Sunday August 2, 2009 John 6:24-35

Greetings, Our Sunday text continues again in John. Previously Jesus had fed the 5000 with 5 barley loaves of bread and two small fish, a miracle indeed. He then sent the disciples across the Sea of Galilee where a storm starts and blows them off course. He walks on the water to them and safely they get to shore.

V24 The crowds had hung around as they hadn’t seen Jesus get in a boat so they thought he was still in the area. When they realize he isn’t they get into boats to find him. Some of these people have participated in the feeding of the 5000.

V25 They arrive on the west bank region, near Capernaum, and find him. They inquire of him when did he get there.

V26 Jesus doesn’t tell them when or how he got there but instead comments to them that they are looking for him because he physically fed them. They had ignored the miracle of the bread being multiplied to feed them and focused on the physical food.

V27 He tells them not to work for physical bread that will spoil and mold but rather they need to seek spiritual bread which he, the Son of Man, (the true people of Israel whom God will give dominion over the nations for ever and ever) will give them.

V28 They again focus on the physical and ask what they must do to keep God happy and keep the physical bread coming. How often do we do the same thing? We want to know what to do the keep the material things coming. The prosperity gospel preachers feed into this in their sermons. If you listen to them they try to tell us how to be healthy, wealthy and wise but all throughout the gospels Jesus never promised material prosperity. He wants us to focus on spiritual prosperity.

V29 Jesus replies it isn’t what we do but rather it is what we believe. We are to believe in the one whom God sent, Jesus. To them this is a great claim.

V30 So they ask him to back up this claim with a sign (miracle). If he produces a miracle then they will believe. Interestingly, he had just performed a miracle in feeding all of them but they have ignored this as they are still focused on the physical.

V31 They now start to specify the sign they would like. In the wilderness their ancestors ate manna. Moses had interceded for the people in the wilderness as they were hungry and there wasn’t anything to eat so God had provided manna. Ex 16:15. The rabbis thought when the Messiah came that manna would again fall from the heavens. (Again they miss the connection back to the feeding of the 5000 where manna, bread, was given from heaven. It hadn’t rained down on them so they ignore it.)

V32-34 “Jesus tells his hearers that the ‘true bread’ is not the bread that their forefathers ate during the wilderness wanderings. It is Jesus’ Father who gives His people the True Bread from heaven-and that True Bread is Jesus and His Word.” Harry Wendt. They again ask for that physical bread.

V35 Jesus then proclaims “I am the bread of life” meaning he is the essential of true life. We can eat and eat physical bread but we will always be hungry again. Jesus is the spiritual bread and if we “feast” on his teachings and follow him we will not hunger. We will be spiritually filled.

The rabbis taught that the Torah (first five books of our bible) was the bread of life, the water of life and the light of the world. The Torah was not only 613 law codes but it was the manual on how to live life. In the gospel of John, Jesus claims he embodies each of these and more. He is the bread of life, he is the living water and he is the light of the world which will draw everyone to God. He is not doing away with the Torah but rather showing them and us how it was and is to be lived correctly. It isn’t about acquiring material things for ourselves –physical prosperity – but acquiring spiritual knowledge of our Father in and through the life of Jesus. Jesus died owning 5 things – his outer tunic, his inner tunic, his belt and his sandals which were all taken away from him by the Roman guards. He died naked on a cross, with nothing but he died spiritually rich which was proven when God resurrected him to new life. Remember as Harry Wendt says “you never see a U-Haul behind a hearse.” The only thing we take with is what’s inside of us.