Bread From Heaven

Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for this morning is a portion of the Old Testament and a portion of the Gospel reading that were read at the lectern.

There are some things in common between that Old Testament reading and the Gospel, aren't there? The most visible is the talk about bread, bread from heaven.

There's also a similarity between the lack of... I'll say memory on the part of the people, as concerns God's action.

In our Old Testament reading, the children of Israel, they've been out of Egypt for 45 days, 45 days. And their trip from Egypt to the Promised Land is not intended to be a real long journey. But it ends up being a very long journey because of the people's lack of trust in God.

They're 45 days out. The supplies that they brought with them out of Egypt, well, they've probably been exhausted. People are beginning to feel the pangs of hunger, and they grumble against Moses and Aaron and say, would that we were still in Egypt, where we sat at the meat pots and ate to our fullest. And you brought us out into this wilderness to kill off this whole assembly by hunger.

They grumble.

That's kind of a common occurrence of people, isn't it grumbling? Takes all kinds of forms. Sometimes, grumbling is blaming others for something we may have done.

And Grumble, they did.

And God heard the grumbling, of course, Moses and Aaron heard the grumbling. because usually we just don't grumble directly to God, we go to somebody that we can see and we know who hears our grumbling and we grumble to them. And they're grumbling because they're hungry. We grumble when something isn't being met in our lives. Or not at least the way we think it ought to be met in our lives.

The people had forgotten that God had led them out of Egypt with a mighty hand. They had forgotten, not to mention that they were enslaved in Egypt and they were fed well because the Egyptians wanted their slaves strong and healthy, not weak and sickly to carry out the labors that they put them to. And so, yeah, they did eat well, but they had forgotten the cost of being enslaved by the Egyptians. But they had forgotten the power of God displayed in those plagues. And how God had afflicted the Egyptians, and yet spared His people. How He had brought them through the Red Sea on dry land, and then all of Pharoh's host drowned in that same water.

Short memory. All they really needed to do was ask, wasn't it? All they needed to do was pray to God to supply what was needed, and He would have supplied it. God is really quite patient with these people, and he tells Moses, I will send quail in the evening. I'll send bread from heaven in the morning. But He wanted to test them. Would they follow His commands? And so God sent them the quail and the manna.

But you know what? It didn't take real long. What did the people of God do? They grumbled about the quail and the manna. I guess they had exhausted all the ways they could make quail and manna, and after a while, it was just the same thing. How many of you like eating the same thing again and again and again?

When I was young, and I was sitting in the nursery Sunday School, and they had the leaflet with the Bible story out on it, and it showed this flaky stuff on the ground, you know what I thought? Now remember this is a nursery student. I immediately thought of - what do you think it might have been? Frosted Flakes. Frosted flakes. And as a nursery student, looking at Frosted Flakes, how could anybody get sick of eating Frosted Flakes? Cuz when you're in nursery, you'd like to eat Frosted Flakes all the time, but you realize eventually you can't do that.

But the bread was important. The bread was the basis of their life. Bread is the basis of life. You can't make a sandwich without bread, can you? I suppose you could grill cheese, but it would be really messy. It's better with two pieces of bread on either side of it, is it not?

And in the wilderness, God provided the basic food that was necessary to supply the Israelites with what they needed. And remember, it was just supposed to be a short trip, but they disobeyed. They didn't follow God's law. So that short trip - you know that three-hour tour? No? But it ended up being 40 years wandering around, because of their disobedience.

A few weeks back, we had the fiery serpent. Because the people grumbled against God. His patience was only so long.

In the Gospel reading, the people notice that Jesus isn't around. They knew the boat left. But Jesus isn't around. Now, where is He? So, some of them that were left, maybe they fell asleep after they had their fill of the bread. They wait for boats to come. They take them to Capernaum. And Jesus is there. Now chronologically, we have a little gap there, probably cuz we're moving from Mark to John.

But that's not important. The important thing is Jesus said to them: you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. You ate your fill of the loaves. Which was, in itself, a sign, wasn't it? Unless, of course, maybe they didn't realize that all Jesus had was five loaves and two fish.

But you see, they wanted Jesus to keep supplying that food, those loads to them.

Now, there's an awful lot of time and effort that goes into baking bread, isn't there? And who doesn't love receiving a loaf of homemade bread? I mean, receiving it, not having to bake it yourself. We even pay bakers to do it for us.

And Jesus tells them, you know, that bread, I mean, they're already hungry, they want more loaves. That was just temporary food to sustain them for that moment. For that day. And Jesus tells them, don't labor for the food that perishes or the things that perish. The manna didn't last forever, if they took more than they needed, it spoiled. We can't go to a museum and see what manna looks like, because it was only temporary.

