Food is a big deal in our culture.
According to the USDA, between ages twenty and fifty the average person spends about 28,000 hours eating. That’s over three years—more than ten percent! If you doubt that statistic think about it—our daily schedules are often planned around mealtimes.
- Business deals are made by people who “do” lunch together.
- Weddings and birthday parties and even funerals always have a food element.
- Our cable providers have at least two channels devoted to nothing but cooking and eating.
I mean, food has become an integral part of every aspect of our culture.
- There are foods we enjoy while we watch baseball.
- There are foods designed to be eaten while watching television.
- There are foods intended for consumption while at the movie theater. Some theaters even serve you a hot meal right as the film begins as a way of adding to the experience.
- Going to a football game is not complete without the pre-game tailgate party.
- Holidays—like Christmas—have their own special foods. I’m sure your fridges are full of them right now.
And—when we’re not focused on EATING food here in the U.S. we are focused on AVOIDING it because too many of us eat too much. In fact, the annual health care costs in the US stemming from obesity approach $240 billion. This is why each and every day between 45 and 125 million Americans are dieting. In 2010 all these dieters helped the dietary industry earn $61 billion.
One reason food is such a VERY big deal is that hunger is a VERY powerful desire. It’s one of our bodies strongest inner-drives which is no doubt due to the fact that our minds are programmed to know that food is essential to life.
I mention all these things because one day Jesus said something about food that I am sure caught the attention of His listeners. He said, “I am the BREAD of life.”
As you know if you’ve been worshiping with us the past few Sundays, this advent we’ve been seeking the answer to a question posed by a popular Christmas Carol, “What Child is This?”—or “Who is Jesus?” This is a question that is on people’s minds—especially at this time of the year–and to prepare ourselves to answer it we are studying Jesus’ OWN answers to this questions—-His “I Am” statements. Kevin will finish up this series for us next Sunday but on this Christmas Eve we are focused on this incident when Jesus described Himself as Bread—the BREAD of LIFE.
But to fully understand all of Jesus’ statements we need to of course understand the setting. So here goes. Prior to Jesus’ statement he had just performed His most popular miracle. It appears in all four Gospels. It began when thousands of people followed Him to a hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee. John says there were 5,000 people there but this was only the head count of the MEN present. If you included the women and children who were no doubt present, there were probably more like 15,000 HUNGRY people crowded together on that hillside.
Well, about mid-afternoon Jesus turned to His disciples and compassionately pointed out the need to feed this huge multitude. In response Andrew brought a little boy to Jesus who was willing to share his lunch of five barley loaves and two small fish. As you know, Jesus then miraculously used this meal—intended to fill the belly of a small boy—to stuff the stomachs of 15,000 people and there were even 12 baskets of left-overs!
Of course, when you think of it, there were actually TWO miracles that afternoon. ONE that Jesus fed fifteen thousand people with this small amount of food and the other that this little boy had not already devoured his lunch by mid-afternoon! I would have!
Jesus left after this miraculous feeding and the next day, some of those who had eaten the bread and fish provided by Jesus searched for Him all over the countryside—on both sides of the Sea of Galilee. The conversation in today’s text occurred when they finally found Jesus in Capernaum. Take your Bibles and turn to John 6 and let’s read what happened.
30 – So they asked Him, “What miraculous sign then will You give that we may see it and believe in You. What will You do?
31 – Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from Heaven to eat.’”
32 – Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from Heaven, but it is My Father, Who gives you the true bread from Heaven.
33 – For the Bread of God is He Who comes down from Heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 – “Sir,” they said, “from now on give us this bread.”
35 – Then Jesus declared, “I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to Me will never go hungry, and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty.”
47 – “I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.
48 – I am the Bread of LIFE. 49 – Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died.
50 – But here is the Bread that comes down from Heaven, which a man may eat and not die.
51 – I am the living Bread that came down from Heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
In this familiar text we see that this multitude of people bought into a misconception about hunger—the same misconception people still buy into today.
They thought that PHYSICAL food—physical things—will satisfy the hungers of life.
We see this in the way Jesus responded to the people that day. For example, the word we translate as “saw” in verse 26 means “to see with perception.” Jesus was telling them that they SAW the loaves but they didn’t PERCEIVE the meaning behind it all. They failed to see the true nature of Jesus. All they did was eat the food. A physical meal is all they got out of the miracle on the hillside the day before.
Further proof of their misconception is seen in the word “filled.” It’s a Greek word that was used to describe a COW receiving food. Perhaps because they have four of them, cows think primarily with their stomachs. They don=t thank the farmer who fed them or ask the purpose of the food. No—they are just a four-footed food processor. To them life is just a string of days where they focus on filling their tummies. And Jesus was saying that these people were acting like a herd of cows. The message of the sign failed to penetrate their understanding. They thought only of their material needs.
They sought Jesus only because they were hungry again. To them the PHYSICAL—the TEMPORARY—was all that mattered—and because of that they saw the miracle—but the MESSAGE behind it went right over their heads. And—we mustn’t be too critical of these people because as I said physical FOOD is a priority in all of our lives—even today. In fact, as I speak there’s a good chance you are all thinking about the special Christmas Eve food you’ll have after this service.
Another thing—our 21st century abundance of food makes it hard to fully appreciate the perspective of these people struggling to survive in first-century Galilee. The full stomachs these people had experienced because of Jesus’ miracle was probably a rare thing for them—perhaps a first. So don’t be too down on them. They woke up the day after the miracle hungry. That motivated them to find Jesus—their miracle performing meal ticket—so they could have full stomachs again.
