Sermon by Mr Lee Johnston

Today’s gospel brings us right back to the story of wilderness, when Moses led the people to the promised land, but not before they learned humble dependence. In the story, they had to lean on God for their most basic of needs: the need for food to sustain their survival. The people only learned dependence, though, when they experienced lack, and we all experience lack.

Cast your minds back to March this year. Like me, you might have braved the unexpected snow to get to your local shop, only to find: like I did: that not only was there no bread, but all the tins of tomato soup and Heinz beans were gone. People at the check-out were beside themselves. We had a short few days when we realised that actually food isn’t unlimited, and if you had any mobility issues or lived in a rural area this feeling of dependence may have hit home even harder. But then the roads returned to normal; the shops re-stocked; and we forgot. We forget that feeling of dependence so easily when things are okay because it’s uncomfortable to think that we’re constantly reliant, on weather; on commerce; on anything outside our control.

In responding to need, Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty”. Jesus speaks these words not long after he’s fed five thousand hungry people using only a few loaves and fishes. Because of that, crowds have followed him, that he might continue to meet their physical needs. Hunger and thirst. Each of us know when we hunger or when we’re well fed, whether that’s in your physical, spiritual or emotional state. If you’ve run a marathon, no one needs to tell you’re thirsty by the time you reach the finish line. And the fact is that we are running marathons all the time. By the time next week is over there will be a million different thoughts; phone-calls and unpredictable moments that will drain you, and me. Inside might start to resemble a wilderness rather than a feast. We never lose that dependence and vulnerability, but Jesus means to satisfy that hunger and thirst, in all that we are. So Jesus connects their physical dependence on him for food to their spiritual dependence on God for life. Unlike their physical hunger, which will return when he’s gone; he offers them life that will not diminish over time. A place in the kingdom which is to come, but real for those who trust now. Union with God started here and to be completed at the End, meeting our ever present need for connection with the divine life.

It’s easy to hear a passage like this with end-time talk and old testament memory and feel like it’s unrealistic, unobtainable. But there are some concrete and specific notions that come to the fore in Jesus promises here. The idea of the bread of life or heaven also takes us right back to the wilderness story. In Deuteronomy, the term bread of life was used to contrast the life-giving power of God’s Word, which would feed one’s very being, with the manna which would quell physical hunger only for a time. It’s the same contrast Jesus makes in saying that those who ate in the wilderness died, but what I offer is life-sustaining and endlessly satisfying. Only Jesus doesn’t equate that Word with a book or a set of commands, but himself – a person. As people in need of community, Jesus welcomes us to the community of Gods-self: between the Father, Son and Spirit.

Jesus said to them: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven... and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." Our need for community is fulfilled in Jesus not only being a person, but being human. Only one with mortality like our own could accompany us in any meaningful way. But this declaration is also powerful, with Jesus claiming the authority to say – I am this life for you – is the one able to bring us from our death in the midst of life, to life in the midst of death.

The claim that he arrived from heaven is one that leaves the crowds uneasy. They know Jesus’ family, and in spite of the miracles and the teaching they’ve followed him over land and sea for, that’s enough to stop them believing that this is God’s promise. People had come for more signs, more food and the solution they were offered is not what they wanted. If Jesus is just like them then they can’t trust and rely on him. And that makes perfect sense, not only for the crowds but for us. Because the dependence – the hunger or inadequacy – we encounter is no joke. A wilderness experience may lead us to hunger and need, but it doesn’t lend itself to trust, either trust in someone who is no greater than us, nor promises which seem unrealistic. Jesus demands a lot when he asks for our dependence and we need reassuring, that he’s not only life – but life for us; with us in our struggles and our source of hope for change.

The main flaw of the crowds – the reason they couldn’t believe – is that they failed to link the signs of grace they experienced already with Jesus who promised to give them more. They had been fed, but overlooked the source of that miracle – seeking more without faith and without giving thanks. The way to re-assurance when we see these these promises as pie in the sky and unrealistic is to bring to mind the signs of grace around us or which have gone before us. The God who sent Jesus also draws all people to him, and the word draw can mean either attract toward or it can mean, drag you kicking and screaming. I’m sure there’s all times when we’ve all needed both approaches. But those experiences – when we’ve felt carried or when we’ve felt our heart strangely warmed – as John Wesley put it, are perhaps closer to God than we might initially think. Jesus highlights that it’s his humanity that he gives for us, and in doing so affirms the ability of humanity with God’s grace – to be life-giving. Those times when we leave a conversation feeling like we’ve been truly heard. The days that feel like feasts rather than the wilderness. The silence after the Eucharist when we feel like God showed up in bread and wine. Those moments count – they reassure and give us cause for thanksgiving.

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.”. Do we trust these words of comfort from the God who is life, or do we go on in the wilderness, seeking what little food we can find.