The Bread of Life
“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” Psalm 19:14
I had a good friend call me earlier this week and he shared with me he was considering turning in his resignation at his church this Sunday, after serving at this church for 25 years. He is tired. And he is questioning if he has what the people need. And he is aware that “nothing is ever gone to change”. I listened as he spoke and he said he wanted me to give him my honest feedback and what I thought. He is a friend and this was not the first time I have heard these rumblings, but I am also aware of all the stress most priests and pastors are under and I am aware that churches as a whole are anxious.
I determined the best thing I could do for him was to ask him some good questions to help him become clear as he makes this decision. I was less interested in his answers to my questions as much as I was interested in asking the questions to him to help him gain clarity for himself.
Asking good questions has the power to help each of us become clear about things.
Good questions can be clarifying, bad questions are just “bad questions”.
In the Gospel text today we are told that the people could not find Jesus so they went looking for him. And they ask when they found him on the other side of the sea, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus does not answer their question. I don’t think they really cared when he got there - it was a filler question. Jesus gets right to the point. He challenges why they came looking for him - they came looking for him because he fed them. Because he had miraculously provided for them and met their needs.
He then challenges them, “Do not work for food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life.”
What he was saying was, don’t be worried or thinking or consumed with temporal things - food, drink, etc. Be concerned and be thinking about something more important than those things.
The people then ask a second question,
“What must we do to perform the works of God?”
Jesus tells them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent? “
They then want to know what sign he is going to perform so that they may see it and believe him. (Third question). They want to know what work he is performing.
Jesus cuts to the chase. He is not here to just fill their bellies and perform signs and wonders for them - he is here to provide true bread from heaven. The bread of God, which “comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
The bread of God, which “comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
One of the distinguishing features of the Episcopal Church is the Eucharist. We don’t celebrate it quarterly, or monthly - we celebrate every week. Our worship is centered around it. For the vast majority of Anglicans, the Eucharist (also called "Holy Communion","Mass", the Divine Liturgy, the "Lord's Supper," or The Great Thanksgiving), is the central act of gathered worship, the appointed means by which Christ can become present to his church.
One of the only places in the book of Common Prayer that orders silence is after the bread is broken during Eucharist. Immediately after we say the Lord’s Prayer, the priest breaks the bread which has become the Body of Christ and we are reminded poignantly of the sacrifice Jesus made for us in his death.
In the Episcopal church, all baptized Christians are invited to receive Eucharist, regardless of age or denomination. Baptized infants may receive Holy Communion with a tiny drop of wine. The fullness of Christ’s presence is found in either the bread or the wine, so one can receive either or both. Jesus Christ is made known to us in the breaking of the bread.
“Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life…” 6:27
Another translation, “Do not work for the perishing food, but the abiding food into life eternal, which the son of man gives to you, for him God the Father sealed.
The contrast is between "perishing food" and "abiding (menein) food into life eternal." Menein is one of the most important verbs in the fourth gospel. It means "reside with," "abide," or "dwell." In every single case, Jesus is the one who "abides," the one who is there, the one who is with the people.
This whole story has eucharistic overtones. The bread of life. The bread of heaven. The author of the fourth gospel is asserting that Jesus is present with, and abides with the people. It is through the Eucharist that we recognize this weekly. This is what the son of man "gives to you," his abiding presence.
In this text, Jesus is trying to repair the faulty understanding the crowd took away from last Sunday’s text. They wanted a miracle worker here on earth. Something shiny to be attracted to.
The defective question/answer pattern shows that the crowd did not interpret what happened (the feeding of the 5000) as Jesus being the Son of God.
Understanding ensues from appropriate questions.
Bread is the metaphor. Jesus continues to use the image that comes from the “feeding” miracle. Bread (and fish) is what filled their stomachs. They have become so focused, though, on being full that they have lost what really happened. Jesus uses the bread as an extended metaphor for who he is — someone capable of truly sustaining life.
The egō eimi of verse 35 where Jesus says not just “I am” but “I am the bread of life” is a very different claim than the egō eimi statement in verse 20 from last week. In this verse, it is a Christological claim, a culmination in the present text of the extended metaphor. The only food that can last for all time is the bread that Jesus himself is, the true gift from God.
Ego eimi - I am. I am the Bread of Life.
Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
The bread of God comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.
Asking good questions is helpful. It helps us become clear.
There is a prayer in the Book of Common Prayer on p. 834, to be said before receiving communion,
Be Present, be present, O Jesus, our great High Priest, as you were present with your disciples, and be known to us in the breaking of the bread; who lives and reigns with the Father and Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.
~The Book of Common Prayer p. 834
Be present O Lord. And Be known. So that we may never hunger or thirst again.
