2. Searching for the best shelf life

Launching the Vision

9 August 2009

John 6:24-35

A couple of weeks ago, I shared with you here in the Wesley Theatre the fact that I often enjoy a trip to the supermarket, picking up what I consider to be the bargains of the day!

One of the ‘musts’ of a shopping trip of this kind is a visit to the bread counter. I discovered long ago that one thing you have to check before you purchase is the shelf life of bread. There has never been a greater variety of breads to choose from and some last longer than others. To select a short shelf life is a mistake, unless you are going to eat the bread the same day … such as the French are noted for!

Far too many supermarkets have concentrated their efforts on luring customers into their stores on the basis of coupons and loyalty cards, instead of quality and value for money – and, when these two exist, you have an excellent combination. With bread, quality really matters.

After the account of the loaves and fish (6:1-15), Jesus walked on the water (16-24) and the crowds continued in their search for Jesus.

Jesus is actually with his disciples.
At last he has found time to be alone with them.
The crowds went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.

The ‘Crowds in search of Jesus’ is a good topic, but we must not be deflected from the central theme of the whole chapter, which is found in the words of Jesus:

“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35)

In the language of the New Testament, you don’t need a pronoun because the verb gives you all you need to know. Just occasionally, we see something different – and John records Jesus using both the verb ‘to be’ and the personal pronoun ‘I’. Jesus’ claims carry with them a sense of promise.

On seven occasions in John’s gospel Jesus makes it clear who he is by using both the verb and the pronoun together. We describe them as the ‘I am sayings’. Each engages us to think about what Jesus Christ is for us … and how we respond to his claims by the way we live our lives.

The seven are:

I am the bread of life (6:35).
I am the light of the world (8.12).
I am the gate for the sheep (10:7).
I am the good shepherd (10:11).
I am the resurrection and the life (11:25).
I am the way, the truth and the life (14:6).
I am the vine (15:1).

In a chapter that clearly has the overriding theme of bread, Jesus’ first ‘I am’ statement is to be understood as in a definite teaching context.

Jesus’ words – ‘the bread of life’ – come at a time when the disciples and the crowds have observed him feeding the multitudes by the simple means of bread and fish.

This particular section is given shape by three questions, which each have a deeper meaning than the enquiry might initially lead you to suppose:

‘Rabbi, when did you get here?’ (v.25) The question confirms that Jesus has walked on the water and indicates how persistent the crowds were in following Jesus. After he fed the large crowd, their determination led them to want to make him a king of some kind. Jesus challenges their persistence and suggests that they are preoccupied for all the wrong reasons (v.26).

‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’ (v.28) They have begun to understand enough to want to push Jesus further in finding food that will really last. The reply of Jesus is intriguing, because clearly he talks about God and himself (v.29)

‘What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?’ (v.30) What kind of question is this … after the greatest observed miracle in the ministry of Jesus, namely the feeding of the crowd? There is reference to the Old Testament, in that the crowd was fed daily in the wilderness (Exodus 16:4 and Psalm 78:24). Jesus puts them right by saying it was not Moses but ‘the Father’ who gave them bread on a daily basis. The true bread is not manna, but Jesus Christ himself.

When Jesus exercised his ministry in the Galilee and Jerusalem, there was a constant desire for the tangible – and the signs of Jesus somehow reach out to such a desire. The first sign has not only a clear Old Testament background – that the Jews were provided with manna in the desert – but also meets the needs of a constant and present hunger which longs to be fulfilled.

There are similarities here with the woman at the well, who wanted water that would quench her thirst forever. Here they ask for bread to feed them continually. In Jesus Christ we have both needs met!

The first of those three questions ‘Rabbi, when did you get here?’ is not a question Jesus concerns himself with, but in this stupendous claim to be ‘the Bread of Life’, he addresses a far deeper question – the enquiry about hungering and thirsting for life … pointing them in the right direction. For it is:-

A claim of sustainable purpose

The desire of today is not just for a shelf life which will keep us going long enough to enjoy it, but a sustainable long-term gift of God to our world. Throughout history, people have pursued work in order to keep bread on the table! Today it is much more sophisticated than that simple statement suggests … the concept of bread defines all that makes for our legitimate purpose of living.

