John 6:24-35 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost Sunday, August 11, 2024 “Look to Jesus for Bread from Heaven”
Can you imagine anything more impressive than the miraculous manna? We read about it in our first Scripture reading, but that reading didn’t include all of the details that are helpful for getting the picture. At that time, the Israelites numbered hundreds of thousands of men. Add in women and children, and we’re talking about well over a million people, closer even to two million. This was the double the inhabitants of greater Tucson, not living in their houses with running water and refrigerators, but heading out in the barren land outside of Egypt on the way toward the Promised Land. And the problem that presents itself is obvious. No food. That’s the setting, the set up. The impressive part is that God provides a dew on the ground, and when the dew dries, it leaves behind thin flakes of bread. And all of the people are able to gather enough to feed themselves for the day. And it returns the next day and the day after that. The only day that is unusual is the Sabbath, when God has special instructions. But every day he provides, and this goes on for forty years. No wonder that incredible account would be on the minds of the people of Israel in Jesus’ day. But before we return to those people, let’s ask again: can you imagine anything more impressive? Well, it may not seem so because of the miraculous nature of the manna, but a solid case could be made that you experience something more impressive constantly as God provides you with daily bread. Here we are in the relatively dry Sonoran Desert and yet, when you want food, dozens of grocery stores are available to you. You can walk up and down aisles with freezers and refrigerators and shelves. And there is so much food on those shelves that roughly thirty percent of it ultimately gets thrown away. Perhaps we tend to overlook how impressive it is that God provides our daily bread in such an abundant way because we’re used to it. We know it. We expect it. We don’t always stop to think that this, too, is bread from heaven. Bread from heaven was exactly what people had received just before the account from John 6 that serves as the basis for our sermon. If you recall what happened, you might know it as the Feeding of the Five Thousand. Five thousand men had gathered around Jesus, plus women, plus children. They had followed him to a barren place, and night was quickly falling. All that anyone brought for food was a lunch box a young man had with a few loaves of bread and a couple small fish. It wasn’t even enough for the people to have a snack, but that night they had so much more. They ate and were satisfied. Jesus even pokes at them a bit and suggests that they hadn’t just eaten, they had pigged out. And still, when all was said and done, there were twelve baskets full of food left behind. A miracle. Impressive. So when Jesus went somewhere else, the people followed. The crowd followed. You know how Costco samples work? When the good stuff is being given away at the end of the aisles, it’s a traffic jam. Who wouldn’t stop for free food? And that was what the people saw in Jesus. They had been impressed enough before because he taught in a way that intrigued them. They came for miracles of healing. But this time they chased him to the other side of the sea because he had fed them. They had found someone who could and would give them bread. But Jesus had something even more impressive. Here's how he responded when the crowd met him: “Amen, Amen, I tell you: You are not looking for me because you saw the miraculous signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not continue to work for the food that spoils, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” What Jesus had done was supposed to be a sign. It was supposed to point to something. It was proof that God had placed on Jesus his seal of approval. It meant that he had eternal gifts to give and to offer, but those people did not see past the earthly and the material. They had food. That’s what they focused on. And that’s no surprise. When we’re running low on energy, we get hungry. God has designed our bodies that they crave the blessings he gives. The things that we see and taste and touch, the things that we can measure and observe are truly good gifts from him, but far too often that is all we think about. That’s all we notice. That is as far as our appreciation for and searching after Jesus goes. Those people were looking for the wrong things, the less important and the less impressive. And we do the same, too. We pray that God would give us the food