NL 424: Bread of Life
John 4:46-54
February 13, 2022
John 6:35-59
Initial Thoughts
Skips the feeding of 5000
Very long reading
“The determined lectionary boundaries may be better suited when imagining the specific theme or progression on which the preacher chooses to focus for the week. With that generosity in mind, we can move through the discourses with a sense that progression is not defined by set parameters of passages, but rather by a movement of themes. At the same time, no section of the discourse (John 6:22-71) can be understood or interpreted without recognizing its complete reliance on the feeding of the five thousand. The Bread of Life discourse is first and foremost Jesus’ interpretation of this sign.” (Karoline Lewis, John: Fortress Biblical Preaching Commentaries, p. 86)
“The intent of the discourse is a desire to pull the believer deeper into abiding with Jesus, not to gain some further knowledge or insight.” (ibid.)
Bible Study
Shifting crowds
Crowd of John 6:24-35
Chasing Jesus
Looking for Jesus
Demanding to know more about Jesus
Want to see signs
They are uncertain about Jesus
Crowd of John 41-59
Named in NRSV as “The Jews”
CEB uses more helpful term “Jewish Opposition.”
The “grumbling” reminiscent of “grumbling in the Wilderness during the Exodus, when people “grumbled” over lack of food in Exodus 16.
Don’t want to know more about Jesus
Don’t accept the bread of life
insiders (John 6:59)
The “Church people” can’t see who Jesus really is
They are certain about Jesus - Mary and Joseph’s son.
He’s clearly not from heaven - we know his parents.
Complaining
Same word the Septuigent (Greek Hebrew Bible trans) uses in Exodus 16:2 before the gift of manna
“Drawn by the Father”
A call back to John 1:18 - “No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son who is close to the Father’s Heart, who has made him known”, through the miracle of the loaves and fishes, through his teaching, preaching and being, Jesus is making God known - do we have eyes to see it and ears to hear?
Augustine - “…our preaching is only noise to the ears unless listeners are drawn by the Father's love to hear it.”
O. Benjamin Sparks - “You just don't come to faith by yourself, through your own deduction, reasoning, and insight alone. You are wooed, invited, even cajoled.” - Feasting on the Word – Year B, Volume 3: Pentecost and Season After Pentecost 1 (Propers 3-16).”
We are saved by grace alone
There is nothing we can do to deserve God’s grace and nothing we do can keep us from being offered God’s grace.
“Jesus answers the ‘complaint’ of the authorities with a simple command not to complain. He does not present a long argument, nor offer a demonstration or proof. Apparently, there is no way to ‘argue’ them into accepting that Jesus comes from above. The closed world of the authorities is impervious to the claims of Jesus. Only if they cease ‘complaining’ can they be open to hear and be taught.” (Charles Cousar, Texts for Preaching, Year B., p. 463.)
Jesus is the bread of life and the source of the bread of life
Despite what they have seen, they still do not understand - Jesus is not Joseph’s son but God’s son
Irony - they do know Jesus’ father, but are mistaken which father it is
A call back to the mystery of th reincarnation - John 1:1 - Jesus as Jesus is the Word and “the Word was with God, and the Word was God”, so too Jesus is the bread of life, from heaven, and the source of that bread as well
“The bread from heaven is provided for the Israelites whom God loves and will not abandon. In the wilderness, God is present, providing for God’s people, and God’s people rely on God for that provision. To believe in Jesus as the bread from heaven is to recognize that relationship. It is to believe in the relationship and what that relationship means, both then and now.” Karoline Lewis, John: Fortress Biblical Preaching Commentaries, p. 90
Eternal Life - ζωην αιωνιον (zo-ain aionion)
Present tense in verse 13 - “So you know you have eternal life.”