The Name he claims to bear

The claim to manifest God’s presence and power is central in this saying of Jesus. It is repeated on a number of occasions in the same passage (v.v. 41, 48 and 51).

The words have a purpose in correcting the misunderstanding of the earlier verse (v.34). In contrast to the manna in the wilderness, Jesus makes it clear that people do not receive this bread repeatedly. Hunger and thirst are met in Jesus once for all and forever! The people cry ‘… always give us this bread’, but their need is not a steady supply over time, but that gift which will keep on giving.

The needs he certainly meets

At Wesley Mission, we know a great deal about needs; they are many and varied. The complexity of needs is one of the deepest issues and to simplify needs to surface presenting issues is a mistake, which will minimise our service beyond measure. This doesn’t mean we should ignore the issues that first emerge, but it does point to much deeper concerns.

People may arrive at a centre or to a service we offer and we are confronted with many needs, acknowledged or otherwise. So it is in people’s search for God … and in the New Testament ministry of Jesus it was so.

He meets the deep …

desire for identity.
longing for purpose.
aching for spiritual direction.

The never-ending gift he commends to us

The ‘statements of Jesus’ in John point to something more than just who he is, but what he does for us.

Is anything more gratifying than a satisfying meal? But what makes for a good meal? Filling our stomach is not in itself satisfying. Gourmet food is not necessarily more satisfying than common food. I remember the words, ‘The more your meal costs, the less there is on the plate.’ Though not always true, it does make you think. A satisfying meal will probably be nourishing, balanced, tasty and enjoyed in the company of friends.

The gift of God in Christ touches the whole of our living and, unlike natural bread, will do something beyond the temporary. It is a present gift and later in the same chapter we read, ‘Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life.’ (v.47)

An indication of the Christ of inward power

When we know what it is to affirm that Christ is Lord of our life, we receive him into the heart of everything we do and are … and he changes our direction in a way that is undeniably life-transforming.

A living Person

When we hear the word of God and share at the Lord’s Table, we participate in the fellowship of God’s people … and Jesus Christ becomes more than a distant Saviour or spiritual pattern … he lives within!

Touching all our emotions … and responses.
Present in all our relationships.
Offering a new way to live from the inside out.

Austin Farrer, twentieth century theologian and philosopher, wrote, “The gift of the Holy Ghost closes the last gap between the life of God and ours … When we allow the love of God to move in us, we can no longer distinguish ours and his; he becomes us, he lives in us. It is the first fruits of the Spirit, the beginning of our being made divine.”

A lasting presence

What Jesus offered in himself would sustain the disciples through the difficult days that lay ahead … and were indeed impacting the early Christian community who first heard these words taught in the church. This presence would make sense every time they broke bread and poured wine!

Every week, throughout the world, there are innumerable occasions when people gather in large cathedrals and small chapels … and bread speaks of his continuing presence. This is not for a moment, but for all time … the ‘heavenly banquet prepared for all.’

This is the transforming bread which not only reminds us of the past and what Jesus did, or changes the present by entering the whole of our lives, but also fills us with hope for the future.

William Law’s devotional writings deeply influenced those involved in the eighteenth century Evangelical Revival, which helped to shape some of our own Christianity here in Australia. He wrote, “The difference between a good and a bad man does not lie in this, that the one wills that which is good and the other does not, but solely in this, that the one concurs with the living inspiring Spirit of God within him, and the other resists it, and can be chargeable with evil only because he resists it.”

At Communion, we speak of the gift of bread that will be a lasting presence.

A liberating power

This gift of bread in the Person of Christ is what has kept people from the danger of giving up in the midst of challenges, of feeling that life has defeated them, and of denying the real purpose of life.

The good news we proclaim is liberating … in that it sets people free from those chains which would bind them. There are far too many church folk who do not like this aspect of the gospel. Films such as Jesus of Montreal, Chocolat and As it is in Heaven are not attacks on Jesus, but they are scathing popular critiques of institutional Christianity. They are successful movies because they touch a nerve in their audiences. I suspect Jesus did just that as he taught the people.

Presenting choices that must be made

When we begin to consider the gift of God in Jesus Christ, we realise that not only does this offer us salvation by receiving him, but it flows through to all kinds of outcomes based upon the choices we make.

Between short-term pleasure and long-term satisfaction

Bread is more than a passing satisfaction. It is so easy to opt for the quick-fix.

