Tenth Sunday After Pentecost - Proper 13
August 5, 2012 - Pastor Adam Moline
Exodus
16:2-15 Ephesians 4:1-16 John 6:22-35
Grace, mercy and
peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
amen. Our text today comes from the
Gospel lesson, especially these words, “I am the bread of life; whoever
comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” Thus far our text.
Dear friends in
Christ, You can imagine that with three boy children, one of my parents
favorite places (and ours!) were all you can eat buffets. Loads and loads of food without limits, all
at one manageable low cost. My brothers
and I prided ourselves in getting our monies worth – or even more than our
monies worth. We would have contests to
see who could eat more plates full of food, often times getting into the double
digits. We would gorge and stuff
ourselves on food. It is almost embarrassing
to talk about! And finally when we were
all done, when we had eaten our fill, we’d make the comment, “I don’t think
I’ll ever be able to eat another bite.”
But meals would
come again; we’d be hungry again just a few hours after filling up. The next day we would eat just as much food
all over again – because no matter how full you are of food, you always will
need to eat more to survive.
It’s this idea
that is behind our text today. Jesus has
fed the people, five thousand of them to be exact, with only a few loaves and
fishes. And as our text said two weeks
ago, when the meal was done, they were satisfied, they were full, they couldn’t
eat another bite. It was the end of an
all you can eat buffet. The people were
so excited about their free food, that as they talked after the meal, the
apostle John writes that they were going to make Jesus king by force. Why?
Free food! They wanted Jesus to
be the Buffet King of Israel, the guy who provided food for them, the guy who
let them eat every day to their fill.
But that’s not
what Jesus wants, so he hightails it out of there, walking across the Sea of
Galilee, before they can make him the bread buffet king. And thus our text today. When the people finally find Jesus, when they
finally catch up after running all the way around the Sea, they feign surprise,
“Lord, what are you doing here?” they say “fancy meeting you here Jesus”. But what is really on their mind? Food.
Feed me Jesus. I’m hungry. Give me something to eat, and give it to me
now. I want more buffet. I want more.
Gimme gimme gimme gimme!
But Jesus cuts to
the chase, “You seek me, not because of who I am, but rather because you ate
your fill of the loaves.” But even if I
feed you that bread again, you’ll be hungry.
Even if you eat bread every day for the rest of your lives, you will
still face death. You see, dear friends,
Jesus has so much more than earthly care for us. He’s much more than a buffet king, he’s a
life king, an eternal king, and most importantly a forgiving king. He’s the bread of life, the gift of God that
keeps people alive forevermore, as their sin is gone in Jesus forever.
What about you,
dear Christians? How often do you hunger
for the things of this world, the things that will pass away, that won’t truly
and eternally satisfy you. How often do
you want God to give you a worldly buffet of goodies, on your terms, with your
timetable, while ignoring what he really wants to give you? How often do you chase after God, do you come
here to this place, hoping that by being a good enough person God will reward
you monetarily? Truly, truly, I say to
you, if this is true, you are seeking God, not because you saw signs, but
because you want your fill of the loaves, your fill of the world, and your fill
of your desires. And God will have
nothing to do with it.
Dear friends, dear
sinners, hear God’s word, through the mouth of the Son of God, “I am the bread
of life, whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall
never thirst.” In other words, Jesus is
the thing that satisfies. No matter how
much money you have, without Jesus, it doesn’t matter. No matter how nice a car you drive, without
the Bread of Life, it is worthless. No
matter what you do, what you want, how you get, without Jesus it is just a
chasing after the wind.
But Jesus really
satisfies. Jesus really provides. Jesus really gives what he says he does. And when Jesus the bread of life comes to you
with his gifts, you know they won’t just disappear the next day, needing to be
filled by something else.
The bread of life
fills you so that you never hunger again.
He fills you with forgiveness, earned through his own deafeat of sin on
the bloody cross. He fills you with
salvation, as he dies for your sins of want and selfish gain. He fills you with life, life that surpasses
all your understandings and imaginations – life with peace, and comfort before
the throne of God. You see, dear
friends, the bread of life suffers so that you don’t have to.
So today, come and
eat from the altar on which sits the bread of life that was nailed to the cross
– and be filled. Come and eat, and be
satisfied with Jesus body in with and under the bread. Come and drink, and be satisfied with the
blood that poured out of his hands and side, drink the drink that in with and
under contains blood for forgiveness, life and salvation for you. Come and receive the gracious gifts of the
Bread of Life, Jesus Christ. Come and be
satisfied.
You see, when I
was a child, I’d go to the buffet and eat and eat, and still be hungry. But with Jesus, I never hunger again. For he gives me faith that fills me, faith
that makes me well. Faith that satisfies
the hungry soul forever. Amen.
