SCRIPTURE
Time After Pentecost - Lectionary 18
John 6:24-35 (NRSV)
Christ, the bread of life
So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal." Then they said to him, "What must we do to perform the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." So they said to him, "What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Then Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always."
Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
SERMON
In today’s Gospel reading we encounter Jesus on the day after he fed the five thousand people with 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread! In response to this tremendous miracle, many people come from far and wide seeking Jesus in Capernaum!
Now, although scripture doesn’t say it, I can just imagine what “the day after” was like for Jesus! You know how we human beings are. When something wonderful or extraordinary happens to us, we tell everybody. We tell our family members, we call our girl friends, we gossip over the fence to our neighbors, we stand at the water cooler at work and we shoot the breeze in the park.
When we’ve got GOOD NEWS we shout it from the rooftops. I have actually seen proud grandmothers pull out pictures of their grandchildren in the supermarket and show them to perfect strangers!
So, I can only imagine what this crowd of 5,000 people did when they went home with bellies full of fish and bread. If you’ll allow me to use my Holy Ghost imagination I can just hear men, women, and children saying, “You really ought to come see this man! He truly is a prophet sent from God! He took 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread and fed thousands of us! And you won’t believe it! When we were all done and couldn’t eat another bite, his disciples picked up leftovers! Can you believe that there were leftovers?”
Well, in response to that kind of talk, it was no surprise when a whole lot of folks with empty bellies came looking for Jesus. When they found him, Jesus said to them, “You are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”
Wow! Isn’t that a deep sentiment! Jesus challenged his followers to examine themselves by asking the question, “Why am I following Jesus? Why am I seeking Jesus?”
I think that this question is apropos for us today even in 2009. If many of us are honest with ourselves, we would admit that as human beings we often seek Jesus for all the wrong reasons. So, what are the right reasons?
Well, first of all, we ought to seek Jesus because we want to worship Him for who He is…not just for what he can do.
A few years ago, a very wise college student asked me a question that rocked my world. She said, “Do you think that most people pray seeking God’s face or God’s hands?”
WOW!
I have never forgotten that question because it changed my life. I did not have a ready answer for her on that day, but I have been meditating on that question for years now. Do I seek God’s face? Or do I seek God’s hands?
If we are seeking God’s face we look for God--or pray to God--because we want to adore God! We want to sit in God’s presence. We want to meditate on God’s Word. We want to bask in God’s glory. We want to celebrate Jesus!
I don’t know about you, but I want my first priority to be seeking the face of Jesus that I might worship and adore Him.
The second reason we seek Jesus is because we trust the wisdom of God revealed in Christ Jesus to meet our every need. One thing I love about Jesus is that Jesus kept things real ya’ll. Jesus knew that the people were hungry and that growling stomachs would interfere in his ability to communicate important spiritual truths to their hearts. I believe that this is why Jesus fed his followers physical bread, before He fed them spiritual bread.
I love this part of the narrative because it reminds me that God does not mind when we ask for God’s help to meet our mental, physical, emotional, or spiritual needs. The Bible says in Luke, “Ask…Seek…Knock.” In other words, we can talk to God about the things that we are anxious, concerned, or fearful about. We can lift up our cares, concerns, embarrassments, failures, sorrows, shame, sickness and pain to God and know that God cares for us!
But, let us be careful my friends! When we ask for God’s help, let us not attempt to proscribe to God, All-Mighty, All-Knowing, and All-Powerful, how God should save or rescue us!
God is not Santa Claus, neither is God a genie in a bottle. We ought not to attempt to use our prayer as the means by which we call forth the genie and demand our three wishes be met!
Instead, when we pray, we need only to ask for God’s help and then we must be wise enough, and faith-full enough, to trust God to provide the right solution for our every trouble.
I believe that this is why Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.” Scripture teaches us that it is God’s will is to bless us, help us, love us, and save us. God has a good plan for our lives not to harm us, but to give us a future and a hope.
