Pentecost 11B

11th 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.

Last week in the Gospel lesson, we began the first of three weeks in our lectionary from chapter 6 of John’s Gospel. In preaching circles, this section is called the Bread of Life section. Last week we heard Jesus explaining to the crowd - with a little bit of scolding in his voice - that they were only there because Jesus had filled their bellies in a miraculous way…but that the bread they had eaten was just ordinary bread. It would not satisfy them for long. So he began to teach them about the Bread of Life - bread that will not fail to satisfy. Bread that gives not just temporary satisfaction, but eternal salvation. We pick up there this week, as Jesus continues to explain what - and who - the Bread of Life is. It is Jesus himself; He is the Bread of Life.

Now this is difficult for Jews to hear. Jesus is speaking of bread that comes down from Heaven. When a Jew hears that, the first thought they will have is the manna that God sent to His people during the Exodus. And even that bread would only satisfy for a single day. But God gave the people that bread for 40 years, and sustained them when natural sources of food were scarce. So the idea that God provides bread for His people to sustain them is an ancient belief, and is rooted in faithfulness, trusting that God will provide for His people, as He has from the earliest parts of the people’s journey.

At the time, God was merely giving them what they were grumbling about: they were hungry and afraid of starvation, and they asked God for food to eat. So, of course, God gave them daily bread - this mysterious “manna” from Heaven. It’s named for the Hebrew “man hoo” which simply means “what is it?” The people didn’t even know what it was…only that they could make bread out of it and eat it.

Of course, when Jesus teaches the disciples to pray, and in that prayer he asks the Father “Give us this day our daily bread.” this is without question connected to the Exodus story. In the Small Catechism Luther explains it like this:

“What does this mean? To be sure, God provides daily bread, even to the wicked, without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that God may make us aware of his gifts and enable us to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.

What is meant by daily bread? Everything required to satisfy our bodily needs, such as food and clothing, house and home, fields and flocks, money and property; a pious spouse and good children, trustworthy servants, godly and faithful rulers, good government; seasonable weather, peace and health, order and honor; true friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.” [Theodore G. Tappert, ed., The Book of Concord the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press, 1959), 347.]

The point that Luther is making here - as Christ does in this prayer - is that “daily bread” includes all those things that we need day-to-day to survive. Bread was such a staple in that culture that I’m sure they couldn’t imagine going a day without at least a bite of bread. Other foods would have been a luxury, but bread was the minimum. You might not have meat very often, or vegetables, or fruits…but if you had nothing else, you’d have bread.

And now in today’s Gospel, Jesus turns this outlook on its ear. Everyone who is hungry expects that they will at least find bread. When there’s nothing else, there’s bread. That’s the lesson from Exodus, right? But here Jesus tells them that they’re looking for the wrong kind of bread.

Well of course they do. They are looking for instant gratification. They have a present problem, and they want a present solution. Their bodily hunger - their empty stomachs - is driving them to look for a quick solution. They are driven by a desire of the flesh…quite literally. As though this was something new and different. The desires of the flesh drove them far more than they wanted to admit.

The desires of their flesh made them grumble about God - complain about the Heavenly Father who watched over them, delivered them from slavery and oppression, and provided for them. The desires of their flesh kept them from hearing the voice of the Savior - the Messiah foretold by the prophets. The desires of their flesh prevented them from learning the lessons he was trying to teach them. “We don’t want to hear that, just fill our bellies.” That seems like a really awful interpretation of “give us today our daily bread”, doesn’t it? But that’s basically what they were doing.

Sadly, it seems that this is the problem we all have. We are just as plagued with desires of the flesh. Now, maybe our desire of the flesh isn’t merely an empty belly. Maybe it’s our desire to be somewhere other than the House of God, gathered around His Holy Word. For some, it’s the desire to sleep in rather than submit to His Call to gather for worship. For others, it’s the desire to participate in something else on Sunday morning, because the world has called them with a different call, and it was louder in their ears and hearts than the call of their Heavenly Father.

Now before you think I’m singling anyone out and poking someone specific in the chest, think again. I’ve been there. I was that 20-something single guy who was looking for ways to justify not getting out of bed on Sunday morning. I’m just saying this is a problem that plagues ALL of us. It plagues those who *do* come to worship, and it plagues those who *never* come to worship. And it ain’t just about coming to the worship service.

Jesus is trying to re-focus our attention on the right kind of bread. We have to stop being so caught up in wondering where our day-to-day sustenance comes from and focus first and foremost on our eternal salvation and where THAT comes from. Or, rather, WHO that comes from.

“But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.” (vs 36) These people stood right in front of him, heard him teach, ate the miracle bread that he gave them, KNEW it was a miracle, and still they didn’t believe that he was the Messiah. They had visible evidence of his Divine Power, and it wasn’t enough. The desire of their flesh and the call of the world was loud enough to inhibit their belief.

When we pray that 4th petition of the Lord’s Prayer, there’s another piece to it that we don’t often think about. Luther also explains this in his Large Catechism:

“But especially is this petition directed against our chief enemy, the devil, whose whole purpose and desire it is to take away or interfere with all we have received from God. He is not satisfied to obstruct and overthrow spiritual order, so that he may deceive men with his lies and bring them under his power, but he also prevents and hinders the establishment of any kind of government or honorable and peaceful relations on earth. This is why he causes so much contention, murder, sedition, and war, why he sends tempest and hail to destroy crops and cattle, why he poisons the air, etc.

In short, it pains him that anyone receives a morsel of bread from God and eats it in peace. If it were in his power, and our prayer to God did not restrain him, surely we would not have a straw in the field, a penny in the house, or even our life for one hour—especially those of us who have the Word of God and would like to be Christians.” [Theodore G. Tappert, ed., The Book of Concord the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press, 1959), 431.]

While we don’t see Jesus in his person here among us anymore, he is still with us. We have the benefit of knowing his whole story. We know who He Truly Is. We know what He did for us, and what He continues to do for us. We know that He has taken away our sins and restored our access to the Heavenly Father…not just temporary access, but eternal access. Life forever with God - the very promise of Heaven.

This part of John’s Gospel really gives us the best explanation of what it means when we partake of the Lord’s Supper. This is where we receive that morsel of bread from God and eat it in peace. This is where we get to eat the Bread of Life that is the Bread from Heaven. This is the Lord’s Table, where we come together as one body in His Name, obey his command to “take and eat”…and do this in remembrance of Him…just as He told us to.

Each time we take that morsel, we put the devil back in his place. We stave off the desires of the flesh by taking our Savior Himself into our very bodies and let that Holy Sacrament do its renewing work. We open the door to our hearts wide open to Christ and the Holy Spirit, to help us become more of who we were created to be.

The precious Bread from Heaven is so much more than bread. It is how we receive in a most tangible way the gift that Christ has given us - the most precious gift ever given - the gift of God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness…paid for on the Cross and wrapped in burial clothes.

The next time we partake of that Holy Meal, let us all remember exactly what is packed into those tiny elements, and not be misled by what the world teaches. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit would speak to our hearts louder than the world speaks to us, so that we can hear His call in our day and in our lives. Let us be aware of the desires of our flesh and pray for God’s help and inspiration to resist them as they pull us away from God. And finally, let us pray that God would show us when and how we can support each other and our neighbors when we are called to lead people to the Bread of Life - the bread that satisfies eternally, and lets those who partake never hunger again.

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