And we know that even the bread we purchase, it's temporary, it doesn't last forever. Now, some loaves go fast, they perish fast. Others, they dry up and they last, but certainly, you wouldn't want to eat them. Cuz probably all that's left there is the preservative that's keeping it there, not the nutrition that we need.

And Jesus says, rather labor for the bread that comes from heaven that lasts to Eternal Life. You know, they ask, well, what do we do? What is, what should we do? What is the work of God that we might receive this bread? You know, we have to have our hand in it, don't we? We have to do something. Even the world tells, well you can't just be saved because you believe in Jesus Christ. There must be something you have to do to help it along, or to be sure that you have that salvation.

And Jesus says, this is the work of God: that you believe in Him who He sent into this world. Jesus says, the work is simply to believe, and guess what? That isn't even really work for us.

It's gift from God to us because in the water connected with the word, He begins that faith in us. Just the other day, little Knowlton was joined through that water and that word into the family of God. And that faith began to work in his life, to believe, on the Bread of Heaven. And then the people say, well, what sign will you do? And then they refer back to, He gave us bread from heaven. Jesus says, it's not Moses who gave you this. It was God the Father.

What sign do you do? What work do you do? They had forgotten. Short memories. Obviously, the word of Jesus goes about that He's healing the sick. You know, last week, we heard that they were bringing people to the marketplace that they might just touch the fringe of His garment. Guess how they knew about touching the fringe of His garment? Wasn't there a lady that touched the fringe of His garment and was healed? Word got out, I mean those are signs. But they want something more.

And we live in a world that deludes us into thinking that the world is giving us something more, but it's only giving us something that really isn't going to last very long. That new car that you just drove off the lot. It depreciated an awful lot when you drove it off the lot. It's perishing. Those school clothes that you're about to buy, they will perish (depending upon the growth spurt of the child that you purchase them for). A wise one will know when the growth spurt is and wait a little bit. But everything wears out.

The bread that Jesus is offering them, it lasts forever. Jesus isn't offering them simply loaves to sustain them for a day. He's offering them the bread that sustains them and sustains Eternal Life in them. This is the bread from heaven. The true bread from Heaven, for the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives His life to the world. And they said to Him, sir, give us this bread always.

This bread is the One who gives His life for the world. We're not going to get into, well, is Jesus talking sacrament here? Because we'll save that for the Seminary, they can argue about it. But the people Jesus is talking to, they don't know Lord's Supper, the disciples don't know Lord's Supper, but they do know bread, and they know bread is important for life. And Jesus is saying the Bread of Life, the bread that lives for eternity, comes in God's Son, who comes into this world to give His life. To give His life, to pay for the sin of the world.

Jesus said to them, I am the Bread of Life, whoever comes to me, shall not hunger. And whoever believes in me, shall never thirst. Recall Jesus saying: blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. One who comes to me shall not hunger, and who believes in me shall never thirst.

Jesus says the same thing about water at the well, and the woman's response is Lord, give me this water always. She didn't want to come to the well. These people: give us this bread always. Because they're lazy; they don't want to make the bread.

Sometimes God's people get lazy. Lord, just give it to me.

Even the world will cry out Lord, just give it to us. And thanks be to God He does provide the Daily Bread, even for the unbeliever. Because, boy, wouldn't the world be different if everyone that had bread was Believers and those that didn't, weren't Just like the ones whose fields get rained on and those who don't.

But God in His patience supplies what's needful for everybody. And Jesus wants to give this bread of life to everyone. It's His Father's desire that everyone believe it.

We understand what Jesus is speaking about and the importance of Him for eternal life. Why? Because we believe.

God is doing His work in us that we believe in the One whom He sent into this world. He's at work in us. And we ask also, give us this bread always that we may ever be kept in this faith in Your Son. That we may be strengthened in this faith, in this belief that Your Son is the Bread of Life. That our faith may be sustained through the life-giving word that He sends.

That we may remember that in that water connected with that word, we were brought into the family of God and faith began working in us. And that as we continue to hear that word and remember our baptism, we continue to feed on the One who came into this world and gave His life for us. And then we come. And we receive that very body of our Lord Jesus, broken on the cross in the bread. But it's not that earthly bread, but rather the Bread of Life that comes in it.

And so we ask, Lord, keep us always in this faith, that we may not depart. And that at last, even as You provide for what we need in this life, as You provide for our salvation and life eternal, bring us at last to that day when our need for the Daily Bread of this world is surpassed, as we too dwell in the very presence of the Bread of Life, Your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord. And may You lengthen our memories. That we may know and understand and believe the great works of Your Son Jesus Christ for our salvation. His death on the cross. His resurrection and His ascension. But then also, how in ordinary ways, You come to us mightily, day after day, reminding us that we are Your children, that our sin has been forgiven. And as You continue to feed us that very Bread of Life that lasts unto eternity. Amen. And now, may the peace of God, which surpasses our understanding, keep our hearts and our minds in faith in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.