Bread & Expectations
John 6:22-35
I was watching TV not long ago — just sitting back on the couch and relaxing. I had eaten a great dinner Sue had prepared. I probably ate too much. But as I was watching a television program, I saw a guy eating a sandwich, and suddenly I had an urge for a sandwich. Just a little later a group of people were eating popcorn. I started to feel like I couldn’t go on if I didn’t have some popcorn. Not long afterward someone on TV was enjoying a bowl of ice cream way too much, and. . . well, you get the idea. Enough is never enough.
The story today is about well-fed people who kept wanting and expecting more. It takes place the day after Jesus had miraculously fed these same people. And John says that even though there were thousands of people, they all had enough to eat with plenty left over. The Gospel of Matthew tells the same story and states: “They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over” (Matthew 14:20). They have had their fill and were satisfied, but the very next day the crowds are wanting more from Jesus. Yesterday’s bread was not enough. In fact, yesterday’s miracle bread brought new expectations for today. They have come looking for Jesus, but he says to them, “I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill” (John 6:26). It is amazing how Jesus always confronted people with the truth. The people came rushing up to him as though they were excited about him, but he told them the truth that all they wanted was more free bread.
Jesus redirected their thinking to the things of real importance. He said, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval” (John 6:27). But when Jesus asked them to work for food that endures to eternal life, he was speaking to people who were used to thinking of concrete, religious works they could do to inherit eternal life: “Give us things to do and rules to obey.” But Jesus tells them that their work is to believe: “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent” (John 6:29). This is strange to them, but they see an opportunity here. In a roundabout way of asking for more bread, they say, “What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat’” (John 6:30-31). Expectations.
Jesus has asked them to believe in him as the One sent by God. But they demand a sign if they are going to believe, and they cannot think of a better one than the miracle of Moses continually providing manna for the people in the wilderness. In other words, “How about it Jesus. If you want us to believe in you, how about doing what Moses did — constantly give us bread in this desert just like Moses did for our ancestors in the Sinai desert. Be our Deliverer and Provider as Moses was theirs. Show us that you are a part of the prophetic line. We want more miracles which result in more bread. Do that and we will believe.”
Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, 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 he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (John 6:32-33). But the bread Jesus was talking about was not what they had in mind. They were stuck thinking of literal bread that would give them physical life. “Sir,” they said, “from now on give us this bread.” But they missed an important word in Jesus’ message to them. Jesus did not say, “The bread of God is that which comes down from heaven,” he said, “The bread of God is HE who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” He was referring to himself. They wanted bread and he was offering them a body. God the Father was wanting to give them something that would sustain them eternally, and this sustenance was in the form of his Son.
Finally, Jesus has to tell them outright: “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35). This amazing claim, that he is indeed the Bread of Life, threw the people into tumult, for the Scripture says, “At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ They said, ‘Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I came down from heaven”’?’” (John 6:41-42). This all takes place in the region where Jesus grew up and was known from childhood. They know Jesus’ family. He has brothers and sisters. And they have heard the rumors about his suspicious birth. Some said that his mother had been unfaithful to Joseph. Others said a Roman soldier was to blame. How could a prophet come from those kinds of circumstances, let alone the Bread of Life? How could he say that he came down from heaven? They began to realize that Jesus was not going to meet their expectations, and they started to be offended by him.
But Jesus, rather than making it easier for them to understand and believe, actually made it more difficult. And here the story takes a turn. Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:47-51). To them, it sounds like he is suggesting cannibalism. They say, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (John 6:52). As so often happens throughout this gospel, the people take his words literally and entirely miss the point. They think it is as if he is holding out his arm and saying, “Here. Take a bite!”
But here again, Jesus makes no effort to correct their misunderstanding or make it easier for them to believe. He seems unconcerned that they are offended. His next words are even more offensive. He says to them, “I tell you the truth, 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 him 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 him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever” (John 6:53-58). For us who celebrate communion where we eat the body of Jesus and drink his blood, this is not shocking. We are used to the idea. We understand the symbolism and the spiritual nature of it. But this was absolutely scandalous to them, and we are not surprised to read in one of the verses that follow: “On hearing it, many of his disciples said, ‘This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?’” (John 6:60).
You would think that this would cause Jesus to reconsider the harshness of his words and that he would try to help the people understand what he was trying to say. But instead, John says, “Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, ‘Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before!’” (John 6:61-62). Now he is claiming the ability to go back to heaven where he came from, and the people are in a complete state of provocation. John, as one of the disciples, was present when this took place, and he seems to write with concern as he reports: “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him” (John 6:66). Even Jesus’ closest disciples are in danger of leaving. He turns to the twelve disciples and says, “You do not want to leave too, do you?” (John 6:67). It is Simon Peter who answers and gives this beautiful statement of faith in the midst of confusion: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69).
