Flora First Christian Church - Flora, IN

March 9, 2008

John 6:25-40

4-H Camp Vs. Scout Camp

My college graduation gift from my parents was the tuition fee to attend a Red Cross Training school for Water Safety Instructors. This was something I really wanted to do. If I received the certification I could lifeguard anywhere in the country, as well as supervise and train life guards in summer camps. I had been hired for a month as a lifeguard at a 4-H camp on the North Carolina coast contingent upon receiving the Water Safety certification. A couple of weeks after college graduation I attended a ten day Red Cross Water Safety School at a camp not too far from Louisville. The days were long, grueling and we were in the water approximately seven hours a day. Well . . . I failed the course and didn’t receive the certification, which meant I had to give up the job as life guard. I was crushed. I felt like a failure and as if I wasted my “graduation present.”
The day after I contacted the camp in North Carolina that I was not certified, I received a phone call asking if I would be interested in becoming a chaplain at a Boy Scout camp in Southwestern Ohio. They had acquired my name from the Lexington Seminary where I would be enrolling in September. The chaplain position would be for nine weeks and it paid a lot more than the job in North Carolina, although it was not nearly as glamorous or on the Carolina coastline. I accepted the position at the Scout camp, and I ended up serving in the position for three summers. It also became a job where I learned much about youth, ministry and . . . life. The scout camp job wasn’t the one I initially wanted or even sought out, but I ended up getting something better and in the long run an experience I needed.
Often what we think we want, and what we need are not one and the same. Sometimes we may be disappointed to receive something else, but sometimes we then receive something even better.

This Happened In The Bible

Such happened to the people who approached Jesus as seen in our scripture reading this morning. This was the occasion when Christ said, “I am the Living Bread, which came down from heaven.”
Let’s take our scriptural time machine back to the day before our scripture reading began. On that day Jesus fed 5,000 persons beside the Sea of Galilee from 5 little loaves of bread and two dried fish. Crowds of people gathered to hear Jesus teach. The Bible tells us that the Passover feast was nearing. Most likely many in the crowd were on their way to Jerusalem. This explains why so many people were in the middle of nowhere - people traveled in caravans to Jerusalem.
It had gotten late and unfortunately or fortunately McDonald’s had yet to establish a franchise with fish sandwiches set up to move thousands through its doors. Jesus decided to test his disciples when he asked Philip “How are we to buy bread, so that all these people may eat?” Philip replies that not even 200 denarii could buy enough food. A denarii was a full day’s work wage. Then Andrew jumps in and offers the only hope he sees as even a remote possibility: “Hey Lord, here is a young boy who has 5 loaves of bread and two fish, but that’s nothing among so many people?” Christ had the disciples seat the mob, put them into groups of a hundred, and then they are fed enough bread to where everyone is satisfied. There are even 12 baskets of bread left over! Some of the people begin to proclaim that this Jesus must be the prophet who is come into the world! Jesus quickly goes into the hillside to rest and pray. The crowd practically goes wild with the thought of what Jesus could do if they make him the Big K . . . king.

The Disciples Left For Capernaum

The disciples wisely board a small boat and move on to Capernaum on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. That night Jesus sees his disciples caught in a storm. He walks out on the sea to assist them. The next day, several in the crowd, who find themselves hungry again, and want some more of that miraculous bread, go to Capernaum and find Jesus and the disciples! They are surprised and shocked to find Jesus there, because they did not see him leave the day before!
And so they asked: “Teacher, how did you get here?” Although the multitude is looking for Jesus, he knows that they are really only seeking their own self-fulfillment. Jesus confronts them.

First Response

Jesus says, “You came looking for me, only because you had a free lunch the day before. You filled your bellies and now you want more. You came looking for me not because you saw the sign of the real miracle. Hey, don’t work for the food that will spoil and mold, but work for that food which becomes eternal life, which only the Son of man can give you.”
Jesus’ reply was direct and blunt. Jesus was not naive nor blind about their true motivation and his popularity had grown to mountain size at this point. Unlike many religious leaders, Jesus was not afraid to jeopardize his standing with the crowd by telling them the truth.

Crowd Missed The Real Meaning

The crowd missed the deeper meaning of Jesus’ miracle. The multiplying of the bread was done to point to a greater kind of bread.
Those who showed up at Capernaum are a perfect example of people who come wanting one thing, and have the opportunity to leave with something more and better. They wanted bread to put in their mouths and Jesus had bread that their souls needed.

