True Bread Of life

 

All the people sat down; there were about five thousand men. Jesus took the bread, gave thanks to God, and distributed it to the people who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, and they all had as much as they wanted.

When they were all full, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces left over; let us not waste a bit." So they gathered them all and filled twelve baskets with the pieces left over from the five barley loaves which the people had eaten. Seeing this miracle that Jesus had performed, the people there said, "Surely this is the Prophet who was to come into the world!"       

Prayer:

Nowadays we hear so much about diets and what foods are good for us and which ones are not. Food specialists are recruited from far and wide to give their opinions about what is a healthy diet. Magazines regularly feature articles on methods on how to lose weight or how to stay slim, and what to eat to make sure that you have the figure that everyone admires. People worry about the amount of food they eat, what kind of food they enjoy eating and what effect food is having on the shape of their body. Here are a few tips for dieting that have been tried and tested.

v   If no one sees you eat it, it has no calories.

v   Snacks consumed watching a movie or sport do not count as they are part of the relaxation so important for your good health.

v   Late-night snacks have no calories.

v   Neatness cancels calories. If you take an extra bit of cake because it’s the last slice or to even things up those calories do not count.

v    If it tastes good, it can’t possibly be bad for you – eg. chips, KFC, MacDonald’s.

I think it was Mark Twain who once said, "Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside."

 

 

Today we hear about food in our Gospel reading. Some very ordinary food. Jesus satisfied the hunger of over 5,000 people with bread and fish. Like so many of the other Gospel incidents, the feeding of this large crowd of people recalls several great Old Testament events.

This miracle of feeding this large crowd also reminds us of the way God fed his people on their journey from Egypt to the Land of Canaan. Every morning without fail, the people were able to go around the camp and collect manna, a flaky substance which were made into bread. We also know that God supplied fresh meat – quails - to supplement their diet

And the miraculous feeding by Jesus reminds us of a story of the poor widow who gave to Elijah the last of her food and afterwards found that her pantry was miraculously well stocked for the duration of the drought (1 Kings 17:8-24).

God has always been concerned about the everyday welfare of his people. God has never been very far away from those who need him. He is always near those who call out to him for help and uses his power to provide for our needs, to protect us and to care for us when things aren’t going so well.

Here again in this miracle story we see God’s loving hand at work again. A large hungry crowd are fed with so little. But this miracle isn’t just about hungry people who are fed, it tells us something about Jesus.

The first obvious thing is that Jesus is concerned about our needs, our need for food, drink, and shelter. Can you imagine the scene? A crowd of 10,000 people and that’s not including the children. Can you imagine what it would mean trying to cater for such a crowd?

Even with today’s modern means of catering, our cold rooms, cooking facilities, and transportation, feeding so many people will require months of preparation before hand? We wouldn’t even begin such a task. "Send them home", we would say.

But we see that Jesus doesn’t even consider such a question. His first thought is for those who are hungry. The disciples saw how impossible the task would be to try and feed such a crowd, not only would this be a caterers’ nightmare but where on earth would they get so much food at such short notice anyway?

Besides where would they get the money? Philip said, "For everyone to have even a little, it would take more than two hundred silver coins to buy enough bread." A silver coin would be about a day’s wages. In other words, he is saying that more than seven months wages would be needed to provide just a simple snack for such a crowd.

Convert that to today’s currency and you can see that to feed this crowd would be impossible. The gospel writer includes this detail because he wants to highlight the hopelessness of the situation. Philip could see quite clearly that to try and feed this many people would be a nightmare.

All Philip could see was how impossible the task would be. All Jesus could see were people who needed food. He only saw their need. We see that again and again during Jesus’ ministry. Others can only see the difficulty of the situation, Jesus can only see human need.

When people tried to quiet those who called out for help, those hopelessly afflicted with leprosy, blindness, and demon possession, Jesus could only see their need and laid his hands on them, encouraged them, and healed them.

When people shook their heads in disgust at those sinners who fell at Jesus feet or invited Jesus to dinner, those hopelessly trapped in sin and evil, all Jesus could see was their need and he forgave them and encouraged them not to sin any longer.

When his enemies stood around the cross and laughed at him and made fun of him, all Jesus could see was their hopelessness and need, and he prayed, "Father, forgive them". Jesus sees the hopelessness of our situations.

While others are saying that we must have done something to deserve what has come our way; or throw up their hands in despair because they don’t know how to help us; while others can’t understand and are unable to sympathize with us; Jesus sees our need, recognizes how helpless we are to do anything about it.

Think of some of the times when you have been caught up in a hopeless situation. Perhaps you have been in a hospital bed waiting for a diagnosis of your illness and all kinds of scary thoughts run through your mind.

Perhaps you have been caught up in some kind of relationship breakdown with a member of your family and nothing you do seems to make it any better. Perhaps you are in a marriage or a relationship that is unhappy, perhaps you have been abused and hurt by your partner. You may feel trapped with no way out. Perhaps you are plagued with guilt because of some "unforgivable" sin. Maybe you have fallen away from the church because of it.

We all have our own story to tell of some kind of helplessness in our lives but whatever it might be Jesus sees it. He is ready to be there for us and to help us get through it. When it seems that all the human effort in the world will not be able to help us, Jesus is there for us.

Just as Jesus came to the rescue of so many people during his time on this earth, including feeding more than 10,000 hungry people until they were satisfied, so also he comes to us in our time of need. He invites us to call on him with any need that we might have and he promises to be there to help us.

This miracle story about how more than 10,000 people were fed is a story about the kind of God we have, the kind of Saviour and helper Jesus is. But this story tells us something else about Jesus. Jesus helps that crowd of 10,000 people with their immediate need of food but the Gospel writer also gives us a hint that there is something more he wants to tell us about Jesus.

John describes what happened when Jesus performed this miracle in this way, "Jesus took the bread, gave thanks to God, and distributed it to the people." That sounds a lot like the words Jesus used at the Last Supper. We hear the words at the Communion service – "On the night Jesus was betrayed he took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to his disciples…" (Thankful Heart)

I’m sure that it isn’t just a coincidence that John chose to record this miracle using words that Jesus later spoke when he indicated that the bread they were receiving was his body given on the cross for our salvation. In fact, later in this same chapter John records Jesus as saying, "I am the bread of life. Those who come to me will never be hungry; those who believe in me will never be thirsty" (John 6:35).

Bread is basic to our diet. Bread saved the people as they wandered in the wilderness. Bread prevented the widow and her son dying of starvation in the Old Testament story. Bread satisfied the hunger of the crowd that followed Jesus.

Jesus calls himself bread to get across the idea that we can’t do without him, just as we can’t do without food. Jesus calls himself the Bread of Life to remind us that all we need is his grace, his saving death and resurrection to give us life that lasts forever.

The cross  is a reminder that we can enjoy forgiveness for all of our sin and look forward to our home with God, when this life is over. He forgives us for our lack of faith. He died for those sins that we think are unforgivable. He forgives us the smallness of our service toward our fellow human beings.

He forgives us for our lame excuses and lack of passion for sharing Jesus love with others. Without his forgiveness, we would face God’s judgement. Without this Bread of Life, our sin would condemn us. This life-giving Bread is so good we can’t keep it to ourselves, it must be shared.

v    This miracle of God’s grace and providence, we have once again experience this morning in Sophie’s baptism. In the Water and Word of baptism God officially claims Sophie as his own and member of God’s family. In awhile we will celebrate the Eucharist, a means by which God tells us how special we are in sight.

Jesus said, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven.

If you eat this bread, you will live forever" (John 6:51).