8/18 Sermon - Come to the Bread of Life

Come to the Bread of life

John 6:35-51

Is there any kind of food you don’t like to eat? When I was a kid, I didn’t like lima beans and peas. I still don’t. My parents would make me sit at the table, past dinner time, with no dessert, until I ate my scoop of peas. Many children, and adults can be picky, even complain about food!

In our reading, we see people complain about their “food,” about Jesus. Jesus says, and he couldn’t be more obvious, “I am the bread of life. Come to me for eternal life.” …but they grumble.

Why? Why did they grumble and complain? To them, Jesus was just a man. They knew his parents. What help could Jesus, who was to them just a man, really give them? When Jesus told them he had come from heaven, from the Father, it was foolishness for them.

And Jesus rubbed salt in their wound. Jesus told them they were helpless. The Israelites, who were descended from Abraham himself, couldn’t even come to God on their own. No one can come to me unless the Father draws them. Insulting!

What can Jesus really do for me? Am I really so powerless on my own?

Unfortunately, we do a lot of complaining, don’t we? We believe the message of Jesus, the Bread of Life. And still, we find reasons to complain and grumble. Here are just two complaints.

1. What can Jesus really do me? “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? The Israelites saw Jesus as just a man. They knew his parents! We sometimes think of Jesus as a nobody. A name. Someone way up there. Someone not here.

We have bills to pay. What can Jesus do? We have problems with our family, what can Jesus really do? We have sins that plague us, what can Jesus do? Health problems, what can Jesus do?

2. Jesus’ message insults me, because he says this world isn’t enough. Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, yet they died. It doesn’t matter how rich we are, healthy, wealthy, or happy. It doesn’t matter what we do. Nothing in this world lasts.

3. Jesus’ message is insults me, because on my own, I’m not enough. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them. We are not strength enough on our own. The pressure of this world piles on and suffocates us and we’re not strong enough on our own. Even faith itself, even belief, Jesus says we don’t have the strength to believe. We can’t decide to believe. It’s impossible. How insulting is that?

The message of the Bread of Life gives us plenty of cause to complain.

Why, then, should we care? Why come to Jesus and eat?

1. The Father chooses you. That’s why we are here in church. That’s why we believe. We live in a world where everyone just wants your money. People are so alone. Disconnected. We feel worthless. All those the Father gives me will come to me. You are here in church because God wants you to be here, because he has chosen you. It’s not because we are worthy, or by our choice, but because of God’s love. Our Father in heaven delights in you.

Sometimes, food just starts to taste good, right? I never liked tomatoes growing up. But one day, I tried one, and it just tasted good. Especially in a salad or on a sandwich. Somehow, sometimes, food we didn’t like changes. Is there a food you didn’t like as a kid, but now do?

That’s what God does with our hearts. He chooses us, and makes our dead hearts alive, and brings us in as his children. So let’s come to this Bread of Life, to Jesus, and eat!

Today, we see that with Liam’s baptism. In our baptism’s God chooses us and draws us in as children of God. By God’s Word and the water, the Spirit makes our hearts alive. We see evidence for that all over Scripture. John 1, John 3, Titus 3.

2. Jesus cherishes you. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away…. This is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me. God chooses you, and Jesus cherishes you. Do you have a memento from a friend or parent, a keepsake, a prized possession? That’s what you are to God. You are a prized possession, his most treasured person. You are not alone, you are not without help, you are not forgotten. Jesus cherishes you. In fact, Jesus cherishes you so much that….

3. Jesus gives himself for out resurrection and eternal life. Let Jesus speak for himself. Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

Our hope is Jesus. We come to Jesus to eat and, by God’s power, and we live forever. No, that eternal life is not in this sinful world that is so full of pain and sadness and loss. We still go through physical death.

- But God promises eternal life. When we die, our soul goes to paradise, to heaven, and we live forever in joy, no sadness, pain, or tears.

- God promises a resurrection. Someday, Jesus will return, and remake this world into a paradise, unite us body and soul, and we’ll live, body and soul, in eternal life. Death has been destroyed.

- This all happens because Jesus gave his flesh on the cross. He was pierced, bled, and died for our sins, in our place, for the whole world. Then he rose from the grave.

There are so many reasons to complain, aren’t there? And not just when your parents make you eat a pile of peas and lima beans! Life can be too much for us. Where is Jesus? Does he even care?

Jesus wants nothing more than for you to come to him, to believe, to eat the Bread of Life.

The Father chooses you and draws you in. Jesus cherishes you and gave his life for you. Now, you have eternal life and the promise of resurrection.

Come and eat.