” TO THE EARS OF ANYONE WHO KNEW THE TORAH AND THE TALMUD, JESUS COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE SHOCKING, BECAUSE HE JUST SAID THAT HE IS THE TORAH, THE WORD OF GOD – THE LAW OF GOD THAT SUSTAINS THE LIFE OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD. “JUST WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS?” THEY COMPLAINED. “WE KNOW HIS MOTHER AND FATHER – HOW CAN HE DARE TO SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT?”

JESUS HAMMERS THEM UNCEASINGLY, TELLING THEM TO STOP GRUMBLING. HE PARAPHRASES THE PROPHET JEREMIAH, REMINDING THEM THAT IN THE LAST DAYS GOD WILL MAKE A NEW COVENANT WITH HIS PEOPLE, WRITING HIS LAW IN THEIR HEARTS SO THAT ALL SHALL BE TAUGHT BY GOD. “HERE I AM,” HE IS TELLING THEM, I AM THE ONE YOU HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR, THE ONE WHO HAS COME FROM GOD TO GIVE YOU THE BREAD OF HEAVEN, AND I AM THAT BREAD. “WHOEVER BELIEVES HAS ETERNAL LIFE. I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE.” I IMAGINE THAT THIS SET OFF THE CROWD EVEN MORE, WITH GRUBLING AND ARGUMENT, AND EVEN GREAT ANGER.

SO JESUS HAMMERS THEM AGAIN BY TELLING THEM THAT THEIR ANCESTORS ATE THE MANNA IN THE WILDERNESS, AND THEY DIED. WHEN GOD WAS LEADING HIS PEOPLE OUT OF SLAVERY TO THE PROMISED LAND THROUGH THE WILDERNESS WHERE THERE WAS NO FOOD, GOD PROVIDED FOOD FROM HEAVEN EACH MORNING, BUT JUST ENOUGH FOR THAT DAY. THE PEOPLE HAD NO NAME FOR THE FLAKY BREAD – LIKE SUBSTANCE, SO THEY CALLED IT “MANNA,” WHICH MEANS “WHAT IS IT?” THEY DID NOT UNDERSTAND IT, BUT IT CAME FROM GOD AND IT NOURISHED THEM FOR THE DAY, AND SUSTAINED THEM EACH DAY ON THEIR JOURNEY. NOW, JESUS IS TELLING THEM, YOU DON’T HAVE TO WONDER WHAT IT IS THAT WILL NOURISH AND SUSTAIN YOU, “THIS IS THE BREAD THAT COMES DOWN FROM HEAVEN, SO THAT ONE MAY EAT OF IT AND NEVER DIE. I AM THE LIVING BREAD . . . AND THE BREAD THAT I WILL GIVE FOR THE WORLD IS MY FLESH.”

“JUST WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS, INDEED?” IT COULD HARDLY HAVE BEEN MORE CLEAR IN THE MINDS OF THOSE WHO HEARD HIM JUST WHO THIS JESUS THOUGHT HE WAS. THERE IS NO DOUBT ABOUT WHO JESUS THOUGHT HE WAS. THE QUESTION, NOW, FOR HIS HEARERS AND FOR ALL THE WORLD, IS “JUST WHO DO YOU THINK THIS JESUS IS?” THIS IS THE CRUX, THE KEY QUESTION OF LIFE, BECAUSE THE ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION IS TRULY A MATTER OF LIFE OR DEATH.
 
THOSE WHO ANSWER THE QUESTION BY BELIEVING THAT JESUS WAS MERELY A GREAT TEACHER WHO BECAME SELF – DELUDED AND OBSESSED WITH HIS OWN IMPORTANCE, OR JUST ANOTHER FANATIC SELLING “PIE IN THE SKY” RELIGION, OR WHO DISMISS HIM COMPLETELY AS PERHAPS HISTORICALLY IMPORTANT BUT ULTIMATELY MEANINGLESS, OR EVEN FICTICIOUS HAVE CHOSEN THE WAY OF DEATH OVER LIFE. IT DOES NOT MATTER HOW “GOOD” THEY MAY BE, OR HOW MORAL THEIRS LIVES ARE, OR WHAT WONDERFUL THINGS THEY MIGHT DO, THEY LIVE ONLY TO EAT THE BREAD THAT FEEDS THEIR BODIES THROUGH THE COURSE OF THEIR LIVES. THEY EAT THE BREAD WHICH PERISHES, FOR, TO THEM, THERE IS NO MORE TO LIFE THAN WHAT THEY CAN ACCESS WITH THEIR FIVE SENSES. ULTIMATELY, THEY LIVE ONLY FOR THEIR OWN SELVES.

THOSE WHO ANSWER THE QUESTION OF WHO JESUS IS BY BELIEVEING HE WAS, AND IS, THE BREAD OF LIFE KNOW THAT THEY DO NOT HAVE LIFE EXCEPT FROM THE HAND OF GOD. THEY KNOW THAT GOD IS THE SOURCE OF ALL THAT THERE IS, OR WILL EVER BE, AND THAT ALL THINGS COME FROM HIS HAND AND WILL, ONE DAY, RETURN TO HIM. THEY KNOW THAT THERE IS MORE TO LIFE THAN OUR OWN SELVES, AND THAT THE GOD WHO CREATED US CONTINUES TO SUSTAIN US AND NOURISH US BY THE MEANS OF HIS CREATION AND BY THE POWER OF HIS WORD. BY OUR BELIEF IN HIM, OUR TRUST IN HIM, HE FEEDS US WITH WHAT WE NEED FOR THE DAY, AND THROUGH THE GIFT OF HIS SON FEEDS US WITH WHAT WE NEED TO GIVE US LIFE NOW, AND FOREVER MORE. IN THIS JESUS, WHO IS THE WORD OF GOD MADE FLESH, THE BREAD WHICH CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN, IS THE BREAD WHICH IS THE LIFE OF THE WHOLE WORLD.

FEED ON THE BREAD OF LIFE. YOU DON’T HAVE TO ASK “WHAT IS IT?” IT IS JESUS, THE CHRIST, SON OF THE LIVING GOD, WHOM GOD SENT DOWN FROM HEAVEN TO GIVE YOU LIFE, AND STRENGHT AND HEALTH. FEED ON THE BREAD OF LIFE; STUDY THE WORD OF GOD, FOR IT WILL LEAD YOU CLOSER TO JESUS AND WILL GIVE YOU STRENGHT TO MEET LIFE’S CHALLENGES. FEED ON THE BREAD OF LIFE, AND GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD GOD DAILY WHEN YOU BREAK BREAD AT HOME; IT WILL REMIND YOU DAILY OF HIM FROM WHOM ALL THINGS COME. TRUST IN GOD, AND HE WILL PROVIDE. FEED ON THE BREAD OF LIFE AND GATHER TOGETHER FOR WORSHIP. COME AND TASTE THE LORD AND SEE THAT HE IS GOOD; FOR IN THE BODY AND BLOOD OF THE SACRAMENT IS HEALTH AND LIFE AND SALVATION. JESUS CHRIST IS THE BREAD OF HEAVEN; THE GIFT OF GOD FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD, AND IN HIM ALONE IS LIFE NOW, AND FOREVER MORE.
AMEN