And note—Jesus didn’t really CRITICIZE them for coming to Him for more food. He just took that teachable moment to tell them that He had come to do far more than fill their bellies. He was using their physical hunger as a springboard to address their spiritual hunger. He was trying to help them understand that the things of this world—do not satisfy the longing we all have for God.
This is a message we need to hear as well because you can be as rich as Bill Gates and still be hungry for more—you can have everything this world has to offer—and still be unsatisfied. No matter how big the pile of gifts under your tree—you won’t be satisfied. As Ravi Zacharias has put it, “With all our ingesting and consumption, our hungers are still many and our fulfillments are few.”
In the first century the luxury of the upper class of the Roman Empire was unparalleled. Maybe you remember reading in your history books that it was during this time that the Romans served feasts of things like peacock brains and nightingale tongues. They even took something to induce vomiting between courses so that they could eat more. Meals like this that cost tens of thousands of today’s dollars were common place. And there was a REASON for all this indulgence. There was a deep dissatisfaction—a hunger that they were trying in vain to satisfy. These Romans sought for anything that would give a new thrill and a new taste in life. I mean, like many people in our day and age, they were appallingly rich but at the same time appallingly hungry.
So, don’t miss Jesus’ point here! Our Lord was saying that it is foolish to focus on PHYSICAL satisfaction because there are far more important hungers in life—and they can only be satisfied by Him—the BREAD of LIFE.
- There is the hunger for TRUTH and JESUS IS THE TRUTH—the answer to all of life=s questions.
- There is the hunger for LIFE and JESUS ALONE CAN GIVE US LIFE—ABUNDANT LIFE A LIFE THAT IS ETERNAL IN BOTH CALIBER AND DURATION.
- There is the hunger for LOVE and JESUS ALONE CAN GIVE PEOPLE LIKE YOU AND ME A LOVE THAT OUTLASTS even DEATH.
- There is the hunger for GOD and only through Jesus can we come into a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father.
Christ alone can satisfy the insatiable hunger of the human heart and soul. It’s foolish to look for satisfaction anywhere else.
Why is this so? Why can Jesus alone satisfy these hungers? Because as we read back in verse 27 of this chapter, Jesus alone has the seal of God the Father. It’s almost like food in GIANT that has the FDA stamp of approval that says ,“This is good. This is pure.” Jesus is the only way to satisfy this inborn inner longing we all have because He alone has God’s stamp of approval. He alone is the BREAD OF LIFE.
You know, bread is a staple food in our pantries but it was even more so back then. It was necessary for life. In our culture, when we go to a restaurant, we generally focus on what kind of entree we’re going to order and the basket of bread on the table is usually secondary. But in Jesus’ day, it was just the opposite. Meat was a side dish and bread represented the major part of the meal. Without bread the people of His day would starve. So, Jesus was saying, “You want bread? Do you want what is TRULY ESSENTIAL for life? Well I am the Bread of Life! My body will be broken—My blood shed—so that Your hunger for God can be satisfied. You need the forgiveness that I will make possible just as desperately as you do your daily bread. I am what you are looking for. In the same way you can’t survive without bread you can’t do without Me. I have come to satisfy your inner longings.”
Ravi Zacharias puts it like this, “Jesus intended to lift the listeners from their barren, food-dominated existence to the recognition of the supreme hunger of life—that could only be filled by a different bread.”
Listen—people all around us are HUNGRY. The things of this world do not satisfy—and they long for more. It’s our responsibility as Christians—people who have tasted the BREAD OF LIFE—to point people to Jesus Who alone can satisfy the hunger of the human soul. A good question for us all to ask ourselves is this: “Does the way I live make people hungry for Jesus? Do I point people to Jesus in the way I live?”
During a Saturday afternoon community service day, Bryan White was walking down a narrow side street in the city of Compton, California—heading towards one of the community worksites sponsored by a coalition of churches in that area. It was towards the end of the work day, and dozens of yellow-shirted church volunteers—maybe 50 in all—were streaming out of the site, getting ready to head off to lunch after finishing a complete makeover of a local house. Bryan shares, “I was six or eight houses away when I passed a married couple working in their own yard.
“I paused to compliment the woman on her roses, and she asked me what we were doing down the street. I replied that we represented a band of churches united in our desire to serve the city. Then we continued chatting about the radical neighborhood transformation she had witnessed by our simple acts of goodness. During my conversation with this woman her husband had been weed-whacking the other side of the front yard. But when he saw my yellow ‘volunteer shirt,’ he turned off his weed-whacker, set it down, and started walking straight towards me and his wife. I will never forget his words. After looking into my eyes, he nodded approvingly towards the renovated house down the street and then said, ‘I love your heart. Where can I get a heart like yours?’ Flabbergasted, I simply said, ‘We got our hearts from Jesus, and He would be glad to give you one like his, too.’ Before I had to head off, we had a great conversation about the unparalleled gospel of Jesus Christ and his power to change hearts, homes, neighborhoods, and cities.” People like this man have a heart hunger—and the only way to satisfy it is by asking Jesus to come into that heart.
I mean, people think they’re hungry for popularity or money or power or success or prestige or pleasure or physical intimacy—but their REAL hunger is for “food” that lasts. Their real hunger is for God! We symbolize this fact—and also COMMIT TO SHARE IT—through COMMUNION—this ordinance Jesus gave us on the night of His arrest. As we share this meal, let me invite all Christians present to partake with us—because even if you are not a member of this church—if you are a Christian—if you are His, this is Yours.
OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD’S SUPPER