Give Us This Bread Always

John 6:24-35

After the feeding of the five-thousand, the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, so they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.  When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”  Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.  Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.”  Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?”  Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”  So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing?  Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”  Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”  They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”  Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

The musical “Fiddler On the Roof” was on TV three nights ago and I just had to watch.  I love the scene where Motel, the poor, shy Tailor goes to Tseitel’s father, Tevye, to ask for her hand in marriage.  And Motel finally works up the courage to say, “Reb Tevye, I hear you are arranging a match for Tzeitel. Well, I have a match for Tzeitel.”

And Tevye says, “Huh?  What kind of a match?”

“A perfect fit.  This match was made exactly to measure.

“Perfect fit? Made to measure?

“Yes, Reb Tevye.  Like a glove.

“Motel, stop talking like a tailor and tell me, who is it?

“Who is it?”

“Who is it?”

“Who is it?”

“Who is it?!”

“It’s me.  Reb Tevye. Myself.”

“Either you’re out of your mind or you are crazy!

Arranging a match for yourself?  What are you?

Everything?  The bridegroom, matchmaker, and guests

in one?  I suppose you’ll perform the ceremony, too?”

Have you ever experienced a conversation like this?  Where by the end of it you realize the two of you were actually talking about two entirely different things? This is exactly what happens in today’s gospel story. The people miss what, or who Jesus is talking about.

Previously Jesus gave the crowds “dinner and a show”.  He multiplied loaves and fishes, everyone was fed, and now they’re eager to follow Jesus… that is, “only if you show us that trick with the bread again.”  The dialogue in this gospel story sounds a little like slapstick:

“Jesus, when did you get here?”

“You’re only here for the free food, not to see me.”

“No, really we’re here to see you….do….that….work of God with the bread.”

“But, I am that work of God.”

“No, we mean like the Manna, Bread-from-Heaven thing… (You know?  It’s in the Bible!”)

“But, I am the bread from heaven!”

“Yes!  Finally.  That’s it.  That’s what we want.”

But they don’t want Jesus.  They want, what my friend Father John calls “Jesus: the perpetual pasta machine”.  They want what Jesus can do for them, but they don’t want Jesus, himself.  Imagine that your lover lives on the other side of the United States.  Its your birthday, and for your birthday, your Beloved flies in to surprise you and says,

“I’m here, happy birthday!”

“Oh, well what’d you get me?”

“I’m here, I flew across the U.S. to surprise you!”

“Okay, so where’s my present?”

“It’s me.”

“Huh.  That’s disappointing.  You could have at least brought me a sandwich or a magic trick or something.”

This is a penetrating question that Jesus asks of us:  “What do we want out of God?”

Are we simply consumers of religion?  Do we want Jesus to simply strengthen our side?  Or are we being wooed into a relationship

with this invisible God whose love for us is made known in Jesus Christ?  Here’s one of the things that I love about Jesus, he refuses to take sides, meaning he wont let us make this into a liberal proclamation that says, “The primary message of this story is that God wants you to feed the world and end hunger, because the goal of Christianity is to alleviate suffering.”  Nor will he let us make this into a Charismatic proclamation that says, “The primary message of this story is that God wants you to believe enough to perform and receive miracles, because the goal of Christianity is signs and wonders.”  Instead, Jesus is relentlessly Christo-centric in his proclamation, and says, “God is at work in you to see me at the core of all things and want me alone.  The result of this is worship – a life of worship that might flowers into feeding the hungry and miraculous provision.  But works and wonders are not at the heart of this message.  I am.”

A couple verses later in this Gospel Jesus tries to really lay it out for the crowd by saying, ”You’re looking for signs, you’re looking for bread -

but I am giving myself to you.  I am what you need to eat to give you life!”  This was just way too weird for them and like Tevye, the crowd says to Jesus, ”Either you’re out of your mind or you’re crazy!”  Most all of them leave except the disciples.

It’s hard to blame them.  When you compare today’s story to the feeding of the five-thousand, where everyone is amazed and everyone gets fed and there’s still bread left over, well, today’s story is rather anti-climactic, because in this story Jesus says:  ”You want a miraculous sign that God is working, but the sign that God is at work is me – myself.  You can see that I’m at work in your life, because you trust me.  And that trust that you trust me with is actually God at work in you.  And you want God to provide for you, but the provision that God makes is me – myself.

And we want to say, “What are you?  Everything Jesus?”  And he says to us, “Yes!  Yes.  I am everything.  And it’s a perfect fit, made to measure, like a glove. Now, is it enough for you that I offer my entire self for you on the cross? Is it enough for you that I offer my self to you here in bread and wine? Because it’s here on the cross, here in bread and wine that you see that I am for you, that I love you, and that I am with you always.”

If only we could respond, “Lord, give us this bread always.”

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