My friends, I know that it takes a certain level of spiritual maturity to understand that God has the right answer to our prayers. God answers our prayers with, “Yes, No, or Wait.” And I have lived long enough to have been grateful for God’s many “NOs” in my life!
I have found that at all times God is actively at work in me—and in all of us--maturing us, teaching us, and producing within us the fruit of the Holy Spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
I have learned that if God answered yes to every single one of my prayers, I would have been in trouble friends!
As we learn to trust Jesus in our prayers, we will find that we will spend more time seeking Jesus’ face and less time orchestrating the work of His hands. God’s got this my friends and God will take care of us.
Finally, we seek Jesus because we want to “do the work of God.”
When Jesus’ followers asked Him how they could do the work of God, Jesus said, “believe in Him whom GOD has sent.” Later Jesus went on to say, “"I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”
Today, and on this side of the cross, we know that Jesus was instructing His followers to believe that God loves us and God gave Jesus to die on the cross to save us from our sin and gift us with eternal life!”
Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” Whilst many of Jesus’ followers—then and now—come to Jesus seeking only perishable things like food, fame, fortune, glory, reputation, houses, cars, boats, cabins, and dollars for our 401ks, Jesus invites us to come to Him seeking imperishable things such as a reconciled relationship with God, forgiveness of sin, and eternal life.
I am so glad that Love wrapped Himself up in flesh and dwelt amongst us in the person of Jesus! I am so glad that Jesus walked and talked with us, healed and delivered us, spoke to our anxieties and our fears, and ultimately died on the cross and rose again on the third day—all for us!
Jesus teaches us in today’s Gospel reading that the work of humanity is to believe that God loves us and that God sent Jesus to show forth that great love!
As we believe this GOOD NEWS message, we are called--and compelled--to joyfully spread it to everyone that we meet! In the same way that Jesus’ followers told everybody that He had provided physical food, we ought to tell everybody that Jesus is the spiritual food that leads to our eternal salvation!
Listen to me my friends. We ought not to need—or require--another “miracle” to believe that God loves us and cares passionately for us! We got the greatest miracle of all when Jesus offered up his own blood as atonement for sin, reconciling our relationship with God and making provision for our eternal life.
Today, I invite you to come seeking Jesus. Seek Him because you want to see His face. Seek Him because you trust His ability to meet all of your needs. And seek Him because you know—and believe--that Jesus is the bread of life!
On this day, Jesus wants your heart to seek, find, and discover God’s great love for you! Jesus is the bread of life; let us feast on Him for eternity! And let us share this bread with others…
In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit we pray. Amen.
Won’t you come seeking Jesus with all your mind, heart, soul, and strength today? If so, please pray with me:
Holy God, thank you that you love me so much! Thank you that you gave Jesus to die on the cross, to save me from my sin and gift me with eternal life. Today, I come seeking Jesus! Please forgive me of my sin and fill me with the Holy Spirit. I believe that you are the Bread of Life and I desire to share this bread with others. Please empower and equip me to share GOOD NEWS with my loved ones. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
SPECIAL NOTE
If you just prayed that prayer for the first time, today, you are saved! I would be so honored if you would let me know about your decision by clicking “Yes” in the poll located at the top/right of today’s devotional! I am so happy for you! Happy Spiritual Re-Birth-Day!
Next steps: In response to what God did for you just now, let me suggest that you consider telling another Christian so that they can celebrate with you! Ask them to help you find a Bible that is easy for you to understand so that you can learn more about your new-found faith! Ask them to help you find a good Bible believing church where you can be baptized and make new friends who will walk with you on your new journey! You are already saved; now let God mature you by faith! Congratulations!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
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PUT ALL OF YOUR HOPE IN JESUS--If you have additional questions about how to become a friend and follower of Jesus, please see the devotion entitled, "Come to Jesus"
http://aintathatgoodnews.blogspot.com/2009/03/come-to-jesus.html
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From Pastor Yolanda's blog http://aintathatgoodnews.blogspot.com
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