Sermon – John 6:24-35 – The Bread from Heaven

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon – John 6:24-35 – The Bread from Heaven
Eagle Rock Presbyterian Church
August 2, 2009

Listen to this sermon.

Before we begin I would like to thank Session and the church for giving me two weeks of study leave. I was able to attend the Academy for Missional Preaching in Malibu where I was able to break bread and share stories with other Presbyterian pastors and professors of preaching from our seminaries. But is it wonderful being back here to break bread and share stories will all of you. Let’s get started with prayer.

Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy Heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen. (John Calvin)

A few weeks ago we celebrated the birth of our nation with fireworks and backyard barbeques. We do this every year on the Fourth of July. We gather to eat and share stories. “Remember the time Grandpa set the garage on fire with the fireworks.” “Weren’t Aunt Sally’s deviled eggs the best?” Good food and warm memories makes a festival celebration like Independence Day an important part of our culture.

The Israelites had their own Fourth of July. It was called Passover. They ate good food and told the stories of the founding of their nation. They remembered Moses and all that he did to lead them from slavery in Egypt through forty years in the wilderness and into the Promised Land. One year during the Passover festival a celebrity came to a city in the region of Galilee. He was a great teacher and had developed a reputation for healing. A large crowd gathered just to see him and maybe touch his cloak. His name was Jesus.

Jesus saw that the crowd was hungry. So he told his disciples to feed them. Of course there was no money in the budget for such an extravagant feast. By one count there were 5000 people to feed. They only had five barley loaves and a couple of fish. Jesus took them, gave thanks to God, and everyone ate and was satisfied.

The next day Jesus was found to be missing. So people got in boats and crossed the Sea of Galilee looking for Jesus. When they found him this is what he said.

John 6:24-35 24 So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. 25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" 26 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. 27 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." 28 Then they said to him, "What must we do to perform the works of God?" 29 Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." 30 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? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" 32 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. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." 34 They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." 35 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.

One of the great stories that the Jews told to each other at the Passover celebration was about the time after they had all left Egypt and had entered the desert. The food they had departed with was gone and they were hungry. Starvation threatened to destroy the entire community. The people were so afraid that they wanted to go back and become slaves again.

I don’t know what it is like to be hungry. There has never been a day in my life when I did not have something to eat in the refrigerator or money in my pocket to buy whatever food I wanted. I know some people, here in Eagle Rock, even people coming to this church, who have experienced hunger. They try to get by on $200 a month in general relief and some food stamps. This usually runs out by the end of the month and they would go hungry but for the generosity of the people of God.

Of course there is a different kind of hunger, spiritual hunger, which we have all experienced. This is our longing for something more out of life; something seems to be missing. We treat spiritual hunger with alcohol and drugs and prescription medicines. But nothing seems to work. This spiritual hunger is caused by sin which separates us from God, because God alone can satisfy this kind of hunger

Of course we cannot satisfy all of the hunger of the people in our community. But if all the churches work together we can help feed the people who are physically hungry. And we can work to satisfy not only their physical need for food, but their spiritual needs as well, by introducing them to Jesus.

In Moses’ day, each morning while in the wilderness, the people found bread falling from heaven. They ate this bread every day and it sustained them for forty years. Those forty years ended with a great celebration, Passover. With this Passover story in their minds the Jews who had come to see Jesus began to think that just as Moses had provided bread for their ancestors to eat, so too had Jesus come to feed them. Jesus must be a great prophet like Moses.

But Jesus, being a Bible teacher, knew that Moses did not provide the bread from heaven for the Israelites to eat. No! It was God who sent the bread from heaven. And it was God who fed those 5000 people that day on the banks of the Sea of Galilee.

Jesus started to tell them stories. One was from the prophet Daniel, who said that a human being would come from down from heaven, sent by God to rule with all power and authority. He would govern a kingdom of justice and righteousness. He would be the called the Son of Man. Jesus reminded them of another story of when their ancestors Adam and Eve lived in the garden where there was a tree in the center of the garden, the Tree of Life. Jesus said that the bread of heaven that would come with the Son of Man would be made from the fruit of the tree of life. And all who would eat this bread of heaven would have the gift of eternal life.

The people who had followed Jesus to Capernaum wondered what they had to do to eat this bread of heaven and live eternally. They asked Jesus, what work was required by God. And Jesus told them that the work required of God is that you believe in him whom God had sent, the Son of Man, who had come from heaven to earth with the bread of life.

You see just as God had provided bread from heaven to his people in the wilderness so to does Jesus bring the bread of eternal life to us. And the promise of scripture is that if you believe in Jesus Christ then you will receive eternal life.

That’s why our evangelism program is so important. That’s why we show our hospitality with a meal every Sunday night. That’s why we pickup bread from Trader Joe’s in Glendale and give it away: to show Christian generosity. That’s why we invite people to attend this church, so that they too will believe in Jesus Christ and will receive with us the bread of heaven that leads to eternal life.

In a few moments we will gather around this table for the Lord’s Supper. The Deacons have beautifully prepared the table and will serve you as hosts. But the bread that you will eat is not from the Deacons. This bread is not from the church. It is the bread from heaven that is given to you symbolizing your faith in Jesus Christ and sealing the gift of eternal life upon you.

I leave you with one last story which you can tell over and over again. It is the story being written today. It is the story of how this church is inviting the community into it sanctuary with our hospitality and generosity. It is the story of how we are satisfying the physical hunger of those who need something to eat. It is the story of how we are satisfying the spiritual hunger of people for Jesus. It is the story of bringing people to belief in Jesus Christ, so that they may eat the bread from heaven and receive eternal life.

Father in heaven, we ask for the gift of faith, that we might believe in Jesus Christ, the one who came from heaven to nourish us with the spiritual food that leads to eternal life. Bless us as we come to this communion table to eat the bread from heaven. We ask that you fill us with the nourishing food that will sustain us eternally. In your Son’s name and in the power of the Holy Spirit we pray. Amen.