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July 13 John. John 6:1-14; John 6:25-40. Jesus the bread of life. Feeds the 5000. I am the bread of life. A
sign and a discourse. Claudelle Clark from Calvert County Social Services – Resource Families,
Speak 5-10 minutes at all service. 301 392 6727
Children: the bread of life. You are what you eat. Kale and candy.
One of the most basic questions concerning a worldview is the question, “Does God exist?”
Is there something or someone beyond the natural world? And if we accept that God exists, another
question comes to mind, “How does God act in the world?” Said another way, we might ask, “Do
miracles happen?” Some people see miracles happening all around them, all the time. Others refuse
to believe that miracles happen at all. As one reads the gospels, your answer to these questions
changes what you see in them.
Now by miracle I do not mean something highly unlikely. For example, it is not a miracle
when someone wins the lottery. Someone will win a lottery. It is just greatly against the odds that
any one individual will win, but it does happen in the natural course of events. Tornados are a
natural phenomenon. They hit some homes and not others. We usually do not think it is a miracle
when a tornado wipes out a home, but often times we want to claim a miracle when the tornado
misses a home.
A miracle is when God intervenes, overruling the laws of nature to do something impossible
without the existence of God. Miracles abound in the Bible, from the creation of the world to God
speaking to Noah, to the parting of the Red Sea, to the giving of the Ten Commandments, and so
on. In our reading of Matthew, Mark, and Luke we have seen the claim that Jesus did many miracles.
We have to decide if we will accept this evidence and believe the reports.
The Gospel of John, which we begin this week, also includes miracles. It follows a general
pattern of Jesus performing a miracle, a dialog between Jesus and others, and then a discourse, or
teaching, by Jesus. John chapter 6 follows this pattern. The chapter begins with the miracle of Jesus
feeding at least 5000 people with 5 barley loaves and two fish. Everyone has as much to eat as they
want and they pick up twelve baskets of leftovers. If you put one barley loaf in each basket and each
fish in a basket, you wouldn’t fill seven baskets, but John says they filled 12 baskets with the
leftovers. The people saw this as a miraculous sign.
The next day the people find Jesus and a dialog with them follows, including the question in
verse 28, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” “What does God want us to do?” If
God exists, that’s a great question. What does God want us to do? Each of us is in a different place
in life, what does God want you to do?
Perhaps Jesus’ answer for these people in John 6 is also meant for us? Jesus said, “This is
the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” Interesting that this is called work, to
believe in Jesus. We might think that it was easy for them to see Jesus and believe, but it seems to
have been a challenge then, just as it is a challenge today. For there are times, where we see suffering
and evil, that it is a challenge to believe God is active in the world. There are times when we
understand we would have to make changes in what we are doing, and it becomes difficult for us to
accept the message. The stories of Jesus challenge and encourage and remind us of what God has
done.
Following this discussion about believing in the one God has sent, Jesus teaches about
himself, saying in verse 35, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and
whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” This statement is an incredibly bold claim on a couple
of counts. First, it is hard to believe that believing in Jesus will eliminate hunger and thirst from the
world. The 5000 who ate yesterday are hungry again today. It is almost impossible to conceive of a
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world where no one is hungry, or even where all who believe in Jesus are not hungry. So we struggle
to understand exactly what this statement means. Is there a certain amount we have to believe in
order to not be hungry? Or is this a spiritual hunger and thirst that is filled rather than a physical
one? What did Jesus promise and how is it fulfilled?
The second reason this is a bold claim is because Jesus uses the name of God for himself in
his answer. When Moses was at the burning bush and asked God, Whom shall I say has sent me?
“God said to Moses,” in Exodus 3:14, “I AM who I AM. [God] said further, ‘Thus you shall say to
the Israelites, I AM has sent me to you.’” Jesus said “I am the bread of life” and lest you think it is
stretching this phrase to say it is a claim of divinity, Jesus goes on to say that he had come down
from heaven and that those who believe in him will have eternal life. What man can claim that?
Jesus’ claim is that he is one with God.
