The gospel reading from the Revised Common Lectionary for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, August 1st, John 6:24-35 says:
When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus replied, “I assure you that you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate all the food you wanted. Don’t work for the food that doesn’t last but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Human One will give you. God the Father has confirmed him as his agent to give life.” They asked, “What must we do in order to accomplish what God requires?” Jesus replied, “This is what God requires, that you believe in him whom God sent.” They asked, “What miraculous sign will you do, that we can see and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” Jesus told them, “I assure you, it wasn’t Moses who gave the bread from heaven to you, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. The bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said, “Sir, give us this bread all the time!” Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
In our scripture Jesus says, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” Jesus is telling us, “I’m going to do something new when you follow me. Your past is behind you and a new thing is about to happen.”
Margaret, my wife and an amateur baker, once pointed out to me that Jesus said ‘I am the bread of life’ not ‘I am the cake of life.’ Following Christ is most certainly not a cake walk. Although there will be times of difficulty in a life of faith, there is also a rich life filled with love and joy and peace. In fact this idea is a main focus of John’s Gospel. In John’s Gospel not only will following Jesus affect the life that is to come, but Jesus will affect our quality of life in the here and now. Mark Allan Powell explains, “in John’s Gospel, eternal life is more than just “life after death”; it is not just life that is endless in length, but also life that is endless in value and meaning.” Eternal life, abundant life, the life that really is life is a present reality. This life is found in the truth of God that is revealed in Jesus Christ. Perhaps this is what Jesus was explaining when he said “I am the bread of life.” Saint Augustine once said, “every single person has a God-shaped vacuum in their soul. We can attempt to fill that cavity with a host of other things, but finally nothing satisfies the thirst for our redemption and our hunger for significance except Jesus and His gospel.”
When we partake of the bread of life we find ourselves changed in this life, right here, right now. We find a new beginning. There is healing and good news for us now. Shane Claiborne says “Jesus came not just to prepare us to die but to teach us how to live.” Whenever we read the words “love your neighbor as yourself” and wrestle with and practice what this means we are changed. We partake of the bread of life. Whenever we discover or rediscover the spiritual disciplines of prayer, scriptural meditation, self-examination, and hospitality we partake of the bread of life. When we realize that this life is not all about us, when we realize that God’s grace is for all people, when we show people that there is indeed healing and good news for us now, we partake of the bread of life. We are called not only to be believers, but we are called to be disciples. We are called to be transformed by this gospel— to be a people who are living into different patterns and values from the world around us. We are called to have a faith that is worked out in love and compassion for other people.
This life is no cake walk. Rain comes down on the righteous and the unrighteous and we will all have difficult times no matter what. But when we decide to follow Jesus and strive to become his disciples we will in many ways discover a life of joy and fulfillment and we will indeed be filled.