Bread In Our Baskets
Sermon
Fringe, Front and Center
Sermons For Sundays After Pentecost (Middle Third)
After the Lord's miraculous multiplying of the two fish and the loaves of bread, the crowd had seen the disciples shove off for the farther shore. They knew there had been only one boat by the shore. They knew Jesus had not entered it with the disciples. Do you suppose some in the crowd said to one another, "Jesus missed the boat"? Those who wanted to make Jesus king might have said that and meant that he could have become a great deal more than he was. They didn't realize that no one ever was greater than he. Nor did they realize that without him they were the ones who were missing the boat.
John's account describes the disciples' crossing. They had rowed three or four miles across and found it rough going indeed, with the strong wind and high waves. Suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the sea, coming near them. They were terrified. "It is I," he said. "Do not be afraid." When Moses wanted to know God's name so that he could identify who was sending him to rescue the children of Israel in Egypt, God had told him, "I AM WHO I AM" (Exodus 3:14). He is who he is, the Son of God. "I am the one greater than Moses. He divided the sea for Israel's crossing. I rise above it. I make it my footstool. I walk on it." The disciples wanted him to get into the boat, but the text does not tell us that he did. Instead -- "Immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going." Jesus didn't miss the boat. He controlled it. And all who were in the boat he brought to shore. It's the boat none of us wants to miss.
The day after the miracle meal, some of the great crowd were evidently still at the mountain. They piled into some new boats which had come from Tiberias and crossed the sea to Capernaum where they found Jesus. The first question they put to him was, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" What they probably wondered about was "How did you get here?" What would have been their reaction if Jesus had replied to their curiosity, "I walked." What they really needed to learn was the answer to the question, "Who are you -- really?" What is our reaction to the answer we have heard -- "I AM"? What are we doing about his words, "I am the bread of life"?
Clearly the crowd didn't know what in the world Jesus was doing, what he was doing for the world. Jesus at once put it to them that they were missing the boat. He underlined his words with a "verily." "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." Our Lord's "very truly" makes this charge a very serious one, and one which we do well to heed today. Do we react truly to the sign of the loaves? Do we verily work for the food that endures for eternal life?
Think about some of them in that crowd who were missing the boat. That's easier than critically examining ourselves. With that huge more-than-five-thousand crowd, there were, no doubt, some stragglers at the fringes who arrived late and asked, "What's going on? Why the crowd?"
"Bread and fish!" was their answer. "Jesus and the disciples are passing out bread and fish. Sit down here on the grass."
"Don't mind if I do. Who said there's no such thing as a free lunch?"
"The word is that Jesus blessed the lunch a little boy brought along, and he's stretching it out for all these thousands. What a prophet! It's like manna."
"Tastes like fish to me."
It would have been people like that who clambered aboard the boats to follow the disciples to Capernaum. It would have been to people like that that Jesus had to say sadly, "Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me because you ate your fill of the loaves." But, brothers and sisters, "I would not have you to be ignorant" that there are fringes to our congregational crowd as well, and there are very probably people here who have been wandering on the edges of the Church for months, for years. Many people find many reasons for joining the Church crowd, reasons which have little to do with the serious issues of death, of life after death, of sin which puts God off, or of how God can be expected to react toward those who ignore him. Some readily appropriate the side advantages of being churchly, things like respectability, standing for moral and ethical values, hearing good music, or experiencing the good feeling of doing what your mother told you to do. But to any like that, to any of you who are on the fringe like that, content with lunch, not interpreting the sign, not comprehending the gift or recognizing the Giver, Jesus is speaking today. "You are missing the boat," Jesus is saying.
Jesus hoped that people would see the sign and come looking for him for a rescue greater than Moses ever offered, for a prophet not only sent by God, but actually God! Jesus hoped that by giving them the bread that perished as they ate it, they would come looking for him to receive from him the bread of eternal life, to receive what no Moses could ever give -- the eternal promised land, true life here, flowing with divine milk and honey. Giving out food for thousands was no big distribution problem for the Son of God, for God regularly satisfies the desires of every living thing. But, clearly, it was food that perishes. Even the twelve baskets that remained probably met the same fate the next day. What Jesus hoped for was that these people -- what Jesus hopes for -- is that all of us, in the front rows, in the safe center, on the fringes, would come to him for "the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man gives. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal."
The crowd by now had probably increased by hundreds from this new parish area around Capernaum. They had missed the miracle and so pressed him to give them a sign "so that we may see it and believe you." "How about showing us something," they were saying, "something equal to the manna Moses gave? 'Bread from heaven' the scriptures call it." Jesus replied, "It wasn't Moses who gave bread from heaven, but 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."
Finally the people gave him the reaction he wanted. "They said to him, 'Sir, give us this bread always.' " Even though it was still not clear that they were understanding what he meant, Jesus made his point explicit: "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." "Come to me; believe in me." That sums up his answer to the question, "What must we do to perform the works of God?" Here he tells us, too, what we are to do: "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."