What do we make of this remarkable, and somewhat shocking, exchange between Jesus and those who had been following him? What are we to make of the reaction of the people to what Jesus had to say? Here’s what I think was going on. First, I think the people wanted a Messiah they could control. They wanted a Messiah who would do what they wanted him to do. They would follow him as long as he met their expectations. They wanted the blessings and the benefits that God provides, but they did not want a God who would mess with their thinking and make demands of them. I think the people then, like people now, saw God as only having value insofar as he meets their needs. A lot of people think that God’s job is to make them happy, and when God doesn’t do the things that make them happy, he loses his usefulness to them. God only has value insofar as they can control him. We want to create a god in our own image, not have to be transformed into the image of God. God can send his Messiah, but we will only accept the Messiah insofar as he meets our expectations of what a Messiah should be and do. We want a Jesus who surrenders to our will, rather than one who demands we surrender to his will. Oh, we will believe, but only if he comes through with signs, miracles and wonders! We will follow as long as he meets our needs. We want a god who blesses our country and makes us feel safe, secure and triumphant.
Secondly, we want a god we can understand. We want a manageable, predictable god with easy answers and quick solutions. We want a god we can understand who fits into a nice neat little box and doesn’t get out. Don’t make me think, or try to understand. A God who is beyond my understanding makes me uncomfortable. Give me a god whom I can take literally and gives me black and white categories. Why should I have to think about gray areas? I want to think about what God is doing for me — helping, healing and saving me. I am not so interested in what God is doing with the world. I want a personalized, privatized religion that does not make me think about the world — just my Bible, Jesus and me.
Why didn’t Jesus explain what he was saying in simple terms? Why didn’t he help them to understand? Why so obscure? Because he wanted the people to question and to think! This is why Jesus taught with those confusing stories and parables. These problematic sayings of Jesus remained in their heads for long periods of time and caused them to question and think about what he was saying and grapple with his meaning. Thinking is good. Just memorizing a list of rules, doctrines or facts does little for us spiritually.
Third, we want a god who does not make demands which we will find difficult to follow. I don’t like it when he talks about selling all I have and giving to the poor. I don’t like him talking about turning the other cheek and loving my enemies. What is interesting about this exchange between Jesus and these people is that they thought they were questioning Jesus and failed to see that they were the ones being questioned. They were trying to make demands of Jesus, and failed to understand the demands Jesus was placing on them.
I’ve been reading Jürgen Moltmann’s book The Crucified God. In it, he talks about the “exceptional claim of Jesus” and says, “If Jesus had appeared as a rabbi or a prophet in the succession of Moses, he would have raised no questions. Only the fact that he is, and acts as though he were, someone different from the figures which his age remembered and hoped for raises a question about him. Thus it is he, he himself, who first raises the specific question of Christ.” Jesus asks, “Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15). Who we understand Jesus to be is all important to how we relate to him. Some demand answers, usually simple answers. Some want him to be understandable and manageable. Nearly all want him to meet their expectations of who God should be and what he should do. But it is not he who is being questioned, it is us. Jesus asks us, “Who do you say that I am?” And how we respond to that tells us as much about ourselves as it does him. We cannot simply respond with some glib answer. Do we come wanting to discover the real Jesus, or one that has been sculpted by the culture, even though it is the image carved out by our desires and the prevailing attitudes of our day? Or do we want the actual Jesus who is revealed in the gospels — the living, breathing, reigning, life-giving Bread of the World — the frightening Jesus who is beyond our understanding, beyond our control, and demands a radical obedience which is beyond what we think we are capable of giving? In spite of our questions, confusion, and disappointment, will we say, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
What are you hungry for? A god who will meet your needs and help you with all your problems? A god who will give you everything you want? A god who will soothe and comfort you? Or an uncomfortable God who is bigger than you will ever be able to understand and who challenges you to have faith and live at new levels? Are you hungry for this life to be easier or to discover the life he offers? Do you just want bread, or the Bread of Life? Do you gravitate toward easy believism and non-demanding discipleship, or are you willing to go all the way with Jesus in spite of how confused or even offended by him you are?
Eric Metaxas wrote in July of 2012: ‘Earlier this month, physicists at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) announced that they’ve almost certainly discovered evidence for the long-sought Higgs boson, a subatomic entity that has been dubbed ‘the God particle.’ Theoretically, the Higgs boson provides the ‘glue,’ as it were, that allows matter to clump together so that we can have stars, galaxies—and people. This understanding of the ‘God particle’ reminds me of the New Testament’s description of Christ, which says, ‘He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.’ ...As a matter of fact, on this very day, July 20, back in 1969, America sent the first men to the moon, one of the West’s greatest feats of science. And God was right in the middle of it. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin was actually an elder at the time at his Presbyterian church in Texas, and he wanted to mark this human milestone appropriately.
So Aldrin, the Lunar Module pilot, brought a communion wafer and a small vial of consecrated communion wine with him to the lunar surface. To the public, Aldrin said, ‘I’d like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way.’ But when the radio communication ended, he read a verse from the Gospel of John and took communion. Here’s what Aldrin said about it. ‘In the radio blackout, I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread and the wine. I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine slowly curled and gracefully came up the side of the cup. Then I read the Scripture, ‘I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing.’ Then Aldrin added, ‘I ate the tiny Host and swallowed the wine. I gave thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the Sea of Tranquility. It was interesting for me to think the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were the communion elements.’” Metaxas ends by saying, “The universe ultimately is held together not by a particle, but by a Person.” That person is the Bread of Life.
Rodney J. Buchanan
Amity United Methodist Church
August 26, 2012
rodbuchanan2000@yahoo.com
