“Bread For the World”

John 6:22-35

At my last church call in Fort Bragg, CA, we did a vacation Bible school during the summer for many years. I do fondly remember one VBS in particular called “Bethlehem Village.” We had several small shops running out in the back of the church. The children were given fake money each morning that could be used to purchase items. There was a basket-making shop, a pottery shop, a jewelry-making shop, and even a barnyard with live animals. But one shop in particular stands out in my memory- THE BAKERY SHOP! Every day, the various groups of kids went to the bakery. They ground flour and made dough. Then the dough went into the ovens in our kitchen, and suddenly there was this great smell wafting down the hall- fresh hot bread. I, of course, saw one of my many roles at Vacation Bible School that year to be the quality control person for the bread. Each day, I was given two or sometimes three rolls of fresh bread, just from the oven, and brushed with butter. It was a difficult job, but someone had to do it.

There was one hectic day that week, and I never had time to stop and eat lunch, so the only thing I got that day was some of the bread from VBS. Although it lacked protein, it sustained me until I got home to make dinner. I depended upon that bread as the main meal for the day. My lunch that day hearkens back to the time when bread was the mainstay of most people’s diets.

Bread during Jesus' time was the basic item for everyone’s diet. Bread was such a staple that the word for bread in the Lord’s prayer, ἄρτος Artos, also means food in general. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance defines ἄρτος as “properly, bread; (figuratively) divine provision; all the sustenance God supplies to us.”  Oftentimes, especially for those who were poor in the first century, meals consisted of bread and little else. I experienced this reality firsthand while on a mission trip, working to build an elementary school in Nicaragua many years ago. Our meals almost always consisted of a tortilla, the main staple in any Nicaraguan diet. For many Nicaraguans, a typical day might start with a tortilla and some salt, and if they're lucky, some beans, making it their only meal. The tortilla was the main staple, the bread of life for the people of that country.

In our passage today from John chapter 6, Jesus tells and shows his disciples what it means that he is the main staple, the Bread of Life. Here, Jesus used a vital everyday necessity as an illustration —bread —and told the disciples and crowd what it meant to feed people spiritually, and how they should work for food that does not perish.

This passage happens to come just after Jesus has fed thousands with bread and fish, with some left over. If you recall from last Sunday’s sermon, after Jesus’ interaction with a Canaanite woman, Matthew’s gospel demonstrates Jesus’ expansion of his ministry to include Gentiles. That is also reflected here, as Jesus feeds thousands of Gentiles along the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee. The disciples then left for the other side of the sea, got into trouble during a storm, and Jesus came out on the water to rescue them. Eventually, the whole band was together on the other side of the sea at Capernaum. The crowd was so impressed with Jesus’ miracle of feeding the multitude from the night before that when they saw he and the others had gone, they followed him to Capernaum, where today’s interaction takes place.

Although the crowd rightly interpreted the miraculous feeding as a sign that Jesus was the Messiah, they missed Jesus’ more fundamental point. They wanted to be near someone so powerful, part of the in crowd. They probably brought their friends to see this miracle man who could take some barley loaves and a couple of fish to feed a whole village. They were entranced with what Jesus could do and ready for the next meal.

Theologian Alicia D. Meyers says, “The crowd is right to follow Jesus, but they, like us, need help to see that Jesus’ life-giving mission reaches farther than they can imagine. The crowd wants Jesus to repeat signs they already know—by giving them daily manna in this wilderness (6:30–31)—so that way, their existing definition of Jesus as “the prophet, the one coming into the world” is affirmed (6:14; see also Deuteronomy 18:15–18).”

Jesus explains to the crowds that their motivations are misplaced. He tells the people that they should not come to him because they want their fill of bread that would eventually digest, leaving them hungry again. Bread is essential, a main staple, but this isn’t what true life is about. Instead, Jesus tells them to seek him for the right reasons, because he is the Bread of Life, and what he offers will never go away. By consuming this kind of bread- that is, by believing in Jesus, all who consume him will demonstrate God’s desire for living in the world- a world of peace, led by compassion.

Jesus offered the crowds that which would satisfy the most basic hunger of their stomachs the night before. Now he offers that which will meet their hearts.  Only Jesus the Messiah can satisfy this hunger. Jesus calls himself the Bread of Life. This bread allows us to receive the humble embrace of his love. This bread sustains us in the wilderness, and unlike the manna of days past, this bread lasts forever.

“I am the bread of life; they who come to me shall not hunger; those who believe in me shall never thirst.”  What does this proclamation by the Messiah mean for you and me?