Amen.
I had a good friend call me earlier this week and he shared with me he was considering turning in his resignation at his church this Sunday, after serving at this church for 25 years. He is tired. And he is questioning if he has what the people need. And he is aware that “nothing is ever gone to change”. I listened as he spoke and he said he wanted me to give him my honest feedback and what I thought. He is a friend and this was not the first time I have heard these rumblings, but I am also aware of all the stress most priests and pastors are under and I am aware that churches as a whole are anxious.
I determined the best thing I could do for him was to ask him some good questions to help him become clear as he makes this decision. I was less interested in his answers to my questions as much as I was interested in asking the questions to him to help him gain clarity for himself.
Asking good questions has the power to help each of us become clear about things.
Good questions can be clarifying, bad questions are just “bad questions”.
In the Gospel text today we are told that the people could not find Jesus so they went looking for him. And they ask when they found him on the other side of the sea, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus does not answer their question. I don’t think they really cared when he got there - it was a filler question. Jesus gets right to the point. He challenges why they came looking for him - they came looking for him because he fed them. Because he had miraculously provided for them and met their needs.
He then challenges them, “Do not work for food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life.”
What he was saying was, don’t be worried or thinking or consumed with temporal things - food, drink, etc. Be concerned and be thinking about something more important than those things.
The people then ask a second question,
“What must we do to perform the works of God?”
Jesus tells them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent? “
They then want to know what sign he is going to perform so that they may see it and believe him. (Third question). They want to know what work he is performing.
Jesus cuts to the chase. He is not here to just fill their bellies and perform signs and wonders for them - he is here to provide true bread from heaven. The bread of God, which “comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
The bread of God, which “comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
One of the distinguishing features of the Episcopal Church is the Eucharist. We don’t celebrate it quarterly, or monthly - we celebrate every week. Our worship is centered around it. For the vast majority of Anglicans, the Eucharist (also called "Holy Communion","Mass", the Divine Liturgy, the "Lord's Supper," or The Great Thanksgiving), is the central act of gathered worship, the appointed means by which Christ can become present to his church.
One of the only places in the book of Common Prayer that orders silence is after the bread is broken during Eucharist. Immediately after we say the Lord’s Prayer, the priest breaks the bread which has become the Body of Christ and we are reminded poignantly of the sacrifice Jesus made for us in his death.
In the Episcopal church, all baptized Christians are invited to receive Eucharist, regardless of age or denomination. Baptized infants may receive Holy Communion with a tiny drop of wine. The fullness of Christ’s presence is found in either the bread or the wine, so one can receive either or both. Jesus Christ is made known to us in the breaking of the bread.
“Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life…” 6:27
Another translation, “Do not work for the perishing food, but the abiding food into life eternal, which the son of man gives to you, for him God the Father sealed.
The contrast is between "perishing food" and "abiding (menein) food into life eternal." Menein is one of the most important verbs in the fourth gospel. It means "reside with," "abide," or "dwell." In every single case, Jesus is the one who "abides," the one who is there, the one who is with the people.
This whole story has eucharistic overtones. The bread of life. The bread of heaven. The author of the fourth gospel is asserting that Jesus is present with, and abides with the people. It is through the Eucharist that we recognize this weekly. This is what the son of man "gives to you," his abiding presence.
In this text, Jesus is trying to repair the faulty understanding the crowd took away from last Sunday’s text. They wanted a miracle worker here on earth. Something shiny to be attracted to.
The defective question/answer pattern shows that the crowd did not interpret what happened (the feeding of the 5000) as Jesus being the Son of God.
Understanding ensues from appropriate questions.
Bread is the metaphor. Jesus continues to use the image that comes from the “feeding” miracle. Bread (and fish) is what filled their stomachs. They have become so focused, though, on being full that they have lost what really happened. Jesus uses the bread as an extended metaphor for who he is — someone capable of truly sustaining life.
The egō eimi of verse 35 where Jesus says not just “I am” but “I am the bread of life” is a very different claim than the egō eimi statement in verse 20 from last week. In this verse, it is a Christological claim, a culmination in the present text of the extended metaphor. The only food that can last for all time is the bread that Jesus himself is, the true gift from God.
Ego eimi - I am. I am the Bread of Life.
Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
The bread of God comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.
Asking good questions is helpful. It helps us become clear.
There is a prayer in the Book of Common Prayer on p. 834, to be said before receiving communion,
Be Present, be present, O Jesus, our great High Priest, as you were present with your disciples, and be known to us in the breaking of the bread; who lives and reigns with the Father and Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.
~The Book of Common Prayer p. 834
Be present O Lord. And Be known. So that we may never hunger or thirst again.
Amen.