The Sermon for Sunday, August 4th, 2024, the Tenth Sunday after Trinity
The Lessons: Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15; Psalm 78:14-26; Ephesians 4:1-16; John 6:24-35
The Text: John 6:24-35
INTRODUCTION
The Allied soldiers gathered many hungry, homeless children after World War II and placed them in large camps. The children were abundantly fed and cared for. However, at night they did not sleep well; they seemed restless and afraid.
Finally, a psychologist offered a solution. After the children were put to bed, they each received a slice of bread. If they wanted more to eat, they could have it, but this particular slice was not to be eaten — it was just to hold.
The slice of bread produced marvelous results. The child would go to sleep, subconsciously feeling there was something to eat tomorrow. That calmed the child.
In Psalm 23 David says, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Instinctively, the sheep knows the shepherd has made plans for its grazing. He knows the shepherd has made ample provision, so he will lie down in peace, with the piece of bread in his hand.
— Charles L. Allen,
God’s Psychiatry (Revell, 1988)[1]
In Israel’s history, though, the people complained at times about the food they had to eat in the desert, while on their way to the Promised Land.
Collected in our service today are passages of Scripture which lead us from a consideration of Israel’s complaints about a lack of food in the wilderness through God’s provision of manna and water, to God’s provision of edification for the Church through its ministries and ministers, and finally to the call for everyone to come to Jesus Christ, the Bread of life. Manna given with the morning dew and water gushing from a rock were God’s provision for the Israelites in the desert, and his answer to their longing for the variety of food they had in Egypt. God’s provision, though, also had the purpose of directing them to trust God as their Provider. After all, in Deuteronomy 8, we read this sober assessment of God’s purpose with his people in the wilderness:
And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.
(Deuteronomy 8:3, KJV)
Now, our Lord quoted the second part of this verse when he replied to Satan’s temptation for him to turn stones into bread in the desert (Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4). Israel should have proceeded from giving thanks to God for his miraculous provision of manna and water in the wilderness, to trusting in God’s words, commands, and teachings to give them life, and sustain them in their journey.
In our Epistle Lesson, we read how God has given some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and teachers for the work of ministry and the perfecting of the saints, and the edifying of the Church, the Body of Christ. This spiritual nourishment is given to all Christians firstly through the written word of God, the record of our Lord’s teaching as given us by the Evangelists that wrote the Gospel accounts, by the Prophets of the Old Testament, and Apostles that preached and taught God’s word and left us their writings in the New Testament; then secondly, through the preaching, evangelism, and teaching of the ministers of God who edify the Church today. But all of us need to humble ourselves to receive and benefit from God’s word. We must not let it pass over our head, but make every effort to understand and apply all the preaching and teaching we hear insofar as it accords with God’s written word, the Bible, so that we, too, may live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.
THE GOSPEL LESSON: TIMELY CORRECTIONS OF PERSPECTIVE
The multitudes of people whom Jesus had miraculously fed in his miracle of the Feeding of the Five Thousand (Matthew 14:15-21; Mark 6:35-44; Luke 9:12-17; John 6:5-14) came to Capernaum, looking for Jesus on the other side of the Sea of Galilee, being surprised as they had not seen him leave the location where he had performed this miracle. Instead of answering their question directly he upbraids them for being motivated by food to look for him. Then he tells them to labor for the food that endures to eternal life, which he, the Son of Man, would give them, since God had set his seal of approval on him (John 6:27). By this the Lord Jesus did not mean that we do not need to work for a living so that we may have money to meet our needs. He meant that the higher priority should be obtaining spiritual food.
In reply to this, the people ask him what work they must be doing to do the works of God (John 6:28). The Lord’s answer is that the work of God is to believe in him whom God has sent (John 6:29), that is, in Jesus Christ. The problem is that they cannot simply accept the Lord’s call to believe in him without asking for a sign, so that they may see and then believe. They had already witnessed the sign of the Feeding of the Five Thousand but had failed to understand the meaning of the sign, that the Lord Jesus provides even more than all his people need. The people associated Moses with the manna, and that was their sign, or evidence, that Moses was to be believed. However, Jesus points out that God was not simple accrediting Moses by giving manna to Israel. That was God’s gift, God’s provision. God’s provision of manna in the wilderness was itself a sign that God the Father gives all his people the true bread from heaven. Just as the manna came down from heaven during the wilderness wanderings of Israel, so the bread of God is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God who has become the Son of Man and gives life to the world.
The people’s response is to ask Jesus always to give them this bread. The reply of the Lord is John 6:35:
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
(KJV)
It is no longer a nation simply receiving God’s provision of manna and water. Now people of all nations can, but it is a matter of individual responsibility and choice. The individual come to the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in him. The promise is that whoever comes, and whoever believes, shall never hunger or thirst spiritually again, for now the individual has a continuing relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ as he passes through the desert pilgrimage of life, until he comes finally to the kingdom of heaven, and the fullness of everlasting life.
CONCLUSION
What is your choice? Is it to continuing working for that heavenly food by continuing to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and to trust him wherever he leads you? The service of Holy Communion gives us an opportunity to renew our fellowship and life with the Lord Jesus Christ and with one another.
[1] p. 463, Craig Brian Larson & Phyllis Ten Elshof (General Editors): 1001 Illustrations that Connect. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, Christianity Today International, 2008.