Last week’s scripture lesson was about how Jesus walked on the stormy water of expectations that he would become the king of the Jewish people after he fed the 5,000. The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus would have nothing to do with this identity that the satisfied people attempted to force upon him because he realized that God had a higher calling for his life. That calling was not to be a miracle worker who could multiply 5 loaves of bread and two fish in feeding 5,000 hungry people. Instead, John tells us that Jesus’ calling was to feed all people who hunger for God in their lives.
The phrase Jesus used to describe the identity of his divine calling is found in 35th verse of the 6th chapter of today’s scripture reading as Jesus states, “I am the bread of life.” This phrase by which Jesus identifies himself is cited only in the Gospel of John and then only 3 times in the sixth chapter of John.
John 6:35 – Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry.”
John 6:48 – “I am the bread of life.”
John 6:51 – “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
When Jesus declared he was the bread of life, he was speaking of his identity as Messiah, and he was also speaking about how bread had defined the DNA of the Jewish community. Jesus was speaking to the identity of the Jewish community as:
Unleavened bread was used every year in Passover as a commemoration of the Exodus from Egyptian bondage as directed in Deuteronomy 16:3. “Do not eat with it bread made from yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction because you left Egypt in haste – so that all the days your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt.”
Daily manna from heaven was provided throughout the 40 years the Israelites wandered in the wilderness.
God instructed that a portable tabernacle used for Sabbath worship include a table called
the “table of the showbread” that was placed near a part of the tabernacle known as the holy place. On this table the priests of the tabernacle arranged twelve loaves of bread that were called “the bread of the presence” and served a continual reminder of God’s care and provision for the twelve tribes of Israel. The portable tabernacle and bread of the presence were weekly reminders of God’ care and provision for the Jewish community throughout the 40 years of wandering and for the following 360 years until King Solomon built the first temple in Jerusalem.
The use of bread as a symbol of God’s care and provision was well known among the Jewish people. When Jesus said, “I am the bread of life,” he was proclaiming that the story of God’s faithfulness and salvation told through the unleavened bread of Passover, manna from heaven, and the 12 loaves of the “bread of the presence” was going to be told through Jesus, the bread of life.
In his book, Beyond the Rat Race, Glen Martin shares this prayer about what it means to come to Jesus, the bread of life.
Lord Jesus, I have been in control of life, but I now want your Spirit to be the One who runs my life. I am giving you all of my rights. Please take control of every area of my life. Whenever I am tempted to take back control, please point that out to me and help me have the courage and strength to resist successfully the temptation or desire to take control again of my life. Show me how to live on top of my circumstances and not under them. Help me keep my eyes on you, Lord Jesus, instead of my problems. Let me see you, Father, as the One who will meet every need of my life. Let me be sufficient in you and not in my own abilities and strengths. Help me to have the right balance between living in your control and exercising diligence as I respond to each fact of my life. Whenever pressures come that have been unbearable or debilitating, show me your perspective – anything I’ve been doing wrong or thinking improperly. Then show me how to correct my faulty actions and thoughts so that I can continue to walk with your Spirit’s control. Thank you that you want to do these things in my life even more than I do. Remind me of that when my faith gets weak.
Today, we celebrate the sacrament of Holy Communion as we break bread together and remember the biblical story of salvation. Today, we ask Jesus to be in control of our lives as we are fed by Jesus, the bread of life.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Bread of Life
by Pastor Marc Brown
August 4, 2024
Accompanying Scriptures: John 6:24-35
Fort Hill United Methodist Church
Order of Worship for August 4, 2024
Scripture Lesson John 6:24-35
The Good News “Bread of Life”
Prayer
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