εχη - to have or hold - in the present tense - this is not something which is coming but something which begins immediately: “The word here is in the present tense. ETERNAL LIFE begins NOW. It is not a future reality, but a present one found in Christ! Whoever is trusting in God has life which continues into eternity.” (Rob Myallis)
αιωνιον - does not mean eternally (aiodios- does refer to everlasting/eternity), but rather refers to a set period of time- an aion/eon. An aion is undefined but could easily mean this life - how we live fully in this moment, this aion which we have been given
Not a future tense, but a present state.
Eternal life is not about duration of heartbeats, length of life, or even about life after our earthly death. Eternal life could be understood as “real life.”
If you believe, and witness to the fact that Jesus is God’s Son, then you will start to live “real life.”
Real life includes loving one another, not just surface relationships. Not just acquaintances, but friends.
To not have eternal life is to continue to go through the motions, waiting for some kind of meaning.
Nature of the Bread
Similar to Manna from heaven in that it is a gift from God
Different in that it is eternal.
Belief in Jesus is the living bread that lasts forever.
There is an eschatological imperative here. To believe in Jesus is to have life eternal, and to be lifted up on the last day.
Connected directly to Jesus’ death
This is an issue of life and death - Those who eat the flesh of Jesus and drink his blood will live and those who do not have “no life in them”
Living Bread
Change from Bread of Life to Living bread is noteworthy due to its present participle tense. (also the same word used to describe God as “living” Father in v. 57).
Living notes an ongoing action, something which is happening now and continuing.
“The promise made to the woman at the well, living water, is now for those listening here, living water and living bread, and serves to underscore the truthfulness of Jesus’ words.” Karoline Lewis, John: Fortress Biblical Preaching Commentaries, p.94
What does it mean to eat the flesh of Jesus and drink his blood?
σάρξ (sarx) - literally “flesh”, not the body which is a different word. This is the same word used back in John 1:14 - “And the Word became flesh/sarx”
Martin Luther - Jesus is not talking about literally eating his flesh and drinking his blood, but instead is making a connection between following Jesus and eating and drinking. Just as eating and drinking are necessary for survival, so following Jesus is necessary to live life fully and abundantly as God intends
This is not "the sort of flesh from which red sausages are made," "not flesh such as purchased in a butcher shop or is devoured by wolves and dogs," "not veal or beef found in cow barns." From Martin Luther, Luther's Works, vol. 23, Sermons on the Gospel of John, Chapters 6-8 (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959), quoted in Feasting on the Word – Year B, Volume 3: Pentecost and Season After Pentecost 1 (Propers 3-16).
John Chrysostom - God’s love became incarnate in the flesh of Jesus, therefore we can do more than look upon or observe Jesus, we can “fix [our] teeth on his flesh and become commingled with Him”. By uniting our flesh with Jesus’ we unite ourselves to his presence, his body and his love. Saint John Chrysostom: Commentary on Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist, Homilies 1-47, trans. Sister Thomas Aquinas Goggin, S.C.H., in The Fathers of the Church, vol. 33 (Washington, DC: Fathers of the Church, Inc., 1957). Quoted in Feasting on the Word – Year B, Volume 3: Pentecost and Season After Pentecost 1 (Propers 3-16).
What is Jesus talking about?
Eucharist - is this the institution of the Lord’s Supper in the Gospel of John?
Maybe not - “In John’s Gospel there are no Words of Institution, no Lord’s Supper per se that informs current liturgical practices of the Eucharist. With that in mind it is not fair to this Gospel...to import our theologies about or preferences for communion practices.” Lewis, p. 95
“The Gospel of John is written for insiders, for the beleaguered little group of believers whose allegiance to Jesus has brought them to the crisis of separation from their neighbors and families, "the Jews" who now hate them. When these believers hear this Gospel read to them, they know the story well. They have heard the echoes of the liturgy of the Lord's Supper from the beginning of chapter 6, echoes that are found in all four Gospels' accounts of the miraculous feeding.” Wayne Meeks, Feasting on the Word – Year B, Volume 3: Pentecost and Season After Pentecost 1 (Propers 3-16).
