Sermon - 2018-08-05
Have you ever been hungry? I don’t mean like you have missed a meal hungry, I mean you have not eaten in days and you are not really hungry anymore but you just don’t feel right. When you finally get to eat, the food itself tastes sooo good. Like something you have not had in so long. It tastes like the food that your mom used to make for you.
The people coming to see Jesus want more, they want to receive food that will nourish them and they want it placed directly into their hands. And we are so much alike. We want to see with our very own eyes, we want to touch with our own hands, we want to hear the words spoken directly to me, and we want to know that God is indeed fulfilling that promise. Here within this world, we hear people say something and we do not always believe them, we want to believe, we are supposed to believe them. But people have a way of falling short of our expectations, for we are sinful creatures. We try and do our best but our best is not always good enough. I realize most people do not like to hear that, we don’t like hearing that we are wrong or fall short.
This is the distinction that Jesus is making; there is a difference between this world and the Kingdom of God that is coming. Here we eat, for the vast majority of people within this nation, we eat three meals a day, that’s nearly 1100 meals within a year and if a person lives about 80 years, well then they would have eaten 87600, give or take a meal. Food is important to us if we do not have it, our bodies grow weak and we die. Now Jesus clearly makes the distinction, just as there is food for this world, there is food that gives life, a food that once you eat it, you will not be hungry or thirsty again. These are a person’s two basic needs that are absolutely necessary for a person to actually survive and continue life. However, this bread of life does not come in a loaf; it is not white bread, wheat bread, barley or rye. No, this bread of life is a person, the very Son of God that is standing right before them. Now Jesus has lived, died and rose to heaven, so he is not standing right in front of us. So we are very much like the people that Jesus is talking to.
We hear the words but we do not understand. The words may be spoken or even written for us to look over and over again. Yet still, they are hard to accept. For we pray for this very thing every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us this day, our daily bread”. We want Jesus back into our lives; we want that bread placed into our hands so that we can feel it and know that the promise is true. So what is truly meant by daily bread? “Daily bread includes everything needed for this life, such as food and clothing, home and property, work and income, a devoted family, an orderly community, good government, favorable weather, peace and health, a good name, and true friends and neighbors.“ Truly that is more than then 12-grain loaf of bread that you would hope to find at the grocery store. No this far surpasses that; this bread gives you life and sustains it. This bread gives you a reason to get up in the morning, to work all day, enjoy what you do and even remind you that tomorrow will happen. Now even when our Earthly days come to an end. That daily bread, that bread that gives you life, eternal life, still feeds you and gives you the gift of being continually in the presence of God. That all you would need is cared for.
For many of us, we see these things every day and may not even remember that they are gifts that are given to us. But when they are gone, when they are absent and we are struggling because we miss them and want them to return, then we know that they are a gift that is given to us. Yet we never want them to be absent. And so we pray, and gather to remember, we are reminded that the water is poured over us, not by our own doing but it is done for us. We gather at the Lord’s Table, to be reminded that it is indeed bread but it is the bread of life that is found through the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now we go forth, to live our lives, enjoying the gifts and the bread that has been given to us. Spreading peace, joy and love to those who we encounter because that is what has been given to us. Amen.
The people coming to see Jesus want more, they want to receive food that will nourish them and they want it placed directly into their hands. And we are so much alike. We want to see with our very own eyes, we want to touch with our own hands, we want to hear the words spoken directly to me, and we want to know that God is indeed fulfilling that promise. Here within this world, we hear people say something and we do not always believe them, we want to believe, we are supposed to believe them. But people have a way of falling short of our expectations, for we are sinful creatures. We try and do our best but our best is not always good enough. I realize most people do not like to hear that, we don’t like hearing that we are wrong or fall short.
This is the distinction that Jesus is making; there is a difference between this world and the Kingdom of God that is coming. Here we eat, for the vast majority of people within this nation, we eat three meals a day, that’s nearly 1100 meals within a year and if a person lives about 80 years, well then they would have eaten 87600, give or take a meal. Food is important to us if we do not have it, our bodies grow weak and we die. Now Jesus clearly makes the distinction, just as there is food for this world, there is food that gives life, a food that once you eat it, you will not be hungry or thirsty again. These are a person’s two basic needs that are absolutely necessary for a person to actually survive and continue life. However, this bread of life does not come in a loaf; it is not white bread, wheat bread, barley or rye. No, this bread of life is a person, the very Son of God that is standing right before them. Now Jesus has lived, died and rose to heaven, so he is not standing right in front of us. So we are very much like the people that Jesus is talking to.
We hear the words but we do not understand. The words may be spoken or even written for us to look over and over again. Yet still, they are hard to accept. For we pray for this very thing every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us this day, our daily bread”. We want Jesus back into our lives; we want that bread placed into our hands so that we can feel it and know that the promise is true. So what is truly meant by daily bread? “Daily bread includes everything needed for this life, such as food and clothing, home and property, work and income, a devoted family, an orderly community, good government, favorable weather, peace and health, a good name, and true friends and neighbors.“ Truly that is more than then 12-grain loaf of bread that you would hope to find at the grocery store. No this far surpasses that; this bread gives you life and sustains it. This bread gives you a reason to get up in the morning, to work all day, enjoy what you do and even remind you that tomorrow will happen. Now even when our Earthly days come to an end. That daily bread, that bread that gives you life, eternal life, still feeds you and gives you the gift of being continually in the presence of God. That all you would need is cared for.
For many of us, we see these things every day and may not even remember that they are gifts that are given to us. But when they are gone, when they are absent and we are struggling because we miss them and want them to return, then we know that they are a gift that is given to us. Yet we never want them to be absent. And so we pray, and gather to remember, we are reminded that the water is poured over us, not by our own doing but it is done for us. We gather at the Lord’s Table, to be reminded that it is indeed bread but it is the bread of life that is found through the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now we go forth, to live our lives, enjoying the gifts and the bread that has been given to us. Spreading peace, joy and love to those who we encounter because that is what has been given to us. Amen.
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