The gospel this Sunday came from John, Chapter 6:
24 Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.
25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
30 So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."
Last Sunday we heard the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 with a few loaves of bread and a couple fish. It was amazing! It was inspiring! It also worked way too well. When Jesus and his disciples toodled on to their next destination, guess what they found? Yup. That same crowd showed up.
"Hey Jesus, you're here too? Imagine that! Small world. Say...we're kind of hungry. How about doing that bread and fish thing again?"
At this point Jesus knew he had trouble. No doubt he understood the hunger of the crowd. He probably had great compassion for them. But he also understood that they had missed the point of the miracle and of their faith. Having been fed beyond their wildest dreams, they now saw him as the Traveling Buffet. This was a great setup! Just follow around this guy and chirp every once in a while and he'd feed you. No work, no worries...just snap your fingers and the miracle man takes care of it. One is reminded of the movie "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" where all kinds of delicious food fell from the sky. It's God as the great vending machine: put in a quarter or two and get Cheetos, Snickers, or anything you want!
How many of us envision our faith in just such a way, with worship and offering as our loose change and salvation as the tasty snack dropped through the vending chute?
As compassionate as Jesus felt towards those people, he had to put a stop to that. If he didn't their faith would become a circus, a sideshow for their entertainment and consumption. When he told them to stop working for the food that perishes, this was another way of saying that their faith wasn't supposed to be about them and what they could get. Their faith equation read, "We follow, so we are fed." Jesus' faith equation says, "You are fed so you can do something." In this case that something is trust in him and live out his love among all of his people from this point on into eternity. Our community isn't supposed to be a collection of baby birds chirping in the nest, waiting for mom to drop a worm in their mouths. It's supposed to be like a flock of grown and trained carrier pigeons, fed so they can fly and get the message out.
Like the people of the crowd, we want to stop at Step 1 instead of tackling the steps that follow. When asked why we come to church, many of us will say, "Because I get fed there." That's great! But that's not the end of the story, nor the whole reason for participating. What about the serving, the reaching out, the development of a life-long relationship with Christ and his people? What about the struggle, the stretching, walking through the darkness on the way to a greater light that we can't always see but are still called to trust in?
Jesus told that crowd, "Look...if it's just about you and getting your internal needs satisfied it doesn't mean anything." That message was counter-cultural then. It's exponentially more so now in an era when practically every stimulus in our life (Facebook, Twitter, television, polls, advertisements, magazines, and niche online sites like this one) tells us that it really IS all about us. But none of those things make life meaningful and fulfilling. We only come to true realization of life, its potential, and our own potential when we trust in and live for something beyond ourselves...when we put away the clinging, gnawing demands of our own psyche and sacrifice for something greater. This is the stuff of which careers, marriages, parenthood, friendships, community pride, and harmonious living are made.
Hearing this, the crowd tried a nifty trick. They replied, "OK...so life is supposed to be about working for and believing in things beyond ourselves. What are YOU doing, Jesus? What sign will you show us that you are who you are and that you practice what you preach? For instance, our ancestors ate bread from heaven provided to them by Moses..." (Back to the bread again. There must have been lawyers in that crowd!)
Jesus heard this and realized they still didn't get it. They asked for a sign (bread) which, if given, would have simply confirmed their old self-interested perceptions. Though they quoted scripture to justify it, they still didn't understand that the point of manna from heaven wasn't that people get, rather that God gives. The action they were supposed to treasure and imitate (giving) was getting buried by their instinct to watch out for themselves above all (getting).
So he told them again, "I am the bread of life. Trust. Follow. Believe." If they could manage this they would begin to see signs of his love and redemption everywhere. If they did not do this, no sign would be adequate to turn them around.
We find this true in modern life as well. During the sermon I asked, "How many gold medals are enough for Michael Phelps (or his fans and the media)? How much money is enough for Bill Gates? How much fame is enough for Kim Kardashian?" Dig deep down in our souls and you'll find the answer is, "You can't get there." If God blesses you with a million dollars you'll up your standard of living and wish for ten million. If God gives you the gifts to win 18 gold medals everyone around you--including probably that nagging voice in your head--will tell you to go for 19. If 99 people in your day call you beautiful you'll obsess over the one who didn't. No sign is enough. The blessing you welcome on Tuesday will be old news by Thursday.
You cannot get to full by stacking empty on top of empty. Or, put another way, no matter how many cookies you put in the jar it'll still be empty if there's no bottom to it. Truth, faith, belief...these provide the bottom to the jar against which the cookies can pile.
If Jesus had fed the crowd that day they simply would have been hungry again tomorrow. Just as their ancestors were with the manna, so their descendants with loaves and fishes and so too are we with all the things of our lives. Instead Jesus gave them the foundation which would hold forever, allowing their blessings to sustain and multiply: believe in me, follow me, trust, and work for good.
Trusting God, having faith in him each day, allows us to see the joy in life and each other. Ordinary things become extraordinary. Coincidences and happenstance become signs of God's grace. Even difficult times become opportunities for mercy. Without faith nothing is a sign of God. With faith everything is. Without faith even the greatest feast leaves you empty. With faith even the smallest crumb can satisfy.
“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."
How important those words are to us and everyone we know. What a change they make in our outlook and way of doing things! Don't just come to faith to be fed. Avoid the temptation to demand signs and proof before you'll do anything. Love, trust, believe, and watch your life be filled and transformed by miracles you never knew existed.
--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)
P.S. As we get back into the swing I could use some faith/church/life questions to respond to on the blog. Writing is easy; choosing interesting topics is hard! If you have a question itching at your mind, e-mail it to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment