The Bread of Life
by Jennifer Lopez
I like to eat. One summer, while visiting my in-laws in Columbus, Ohio, they took us to Schmidt’s Sausage Haus, a noted German Restaurant in “German Town”. The food was excellent. I had Sauerbraten, which is Marinated beef, braised until tender, on a bed of haus-made spätzle (a type of pasta or dumpling noodle) with traditional gingersnap gravy, served with red skin mashed potatoes and braised red cabbage. The serving was enormous, but I finished it. I was stuffed. I was sure I didn’t need to eat for a couple of days, but the next morning, I was ready to have breakfast.
Today’s Gospel tells the story of a crowd, looking for Jesus. This was after the feeding of the crowd with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. Last week, Canon Clyde reminded us that the size of the crowd was 5,000. If the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall was sold out, it would only hold 2,195 people, not even half of the people fed with 5 loaves and 2 fish.
When they realized that Jesus and His disciples were nowhere to be found, They got into some boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found him, they asked him “Rabbi, when did you come here? Jesus answered them, “You are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Had the people forgotten about the miracle Jesus had performed yesterday? Like me ready for breakfast after eating my fill of the best German food I’ve ever eaten, the crowd was hungry. Were they worried that they had missed the next meal?
They are looking for signs (like the loaves & fish). Jesus tells them, do not work for food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life”. They then ask Jesus what they must do to perform the works of God? Jesus tells them to believe in him whom he has sent. Then the crowd asks, “What sign will you give us so we may see it and believe you”? They still are asking for signs, they have forgotten the “sign” that Jesus performed with the 5 loaves and 2 fish. They remind Jesus that Moses gave their ancestors Manna in the wilderness. Jesus reminds them that it wasn’t Moses that gave them the manna, it was God that sent the bread of heaven. It seems to me that they are still hungry for bread.
Jesus tells them, “I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty”. What did Jesus mean by this?
We live as hungry people in a hungry world. Everyone is looking for something that will sustain and nourish life, something that will feed and energize, something that will fill and satisfy. Everyone is looking for bread. The problem is not that we are hungry, but the kind of bread we eat.
What kind of bread do we eat in our lives?
Around 1,000 BC, King David ate the bread of betrayal, adultery and murder by sending Uriah the Hittite to war to be killed. Today in Gaza, both sides are eating the bread of violence and war. In recent years Republicans, Democrats and the LGBTQ+ Community share the bread of negativity, hostility, and name-calling. Many of us eat the bread of having to be right and get our way. We eat the bread of hurt feelings and resentment. Sometimes we eat the bread of loneliness, fear, and isolation. There are times we eat the bread of sorrow or guilt. Other times we eat the bread of power and control. The bread we eat reveals something about the nature of our appetites.
The bread of negativity that we eat in the world today can squash anything positive in the world. What comes from the bread of negativity?
The feelings you get from this list makes us unable to focus on Forgiveness, Grace, Hope and Love.
The world is full of bread and yet far too many are hungry, empty, and searching. That says something about our appetites and the bread we have eaten. It’s a sure sign that the bread we have eaten cannot give real life. It is perishable bread that nourishes only a perishable life. It leaves us wanting only more of the same. Not all bread sustains and grows life. Not all bread is nutritious. If you want to know the nutritional value of the bread you have to look beyond the bread. Where did it come from? What are its ingredients? We need to watch what we eat, otherwise we could be overcome by eating the empty calories in the bread of the world.
The food that endures is Jesus himself. He is the bread that is broken and distributed for the life of the world. He is the bread that is broken and yet never divided. He is the bread that is eaten and yet never exhausted. He is the bread that consecrates those who believe in him.
When we believe in taking Jesus into our lives, we live differently. We see ourselves and one another as persons created in the image and likeness of God rather than as obstacles or issues to be overcome. We trust the silence of prayer rather than the words of argument. We choose love and forgiveness rather than anger and retribution. We relate with intimacy and vulnerability rather than superficiality and defensiveness. We listen for God’s voice rather than our own. Ultimately, we seek life rather than death. “I am the bread of life,” Jesus tells the people. “Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” He is offering the people himself. He is the imperishable bread that nourishes and sustains life.
Jesus makes us the same offer. He offers himself to us in every one of our relationships: family, friends, strangers, enemies, those who agree with us, and those who disagree. In every situation and each day of our life we choose the bread we will eat, perishable or imperishable. In doing so we also choose the life we want. So I wonder, what bread will we eat today?
"Lord Jesus Christ, You are the Bread of life. You alone can satisfy the hunger in my heart. May I always find in You, the true Bread from heaven, the source of life and nourishment I need to sustain me on my journey.” Amen!
©2024 Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez is a deacon postulant in deacon formation for the Episcopal Church, St. Matthew's, Tucson, Arizona.
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