There it is, clearly said, to all of us in front and center and fringe. He was not yet putting it all in words, all that he had agreed with his Father to do. He came to give life to the world. "Bread of life" was his illustration of all that he was offering to all of us. Bread must be consumed in order to give life. We must consume, we must believe, we must swallow, all that Jesus has told us, all that Jesus has done for us if we would have true life. This is the work God wants us to do.
The work of God which the Father wanted Jesus to do was to be consumed in death. The sin which kills could itself be killed only by God's taking its death into the divine being. And the divine being could only partake of death by taking on our humanity. God raised up Jesus, a prophet like Moses also in this, as a child of Israel, a child of Mary, a child like us. In the mind of Jesus there could have been a connection other than bread to the work of Moses. Moses died before Israel made it to the promised land. Death was to be a part of our Lord's work as well. Jesus died to enable us to make it to the promised land. Moses died for his own sin. Jesus died for ours. No one knows where Moses' grave is. There is no point in looking for Jesus' grave. He is not in it. He is risen indeed.
All of that, his obedience to the Father, his death for us for our failures, his new life for his friends, make up the ingredients of the bread of life. All that God's recipe called for, the whole mix of the works and the word of Jesus, make up the bread of life. And Jesus slices it simply for us, gives us the whole loaf in one piece: "I am the bread of life. Believe in me whom God has sent." Oh, that each one of us would realize how wonderful a gift Jesus gives to us! We have tasted the miracle of the Bread of Life. For years we have feasted out of the leftovers gathered in the twelve baskets. And look in your basket right now. There is more than a bit of fish and a bit of bread there!
Think of it through the little boy's eyes. It would be pleasing to us all, I think, if we could know that the little boy managed to get a seat on one of the boats which followed Jesus. Say his name was Thaddaeus...call him Tad. It would be pleasing to think of him as he worked his way to the front of the crowd to a place where he could see Jesus plainly. Pleasing to think that Jesus recognized him, called him by name, said, "Tad! Glad you could come. Won't need your lunch today." And then Jesus notices that Tad's basket is empty today -- no fish, no bread; just his faith, his work of God, his belief in him whom God has sent.
Then Jesus, aware now of the empty basket, quietly says, "Nothing in your lunch basket today, Tad? Well, then. A special blessing, just for you." And now, in the basket, a small dried fish, two little barley loaves, and ... a little frosted cupcake.
"More than we can ask or think!" That is what our Lord is giving to us who believe. Pleasing it was to God to give us the savior Son. Pleasing it is to our God, now, that we bring to him our offertory basket of bread and wine. Pleasing it is to our God to bless us and these gifts, and place anew into our hands and lives, the Bread of Life!
John's account describes the disciples' crossing. They had rowed three or four miles across and found it rough going indeed, with the strong wind and high waves. Suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the sea, coming near them. They were terrified. "It is I," he said. "Do not be afraid." When Moses wanted to know God's name so that he could identify who was sending him to rescue the children of Israel in Egypt, God had told him, "I AM WHO I AM" (Exodus 3:14). He is who he is, the Son of God. "I am the one greater than Moses. He divided the sea for Israel's crossing. I rise above it. I make it my footstool. I walk on it." The disciples wanted him to get into the boat, but the text does not tell us that he did. Instead -- "Immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going." Jesus didn't miss the boat. He controlled it. And all who were in the boat he brought to shore. It's the boat none of us wants to miss.
The day after the miracle meal, some of the great crowd were evidently still at the mountain. They piled into some new boats which had come from Tiberias and crossed the sea to Capernaum where they found Jesus. The first question they put to him was, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" What they probably wondered about was "How did you get here?" What would have been their reaction if Jesus had replied to their curiosity, "I walked." What they really needed to learn was the answer to the question, "Who are you -- really?" What is our reaction to the answer we have heard -- "I AM"? What are we doing about his words, "I am the bread of life"?
Clearly the crowd didn't know what in the world Jesus was doing, what he was doing for the world. Jesus at once put it to them that they were missing the boat. He underlined his words with a "verily." "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." Our Lord's "very truly" makes this charge a very serious one, and one which we do well to heed today. Do we react truly to the sign of the loaves? Do we verily work for the food that endures for eternal life?
Think about some of them in that crowd who were missing the boat. That's easier than critically examining ourselves. With that huge more-than-five-thousand crowd, there were, no doubt, some stragglers at the fringes who arrived late and asked, "What's going on? Why the crowd?"
"Bread and fish!" was their answer. "Jesus and the disciples are passing out bread and fish. Sit down here on the grass."
"Don't mind if I do. Who said there's no such thing as a free lunch?"
"The word is that Jesus blessed the lunch a little boy brought along, and he's stretching it out for all these thousands. What a prophet! It's like manna."
"Tastes like fish to me."
