"Levels of Communication"
Sermon Presented August 6, 2006
John 6:24-35
Do you ever make a statement, hoping that your listener will hear you at a deeper level than your words express? Probably women are more adept at or guilty of this kind of communication - depending on your perspective. It's frustrating when a spouse, child or friend just doesn't get it, and it's frustrating when we know we have missed something we were expected to get! We want our listener to hear the feelings or hidden meaning behind the words we speak. We want them to sense the love, concern, or hurt behind our words, actions or silence.
This is what Jesus wants from his audience. He wants them to see beyond the acts or signs that he performs, to the message his signs are meant to convey. But alas, his followers are as thickheaded as we. They just don't get it!
Let me begin by giving you some background to our text. This incident occurs the day after Jesus feeds 5000 people. The picnic is over and Jesus and his disciples have gone to Capernaum on the other side of the lake. When the crowd realizes that Jesus is no longer present, they also cross the lake, hoping for another free lunch. Our text is a dialogue between Jesus and the crowd as Jesus tries to explain his ministry on a deeper level than that of miracles and signs. Providing a meal - performing a miracle - isn't just a free lunch, but a sign that is meant to point them toward God. Hear John 6:24-35.
The gospel writer wants his readers to understand that a sign alone isn't an adequate basis for faith, but it points to a theological truth. For that reason, the author provides dialogue to help interpret the sign, because the crowd doesn't get it. If Jesus can provide bread, what more can he provide?
As Jesus reveals himself, it's obvious he wouldn't fit in a "seeker-friendly" church. He isn't interested in their misguided agenda, but wants to give them something deeper. His isn't a theology of health, wealth and happiness, but points to a life of spiritual transformation.
The crowd has pursued Jesus for the wrong reasons. Does this sound familiar? It should, because people do the same today. Our culture is expert at casting a false-Christian veneer over its excesses and shortfalls, its sins of commission and omission, and its unexamined patriotism. The name of Jesus is used to garner votes for unqualified candidates whose goals clash with Jesus' clear and simple teachings. It's used to promote a person's business, career or movie. It's used to bless blatant injustices, prejudices, and immoral policies on a state, national and international stage.
Jesus wants none of this. He abhors such opportunism. He doesn't answer their question but changes the direction of the conversation. "You're not looking for bread that lasts. When you eat what you seek, you will be hungry again. God has marked me to provide food that endures. Focus on me!"
How do we perform the work of God by focusing on Jesus? The answer sounds simple. Jesus says: "The work of God is that you believe in me because God sent me." But even though the crowd still has the aroma of Great Harvest bread in their nostrils, they want another sign. In fact, they'd like to have daily signs - like the manna that
Moses provided in the desert. However, Jesus lets them
know that God provided the manna - not Moses. Then he tells them that
he offers food that brings eternal life.
Moses was the preeminent prophet of the Jewish tradition, the teacher
who spoke the word of God, and whose authority was confirmed by his
miraculous works. These miracles came while they were in the wilderness
in response to their great need. The wilderness has been and continues
to be the place where God is best revealed to God's people.
In one way or another, each of us has a personal wilderness; painful loss, suffering, financial reversal, health crisis, betrayal or bereavement. We don't choose to travel these roads, we just find ourselves on them. A Spanish proverb says: "With bread and wine, you can walk your road." For Christians, Jesus is the sustaining bread that enables us to walk life's path through our wilderness when we are in a desperate need for God.
Some Christians are hungry and thirsty and want to grow in their relationship with God and some have no desire to grow spiritually. Sometimes we seek more of God and other times we don't. We need the bread that feeds our soul more than our stomach, but guess which one takes precedence? Our church retreat in September is designed to provide soul food for those who are seeking.
Jesus wants the crowd to recognize and respond to God among them, and they want to see and perform miracles. Jesus wants them to know that a relationship with God isn't grounded in works, but is grounded in a faith in Jesus whom God sent.
The inability of the crowd to recognize God in Jesus is like our inability to understand the signs that Jesus is doing among us. The crowd and we come to Jesus asking questions that show that we don't really know who he is or who we are. But Jesus doesn't give up on the crowd and he doesn't give up on us. He tells us that it is God who has fed and continues to feed our deepest hunger and thirst. He tells us that he is the bread of life through whom we will never be hungry or thirsty again.
But we do get hungry for a spiritual infilling, and to be honest, we don't usually seek more of God until our hearts - like our stomachs are gnawing. When we seek to be filled, Jesus comes to us as the grace of God, calling us beyond our limited perspective and out of our limited pattern of living. But we must want more of God in order to receive. We must desire to feed our spiritual hunger. God's gift to us is a transforming relationship with Jesus that empowers us to live a spirit-filled life.
Today there are intellectual, cultural and religious barriers that stand in the way of believing that a life lived in the power of God is possible. One of our greatest barriers is our desire for more and more things, power, comfort and pleasure rather than a desire to nourish our faith. Another is a desire for a rational understanding - taking nothing by faith. Another is the belief that we are good people and by following the rules we can please God. God can demolish these barriers through the work of Christ, but we must seek God's priorities for our lives.
When I was in seminary, I became friends with a beautiful and committed Native American couple - Alpha and Ron Goombi and their two sons. They had few resources and really sacrificed for their education. After graduation, they had a third son and took in Apha's nephew - now a total of four boys in their family. Their ministry was to Native Americans in Omaha, NE. Alpha told me that all four boys would become ministers to their people because they see first hand the difference Christ makes in people's lives. She had no doubt about this!
Contrast this to my grandchildren. None of them is
in church. They have more material things than do Alpha and Ron's children,
but they lack the wealth of the Goombi children because they haven't
received the bread of life.
Jesus said: "Come to me and you'll never be hungry. Believe in
me and you'll never be thirsty." He isn't offering a lifetime pass
to McDonalds or Burger King, and he's not speaking of intellectual assent
to a concept. He's proposing a way of life that entails a commitment
to follow Jesus. He's talking about asking for and receiving living
bread that fills the soul. How can we pass up that offer?
