Like the crowd that followed Jesus across the sea and knowing our physical needs have been met, it is time to embrace the invitation to see the larger picture, to realize that there is more happening than we realized, and to embrace the invitation to say thank you to the one who supplies and meets all our needs, our God, our Creator, the one who has named and claimed us as God’s Beloved Children.
November 24, 2024
“Bread of Life”
John 6: 24-35
Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl
John 6: 24-35
When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus replied, “I assure you that you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate all the food you wanted. Don’t work for the food that doesn’t last but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Human One will give you. God the Father has confirmed him as his agent to give life.”
They asked, “What must we do in order to accomplish what God requires?” Jesus replied, “This is what God requires, that you believe in him whom God sent.” They asked, “What miraculous sign will you do, that we can see and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” Jesus told them, “I assure you, it wasn’t Moses who gave the bread from heaven to you, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. The bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
They said, “Sir, give us this bread all the time!” Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
Bread of Life John 6: 24-35
To start this sermon, I must share a confession. Yesterday, I started decorating for Christmas. Yes, I know, I know. As one who has always been a “Christmas can wait until after Thanksgiving” type of person, I feel like I have broken the liturgical law or something. I keep waiting for the four horsemen of the apocalypse to come to my house just because I put out the nativity scene before filling up on some turkey.
Logically, I know there is a reason why we wait for the season, to not rush into or force anything but emotionally, spiritually, mentally, I wasn’t feeling it. Maybe it is because of all the negativity from the election season. I know that for many of us, myself included, this week for the first time since the election, we will gather around the table with folks who voted differently from us, that we will break bread with our family who may be divided politically. And regardless of how the election turned out, all we want to do is sit down, have a good meal, and enjoy being with our loved ones. But even as we may be passing the turkey, the residual effects of the negativity from the election will be served up as an unwanted side dish which will give us heartburn. Or maybe it was because last week, I challenged all of us to let our lights shine brightly so that the world can see all the goodness which finds us in ordinary and extraordinary ways and I know that challenge included me as well. And I fully admit with everything happening in our world, from the words, to the destructive conversations, to the undercurrents of worry and fear, I needed a little help trying to find the light. Or maybe it was simply because I needed a change in perspective, a rearranging of my life, my house to remind me that God is doing something new in and among us as people of faith, something that “human created conditions and circumstances cannot undermine or negate.”
Whatever the reason for this breaking of the liturgical law, I don’t regret that I did it. In fact, I celebrate it! Because you see, with each decoration placed, with each change of scenery, which each item unwrapped, items which bring me hope and joy, I was reminded of who gave that decoration to me. I was reminded of memories from years past, moments when the light shined bright. I was reminded of the people in my life. I was reminded of where I have been, how far I have come. I was reminded of what the promise is to me, to us as people of faith, the promise that God is with us.
And with each reflection, with each memory, with each changed perspective, I was invited to remember how God has provided for all my needs, maybe not in the way I expected or hoped but still the need was fulfilled. With each decoration unwrapped, I was invited to believe and to trust that God was in the process. I was invited to see where God was meeting where I was in all the emotional mess and uncertainty. With each decoration unwrapped and placed, I was invited to shift the narrative, to step back and see the larger picture.
Which is exactly what Jesus does for the crowd for us as readers within our text. You see, in the chapters before our text, Jesus had been performing miracles and been offering signs which pointed to God’s moving in and among the people. But Jesus realized in spite of all that, the people were only seeing him one way. They were only seeing him as the one who would feed their physical hunger. They were limiting the conversation. They were putting him in a box. They were putting boundaries on his mission and ministry into only what they were comfortable in handling or dealing with at that moment.
Jesus recognized the danger in this particular viewpoint. He knew human nature. Jesus knew that the crowd would only see him in a certain way and doing so, try to control him, to shape him into their own image and understanding. Jesus knew he needed to shift the narrative and help the crowd see the bigger picture, to move them beyond their limited view of the world. Jesus needed to remind the crowd that faith is not about what we do as much as it is about what God is doing in our midst.
Jesus does this by pointing them to the Bread of Life, a bread which fulfills their physical and spiritual needs, a bread which once eaten, transforms their world. Jesus invites the crowd to open their hearts, their minds, their very beings to where God is at work in this world, to open themselves up to the little graces which fill their lives, and remind them that God is in the process, that God is up to something new, something that shows us time and time again love and light will always overcome.
In modern times, we would call how Jesus shifted the narrative for the crowd the spiritual practice of gratitude, pointing them how God has provided and continues to provide for them, reminding them that God is at work in their world bringing healing and wholeness, inviting them to come as they are with all their loneliness, all their loss, all their scarcity, all their sorrow, all their uncertainty and know that God is here.
And so I am inviting us to do the same…I am inviting us to take a few moments and reflect on how God has supplied all our needs, how God has worked in our lives, maybe not how we expected or hoped but still we know that it was God. Take a few moments and reflect on what you are thankful for this season…and in doing so, open your hearts, your minds, your very being to where God is at work in this world.
I would ask that if you feel so inclined, to please share your papers as your offering today. May they be reminders of God’s grace in our lives now and forevermore. Amen.
See also: Theology Tuesday for Sunday, November 24, 2024 – Bread of Life John 6: 24-35.
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