It would have been people like that who clambered aboard the boats to follow the disciples to Capernaum. It would have been to people like that that Jesus had to say sadly, "Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me because you ate your fill of the loaves." But, brothers and sisters, "I would not have you to be ignorant" that there are fringes to our congregational crowd as well, and there are very probably people here who have been wandering on the edges of the Church for months, for years. Many people find many reasons for joining the Church crowd, reasons which have little to do with the serious issues of death, of life after death, of sin which puts God off, or of how God can be expected to react toward those who ignore him. Some readily appropriate the side advantages of being churchly, things like respectability, standing for moral and ethical values, hearing good music, or experiencing the good feeling of doing what your mother told you to do. But to any like that, to any of you who are on the fringe like that, content with lunch, not interpreting the sign, not comprehending the gift or recognizing the Giver, Jesus is speaking today. "You are missing the boat," Jesus is saying.
Jesus hoped that people would see the sign and come looking for him for a rescue greater than Moses ever offered, for a prophet not only sent by God, but actually God! Jesus hoped that by giving them the bread that perished as they ate it, they would come looking for him to receive from him the bread of eternal life, to receive what no Moses could ever give -- the eternal promised land, true life here, flowing with divine milk and honey. Giving out food for thousands was no big distribution problem for the Son of God, for God regularly satisfies the desires of every living thing. But, clearly, it was food that perishes. Even the twelve baskets that remained probably met the same fate the next day. What Jesus hoped for was that these people -- what Jesus hopes for -- is that all of us, in the front rows, in the safe center, on the fringes, would come to him for "the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man gives. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal."
The crowd by now had probably increased by hundreds from this new parish area around Capernaum. They had missed the miracle and so pressed him to give them a sign "so that we may see it and believe you." "How about showing us something," they were saying, "something equal to the manna Moses gave? 'Bread from heaven' the scriptures call it." Jesus replied, "It wasn't Moses who gave bread from heaven, but 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."
Finally the people gave him the reaction he wanted. "They said to him, 'Sir, give us this bread always.' " Even though it was still not clear that they were understanding what he meant, Jesus made his point explicit: "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." "Come to me; believe in me." That sums up his answer to the question, "What must we do to perform the works of God?" Here he tells us, too, what we are to do: "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."
There it is, clearly said, to all of us in front and center and fringe. He was not yet putting it all in words, all that he had agreed with his Father to do. He came to give life to the world. "Bread of life" was his illustration of all that he was offering to all of us. Bread must be consumed in order to give life. We must consume, we must believe, we must swallow, all that Jesus has told us, all that Jesus has done for us if we would have true life. This is the work God wants us to do.
The work of God which the Father wanted Jesus to do was to be consumed in death. The sin which kills could itself be killed only by God's taking its death into the divine being. And the divine being could only partake of death by taking on our humanity. God raised up Jesus, a prophet like Moses also in this, as a child of Israel, a child of Mary, a child like us. In the mind of Jesus there could have been a connection other than bread to the work of Moses. Moses died before Israel made it to the promised land. Death was to be a part of our Lord's work as well. Jesus died to enable us to make it to the promised land. Moses died for his own sin. Jesus died for ours. No one knows where Moses' grave is. There is no point in looking for Jesus' grave. He is not in it. He is risen indeed.
All of that, his obedience to the Father, his death for us for our failures, his new life for his friends, make up the ingredients of the bread of life. All that God's recipe called for, the whole mix of the works and the word of Jesus, make up the bread of life. And Jesus slices it simply for us, gives us the whole loaf in one piece: "I am the bread of life. Believe in me whom God has sent." Oh, that each one of us would realize how wonderful a gift Jesus gives to us! We have tasted the miracle of the Bread of Life. For years we have feasted out of the leftovers gathered in the twelve baskets. And look in your basket right now. There is more than a bit of fish and a bit of bread there!
Think of it through the little boy's eyes. It would be pleasing to us all, I think, if we could know that the little boy managed to get a seat on one of the boats which followed Jesus. Say his name was Thaddaeus...call him Tad. It would be pleasing to think of him as he worked his way to the front of the crowd to a place where he could see Jesus plainly. Pleasing to think that Jesus recognized him, called him by name, said, "Tad! Glad you could come. Won't need your lunch today." And then Jesus notices that Tad's basket is empty today -- no fish, no bread; just his faith, his work of God, his belief in him whom God has sent.
Then Jesus, aware now of the empty basket, quietly says, "Nothing in your lunch basket today, Tad? Well, then. A special blessing, just for you." And now, in the basket, a small dried fish, two little barley loaves, and ... a little frosted cupcake.
"More than we can ask or think!" That is what our Lord is giving to us who believe. Pleasing it was to God to give us the savior Son. Pleasing it is to our God, now, that we bring to him our offertory basket of bread and wine. Pleasing it is to our God to bless us and these gifts, and place anew into our hands and lives, the Bread of Life!
