“The Bread of Life”
Pentecost 10B (Lect. 18)
August 5, 2012
John 6.24-35
Like many of you, as a kid I grew up eating Wonder Bread. I loved its taste and its freshness. I also enjoyed pulling the crusts off and smashing the bread into a small, compact mass, which I would eat a small bite at a time, greatly annoying my mother. Sometimes I’d even use too pieces of bread. Wonder Bread’s slogan was “helps build strong bodies 12 ways,” and though I didn’t know what that meant, I was pretty sure it was working. What I didn’t know was that Continental Baking began adding nutrients and vitamins in the 1940s to its woefully deficient product as part of a government program to combat diseases, and these “enrichments” eventually added to twelve.
However, the miracle of white bread was short-lived, as nutritional scientists determined that the flour used in white bread was not nearly as healthy as whole grain and multigrain breads. So burst the little balloons on the Wonder logo. Even so, to stay competitive Wonder bread has tried to be innovative with new offerings. The Wonder Bread story seems symbolic of the quest of the crowds in our Gospel reading. Today’s reading is the second of five in John 6, begun last week with the feeding of the multitude. The crowds followed Jesus because they had seen the healings he had done, and were amazed when he fed them with a mere five loaves and two fish. The next day they are still following Jesus, this time with mostly-full bellies after miraculously being fed.
Yet, Jesus tells them that what they’ve found in him is far more important than what they’re looking for. What transpires is a wacky and disjointed conversation in which the crowds ask a question and Jesus seems to respond with something seemingly unrelated. They ask about what they want, but Jesus gives them what they need. What they really want to know is who Jesus is in light of what they’ve experienced, the miraculous feeding. Their questions are going in the wrong direction, so Jesus helps go in a different direction. Ultimately, Jesus does so through the extended metaphor of bread saying, “I am the Bread of Life.”
Just as last week, there is far more in today’s story than we can digest in one sitting and frankly, I’m going to give you a doggy bag to take home with you and ask you to come back next week. As we ruminate on Jesus’ self-description as the Bread of Life, I want to focus on the first part of that statement: what does it mean that Jesus is bread? Next week we will explore the second aspect: what does it mean that Jesus brings life? If you look carefully, you will see Jesus using the terms, “food that endures,” “bread from heaven,” “true bread from heaven,” and the “bread … that gives life.” What is Jesus saying?
We find one avenue to explore about what Jesus means about being bread in the reference to manna. This is a seminal story for the Israelites that tells of how God provided for them on their journey through the wilderness, from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land. Manna was a substance that God made appear on the ground each day and the people were to gather only what they needed for each day, otherwise it would spoil. It was a way for God to help the Israelites learn to trust him. By calling himself the bread that comes from heaven, Jesus is inviting the crowds to see him as God’s provision and revelation, that through him and in him, God is most fully revealed.
Like the crowds in our gospel reading, and even the Israelites wandering in the wilderness, we are looking to be spiritually fed with true bread, food that comes from God, endures, and gives life. Next week, we’ll explore more about the life Jesus brings, but for today, we have enough to chew on. Let’s ask ourselves, “What are the kinds of things we look to, hoping they will bring us God’s presence? When do these help us the most? When are we disappointed?” The wonder isn’t that we can try to enrich what we eat by seeking spiritually healthy lives. Rather, the wonder is that God provides what we need: Jesus, the Bread of Life. Thanks be to God. Amen.
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