Back East, there was this diner which had the fine reputation of always pleasing the customer – the owner drilled this philosophy into his employees, he would remind them at the start of each shift, “If you do not work at pleasing the customer, you will find yourself working at finding another job”. The employees heard loud and clear and the diner’s reputation was spotless.
Then one evening a man sat down and ordered a number four plate combo and when it quickly arrived he complained that he only received one dinner roll – the waiter quickly returned with four dinner rolls to which the man loudly said, “Thanks but that’s not good enough. I love bread!” The waiter was immediately fired.
The next evening the same man sat down and again, ordered a number four plate combo. The new waiter brought out his order, this time with six dinner rolls. The man said, “That’s good, but aren’t you being a bit cheap?” The waiter returned with a full basket full of dinner rolls, to which the man again complained loudly. The waiter was fired on the spot.
The owner was in a panic. His reputation was about to be shot –what could he do if this man returned? The next evening, sure enough, the man returned and yet again, ordered a number four plate combo. Thinking quick, the owner intervened: he brought out very large loaf of French bread and placed it on the table next to the man. He stepped back and waited for the man’s reaction, his reputation saved, “So…” said the man loudly, “….I see we’re back to one dinner roll again.
Sometimes it is hard to satisfy us, isn’t it? Especially when it comes to satisfying our hunger.You know, like when you have just finished a great meal at a restaurant, Ahhh….that hit the spot….and then the waiter comes by with a platter of desserts. There’s the crunchy toffee covered crème brule. The Dutch apple pie. The death by chocolate cake, and my favorite, The honey drenched baklava.
Suddenly, your not so full anymore.
When God created us he gave us some very strong drives. The drive to satisfy our hunger is one of the more intense drives given us. Is it not?
Its fairly obvious that God gives us this drive to satisfy our hunger. So that we will as humans would not neglect our bodies. We know this hunger drive, apparently some of us know it fairly well…And the folks Jesus is dealing with in our passage know it well too. Probably in a more intense way than we have ever known. Remember, your social security system in Palestine was your family. Shortage and famine were fairly common. So in our passage, when Jesus is able to give bread out of thin air, people are driven by their satisfaction of hunger to respond to him. They must haqve thought - this is sweet!
Lasoya’s – Huevos Rancheros
When I lived in San Antonio I would receive a phone call in the morning at least three times a week. The voice on the line would say, “Que pasa…Lasoya’s, five minutes.” The folks at Lasoya’s didn’t understand a lick of English, this place was great. Four minutes later I was across the street with my buddy Rick ordering this huge platter, I mean huge platter, of Huevos Rancheros, my favorite breakfast – two bucks. That was a meal that satisfied.
Jesus see right through their motivations verse 26
“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.
He knows they are not following him for spiritual reasons. So he tries to reason with them in verse 27, Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life.
We chuckle at these people because we know Jesus is more than a man
and we know when Jesus says he is the bread of lifet hat it is tied to communion, but Jesus is reasoning with us as well. For he is speaking about more than bread, more than food, communion. He is talking about looking beyond our daily needs; beyond what we see as urgent, beyond what we see as taking care of us.
Jesus points past our material world, directly to the spiritual. He is essence is saying this: Your search for satisfaction in the material world will never end. (we know that, don’t we?) Your search for satisfaction must be spiritual. (we know this too, don’t we?) So we race through this passage when we read it. We get it, Jesus is the bread that will always satisfy….Well what does that mean for us this very day? How do you walk out of here this morning and apply it to your life?
Actually, I think in some ways we are worse than the numb skulls in this passage who can’t see passed the material aspect of Jesus’ teaching. We are worse because we think we get it – and we are wrong. Two ways: first, we know it is spiritual, but think it is a work of humanity. Second, like the folks in Jesus’ day we address our spiritual hunger in a material way.
Let’s look at the first way – thinking we get spiritual by human work.
Verse 31. 31 Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
Remember Manna was given to the Hebrews after they left Egypt, for in the Sinai desert, there is a lot of nothing. Manna means – what is it? It was a bread like substance that apparently tasted honey like and could be eaten raw or prepared in various ways - Manna waffle, manna bagels…The Hebrews had to gather it daily, if they saved it, it would go bad overnight, it was all they needed. They got pretty darn tired of this routine and though it was wonderful, life sustaining, it never satisfied for long.
The folks of Jesus day - their outlook on this manna is skewed. It wasn’t Moses who gave manna. It was God the Father who gave Manna to the Israelites in the desert (verse 32) This reveals that they believe the gift of manna was born out of human works and not the grace of God.
28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” In other words…How do we work to get this spiritual bread?
29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” Jesus means – don’t work for it, believe it!
33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world.” 34“Sir,” they said, “from now on give us this bread.”
How frustrating to Jesus -You don’t have to work for it – eat it -Believe it.
Jesus tells us, first of all it is a belief thing here, believing makes us spiritual, but not just any random belief, belief in Jesus.
Manna – will get hungry again. Drank wine at Cana – thirsty again.
Look beyond today’s big concern, they will never end…How many here this morning have found that when you finally solve that burning issue, that thing that has been tough to resolve, when you finally resolve it, nothing else like it even happens again?
I don’t know what your difficulties are. How impossible they are to solve. How urgently they need to be taken care of….See the thing is…the thing is…. There will always be something, there will always be something to take care of, there will always be something to solve
….and you will work at it like a good American and the spiritual Jesus is speaking of will always elude you…always, because the concerns of life never end we keep chasing life’s concerns and don’t make room for anything else.
Like the people of Jesus’ day we want manna to satisfy our daily concerns which will never be satisfied and ignore what will satisfy.
Sounding familiar? Good.
Let’s look at the second reason we why we don’t get what Jesus is saying, though we think we do, for we address our spiritual hunger in a material way. In the same way that we have a drive to eat food, so that our body will stay healthy, as I spoke about earlier. We also have a drive to eat spiritual food so when Jesus says in verse 53, 53 Jesus said 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.
He clearly isn’t speaking about cannibalism, nor that if we have communion – we become spiritual….Remember earlier what Jesus said?
Believe. The people who Jesus feed the day before, want more bread and when Jesus tells them, you don’t want that, you want spiritual food, they continue to ask for material. Jesus says no, you are trying to feed yourselves – and your dying spiritually.
54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life,
and I will raise him up at the last day.
Let me read 53 –57. Notice Jesus, emphasizing himself…
55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57 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. 58 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.”
What are we hungry for?
Are we hungry for external things – of course. On one level yes, but remember, that hunger will never go away. What are we hungry for? Spiritually. A feeling that God is with us? A more reflective time? A flash of insight? Some mystical experience? And other things like these – is this what we hunger for?
These are all spiritual experiences, but you know they are over here (right) -Jesus is over here.
I submit this to us this morning: Are we not only trying to address the most urgent problem in our life today, and then the next one, and the next one and the next one, forever. Are we also trying to achieve a spiritual experience, like the feeding of the 5000. That had to be spiritual. Or are we seeking the one we should have sought all along?
Jesus tells us in verse 35 - Jesus does not give bread, he is bread.
We seek not the urgent concerns of the day, not the spiritual experience, but the source – Jesus
