This
morning we are thinking about one of my favourite topics, food.
In
case you haven’t heard, I like food,
chocolate,
ice
cream,
roast
chicken,
BBQ
steak,
my
friend’s special fruit cake …..
What
is your favourite food?
How
does it make you feel?
A
bit of background to the reading:
Jesus
and the disciples have just crossed the Lake, climbed a hill, Jesus is teaching
the disciples, and … along comes a crowd.
Jesus
asks one of the disciples “Where are we to buy
bread, so that these may eat?” [NASB]
Then
there is story of the feeding more than five thousand people.
The
crowd got excited.
Jesus
went off on his own
The
disciples start to cross the lake
There
is a storm
Jesus
walks towards them on the water
He
gets into the boat
And
they are at the shore.
Then
the section we heard read this morning – Jesus the bread of life.
There
are three aspects of this reading I will explore this morning.
Firstly,
When and Why do we look for Jesus?
The
crowd were looking for Jesus to give them more bread. As now, people get
hungry, and there was no roadhouse to buy food from. Someone who can feed that many
people must be amazing.
Reminds
me of the cult of celebrity.
But
I wonder what we are seeking at a deeper level.
If
I don’t eat chocolate, I would miss it, but life would still go on as normal.
I
wonder what else do we hunger for, other than food?
Acceptance?
Love?
Forgiveness?
Freedom?
You
might be surprised to know that many people feel they are not accepted for who
they are. Various people will try and
fit us into their expectations, and we can feel like a failure because we don’t
fit that box. Some people feel like they are never good enough.
Other
people will begin by telling me that they have done something so bad that God couldn’t
forgive them,
which
means they haven’t allowed God’s forgiveness to flood into their lives so that they
can accept forgiveness for themselves.
What
do you hunger for, deep down?
While
we are busy thinking about chocolate and steak, I wonder what deeper hunger are
we ignoring?
…………….
The Message paraphrase has the crowd asking: “Well, what do we do then to get in on God’s works?”
Jesus said, “Throw your lot in with the One that God has sent. That kind of a commitment gets you in on God’s works.”
“Throw your lot in with the One that
God has sent.”
I wonder what that might look like. Then I came across a prayer by Sir Francis Drake, her is part of that prayer:
Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
…..
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.
“Throw your lot in with the One that God has sent.”
Do
we give all of ourselves to Jesus?
Are
our dreams big enough?
Do
we stay close to shore or allow ourselves space to see the stars?
…….
After
the conversation about manna and bread, Jesus tells the crowd: The Bread of God
came down out of heaven and is giving life to the world.”
They jumped at that: “Master, give us this
bread, now and forever!”
“Jesus
is the bread that fulfils all our hunger and thirst.
Jesus
frees us to follow him not to achieve self-satisfaction,
not
to get anything that is in it for us,
not
even to attain or maintain peace of mind.
Jesus
frees us to embrace God’s redeeming will
to
restore the cosmos to what God created
and
humanity to what God intends.
Such
faith does not mean separating the spiritual out of the social.
It means putting God
rather
than us
at
the centre of both.
When
we do,
we
can and will expect more.”
[Working preacher: Commentary on John
6:24-35 Craig A. Satterlee]
The
bread of God is giving life to the world – in what way does the bread of God,
Jesus, bring life to the world?
Where
are places you see this life?
Who
are the people you seeing bearing this life to the world?
This
morning we celebrate communion,
we
will eat bread and drink juice together,
we
remember the love of God for the world,
the
life of Jesus, his death, resurrection and the gift of the spirit.
Just
as to really enjoy food, we need to be aware of our hunger;
To
feast on the bread of life, we need to be aware of our need.
Gospel
reflection
(inspired by John 6:24-35)
Our
bellies are full
We
are refreshed
Our
minds are no longer dulled
By
that gnawing ache of hunger
And
yet
We
long
There
was more that took place on that day
Than
just the loaves
…and
fishes
what
happened was good
…in
the way creation was pronounced good
and
yet
…we
hunger for more
not
just the food
that
eased our hunger
but
there was power in the words that were spoken
power
that opened our minds
power
that challenged us
and
made us see
…a
hunger
we had not known
…(Jesus
Said)
a
hunger from deep within
which
now that it has become loosed
will
not be bound again
until
it is fed
…(I
am)
and
nourished
as
only God
…(the
Bread)
as
the Creator of all
…(of
life)
can
do
~ written by Dan Bollerud, and posted on
Pastor Dan’s Grace Notes. http://coslcgrace.blogspot.ca/
[reflection
time]