The first thing to consider is whether we are using this staple of spiritual life to feed our spiritual hunger and quench our spiritual thirst. Is Jesus your main staple each day? Are you using Jesus as a great spiritual resource- he who satisfies the hunger of the heart? Do you know of his teachings and try to apply them to daily living?  Recently, to lose a bit more weight, I’ve often skipped bread as part of my meal. Eating the occasional lettuce-wrapped hamburger is an…experience. Back in the day, the Atkins diet included cutting out all kinds of carbs, especially bread. Unfortunately, sometimes as Christians, we put ourselves on a spiritual Atkins Diet. We cut out all the bread of life by not setting aside time to be with Jesus, to pray, to study Christ’s teachings, to participate in the sacraments, and to worship with the community. If we don’t feed our faith, and instead skimp on the bread of life, it is an unhealthy spiritual diet, and we will lose spiritual weight. If worship is at best a third or fourth priority in your life, you may find yourself starving spiritually. We need to spend time in the presence of the Risen Messiah so that we have access to bread that lasts, bread that sustains us in those times of sorrow or significant hardship.

Whenever we have had a memorial service here, I find Jesus to be the bread that sustains those who have lost a dear and cherished member of their family.  Jesus says in John 14:1-4, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me. In my Abba’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me.” Jesus also said in John 16:22, “So now you are sad, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and your joy, no one will take from you.”  This passage reminds us of the hope of a great reunion in heaven with Jesus and our loved ones. This is bread that lasts, helping sustain those who grieve through the dark valley of loss and mourning.

Eating this bread by actively participating in worship, spending time in prayer, and studying Jesus’ sayings will give us the strength, wisdom, hope, and help needed at any time. Presbyterian minister Richard Christian Halverson said, “Jesus Christ is God’s everything for our total needs.” The bread of life has sustained me through many difficulties and sorrows. Jesus Christ is my everything, for all of the difficult times that come in this life. He is bread that lasts and gives me hope.

This leads us to the second thing to ponder- If we eat from this bread, we can, in turn, have the spiritual resources to become bread for the world. We will experience that very thing later during communion. From this meal, the bread of life can help us go out into the world and do the ministry of Christ, because we are strengthened in our faith through Jesus, the true bread of life. How can we be bread for the world?

This past Saturday, some of us from Ashland 1^st Pres, including Ian, Bekah, Brian, Debbie, Howdy, Karen, Scott, and a couple of volunteers from my Rotary Club, worked through Habitat Rogue Valley on the Jorgensen home in Ashland. We were bread in that moment, as we worked to help a single mom with three sons finally have a place to call home. It was one way of being bread for the world.

We don’t necessarily have to build a Habitat home to be bread for the world. There are so many other ways we can impact the world around us as we act in faith. Bring food to the Little Free Pantry. Make a list of people and situations to pray for daily. Make a phone call to a friend who is hurting. Give a bottle of water or a sandwich to someone hungry. Tell someone about the love of Christ.  Visit someone in the hospital or who is lonely and listen to their stories. Help a grieving family through their loss—work to be a peacemaker in a world at war by praying for peace on Mondays and Wednesdays in our chapel. Be kind to others, especially those who serve you at restaurants, give you your cup of coffee, or check you out at the grocery store. Smile at them and say thank you.

As a congregation, we provide “Bread” to those who come once a month to receive food cards from our deacon fund. We gave three food cards to a single dad with two young children last week.

There is also another real, tangible way to be bread for the world right now, as we see mass starvation happening in Gaza. Provide real bread for someone who is starving. Chef Jose Andres, founder of the humanitarian group World Central Kitchen, is one of the humanitarian organizations on the ground in Gaza right now, desperately trying to feed starving people. Andres is imploring the international community to intervene to ease the dire food crisis in Gaza, on the heels of his nonprofit resuming its aid operations there after a five-day hiatus. He posted a link to the op-ed on his personal Instagram, writing: "There is no excuse for the world to stand by and watch two million human beings suffer on the brink of full-blown famine. A starving human being needs food today, not tomorrow," Andrés wrote. "People of good conscience must stop the starvation in Gaza. If we want to light the darkness, we need to extend our souls to the hungry. And we need to do it now." WCK announced this past Friday that it has resumed limited cooking operations in Gaza, but said its ability to continue cooking at the Deir al-Balah Field Kitchen in Gaza remains uncertain day-to-day. Giving real bread to starving people is another way to demonstrate Jesus’ compassion and love. I donated to their cause on Friday, and encourage you to do so as well, if able. All of these are just some examples for you of being bread.