The Living Bread – Sermon 9 August, 2015

The Living Bread
John 6:25-59
Jesus proclaims Himself to be the Bread of Life.
Chapter 6 opens with Jesus crossing over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee and a large crowd of people followed Him because they had seen His miraculous healings of the sick. Jesus, seeing the great crowd, asked His disciples where they might find enough bread to feed all these hungry people. Philip said that 8 months’ worth of wages would not be enough money to buy enough bread for everyone to have even a bite. Then Andrew said in: “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” Jesus took the bread and fish, gave thanks, distributed them among the crowd, 5,000 people were fed, yet there remained 12 baskets of leftovers. Jesus walked on the water to reach the city of Capernaum on the other side of the lake and the crowds next morning crossed the Sea of Galilee in search of Jesus, and when they found Him, they wanted Him to perform another miraculous sign. What becomes clear in the discussion is that the crowd following Jesus completely missed the point of the miraculous feeding of the 5,000, as well as the miraculous feeding of the children of Israel by God with manna—bread from heaven—during their 40-year wilderness wandering.
This crowd thought that Moses, not God, was ultimately responsible for the manna; and this crowd was following Jesus now not because they wanted to hear the words of eternal life, but because they thought they’d found in Him a never-ending supply of bread. The same thing happened when Jesus revealed Himself to be living water to the woman at the well. She replied, “Sir, give me this water so I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” This crowd who followed Jesus were looking for the wrong thing in the wrong place. They wanted literal bread to satisfy their physical hunger; but Jesus is the spiritual bread, to give and sustain spiritual life; He is that bread, in His person and work. He doesn’t give it. And this spiritual bread came down from heaven by God and is God Himself. He is the Living Bread.
Regardless of Jesus’ correction, the misunderstanding crowd said to Him: “From now on give us this bread”.
It becomes apparent later on in the chapter that despite this explanation, they still didn’t quite grasp the Lord’s revelation that He is Himself the Bread of Life. He doesn’t give it. He is it. And to have it, one must have Him. The crowds grumbled and finally left following Jesus, because He offered them what they actually needed and not what they thought they wanted.
“I am the Bread of Life.” The Bread, that came from Heaven. In this passage alone we find the word heaven mentioned ten times.
The bread is the basic substance that sustains life. Bread in Jesus’ day was the main diet of those on low income. It was usually like flat cakes made of wheat flour or barley, water, salt, yeast, may be sesame seeds and freshly baked.
But what did Jesus mean when he said, “I am the bread of Life?”
What Jesus meant was that He is the basic need that we have to sustain our life and He alone could satisfy our deepest needs. His mission on earth was not just to be a good teacher, a miracle worker and a good example of how to live, but to satisfy our deepest spiritual needs. When He said, “I am the Bread of Life” he was really saying: “I alone can fully satisfy you.”
Interestingly Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which means “House of Bread”.
In the spiritual sense, Jesus being the living bread satisfies our deepest needs which are:
1. Answer to our questions
He answers all our questions. Even though sometimes it is not easy to see this, as we look to the answers we want, not what He wants. People came to Him with their questions and He answered them. Some were happy and satisfied, but some left with great sadness or disappointment.
2. Source of faith
He is the one who can take away our doubts and make us believe Him. After His resurrection He helped Thomas to not doubt and to have faith. Thomas doubted that Jesus had risen. Jesus, instead of being angry with him for doubting, offered the proof he was looking for.
3. Our identity
Jesus is the reason that we are considered to be God’s Children. He is the way, the truth and the life. The only way that takes us to God the Father and makes us His brothers and sisters. As we pray: “Our Father in heaven”.
4. Friendship
Jesus is our friend, whom we can trust, who bears all our sins and patiently waits for us to go to Him with our pain and stress. He is the only true friend whom we can trust and be assured that He will be there when we need Him. He will not abandon us as we do.
5. Peace
He relieves all our fears and gives us peace. Remember the disciples were terrified and didn’t know what to do. He appeared to them and said “Peace be with you”. Another time He calmed the sea and relieved their fear.
For Jesus to call himself the “BREAD OF LIFE” it makes sense, because bread is something used and enjoyed by everyone, and satisfied those who enjoy it.
Jesus knew that it was the right time in the midst of everything that had happened, was happening, and would be happening that He needed to make a strong statement so that His ministry could keep moving forward.
His timing was excellent and He wanted to show that as the Bread of Life, there was a difference between those who believe and those who “do” what they believe. This difference between “doing” and “believing” has been with the church ever since!
Jesus made this clear when he questioned why they had come…They asked “What shall we do” – He said believe in the One that God sent.
They said they needed a sign like what Moses did. Jesus replied “I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who gave the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.” – Look here I am.
They pleaded for this bread always – Jesus said: “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger and who believes in me will never be thirsty.”
Jesus could have just told them to follow him and send money to His ministry.
Jesus could have told them of His miraculous ability to walk on water and said “I AM the Greatest!!!!”
But what Jesus did was to point toward heaven and give the glory to whom it belongs…Instead of just “doing” or just “believing” Jesus showed them how to do both.
We need to do the same.
We can believe, and that’s fine, but even Satan believes.
We can do, and that’s fine, but if we do it for the wrong reasons, inevitably we’ll get the wrong results.
Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life.” “Do not work for food that spoils, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”
Jesus is our light in the midst of darkness. He is the Door and the Great Shepherd of his sheep.
Jesus is the Bread of Life that satisfies our spiritual needs.

Krikor Youmshajekian