There is a typical Jewish story from New York which goes like this: An old man goes to a diner every day for lunch. He always orders soup of the day. One day the manager asks him how he liked his meal. He replies, “It was good, but you could give a little more bread.” So the next day the manager tells the waitress to give him four slices of bread. “How was your meal, sir?” the manager asks. “It was good, but you could give a little more bread,” comes the reply.

So the next day the manager tells the waitress to give him eight slices of bread. “How was your meal today, sir?” the manager asks. “Good, but you could give a little more bread,” comes the reply. So … the next day the manager tells the waitress to give him a whole loaf of bread with his soup. “How was your meal, sir?” the manager asks, when he comes to pay. “It was good, but you could give just a little more bread,” comes the reply once again.

The manager is now obsessed with seeing this customer satisfied with his meal, so he goes to the bakery, and orders a six-foot-long loaf of bread. When the man comes in as usual the next day, the waitress and the manager cut the loaf in half, butter the entire length of each half, and lay it out along the counter, right next to his bowl of soup. The old man sits down, and devours both his bowl of soup and both halves of the six-foot-long loaf of bread.

The manager now thinks he will get the answer he is looking for, and when the old man comes up to pay for his meal, the manager asks in the usual way, “How was your meal TODAY, sir?” The old man replies, “It was good as usual, but I see you are back to giving only two slices of bread!”

This story is typical of rabbinic humour and points to how it is possible to fail to grasp the deeper issues because we are concentrating on the surface matters. This is why Milne, in his commentary, talks about the crowd’s response as materialistic. There is much more to be said … getting beyond short-term pleasure and seeking long-term satisfaction.

Between earthly importance and eternal recognition

For What Are We Hungry? is the title of a book which considers the different hungers which drive people. James L Mayfield compares some alternatives:

Sigmund Freud was convinced that of all the hungers and desires that motivate and drive us through life, the desire for pleasure, especially sexual pleasure, is the dominant one. There is a lot of evidence to support his view ... and certainly the entertainment industry has discovered this! Even a casual observer of human behaviour is aware of the power of desire – not only sexual lust, but also that almost irresistible urge for one more piece of that delicious chocolate cake. The drive toward pleasure cannot be denied.

Alfred Adler did not deny most of what Freud was saying, but he was convinced that our basic desire or hunger is for power; we want to be in control. Certainly, we all know what it is to want to be in control … and we feel not only uncomfortable but anxious, even fearful, when we are not. The hunger to be in charge and have our will done is a powerful drive. We see it at work in ourselves, and it is even easier for us to see it at work in others!

However, the psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, because of his experiences in a Second World War death camp, disagreed. He did not deny our human desire for pleasure and our longing to be in control. But when both of these were totally taken away in his experience in Auschwitz, he became convinced that the basic human hunger or the deepest drive within us is our basic longing for meaning and purpose. We want our lives to matter.

Jesus is offering the choice between our own significance and worth, assessed on the basis of importance … and the eternal gift, which can never be exhausted by constantly being received.

Between a continuing ‘self-centred search’ or a ‘God-centred discovery’

Philip Gunter tells the story of how one night, as his family was finishing dinner. Mike Benson noticed six green beans left on his daughter’s plate. Ordinarily this wouldn’t bother Mike, but this night he was irked and said to his eight-year-old, “Eat your green beans.”

“I’m full to the top,” she said.
You won’t pop,” he responded.
“Yes, I will pop!” she said.
“Risk it!” he said. “It will be OK.”
“Dad, I can’t eat another bite.”

Mike knew the dessert, pumpkin pie squares, was his daughter’s favourite. So he asked, “How would you like a double helping of pumpkin pie squares with two dollops of whipped cream on top?”

“That sounds great!” she said as she pushed back her plate.

“How can you have room for a double helping of pumpkin pie squares with two dollops of whipped cream and not have room for six measly green beans?”

She stood up and pointed to her belly, saying, “This is my vegetable stomach. This is my meat stomach. They are both full. Here is my dessert stomach. It is empty. I am ready for dessert!”

Life is about making the right choices … and Jesus presents us with the choice to feed on the bread that will last forever.

Jesus Christ is the Bread of Life and he fills every part of our lives … in a way that says this is the bread that tastes best, satisfies totally and has the best shelf life.

Christian Life