“I am the bread of life” is the first of seven “I am” statements in the Gospel of John. As we
read this week we will see six of the seven. In John 8:12 we see “I am the light of the world.” In
John 10:9, “I am the gate.” And in John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd.” John 11 has “I am the
resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives
and believes in me will never die.” In John 14:6 Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life.”
In John 15:5 we find the seventh statement, “I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in
me and I in him will bear much fruit.”
The sum of all these claims is a difficult message to receive without a corresponding faith
and belief that God exists, that heaven is real, and Jesus is the Son of God. If you don’t accept this,
these statements do not make sense, so you have to change the story. If miracles cannot happen, the
feeding of the 5000 must have another explanation, such as when the young boy shared his lunch,
many others in the crowd were motivated to pull out their lunches and share what they had, too. No
one went hungry when they all cared for each other. It is a great lesson in the importance of sharing,
but that is not the claim John is making.
As it has been since the days these events occurred, every person seeing or hearing these
stories has to make a choice. What do we do with these events? Do I accept that Jesus is of God and
these are miracles, or do I deny them and go a different way? The Bible, and especially the Gospels,
makes some challenging claims: God exists and God has reached out to humankind in love and
forgiveness. Some might want to split the difference and say that Jesus was a good person or a wise
teacher, but the Bible does not make that claim. The “I am” statements are clear indications of Jesus’
claim to be divine in the Gospel of John.
C.S. Lewis says in his book Mere Christianity, when thinking about who Jesus is, there are
three ways we can go. Either Jesus is a liar, or a lunatic, or the Lord. Either Jesus was a liar,
purposely misleading the people, or he was a lunatic, having lost touch with reality, or he was telling
the truth about himself and revealing God to the world and is the Lord of all.
The Gospel of John makes the clear claim that Jesus is God and challenges us to believe in
the one God has sent. As you read this week, you will see major miracles and specific claims and
teachings. It is hard sometimes, like when Jesus says to a teacher of Israel, “you must be born again”
(John 3:3) or “whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life” (John 6:54) or even “I am
the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except by me” (John 14:6). These are
great claims and challenging stuff.
John clearly proclaims the revelation of God in Jesus the Christ. John chapter 1 is a distinct
statement that Jesus is the incarnate Word of God, the Word become flesh, full of grace and truth.
Just as God created in Genesis, God has acted again to make God known to the world and through
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Jesus to save the world. The Word, present at the moment of creation, is present again to proclaim
God’s message of love and acceptance. Jesus’ advent into the world brings a moment of revelation.
It is also a moment of crisis and decision – can it be true?
Our reading this week will run from the introduction of the Word in chapter one to the
assurance Jesus gave to his disciples in John 14. John 14 is one of my favorite passages, commonly
read at funerals because it offers such hope and promise of God with us, even in the face of death.
At this point in his ministry, Jesus is preparing his disciples for his betrayal and death. The one they
have come to recognize as the bread of life, the Son of God who has come down from heaven, is
going away. But Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit. “I will ask the Father, and he will send
another Companion, who will be with you forever.” (John 14:16 CEB)
“The Companion, (the Holy Spirit,) whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you
everything and will remind you of everything I told you. Peace I leave with you.” (John 14:26-27a)
God has acted on our behalf. And through Jesus, God has made a way for us to live as children of
our heavenly Father. Even as we await Jesus’ return, we are not alone, for the Holy Spirit, the
Companion and Comforter, is with us.
The importance of which worldview we adopt becomes clear as we read John. If we think
God does not exist, if we decide that miracles don’t really happen, we shut our eyes to seeing what
God has done and is doing. As we believe and as we accept Jesus as the Son of God, with the power
to do miracles, we are saved. But if we refuse to believe, we step away from God’s grace.
Salvation is a free gift, freely offered and never forced on anyone. But we must believe it is
true and response appropriately. The Gospel of John offers a clear presentation of Jesus and
challenges us to believe in God and to believe in Jesus, God in the flesh, and the bread of life for all
who will turn to him and follow him as Savior and Lord. If you only read one book of all the New
Testament, read this one, and experience the Word of God revealed.