This month I am preaching from the lectionary epistle lessons (from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians). But the Gospel lessons come from the extended story of Jesus feeding the multitudes (John 6). I thought I would share some thoughts on those texts here at hermeneutic.org.
In Exodus, in the account of the wandering of the wilderness, we find that the Israelites often complained to Moses. They felt that they were better off in Egypt. Even though they were slaves, at least they had food to eat. Moses told the people that they would not go hungry, but that the Lord had promised to provide for their needs. And so they were provided with manna from heaven.
Now the scene changes. It is now much later, maybe about 1300 years later. The descendants of these Israelites recall these events and I imagine that for the most part they remembered it with fondness. Our scene in particular involves a group discussing this very story about manna from heaven. Well, to be fair they were discussing much more than that. You see Jesus had just finished feeding the multitude bread and they were following Jesus around. Now Jesus stops, and he looks at these people and says that the only reason they had been following him was that he had fed them. You know what he is talking about!
Have you ever fed a hungry dog or cat – a stray one at that? You know what happens! The dog or cat starts following you around! And you have a hard time getting rid of that dog or cat. I was recently visiting a friend and saw a cat in his back deck with bowls of water and food. I said “Ah, you have a cat.” He answered, “No, we just feed the cat.” Now Jesus had just fed these people and it didn't cost them one cent for the bill. Jesus had picked up the tab. The idea is that all these people were only interested in their bellies! Even today there are people today who see religion or faith or God as a means of achieving goals or success. Now goals in life are important and I imagine we all have them. But limiting your concern to the belly means you will really miss the boat and Jesus proceeded to tell them so.
He brings up the whole thing about manna in the wilderness. It wasn’t Moses who provided the manna but God. Jesus told the people to look to him for the bread from heaven. He takes it a step beyond that. Jesus said that he is the bread from heaven. Jesus not only places himself in a superior position to Moses but he is saying that he was superior to the manna from heaven – after all Jesus is the true bread from heaven. The manna from heaven was simply a type of what was to come and it had come in Jesus Christ.
Do you remember ever hearing the story of a man who went forth seeking a great treasure?
The night was cold. Perhaps it was because the sky was cloudless and the chilling light of the moon and stars shone over the young man’s shoulder. The effect was eerie to say the least. There were many shadows cast all about the traveler. But he didn’t notice any discomforting effects as the words of the sage still rang in his head. It was as though those words had been said that very afternoon: “To find your treasure, seek the path that is well worn.” But that had been months ago and the young traveler still wandered aimlessly about. He had sought out all the roads. Those that were wide and those that were narrow. But none seemed to lead to any place of significance. Oh, he had seen treasures all right. Treasures that he had been told of since he sat on his grandfather’s knee. But his grandfather had been dead now for some time. The traveler had been gone from home for nearly five years and he still had no idea as to how he would find his treasure. He had sought out the sage – that old wise man – only after spending these last few years seeking but not finding. It was really a last act of desperation to seek advice – you see, he wanted to do it on his own. For a while he would stop and ask people where he was but before long he was in places where he could not understand the language of the people.
He had a good home. A good father and mother. All his relatives and friends were kind and loving to him, but he knew there was more in the world and he knew it would be out there somewhere. He would truly discover who he was and find out what he was meant to be.
The night was cold, but in the distance he could hear the rooster crow, and he knew before long the warmth of the sun's rays would reach out and embrace him. He began to see signs of daylight emerging from the horizon. Many of the peasants were beginning to load their wagons with vegetables, eggs, and hay to head for the village. He noticed that the path he was walking on was old and wide. It was well-trodden. He could see potholes in the clay which had gathered water from the previous day’s rains.
As he entered the little hamlet, many of the villagers began hurrying out into the streets, probably to find food for the morning meal. He began to hear cries of the tradesmen, “Three shilling for a bolt of silk.” Others were barking out the price of their own wares. The stench of the sewers along the side of the road assaulted his nostrils, and he knew that it would not be much longer before the heat of the day would make the foul odor unbearable. He was about halfway through the village when he recognized its familiarity. Oh, all villages were really quite the same. The same kind of people with the same feelings and the same problems. He knew all that really differed from village to village would be the lord of the manor and perhaps the local dialect or language.
His skin stiffened all over his body, and the hair on the nape of his neck felt as though someone had brushed it the wrong way. Perhaps this is it, he thought. Could it be here, after 5 long years? Could this be the place of my treasure? The place of my fortune? And he entered into an alley, and the cries of the merchants began to fade in the distance. And he began to recognize faces. They were familiar faces. Faces he felt he had seen before. And he stopped and looked carefully about the alley, and thought that it, too, looked familiar; Suddenly his knees buckled. let out a cry of anguish! “No! It can’t be! It can’t be!” The young man realized that he had unknowingly returned home.
He turned into another alley, and in the distance he could make out his own home. He began to wonder what his mother and father looked like after these long weary years, and he thought how nice it would be to visit them on this morning after the cock’s crow. Images began to dance in his mind as he remembered his mother’s early morning routine of rushing to the bakery for fresh bread that would be divided among the family for breakfast. With new life in his limbs he hurried on home, and he came to the door and knocked on it. The door opened, and an elderly man looked at him, and after a few moments’ pause, the young man cried out, “Papa!” And, the two embraced and kissed and wept. The son was home, and he knew that he would never be happy anywhere else. He joined his family at the breakfast table and his father had taken the bread his mother had purchased, and broke it, and he blessed it and he passed it around. There was a marked radiance that shone forth on the table that morning as the young traveler remembered the words of the sage: “To find your treasure, seek the path that is well worn.”
Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” And the people around Jesus said, “Lord give us this bread always.” This very day our Father calls us to come home and be fed. We are pilgrims as those before us were pilgrims. We are travelers. We are seeking a treasure. We are seeking the truth. We are seeking our home. And we find that well-worn path. At first it may seem to be an accident, but later we know the providence of God was involved. Our Father bids us to enter his house, and to sit at his table and he feeds us the bread of life. Our prayer should always be: “Lord, give us this bread always.”
Adopted from a sermon I preached on August 1, 1982.
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