The Free Lunch

I once was told that when people know that you are serving a free lunch, there will always be someone at your door. I have found that generally is true. Churches that operate soup kitchens and food pantries are not known for complaining about a lack of clientele. When ministries successfully meet physical needs, they soon struggle with how to keep from being overwhelmed by the demand. I guess we could say that Jesus ran the first soup kitchen.

The Crowd Responds

To Jesus’ response the crowd asks, “What must we do to be doing the works of God?”
The crowd, of course, wants to know how “to perform the works of God,” so that they can get some more of that miracle food. Jesus does not respond with a spiritual how to manual entitled “Ten easy Steps to the Bread of Miracles.” Instead he discusses the necessity of faith to do the work of God. Faith in itself is the greatest work, which underlies all true action by the followers of Christ. Without faith our works mean nothing, but our faith does not exist without works that embody it.

Jesus’ Second Response

And so Jesus responds to the Capernaum crowd a second time . . . “This is the work of God that you believe in him who has sent me here.”
The crowd asks Jesus, “Well, then what sign will you do now, so we may see it and believe. Hey, our ancestors were given manna in the wilderness, remember how the scripture says, “Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.”
Ahhh . . . here was the real motivation from the crowd. They wanted more miracle tricks and free lunches and Jesus knew it. What he had to say was a matter of faith, but they wanted “something for nothing.” What the crowd was really saying, “Hey, Jesus, if you are from God, prove it by giving us more food, just like Moses did for our ancestors centuries ago.
Aren’t we too often guilty of the same? We’re often too interested in how someone else can feed us for free than we are in the designs of God for our lives. Our stomachs often carry a stronger voice than our souls.

The Comparison To Moses: The Third Response

Jesus was quick in making his third response: “Hey, it was God’s doings not Moses. My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. And this bread of God is that which comes down and gives life to the world.”
It was God who was now trying to give them food that would give spiritual nourishment and strength always. This bread would not be some sign such as the manna falling from the skies in the wilderness, or the multiplication of a few loaves of bread and some fishes.
So the crowd responds, “But, Lord, that’s what we want, give us this bread always.” It looks like they were beginning to catch on to the type of bread He was offering.
To this Jesus responds with another of His great “I Am” messages. He was still trying to communicate who He really is. His reply: “I am the Bread of Life. Whoever comes to me will neither hunger nor thirst. For it is my Father’s will that whoever sees the son and believes in Him have eternal life.”
Jesus’ entire response was to move them from temporary bread to eternal sustenance through Him–The LIVING BREAD. The crowd wanted bread to put in their mouths, but they needed God. They wanted a sign but the real sign had been standing right in front of them the whole time.

The Bread of This World Spoils

Jesus said four times in this conversation that He IS the bread of life. He was no doubt making an important point. Like bread, Jesus Christ is necessary for life. Coming to Jesus is not like eating junk food of modern day philosophy and psychology - it is like being sustained by pure high fiber and low fat food: the real thing. Jesus himself is the Messiah who makes the Bread of Life came to life.

Bread for the Next Day

Immediately after fighting had stopped in World War II, American soldiers gathered up many hungry and homeless children and placed them in tent cities. Many of them were malnourished and in need of medical care. The soldiers shared their bread with them. However, the soldiers noticed the children were afraid to go to sleep at night. One of the soldiers tried an experiment after dinner–he gave the children a piece of bread to hold. The result was astounding. When they had the security of bread for tomorrow they slept like babies. It took away fear.
If Jesus came only to satisfy our physical needs and appetites, then the world could be redeemed by the Pillsbury Dough Boy and the makers of Wonder bread. Jesus was concerned for our physical needs and not many Messiahs were concerned about such common things. However, Jesus intended the symbol and substance of physical earthly bread to direct us to the spiritual–and the hunger for meaning and purpose to be fulfilled.

Turn from the Physical to the Spiritual

We are spiritually fed by Christ as the Master of our lives. When people come to our ministries looking just for a free lunch, looking for one thing lets us allow God to use us to serve them something better. The lunch is free, but the bread cost—it cost Christ His life, but it gives us our own lives. AMEN!