Jesus is...the bread of life

When God meets Moses at the burning bush at the beginning of the story of Exodus God calls Moses to free to the Israelites from Egypt.  Moses was anxious and tried every excuse in the book to get out of it. Moses wanted God to go find someone else to do the job. But God wanted Moses and had an answer for every objection.  At one point, Moses said, what if I go to the people and they ask who sent me, who should I say sent me, and God says “hayah” which means “I AM.”  Now that sounds like a simple name that might not mean all that much, but in Hebrew, it wasn’t just “I AM” it’s “I AM who I AM” and “I was who I was” and “I will be who I will be” and it’s closely connected to Yahweh, which means Lord.  So God told Moses tell the people that the one who was and is and is to come has sent you. Tell them Yahweh has sent you.  And so Moses did and that’s how God was known, by the name Yahweh as the great I AM.

Now I know you might be thinking, “that’s great for Moses and the Israelites, but why does that matter to us?”  Well, Yahweh is how God is known.  The people heard hayah, or Yahweh, and they immediately thought of God.  So when Jesus begins to say hayah “the bread of life” or hayah “the living water”, the people are also hearing “God is the bread of life” and “God is the living water.”  In making these statements to these people, they are associating Jesus with God and they are meant to.  It might feel like a stretch, especially because “I am” is a statement we use all the time in every day speech.

But, we have to admit, there are certain names and quotes we’ve learned to associate with certain people.  It may not be that they’re the only ones to use those words or to be called that name, but their voice, or even just the words themselves make us think immediately of that person. So then if someone else uses that quote and mixes it with their own words, they’re tying themselves to the other person at the same time.  We have a couple of samples this morning. We’re going to play the voice or the quote and you’re going to tell us who it is.

·         Marsha, Marsha Marsha—Jan Brady

·         Here’s Johnny—we think of Johnny Carson and the person saying the quote is Ed McMahon

·         Ask not what your country can do for your—John F Kennedy

·         May the force be with you (Hans Solo) Obiwon Kinobi, and Luke Skywalker

·         “that’s all folks”—Porky Pig

·         The only thing we have to fear is fear itself—Franklin D. Roosevelt

Now that shows us that simple words and phrases can easily become recognizable not just for the words themselves but for the person who says them. So we might better understand how easily and powerfully associated Jesus becomes with God when he says “hayah the bread of life”.  It’s not just the words, but instead the history of the words tied to God.  For centuries God had been known as the great I AM.  Now, as we see him in the Gospel of John, God is being understood more intimately in the person of Jesus Christ. This connection to God as I AM will weave throughout the whole series. 

For today, we will be focusing on the scripture that was read from John 6. This particular scene takes place right after the feeding of the 5000.  The people come to find him and he’s frustrated because he can see they didn’t really want him….they wanted food.  He shares that he’s the one who’s been sent by God so that they might believe.  And so they ask for a sign, they ask for a miracle so that they might believe.  They say “Moses used to lead the people and he gave us manna, if you give us manna then we will follow you.”  Now Jesus gets a little more firm….it’s not about the food.  Even the manna wasn’t about the food.  The manna was about faith and trust in God.  The Israelites had to believe God would care for them each day. They weren’t allowed to collect extra—if they did it would rot and be filled with worms by morning.  The manna was given to feed them, but to receive the miracle they had to believe God would be faithful to them. 

So when these people asked for physical food Jesus recognized that they didn’t get it. The miracle of the loaves and fishes centered around food, but it was really about trusting God to provide.  Jesus admits he can do signs and wonders but says that really what he’s about is giving soul sustaining food. The gift he brings depends on our faith and trust that he will provide, not just once, but over and over again. 

Part of the question for us is are we seeking physical signs and wonders that last only moments or are we seeking spiritual sustenance where we trust daily that God will provide for and sustain us?  Are we interested in Jesus just so he can do what we want? OR are we ready to depend on Christ daily?  Do we believe he’ll be there or are we overly tempted to take a little extra just in case he fails us?

I’ve gotta say, this is a tough question for me.  I’m not just interested in the individual acts—though I won’t deny their appeal, BUT I don’t know that I’m ready to be dependent EVERY day.  I’m a pretty self sufficient person. I’m capable. I’m willing. And I like getting things done. And generally, I don’t like asking for help.  I don’t like being dependent. I can do it by myself thank-you-very-much. 

Now, I’m sure I’m the only one with this particular problem, right?  Of course, I usually am.  But in case there happens to be another one who’s like me I’ll take a minute to describe the struggle.,  I kind of think God could just stock me up for, I don’t know, a few months and then I’ll do my thing until supplies run low and then I could go back to God. I could manage that.   But what this passage tells us is that it’s not about having the stuff--it’s about having God and being reliant on God every day for just what we need.  Now, that might not seem that complex, but really, it’s counter-intuitive to how we think and act.

Everything our culture says tells us to be independent, self-sufficient, a jack-of-all-trades.  And here is our God in flesh and blood in the person of Christ telling us the opposite.  If we want real satisfaction, if we want to find what we’re looking for, if we want to be full—then we have to stop trying to make it all on our own and we have to go to Jesus for more than signs and wonders. 

To really eat of the bread of life, to partake in the gift Jesus offers—we have to become fully dependent on him.  How do we do that? Well, there’s a lot of different ways and each of us will have different things we need to let go of and different areas where we need to relinquish control and become reliant on God.  One of the ways we seek those specific answers is through the disciplines of Lent. By fasting from technology or giving up a vice, or making a personal sacrifice, we eliminate some of the noise in our lives and in the peace God begins to speak truth into our hearts. Through the disciplines of prayer, reading the scriptures, and journaling, God may speak to us about work, about our marriage, about grief, about our kids, about our parents, about a resentment, or about a callous on our heart.  And when we fight to control those situations, we are reminded it’s not about the thing—God may answer our prayer and give us reconciliation, forgiveness, a promotion, healing, or a miracle, but really what Jesus is asking is that we would trust and have faith that God will supply our needs each day. 

To really share in the bread of life, we have to stop seeking the quick fix and start submitting ourselves daily to be wholly dependent on God.   That’s a tall order.  God knows that. But the greatest gift of a relationship with God is not just coming to God when we want something, but coming daily to have our needs met and to engage the relationship.  This kind of faith and trust often requires a complete shift in our way of thinking and many of us aren’t ready to make that commitment. We’re still doing pretty well on our own.  But what if this kind of relationship could change your life?  Would you try it?  Would you be willing to make a short term commitment to see what happens?  Lent, is an invitation to check it out, to try and let go of our need to control things and instead to let God be in control. Lent offers us a chance to minimize the noise in our lives so that God’s voice might be heard.  And Lent asks us to stop asking just for what we want in this moment, but to look at the big picture and ask God what God wants.  Would you dare to try it?  It will mean some sacrifices. It will means some added faith practices so you can learn the rhythm of dependency.  But the promise is that it will be worth it. 

In a few moments, you will be invited to break-fast and share in Holy Communion.  You will be eating physical food, but I would encourage you to begin this journey of dependence, if you haven’t already, by asking God to be your life source each day and to teach you how to trust in this way.