Jesus The Bread Of Life Series

You heard me say last Sunday that our son left the nest in May and moved into his own house. We miss him very much at home. However, because he lives only about twelve minutes away, we do not experience the separation as much as we would have otherwise.

About two times each week, he comes home in the evenings when he gets off work. Each time he comes home, he says: “I can smell the food you have cooked as soon I park the car outside, and that smell reminds me of home and the food I had at home.” You all know that I am the cook at home :).

Last evening, our son came home late, had dinner, watched the Olympic games with us until late, and left around midnight. As he left, he said, “I miss the food at home and will come again on Monday evening.”

After he had left and as I was lying in bed, I reflected again on this Sunday's Gospel Reading. It reminded me of a beautiful story Linda Fang had told.

Linda is a professional storyteller who grew up in Shanghai. She specialises in bringing Chinese folk stories to diverse audiences, including adults and children from around the world. Stories from historical anecdotes, Chinese folktales, Chinese theatre, and oral traditions inspire her.

I cannot remember whether the story I will share with you was in her popular book The Ch’i-lin Purse: A Collection of Ancient Chinese Stories or a story on record that she had told an audience. I used to collect her stories and read them to our son and daughter when they were small children.

Linda tells the story like this:

A father and his three sons lived at the foot of a great mountain in China. They were a simple and loving family. The father noticed that travellers came from afar eager to climb the dangerous mountain, but none of them ever returned!

The three sons heard stories about the mountain, how it was made all of gold and silver at the top. Despite their father’s warnings, they could not resist venturing up the mountain. Along the way, under a tree, sat a beggar, but the sons did not speak to him or give him anything. They ignored him.

One by one, the sons disappeared up the mountain, the first to a house of rich food, the second to a house of fine wine, the third to a house of gambling. Each became a slave to his desire and forgot his home.

Meanwhile, their father became heartsick. He missed them terribly. “Danger aside,” he said, “I must find my sons.” Once he scaled the mountain, the father found that, indeed, the rocks were gold, the streams silver. But he hardly noticed. He only wanted to reach his sons, to help them remember the life of love they once knew.

On the way down, having failed to find them, the father noticed the beggar under the tree and asked for his advice. “The mountain will give your sons back,” said the beggar, “only if you bring something from home to cause them to remember the love of their family.”

The father raced home, brought back a bowl full of rice, and gave the beggar some as a thank-you for his wisdom. He then found his sons, one at a time, and carefully placed a grain of rice on the tongue of each of them. At that moment, the sons recognised their foolhardiness. Their real-life was now apparent to them. They returned home with their father, and as one loving family lived happily ever after.

Today’s Gospel reading continues from last week, which focuses on a discussion between Jesus and the crowds about bread that comes from Heaven. As I shared with you in the sermon last week, the main teaching was that Jesus is the gift from the Father for the life of the world. Therefore, verse 35 is included to make the necessary connection back to Jesus’ claim that he himself is the bread of life.

Today’s reading builds on that claim and highlights that Jesus is the centre of our faith to which the Father draws His children.

Let us look at what’s happening in this conversation between Jesus and the crowd. (You may wish to have the Gospel reading opened in front of you)

In verse 41, the crowds who had made such efforts to find Jesus after he had crossed the lake begin to complain, in the same way the children of Israel had done in the wilderness (Exodus 17:3). As found in verse 42, the crowd’s complaint and their difficulty in understanding what Jesus is saying are caused by their own presumed knowledge of Jesus.

They conclude that he has not come from Heaven because they know that he is Joe’s and Mary’s son.