The I AM Statements of Christ: Bread of Life

…Gracious and Loving God, as we venture forward into this new season of this world and a new seasons in our lives, as the days go by quicker and quicker, we wonder what you have in store for us and how what we experience each day fits into your plans for our lives. And so, we come before you today, humbled by your presence amongst us and of the life of your Son, Jesus Christ. We ask you today, oh God, to help us open our ears to hear your still speaking voice, our eyes to see the love and wisdom of your Son in all that we meet, and our hearts to feel your presence amongst us this day and each day that is to come, Amen.

Do You Have Everything You Need?

In this space, yes, we have everything we need. Most of us are very fortunate to have all that we need and probably some extra that we don’t. Yet, our society is one that is never satisfied, isn’t it. Just watch TV for a few hours and you will see commercial after commercial on things that promise to make your life better, to help you be more well fed, to help you grow, or just plain old make you into the perfect you, whether that is by losing weight or re-growing hair. There are infomercials on at all hours of the night from convenience cookware to ways to grow your retirement lifestyle by promising that you can grow your 401k or IRA if you only buy this one book. You know the ones I am talking about…then again, if you have not been living the sleepless nights I have lately, maybe you don’t. Just trust me, at 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning, these are the typical programs that fill our airwaves.

All this is to say that we live in a society of never having enough, even when we already have more than we need. As simple as it sounds, in this very room, we have more than anything we could ever let our hearts and minds dream of having. It comes in the form of a Savior, sent by God with all the authority and power of God, created and born in a human form to know all that we know, to feel all that we feel, and to express all the emotions and feelings that we can express or feel. This one person lived and died so that we do not need to suffer the painful, debilitating, and humiliating death that he endured. We all deserve that kind of death but we don’t have to endure it because he did that for us. And the worst part is that we often forget to give thanks for all that God has given us...

The Israelites...

To be honest, the Israelites were not different either...God had set them free from slavery in Egypt, in fact, they were set free from 400 years of slavery, from generation after generation, born into slavery. Yet, as the newly freed people traveled through the desert on their way to the promised land, a land that was going to give them all they needed, they were not satisfied.

Some might think freedom from slavery would be enough, but it was not. The cycle repeated itself. They complained, they suffered God’s anger and punishment, they repented and then they complained again. They grumbled against God and against Moses, time after time, again and again all throughout their 40 years of wandering in the desert.

They even went as far as to say, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Pharaoh in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full.” And to Moses they said, “You have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger” (Exodus 16:3).

Ultimately, This was their complaint: We wish we were back in Egypt and that the God named I am had killed us there! We would be slaves and we would be dead slaves, but at least we would be well-fed dead slaves! They would rather have had full bellies and be slaves than to be free men and women with nothing to eat. Here’s the thing though, they did have food and water and not just enough but more than enough for their entire families and it was given to them each and every day.

Here’s the thing though, God did not kill them as they wished and as they deserved. Instead, in mercy God fed them. God sent quail to cover the camp each evening so the people had meat to eat. Each day the morning dew dried to reveal a white, flaky substance all over the ground, flakes that tasted like wafers made with honey. The people called it manna, which was the Hebrew word for their question when they first saw it: What is it? They could gather all the manna they needed to eat each day. Day after day, year after year, God sent them bread from heaven and kept them fed.

What does it mean to be satisfied?

Were they satisfied? No, they complained again, this time about the manna. The Egyptian menu had been much better: “We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at” (Numbers 11:4-5).

The thing was, they were looking at being satisfied physically only. It was not just the manna that sustained them, it was the Word of the Lord, his mercy and care, that nourished them and kept them alive in the wilderness. Their complaint was not only about manna but against the God who had set them free. God could have stopped sending the manna and the quail, but God was merciful. God continued to send manna and quail each and every day which fed the Israelites for 40 years and brought them to the land had been promised to them.

What about Jesus?

Jesus, who called himself “I am,” also fed people in the wilderness. With a few loaves of bread and some fish, he fed thousands. Those well-fed people followed him. This was a prophet, they thought, like Moses, and he had fed them. They wanted more. When they found Jesus again after he had gone away and come back to Jerusalem, he said to them, “You are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of loaves and fish. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you” (John 6: 26-27).

He went even further than the physical needs of the people who followed him. He said, “Believe in me. I am the food that endures.” He was offering food unlike any had ever known. He told them that he was not like the manna that withered in the sun. But rather, the food that will sustain them into eternity.

But the people wanted proof. After all, God had given their ancestors bread in the wilderness. If Jesus was truly the Son of God, could he do better? The answer is unequivocally, YES, yes, he could. Jesus himself was the bread of God, the bread “who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (John 6:33). The hungry people thought that sounded like a good idea. “Give us this bread always,” they said. Jesus did even better than that. He did not just give them bread, he was and is the only Bread we need.

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” And still, the people had doubts. They grumbled about this food saying, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph? We know his parents! Yet he claims to come from heaven.” So once again Jesus calls to them, inviting them to believe, inviting them to eat by faith: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, they will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” The Israelites who had manna in the desert eventually died. Whoever feeds by faith on Jesus, the Bread of life, will live forever.

Live Forever?

Here’s the thing though...Some of the people listening to Jesus believed, but for others it was too much. They did not want to live by this particular Word from the mouth of the God. They could not believe it. Their faith did not allow them to see what Jesus was truly saying and so they went away. Sometimes we too are tempted to wander away from our faith too. We are not satisfied knowing the God sent the Son and essentially we say that what the Lord offers us is not enough. We try to satisfy ourselves with all that the world has to offer. We want a little of that meat in Egypt, even if it means slavery to the world and its temptations. It looks so much easier than living by faith, easier than following Jesus in lives of love and service.

Yet still in mercy, God calls us back to a relationship with the one who gives the bread of life. God calls us to repent and feeds us with that very Bread of life, with the Words we read and hear. God feeds us with the Word made flesh, the flesh and blood that was given and shed for us on the cross. God nourishes us with a forgiveness that goes beyond what any of us can come close to comprehending.

Through Jesus’ sacrifice and the sharing of the bread and wine in communion, we become God’s well-fed holy people, people on the way to the Promised Land, feeding on the Bread of life as we go. We are fed now and we will be fed—and satisfied—for all eternity.

One day we will stand in that Promised Land before God’s throne and worship the Lamb who died to save us. There will be no more hunger, no more thirst, no more tears, and no more wandering, lost in a wilderness of our own making. Then it will be said of us: “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 7:16-17). It is for this reason that Jesus called himself and we too should proclaim from every mountain that Jesus is the Bread of life, and believe that we are fed now and forever. Amen.