Maundy Thursday 2022

It’s interesting, isn’t it, to hear the crowd’s response to Jesus’ miracle of feeding 5000 people with 5 loaves of bread a couple of fish?

The obvious supernatural nature of the miracle leads them to conclude, correctly, that this young carpenter from Nazareth is, in fact, the Chosen One sent by God…the promised Messiah.

But it also leads them to conclude, incorrectly, that the best thing to do is to try and force this young Jesus to become king, but Jesus slips away before they can do that.

It’s the same mindset we talked about with the crowd of Palm Sunday: the people of Israel know God is at work in this young carpenter from Nazareth, but they don’t really understand what that means.

They’re focused on earthly realities, from the simple need for a meal all the way to the desire for freedom from Roman oppression.

And so Jesus slips away before they can enact their plan, and it isn’t until the next morning that crowd realizes he’s actually made his way to Capernaum.

Let’s listen to the rest of the story, picking it up at verse 25:

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When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

“Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

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Jesus calls the people out on their short-sightedness, doesn’t he?

He tells them that even though they’ve just witnessed a great miracle, they still are focused on earthly things and not kingdom realities.

“You’re here,” he says, “not because I filled your hearts and minds, but because I filled your bellies.”

“Don’t work for food that spoils,” he says. “Don’t focus on such minor, temporary things.”

The Apostle Paul will echo Jesus’ words in his letter to the Colossians when he writes: “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”

Jesus says, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”

This story from John’s gospel takes on new meaning when we look at it in light of the Lord’s Supper, which Jesus first instituted on the Thursday of Holy Week.

As Jesus as his disciples gather in that room, I have to imagine the disciples are curious and scared, hopeful yet uncertain about what’s going to happen in the coming days.

Some of them, like the larger crowds in these other stories, might be expecting Jesus to initiate a violent overthrow of the Roman authorities.

Some people even believe that’s why Judas betrays Jesus…because he’s impatient.

Jesus is taking too long to start the revolution, and Judas thinks that by getting him arrested he can force Jesus into action.

It’s possible.

But whatever the disciples are anticipating, Jesus knows that what’s really about to happen is going to shake them to their core.

So he gives them a gift.

The gift of a symbolic meal that will sustain them and provide meaning for them in the coming days and even far beyond.

At first it must have seemed shocking, if they were in fact enjoying a Passover meal as we traditionally understand.

Passover meals had a very specific format, they were packed with tradition and meaning, and now all of a sudden Jesus changes everything.

When Jesus begins the Lord’s Supper, he is turning tradition on its head.

He’s saying to the disciples, “This meal, which is about God’s deliverance and saving power, is about to have a whole new meaning for you.”

And the meaning that Jesus gives to this meal draws on the same teaching he offered that crowd in Capernaum, when he said, “I am the bread of life.”

Jesus told that crowd, “I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.”

Now in the upper room, we see Jesus living out the truth of that statement.

He is fulfilling God’s will by coming to Jerusalem, knowing he will be betrayed, arrested, tortured, and executed.

And he does it willingly, because he knows that the end result is that humanity’s relationship with God will be restored.

That’s the greater spiritual work that’s happening here as we reach the end of Holy Week.

Because in the end, Holy Week is not about meals, it’s not about political struggles, it’s not about traditions…it’s about God’s reconciling work in Jesus.

We are gathered here tonight to remember that we who were once far from God, have been brought near.

We who were lost, have now been found.

Jesus told the crowd in Capernaum, “Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

He knows that all of us, apart from God, struggle with spiritual hunger and thirst that can never truly be fulfilled.

And what we see in the events of the cross and the empty tomb are God’s provision for that spiritual need.

So how appropriate and beautiful that Jesus chooses to symbolize that provision...in a meal.

Later on in John 6 he says this:

Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.

Those words are difficult to understand…unless you put them in the context of the Lord’s Supper.

Jesus is saying, “Come to me with your spiritual hunger and your spiritual thirst. Participate in the meal I have prepared for you as a way of offering yourself to me. Because if you come to me in faith, I will come to you and remain with you always.”

That’s what this table is. It’s an opportunity to surrender anew to the saving work of Jesus.

It’s a way of saying to him, “I trust in your sacrifice, and I offer myself to you.”

It’s an expression of faith, faith in the one who said, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

TRANSITION: LAYING ASIDE EXPECTATIONS