Sermon 8/3/03
Why are You Here?- 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a, John 6:24-35
(view lectionary notes for this text)
Today, we again find ourselves in the gospel of John, picking up just after our story last week, when Jesus shared the loaves and fish with some 5,000 people on the mountainside. After this miraculous sharing, Jesus walked out on to the water to meet his disciples, who were crossing the sea. Now, we pick up with the next day after the miracle, when the crowds are again searching for Jesus, trying to figure out where he has gone.
Often people suggest new Christians should read this gospel, John's gospel, first when studying the Bible, to 'get into' the Scriptures. I'm always surprised at this recommendation - to me it seems that John can be the most difficult of the four gospels to understand. John is the most philosophical gospel writer. He probes at the depths of Jesus' teaching, recording less of the easier to read parables that Matthew, Mark, and Luke choose, and instead emphasizing the metaphorical style of teaching that Jesus also used sometimes. Today's gospel text is a perfect example. Continuing with the theme of bread and sustenance, Jesus today speaks in poetic language, calling himself the bread of life.
Jesus is literally being chased by the crowds. They are following him even across the sea. As soon as they realized he had changed locations, they were after him, so hungry were they for his teaching and healing. "Rabbi," they ask him, "when did you come here?" In response, Jesus insists that they are looking for him not because of the miracles he has performed, but "because you ate your fill of the loaves." What is Jesus saying here? Is he implying that they only want him because he might give them something to meet there immediate needs? Or is he saying that they are coming to him not just because of the miracles he does - just surface acts that indicate something more about who Jesus is - but because they had their deeper needs met - they were filled. Jesus tells them to seek not that which perishes - simple bread - but that which endures - the kind of food that will leave you never hungering again, the kind of water which will quench your thirst always. But the people, the crowds, don't get it. They still want to see signs. They want their bread from heaven, as their ancestors received manna from heaven when they were lost in the wilderness. Jesus states things more clearly: "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."
The imagery of bread doesn't connect as much for us today as it did in Jesus time. Today we have so many food options that bread is just an afterthought, an extra to cover our sandwich fillings, something to coat other, more interesting foods with. In Jesus' day, and for hundreds of years, bread was essential, often a meal in itself. When Jesus compares himself to the bread of life, Jesus is saying that he is essential, that he is our sustenance. He is our daily bread, part of our normal every day diet. He is not a special treat, or an occasional snack, one pastor writes, he is not finger food for a cocktail party. He's our day in and day out food for survival.
So, why were the crowds really following Jesus? What were they looking for? Why are you really here? When you come to church on Sunday morning, who are you looking for? What are you looking for? Another pastor asks us, "When we stumble into thousands of local churches [each week], what are we really looking for? Are we guilty of looking for miracles or of chasing the abundance represented by the fishes and loaves? Are we curiosity seekers hoping to be present when the latest novelty becomes public?" There are many reasons why we come to church each Sunday.
We come for the fun and the fellowship. We come because we've always come, because our parents and grandparents instilled in us the responsibility of coming to church. But eventually, all these reasons aside, we have to ask ourselves why we are really here. What makes us come back again and again when there are so many other demands on our time, when we are already too tired out, when we already have plenty of other people and events to fill our busy lives? We come for the same reasons the crowds came, pressing on Jesus. They asked for signs, they received healings and even loaves and fish to eat. They wanted to see miracles. But they wanted more than that, more than they even knew or were able to articulate. Jesus knew what they needed - they needed the living bread, the living water. We too come for more than the fellowship, really. We really do come for more than a sense of obligation, though sometimes we let ourselves believe otherwise. The truth is, if we only felt a sense of duty, or we only came to meet with friends, we could fill these needs elsewhere. Something draws us back to this place, to a community of faith, to a time of worship. Why are we here? What and who are we looking for?
Recently I met with a member of this congregation who expressed concerns about going deeper, going further with his own faith journey. This individual is certainly already a faithful member of the congregation, certainly already active in our activities and ministries. But he is still searching for something deeper - something that will challenge his faith even more, that will call him to even more accountability, and ultimately, fill him more with the bread of life. In our conversation, we discussed how it seems that people really are not satisfied with the easy way out, with the surface commitment to Christ and the Church. People are left hungering and empty, searching for meaning. Jesus offers the answer to us: I am the meaning, he tells us, I am the very bread of life.
Today we celebrate three acts of worship that signify members of this congregation wanting to be filled with the bread of life, wanting to be filled so that their spiritual emptiness and hungering will be blotted out by Christ's love. First, we shared in a baptism. Baptism symbolizes God's grace already at work in our lives. It is an act of joining a life to a congregation, of an individual's or a family's commitment to grow in faith in the context of this community, and our commitment to nurture that individual in our life and ministry. Last week the Newton family made this commitment on behalf of Callum, and today this commitment was made on behalf of Emaline. Second, we will share in Commissioning our Red Bird Mission Team. I have no doubt that this team will have fun, enjoying their trip and their team mates. But I also know that they go for other reasons than this. They don't make this trip and work so hard for it just to have a good time. They are looking to bring meaning to their own lives and the lives of those they will serve. They are looking to deepen their faith through these acts of loving service. And finally, we celebrate Holy Communion together. We gather together for a meal of what is truly essential: the bread of life, given for us, shared with us by God's own child. When we come to this meal together, we do more than participate in a ritual. We open ourselves to receiving God's grace. We open ourselves to being linked in to that which gives our life its meaning and purpose.
Why are you here? Because we don't need to look elsewhere, Jesus tells us. With the bread of life, God's grace and love will be with us always, every day, and we will never be hungry again. Let us come to God's table, and eat our fill. Amen.