Images of Christ
(series)
Bread of Life
By Rev Steven R
Mitchell
Mountain View
United, Aurora, CO 3-32013
Based on John
6:26-38
This
morning’s text picks up the day after Jesus taught and feed dinner to 5,000
people. As the new day dawns, the crowd
was looking for Jesus and discovered that he had gone to the other side of the
lake. “Hey Jesus, why did you go over there?
Why don’t you stay here and give us more?” asks the crowd. Jesus responds with, “26 you’ve come looking for me not because you
saw God in my actions but because I fed you, filled your stomachs—and for free.”
How many of us are always on the lookout
for a good bargain? I know that I have
shared with many of you that I rarely pay retail! It’s a genetic thing with me. I was raised to always look not for just a
“bargain”, but for “value”. I have been
raised to be discriminating in what I purchase, looking at not only the price
of a thing, but also place a “value” upon it.
This means that I have to look at what I’m thinking about purchasing
from multiple perspectives. “How useful is this item?” “Is this a onetime
use purchase or will I get multiple usages out of it, and if multiple uses, how
many times?” “Is the quality matching the asking price or does the asking price
need to come down to match the quality of the product?”
These
questions are all subjectively based on one’s “system of value.” I have friends who place a greater value on
being the first on their block to possess something, there by willing to pay
full retail. I have other friends who
place greater value on utility, and depending upon the need will wait until the
product has been on the shelf awhile and then buy once it goes 20% or 30% off
retail. Sometimes the “need” of a
product supersedes the basic criteria in determining when one will buy. For example, you have a tire that blows out
while on a road trip. You need a new
tire to continue on, so it doesn’t matter if there is a sale or not on the tire
your car requires, you simple pay what you have to in order to continue on.
I think we use the same approach in our
personal lives, often times without realizing that we are basing our actions on
a “system of values.” Upon our first
meeting of a person we use our system of values to make the “do we become
friends” decision. Value questions such
as: “What can I gain from this friendship?
Will this person ‘embarrass me around my
other friends? How much time will this friendship require? What
will this friendship cost me?” I am
not saying that our systems of value are right or wrong, they just are. It’s a tool for us to function on a day to
day basis.
As Jesus is speaking to those who were
looking for him, Jesus is questioning “why” are you following me? “You are looking for me because you are
looking to be feed, but you are looking for the wrong food.” Jesus is telling them that their “system of
value” as to why they are looking for him is not the best basis. Jesus was saying to them, “you
are looking for something that doesn’t last, but I can give you something that
will always last, but you have to change your “system of value.” There are repeated themes in scripture about
this, such as Jesus requesting water of a Samaritan woman at a well. He tells her that the water in this well will
leave her thirsty after drinking it. But
if she sees Jesus as the “living water” and drinks of his word, she will never
be thirsty again. Jesus is asking her to
change her “system of value.”
Who
or what do you rely on most in everyday life? Where do you find your fulfillment each
day? Is it from your work? If so, what is it about your work that
sustains you daily? Or is it the
security of a home – a sanctuary from the world that you find at home? Maybe it’s in the relationships with your family
or friends? These are the questions that
Jesus is asking the crowd. This is the
question that Jesus is asking you! Are
these the things that will last for you?
What “system of value” do you live by and is it enough for you?
Once a month we come to gather around
this table that has bread and wine on it.
We call it communion. We hear the
story over and over, “I am the bread of Life”. “This cup is the cup of life.” What is Jesus saying to us when he likens
himself to bread? We can read in this story
that the crowd has already seen Jesus do miraculous things, yet they are asking
him to do another sign that will surely show them that Jesus is of God. “Moses fed our ancestors with bread in the
desert. It says so in the Scriptures: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” In other words, this group understands Moses being
able to sustain physical life while they traveled in the dessert.
Jesus responds with, “The
real significance of that Scripture is not that Moses gave you bread from
heaven but that my Father is right now offering you bread from heaven, the real bread. The Bread of God came
down out of heaven and is giving life to the world.” “I am the Bread of Life.
The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever.” Bread is a symbol of the most basic food
needed to sustain life. Jesus is telling
us that He is of God, that through the gift of God in Jesus, we can have what
we need daily for the rest of our lives.
I think a more modern way of conceptualizing this is in the phrase that
we tell every young person. “You get an education, because whatever you
gain in life can be taken away, except your education, your knowledge.”
In
essence, we understand Knowledge as a primary necessity, a thing that will help
you get through life daily. In
understanding Jesus as the son of God, Jesus represents the ongoing gift that
God gives us, which is love. This love
was demonstrated most graphically by Jesus dying for His message. This is what this bread on the communion
table says to us. Jesus invites us to “buy into” him and receive and live by
God’s “system of value.” We are asked to adjust our “system of value”
to align with the value of God. Let us
search our hearts this morning and re-alien our “system of values” to that of
God’s as we come to this table of love.
Amen
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