The question about Jesus' literal flesh and blood are as absurd as whether someone will crawl back into their mother’s womb to be born again (John 3). This passage uses the same rhetorical pattern, “How can this (anyone be born/man give us his flesh) be?”
Jesus will give himself, his body, his flesh and blood to the world, just as he gave bread to the multitude so that they might be fed and live.
“When Jesus offers himself as the Bread of Life...it is not limited to the offering of his life on the cross. That allusions to the Lord’s Supper are relocated from the events surrounding the death of Jesus to the middle of his earthly ministry suggests that the offer of his flesh is first and foremost connected with abundant life here and now and not just the resurrection, and certainly, not just the crucifixion.” Lewis, p. 95
See also Christopher Grundy’s great book on separating Communion form violence in his book, Recovering Communion in a Violent World: Resistance, Resilience, and Risk
Jesus’ Gift
The bread of life, Jesus’ life and body are given/sacrificed to reveal God’s way of abundant life for all people
When we life in that way of self-sacrificial, non-violent love and grace we receive Christ’s gift and partake in the body of Christ
When we live as Jesus lived, eat as Jesus ate, love as Jesus loved and are willing to die as Jesus died - we are participating in the body of Christ and Christ is truly present in our midst.
We celebrate communion to remember Jesus’ life, death and resurrection and to encourage us and give us strength to let Christ dwell within us
“One avenue of interpretation is to take the institution of the Lord's Supper as Jesus' gift to the church (and through the church to the whole cosmos) for life abundant now, and for life with God everlasting.” O Benjamin Sparks. Feasting on the Word – Year B, Volume 3: Pentecost and Season After Pentecost (Propers 3-16).
“Eternity keeps on dipping into our time. Our memorial feast of bread and wine joins us with the living Christ, who is forever—and thus joined to him, we are forever.” (Sparks)
Abide
New Revised Standard uses the language of “abide.” Those who eat also abide. This reveals a sense of living together - doing life together.
“Jesus says that those who eat μενω ("abide", 6:56) in him. This is a key theme in the Gospel of John, in fact, one of the opening questions -- where are you abiding? (John 1:38). Eternal life is the same thing as staying with Jesus. So what does eternal life look like? Well, it looks/feels like that amazing feeling of knowing that we are in the presence of God.” Robert Myallis, LectionaryGreek.blogspot.com
Common confusion about early Christian - whether or not they were cannibals
Live forever & eternal life is not about immortality but about living in the WAY of Jesus
Thoughts and Questions
Paradox of belief and grace
“On the one hand, invitations are given to which humans can respond. On the other hand, those who respond are drawn by the divine power, for nothing else can produce faith. As it is put earlier in the dialogue, belief in Jesus is the work of God.” (Charles Cousar, Texts for Preaching, Year B., p. 463.)
Prevenient Grace - the grace that precedes all things and allows us to believe.
Process Theology - We are “drawn by God,” not coerced or forced into grace. God’s power is that of yearning love, drawing us to God by Grace. This means we can resist, which means that God is not all-powerful, but allows God to be all-loving. The power of love is never coercion. Love is always resistable. Love is always vulnerable to rejection. God’s love is pulling us so that we go through a process of falling back in love with God.
“Eating is believing.”
There is another element of the bread that will be explore more next week - and that is that the bread is tied directly to Jesus’ crucifixion. The last sentence of this passage becomes the conflict for next week, and the leaders wonder what it means to eat Jesus’ flesh. This is a chance to dip into this concept, but resist going too far or preach next week’s sermon also.
A great opportunity to discuss the Eucharist- what happens? Why do we do it? How is Jesus present? What does it mean? All important questions that too often go unanswered in the church.
What does it mean to separate Communion from the violence of crucifixion? How might communion be more life giving when centered in the middle of Jesus’ life?
You are what you eat
Opening music: Misirlou, One Man 90 Instruments by Joe Penna/MysteryGuitarMan at MIM
Closing Song by Bryan Odeen