Scripture John 6:24-35
Rev. Michael Fry preaching
at East Bethany PC
August 5, 2012
Jesus’ miraculous signs were done so that people would
experience and come to believe in Jesus as God’s son and have an abundant life
in relationship with God who rescues us from death and gives us the gift of
life. But the crowd is hung up on what
the sign does for them.
They desire signs like the ones the ancient leader Moses
performed, they say, ‘Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness,’ but Jesus
sets them straight it was not Moses who gave them manna but God.
God gave manna for the people after they were freed from
slavery in Egypt. God’s people were to
collect enough for their family to eat for one day and no more. If people were greedy and collected more than
they needed by trying to keep it over night for the next day it didn’t last, because
they did not trust that God would continue to provide for them. This was food that did perish but renewed by
God each morning with the dew. (Exodus
16).
The crowd coming to Jesus is looking for a sign, but do not
realize that they are in the presence of the sign. Jesus is the sign of God’s salvation, he is
the ‘bread of God who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world
(6:33). The gospel is unfolding and
Jesus’ words are too abstract to grasp.
Yet we realize that Jesus is not really talking about actual bread, but
himself.
Yet the crowd is content with physical food so that they may
not be in need. And even though they ate
their fill the night before they wake up hungry and search Jesus out so that
they can once again be fed. Jesus
exposes this and does not feed them.
The people are searching for a meal, but Jesus offers so
much more, he offers to nourish their soul and our soul. Jesus is serving Soul Food.
The crowd’s physical hunger masks their deeper yearning for
food for their soul. It is easy for us
to look upon them and feel superior as if we understand Jesus’ deeper meaning
but we are not so different from the crowds seeking Jesus out just because he
fed them.
We are a culture of consumers. In fact some people say that
the biggest threat to Christianity is not Islam or the gulf between liberal and
conservative Christians but consumerism. In their book Advent Conspiracy the authors go so far to say that our national
religion is actually consumerism.[1]
They write, “In the religion of consumerism, the thing we
desire (that is what we seek to buy) becomes the symbol of whatever meaning it
insinuates. Because we buy into the meaning,
we believe we will become more significant, able to rise above the
circumstances, frustrations, and mundane moments of our everyday lives. In short, our consumerism tells us that we’ll
be reborn.”[2]
This promise of transcendence and rebirth sounds frighteningly
similar to the gospel doesn’t it? The
big difference is that we cannot buy Jesus; a relationship with God is not for
sale.
But because of the prevalence of consumer values most of our
relationships have become based on some kind of transaction that are
impersonal, goal oriented, and selfish. I
shop at a particular store because I get the best service for the best price. We buy a particular brand because it makes us
feel more secure or because we believe that it says something significant about
our social status.
Often times these transactions are lopsided where one party
thinks they are getting a great deal or a steal, leading us to be wary of one
another because we aren’t sure if the other person is trying to sell us something
and we do not want to be disappointed again.
We do not want to be made foolish and loose face. And who can blame us?
The crowd seeks Jesus out because they are benefiting from
him, they ask about what they can do to earn this bread, figuring that this will
be some kind of barter or contract.
Jesus answers, “Believe in the one God has sent,” in other words believe
in me, believe that I am God’s son.
God’s son is a gift.
There is nothing that we can do to earn what he does for us. Because of our sin, we don’t deserve him. But he is given just the same. Our relationship with God is not for sale it is
a gift.
Our response should be one of joyful thanksgiving that God
would stoop to our level to make himself known to us, to give us abundant life.
We hunger for connection, acceptance, and respect that give
us a sense of worth. We seek these
things in the wrong places. We believe
the gospel of advertisements that shout for our attention and believe that if
we buy a certain product we will be transformed into a different person – an
athlete, a success, and are disappointed when the transcendence that we are seek
does not take place.
Nancy Guthrie observes in her devotional book Hoping for Something Better that in
Christianity we sometimes we experience a kind of remorse that is somewhat
similar to buyers remorse, wondering if our ‘walk of faith will be worth
it?’
She writes, ‘having come to Christ with a consumer
mentality, we’re tempted to take our lives back into our own hands, to turn
away from following Christ when we discover he is leading us toward the Cross.”[3]
The crowd seeks Jesus out because they are benefiting from
him but once this stops they grumble and drift away. When Jesus is arrested his disciples run
away. What happens to our relationship
with God when prayers go unanswered and things do not go according to our plans?
I think one of the reasons so many people have become
disillusioned with the church is because the gospel promises us one thing but
the church delivers something else. The
promises of safety, security, and acceptance have been betrayed by the sin that
infiltrates us, and our institutions and has made church into another social
organization.
And so, like the crowd, we demand a sign. We want to see the authenticity or proof of
what we believe because we don’t want to be fooled we do not want to put our
trust in something, someone, or some god only to be disappointed again. That’s all we are asking for, a sign, so we
can be sure.
Jesus is the sign, but he has not been revealed yet. We will see the sign of Jesus, God living
among us betrayed, crucified, dead, and buried.
And when it appears that all hope is lost we will see that death and sin
has no power over God and because we trust in God who gives us life, sin and
death have no power over us because we abide with God. We are joined with God through Jesus Christ.
The symbolic meal of Communion is us remembering, us
joining, us being nourished by the eternal life that is Jesus so that we do not
hunger or thirst for acceptance or connection because at this table despite our
sin we are accepted by God and we are connected to Christ who is Holy, because
of this we have worth beyond worth because we matter to God.
This is the reason to be thankful; this is why we worship,
giving praise and honor to God who has done so much for us. Because God gave his only son as a gift so
that we might be reconciled to him and have life, real life, not a mere shell
of existence dreamed up for us in some marketing campaign that does not come
true, but a real life in a relationship with God who is the source of
everything.
It is at the Lord’s Table that we celebrate Jesus’
faithfulness, how the living bread will fill and satisfy us always.
Anglican Priest Nicky Gumble tells a story about
hunger. A Japanese woman was explaining
how she wouldn’t be full unless she had rice at a meal – she could have meat
and eggs and vegetables, and fruit but without rice she was still hungry – it
was like she had a second stomach that could only be filled with rice.
For her, Jesus would be the rice of life. We are like that too—there is something
within us that only Jesus can fill.
As we come to this table where Jesus is the host come
to him, be nourished by him, and let him fill you with his love. Amen.
[1] Advent
Conspiracy, Can Christmas Still
Change the World? by Rick McKinley, Chris Seay, and Greg Holder. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009, pg
21. (Contents
of the parenthesis added for clarification.)
[2] Advent
Conspiracy, pg 23.
[3] Hoping for
Something Better, by Nancy Guthrie, Saltriver Publishers 2007, pg 123.
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