Searching For Jesus
Sermon
THE WORD IS NEAR YOU
Sermons For The Church
Some people say that our generation is becoming godless. But make no mistake about it. Many people are looking for Jesus. They would love him as we do if they knew where and how to find him. That is the problem. They do not know where Christ is and how to reach out to him. Some searches take people to unexpected places and give surprising results.
For example, Columbus searched for a new route to Asia and found America instead. Louis Pasteur tried to find a way to keep wine from souring and came up with the pasteurization process instead. Alexander Graham Bell wanted to improve the telegraph but wound up with the telephone. Roentgen worked to find a better light for photography but invented the X--ray instead. Sometimes we do not find what we are searching for.
In today's text the people had been with Jesus and were fed. But the Lord had many other people to feed so he and the disciples left and went to the far side of the Sea of Galilee. When the people realized that Jesus and the others were gone, they got into their own boats and crossed over to Capernaum to find Jesus. Why? They wanted more bread. Some people search for Jesus through physical means.
This clamoring for bread is certainly real today, too. Hunger is all around us and hungry people need to be fed. Jesus himself commanded that. However, he was aware that people can get so preoccupied with physical needs (and wants) that they are in danger of missing their deepest need - the need for eternal life.
Jesus was not asking people to quit their jobs and never be concerned about their next meal. His point was that people should attend to matters of enduring significance. All else perishes. Even the finest of meals lasts only a day and then the person must eat again. Someone has noted, "Regardless of a person's religious presuppositions, he eventually discovers that anything tangible - whether food or drink or sex or possessions - furnishes only transient fulfillment. This sense of incompleteness which every man experiences as a result of his efforts to find satisfaction in earthly things provides the basis on which he may be prompted to search for heavenly things that bring lasting satisfaction to life."1
Jesus does not condemn bread. He simply invites people to move beyond the earthly and the physical to a relationship with him. This is what Christian pilgrimage is all about.
The crowd in Capernaum also wanted a miracle. Verse 30 indicates that the people wanted a miracle. They had been given free bread once and wanted it again. They asked Jesus, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you?" This is the way some today search for Jesus. They seem to need a big production, a magnificent show, a miracle every hour to confirm their pilgrimage. But is that how God intends it?
Miracles in the Bible are there for the purpose of showing that God could and did act among his people. Jesus fed the five thousand to demonstrate his Lordship and invite them to faith. His word to us today is that we need not be clamoring for miracles and a big show.
How do we find Jesus? He tells us himself in verse 35. He said that he is the bread of life and that anyone who would come to him would never go away hungry. Some search for him through physical means and others through elaborate miracles. Jesus said we would find him through faith. Yes, that is it. Faith. It is a simple as that.
Only Christ can satisfy the longing people have for eternal life. That is the long and the short of the gospel story. Have you ever been outside on a clear night and found yourself looking up at the stars? Perhaps you wanted a relationship with Whomever might be up there. That longing might have been so strong you could taste it. That is the sort of hunger the Bread of Life satisfies.
What do you value most in life? It is a difficult question for most people to answer. But we need to be realistic about it. If our desires and dreams are for this world only, then that is all we get. If we are hungry for heaven, however, through faith in Christ we get it. During this week, perhaps you can spend some time probing and exploring your deepest values. If you are hungry for a relationship with God, then pull up a chair at the his table and dine on the Bread of Life. You really are invited to this meal.
____________
1. William Hull, "John," The Broadman Bible Commentary, Volume 9 (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1970), p. 273.
For example, Columbus searched for a new route to Asia and found America instead. Louis Pasteur tried to find a way to keep wine from souring and came up with the pasteurization process instead. Alexander Graham Bell wanted to improve the telegraph but wound up with the telephone. Roentgen worked to find a better light for photography but invented the X--ray instead. Sometimes we do not find what we are searching for.
In today's text the people had been with Jesus and were fed. But the Lord had many other people to feed so he and the disciples left and went to the far side of the Sea of Galilee. When the people realized that Jesus and the others were gone, they got into their own boats and crossed over to Capernaum to find Jesus. Why? They wanted more bread. Some people search for Jesus through physical means.
This clamoring for bread is certainly real today, too. Hunger is all around us and hungry people need to be fed. Jesus himself commanded that. However, he was aware that people can get so preoccupied with physical needs (and wants) that they are in danger of missing their deepest need - the need for eternal life.
Jesus was not asking people to quit their jobs and never be concerned about their next meal. His point was that people should attend to matters of enduring significance. All else perishes. Even the finest of meals lasts only a day and then the person must eat again. Someone has noted, "Regardless of a person's religious presuppositions, he eventually discovers that anything tangible - whether food or drink or sex or possessions - furnishes only transient fulfillment. This sense of incompleteness which every man experiences as a result of his efforts to find satisfaction in earthly things provides the basis on which he may be prompted to search for heavenly things that bring lasting satisfaction to life."1
Jesus does not condemn bread. He simply invites people to move beyond the earthly and the physical to a relationship with him. This is what Christian pilgrimage is all about.
The crowd in Capernaum also wanted a miracle. Verse 30 indicates that the people wanted a miracle. They had been given free bread once and wanted it again. They asked Jesus, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you?" This is the way some today search for Jesus. They seem to need a big production, a magnificent show, a miracle every hour to confirm their pilgrimage. But is that how God intends it?
Miracles in the Bible are there for the purpose of showing that God could and did act among his people. Jesus fed the five thousand to demonstrate his Lordship and invite them to faith. His word to us today is that we need not be clamoring for miracles and a big show.
How do we find Jesus? He tells us himself in verse 35. He said that he is the bread of life and that anyone who would come to him would never go away hungry. Some search for him through physical means and others through elaborate miracles. Jesus said we would find him through faith. Yes, that is it. Faith. It is a simple as that.
Only Christ can satisfy the longing people have for eternal life. That is the long and the short of the gospel story. Have you ever been outside on a clear night and found yourself looking up at the stars? Perhaps you wanted a relationship with Whomever might be up there. That longing might have been so strong you could taste it. That is the sort of hunger the Bread of Life satisfies.
What do you value most in life? It is a difficult question for most people to answer. But we need to be realistic about it. If our desires and dreams are for this world only, then that is all we get. If we are hungry for heaven, however, through faith in Christ we get it. During this week, perhaps you can spend some time probing and exploring your deepest values. If you are hungry for a relationship with God, then pull up a chair at the his table and dine on the Bread of Life. You really are invited to this meal.
____________
1. William Hull, "John," The Broadman Bible Commentary, Volume 9 (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1970), p. 273.
