The Bread of Life

12th Sunday after Pentecost – B (Proper 14)                          LSB #’s 424, 918, 642 (tune TLH 316)
Text – John 6:35
 
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, & whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” 
 
THE BREAD OF LIFE
 
 
After spending months continuously at sea, submarine sailors can tell the difference when you get back to walking on land.  There is a noticeably more solid feeling to it that is still difficult to put into words.  And submarines are a lot more stable than surface ships  that are frequently rocking from side to side,  or to & fro. 
Many people prefer to have the solid feel of land beneath their feet, which is why earthquakes strike terror into the hearts of people affected by them.  Earthquakes, in a terrifying way, remind us that all of our world is broken.  Though we may not see it, massive rock formations move over time, & in so doing, they encounter resistance.  
If those formations become locked, stress will build & build until it finally ruptures along a fault line.  Powerful forces we cannot easily see will fundamentally reshape the surface landscape from miles below ground.  And those fault lines are invisible to the human eye. 
What is true physically, is also true spiritually.  Our faith exists in a fractured & broken world with fault lines running everywhere.  Unseen forces suddenly erupt & drastically alter our lives.  The doctor orders a biopsy.   Differences in faith separate a mother from her daughter.  Your dad’s forgetting the day of the week, turns into him not knowing your name.  
As that “land beneath our feet” becomes less stable, we become disoriented.  We lose our bearings.  Things we long thought were stable & settled, can suddenly turn into one unending question after another.    How do we take the car keys from our parents?  What should we do to protect dad from all the scams that target older people?  Can I keep working while going through cancer treatment?  Who will watch over & care for the children?  Who will get the bills paid, & where will that money come from?   In our particular context, who will be chairman of the congregation?  Who will head up the teams that count the offerings?     Finally,   where is God hiding while all these fault lines are causing families & congregations to quake? 
In last week’s sermon, God was raining bread from heaven.  Today, we heard the Bread of Life teaching from Jesus.  The dialogue falls right along a fault line in His ministry.  Fractures in the spiritual landscape are growing & beginning to erupt. 
As chapter 6 opens, Jesus sees large crowds following Him.  Faced with their physical hunger, He miraculously feeds them.  After the miracle, they are full of zeal, but tremors reveal that the fault lines are beginning to slip.  They want to take Jesus by force & make Him a king, but it’s an earthly king they desire, to provide physical food & healing. 
By the end of chapter 6, the landscape is erupting.  Jesus sees large crowds of people leaving.  Faced with the disappointment & abandonment, He turns to His disciples.  Even there Jesus sees that one of them will eventually betray Him.  (6:70-71) 
In the span of one chapter, we move from thousands following Jesus   to thousands turning away; from a celebration of life in the wilderness (6:6), to a foreshadowing of His death in Jerusalem.  (6:70-71)    Between these major shifts in the landscape, Jesus proclaims He is the Bread of Life.  In that, we can hear the tensions that are tearing His ministry apart.  
It is along the fault lines, along those areas of resistance, where God breaks forth to transform our world.  The fault lines are God’s work in our lives – God’s rule over our lives, & God’s closeness to our lives.  Today, we consider Jesus as The Bread of Life. 
Whether you’ve thought of it or not, one of the blessings of Christianity is we do not have a “watchmaker” God.  Yahweh did not simply wind up the universe & walk away.   No!    God is intimately involved in the experiences & suffering of His creation.   He walked in the Garden with Adam & Eve & not a bird falls to the ground, but He is aware of it.  (Matthew 10:29)   God is at work orchestrating counter moves to our fault lines, our mistakes, failures & sins.   What is frustrating to our pride is that God’s work is often not what we expect it to be. 
Consider the Gospel reading.  Jesus has just fed 5000 men with five loaves of bread & two fish.  You’d think things would be great, but no.   Not every miracle leads to a happy ending.  God’s miracles run along the fault lines of life.  Those lines appear because our wants & desires commonly move against what God knows is best & chooses to do. 
Like two giant moving tectonic plates, the pressure builds until something ruptures.  What do the people want in John 6?  They want to make Jesus a king, but Jesus tells them, “You are seeking me... because you ate your fill of the loaves.”  (6:26)    God has given them bread & they want more.  They want a God who caters to all their wants & desires. 
The fault line is the tension between what we want God to do in our lives   & what God chooses to do.   Humanity has always been prone to this fault line & our culture teaches us to think of ourselves as consumers.  We expect others to fill our needs.  We cultivate this attitude in stores & restaurants, our government & schools, sometimes even in our churches. 
When we hear that Jesus does miracles, we begin to wonder what He can do for us.  Areas of our life need improving, like relationships, health, & finances.  We ask God for help, & if He does not help in the way we desire, we wonder whether we can have our needs met by someone else.  Maybe we’ll find success in education or sports or business. 
Responding to the fault lines, Jesus teaches the people, “I am the Bread of Life.”  (6:35)   Notice how Jesus turns their attention away from what He gives to who He is.   Jesus gives them bread, but He is also giving them Himself.   He is the true Bread – the Bread of Life.   Our relationship with Jesus is more important than sports or food or careers.  Regardless of the stuff we have, or do not have, when we have Jesus, we have everything we need.   He’s fully aware that He will not always meet our needs in the way we desire.  That does not mean He is no longer with us.  It just means His plans are different than ours.  He sees us with eternity in view.  
Today is only part of a much longer journey.   Jesus invites you & me to stop looking at what He gives & to live by looking to Him instead.   In Jesus’ ministry, many people walked away from Him.  The pattern has not changed since Adam & Eve fell into sin.   But those who turn back & follow Jesus see Him go to the cross, offering His life for their sin.  
The Bread of Life was broken.   Then the earth quaked & Jesus rose from the dead, revealing His rule over all things – even over death.   The Bread of Life was broken for all, but His payment benefits only those who trust Jesus & the good news that He freely offers.  Life in paradise is waiting if you simply receive the gift. 
While God will not always give you exactly what you want, He will give you what you need: His presence.  Jesus is with you in all things, so like the apostle Paul, you can say, “…I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.”  (Philippians 4:11)    Regardless of what you want God to do, He chooses to do what is best for you. 
Once the Lord takes your soul to heaven, your sinful nature will be gone & all the fault lines between you & God will be eliminated.  There will be no more earthquakes in your relationships or in your health.  For eternity you will exist on solid ground, resting in the perfect love of the heavenly Father.  Amen. 
 
Guide me, O Thou great Redeemer, pilgrim through this barren land.   I am weak, but Thou art mighty; hold me with Thy powerful hand.   Bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more.     When I tread the verge of Jordan, bid my anxious fears subside; death of death & hell’s destruction, land me safe on Canaan’s side.   Songs of praises, songs of praises I will ever give to Thee; I will ever give to Thee.  Amen.  LSB 918:1, 3.