When they found him back across the sea,
they said, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
Jesus answered, “You’ve come looking for me not because you saw God in
my actions but because I fed you, filled your stomachs—and for free. Don’t waste your energy striving for
perishable food like that. Work for the food that sticks with you, food that
nourishes your lasting life, food the Son of Man provides. He and what he does
are guaranteed by God the Father to last.”
To that they said, “Well, what do we do
then to get in on God’s works?” Jesus
said, “Throw your lot in with the One that God has sent. That kind of a
commitment gets you in on God’s works.”
They waffled: “Why don’t you give us a
clue about who you are, just a hint of what’s going on? When we see what’s up,
we’ll commit ourselves. Show us what you can do. Moses fed our ancestors with
bread in the desert. It says so in the Scriptures: ‘He gave them bread from
heaven to eat.’” Jesus responded, “The
real significance of that Scripture is not that Moses gave you bread from
heaven but that my Father is right now offering you bread from heaven, the real
bread. The Bread of God came down out of heaven and is giving life to the
world.”
They jumped at that: “Master, give us
this bread, now and forever!” Jesus
said, “I am the Bread of Life. The person who aligns with me hungers no more
and thirsts no more, ever.
For years, I have worked with college students in
campus ministry. One thing I learned
early on is that if free food is offered, students will come. The students were a lot like the crowds who
not only wanted to be present as Jesus performed miracle after miracle, but they
wanted free food too. Jesus acknowledges
and challenges this in a Jesus kind of way.
He wasn’t worried that they wouldn’t come back or that they would tell
their friends how weird he was being; he told them the truth and let them figure
it out for themselves.
Are we like college students or like those in the
crowd? Do we approach God with a list of
physical needs: food, support,
resources, healing? The way I read this,
there is nothing wrong with that approach as long as we don’t leave it
there. Which makes me ask, do we go
deeper with God? Do we seek in God the
things that last, that satisfy, that make us whole? Do we really know the bread from heaven that
feeds us until we want no more of what makes the world go round – status,
success, wealth, power, adulation? What
would it be like to find out about this free heavenly bread and to let it
change our perspective if not our lives?
Please join us this Sunday, November 24 at 10:00am in
Christ Church where we will give thanks for all our blessings. It is the perfect service to help us go
deeper this Thanksgiving season. Looking
forward to seeing you in Church!
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