Pentecost 12B, 2024

12th Sunday after Pentecost, Year B

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Brothers and sisters in Christ: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

One of my favorite comedians when I was kid had a routine in which he said, “I’m proud to be an American…because we Americans can eat anything on the face of this earth, as long as we have 2 pieces of bread.” I suppose there’s some truth to that. We can make a sandwich out of pretty much anything, can’t we? And depending on what you call that sandwich, there’s good chance you can tell what part of the country you’re from. Down here, you might order a sub, short for submarine sandwich. If you head north a good ways, you’ll hear the word “hoagie”. (And yes, I know they’re different…bear with me…) Some places in New England have “grinders”. There are a few other obscure regional names, but you get my point. You can find different kinds of sandwiches all over our country. And don’t get me started on other countries.

And you can do a lot more with bread that just sandwiches. And bread comes in a whole bunch of different types, shapes, and tastes. Many varieties, often from with roots in different cultures. And I’ll be most of us have a favorite type of bread. It’s hard to go without bread somewhere in our diets.

That’s not new. For many centuries, bread has been a staple of many diets around the world. Even sharing a complete meal together with family or friends has been called “breaking bread” for a very long time. This is certainly true in the Bible. Last week, we heard the story from Exodus, when the people had escaped to safety, but had nothing to eat, so God gave them something they could simply gather off the ground each morning and make bread with it. When they had nothing else, they had bread, and it was God Who gave it to them.

In this week’s Old Testament lesson, the prophet Elijah is fleeing for his life in fear of Queen Jezebel’s vengeance. He escapes to the wilderness and is ready to give up. But God sends an angel to give him warm bread and water to eat, and it sustains him for 40 days and nights. When Elijah thought he had no chance to escape death, God protected him and gave him bread.

Last week and this week, we’ve taken a break from Mark’s Gospel, and have been reading from John 6, which finishes next week. This is the Bread of Life section of John’s Gospel, in which Jesus is explaining to those around him the things they do not understand. Remember: this comes shortly after he took 5 loaves (and 2 fish) and fed a crowd of 5,000… with 12 baskets of leftovers. They continued to follow him, but only because they wanted more of that kind of bread. Last week, he told them they were looking for the wrong kind of bread. That’s when we first heard the phrase “bread of life”. Now in today’s reading he explains it a bit more.

When a Jew would hear “bread from Heaven” their minds would immediately think of the manna on the ground during Moses’ time. And most Jews in Jesus’ day would credit Moses for that (even though Moses made it clear that it came from God). Jesus corrected them on that, too. But this is also where Jesus makes some truly remarkable claims about himself. When he says “I AM the Bread of life”, the words “I am” in Greek (ego eimi) are the same words used for God’s name - the name Moses was given by God’s voice in the burning bush. When Jesus says “I am” he does so in a way that is easily recognizable by any Jew who knows the Scriptures. My favorite New Testament scholar calls this verse “one of the great I AM statements of Jesus, shining like the noonday sun.” [Lenski, 460] There are quite a few others, but this is definitely one of the ones that stands out.

Bread of life, then, is also a bit of a surprise to these Jews. How could any mere person claim to be better or more important than the manna from Heaven that God used to feed the ancestors during their 40 years in the wilderness? What a wild claim! But as Jesus tells them in verse 36: “I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.” They *watched* him perform miracles, but it wasn’t enough for them. He is, in this scene, explaining what they need to know, but aren’t ready to hear it from him. “Hey we know this Jesus - he’s Joseph and Mary’s son. Who does he think he is?” They can’t believe that something special could come from someone seemingly so ordinary.

But in fact, Jesus is quite special. He doesn’t say mere that he is “bread of life”, as though you could find similar bread elsewhere. He says that he is “THE bread of life”. The only one. [Lenski, 461] There is nowhere else to look for this bread. And there’s really only one thing to do with bread - it’s meant to be eaten. Eating in this explanation is coming to Jesus and trusting in him. [Ibid.]

It is one of the great privileges of my calling as a pastor to preside over the table at the Lord’s Supper. This meal of which we are to partake in a few short minutes is not merely bread and wine. In His Divine Mystery, Jesus comes to us in these elements. I am blessed to be able to give you the Bread of Life this morning - Jesus himself. In this meal, each time we receive it, Jesus comes as close to us as he possibly can until his glorious return. And while it’s my privilege to serve you today, it will not be long until your own pastor will preside at her first Eucharist here. I very much look forward to helping her celebrate that with you!

In this holy meal, we receive exactly what Jesus describes in today’s Gospel - the Bread of Life. This is the meal in which we are reminded of what Jesus gave up for us - his own body and blood, his very life, as atonement for our sins. In this meal, we are reminded that the price has been paid for us to enjoy eternal life with the Triune God. We need not fear judgment, and we know that our future is secure.

Let’s look again at verses John 6:37–40 “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

I know this has been a very hard week for this church family. I can barely imagine what you must be feeling in the wake of this tragedy. Hear again the words of Our Savior: “…whoever comes to me I will never cast out… this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day… everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

As much as it’s important to remember and appreciate that Jesus’ death on the cross paid the price for all of our sins, we must not get stuck on the Friday event. The Sunday event is even more important. Jesus’ resurrection on that Sunday showed all of creation that death could not hold him. God has power over death itself, and in that event, we are given a foretaste of the plan God has for all of us. We, too will be raised up on the last day. We who are baptized children of God will not be lost. Not one. Jesus’ own words. “I should lost nothing of all that [the Father] has given me, but raise it up on the last day.” Not one will be lost.

I am grateful to our Lord that He would give his life on that cross to pay the price for my sins - a price I could never pay. But I am even more grateful that he has given me the gift of HOPE - hope because of his resurrection. Hope in the knowledge that my eternity is secure. My eternity, and the eternity of all of my Christian brothers and sisters, is secure because of his resurrection.

Brothers and sisters, take hope in these words that you have heard this morning. Know that Jesus does not lose any of those who have been given to him. Rest in that hope, and share it with those who need it. May that hope give you comfort, and may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.