Readings:
1 Kings 19.4-8; Psalm 34.1-8; Ephesians 4.25-5.2; John 6.35, 41-51
Last week we sat with fresh bread and honey and meditated on what it might be like to be starving in the desert having just fled slavery. The fresh bread smelled amazing, and the drizzle of honey activated our brains and we were alerted to something that gives us pleasure as well as a short burst of energy. Drawing from the meditation, we have a little sense of what it is like to wake from a moment of hopelessness and desperation to be provided a loaf of fresh bread and a jug of sweet, fresh water.
We’ve already mentioned how there are enormous parallels between Jesus’ story and Moses’ story. These parallels were so obvious that the Jews (the Israelites) wanted to take Jesus by force to be their king.
Another name that gets thrown around is Elijah. “Jesus is Elijah come back.” We heard that a few weeks ago at the beginning of the story of the beheading of John the Baptist. But what I hadn’t properly appreciated until this week is the parallels between Elijah and Moses.
Elijah was the first of the “Prophets like Moses.” In effect, Elijah’s journey was the opposite of Moses’ and he ends up back at Mount Horeb after walking 40 days and nights. Immediately following the story today is the episode where God directs Elijah to find a cave for he is about the walk by. There is fire, earthquake, storm, then silence… which Elijah recognises holds God’s presence. This cave is sometimes understood to be the equivalent of the cleft that God put Moses inside of to protect him as God walked past.
But more than all this, look at the miraculous provision of bread and water. It’s always bread and water. These are the building blocks for life. Simple. Nourishing. As the angel tells Elijah, “Eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.”
“The crowd associated Jesus with Moses, but Jesus identified himself with the gift of bread” (Koester, C. R. Symbolism in the Fourth Gospel. p. 100).
When we look at bread all through the bible, but especially here in John 6, there are always two parts/pieces at play. (I say this not having done a full survey, but I have in mind Manna, Elijah, the widow of Zarapheth, Jesus feeding the crowds.) There is the literal, surface level issues, which are very important. In all these instances, God provides food for the hungry and downtrodden. In bread is life!
Then there is the metaphorical or spiritual level. In each of these stories there is the question: in whom is our life?
In whom do we trust?
In whom do we know life in abundance?
In whom does our anxiety diminish?
When Jesus says, “I am the bread of life,” he is clearly not stating that he is flour and water and yeast, is he? He is speaking to that part of our life which is relationship with God. Eternal life. We’ve already spoken about eternal life being a particular quality of life in relationship with God through Jesus, that is available to us here and now, and will be fully realised when Jesus raises us to be with him.
So, all this leads me to a few questions for myself, and for you.
Each Sunday we gather for Eucharist, the good thanksgiving. What do I learn as I take the bread in my hand, as I am joined by all of you at the one table? If coming to Jesus and accepting that Jesus is the bread of life and all who come are taught, what am I learning?
The next questions are essentially a recapitulation of the ones I’ve been asking these past few weeks:
What bread has God given us?
In what ways are we like the angel to Elijah, God’s messengers bringing warm bread and fresh water to those who find life too hard and would rather die?
Questions like these may have two kinds of answer, just as there are two levels to all bread stories. There will be the tangible, literal sense of how we meet the needs of each other and those around us. And there will be the spiritual side to this conversation. How do we cultivate trust in God’s provision, point to Jesus as our nourishment, and build part of God’s kin(g)dom here in the Centenary Suburbs so we all get to experience that quality of eternal life which is life in Relationship with God – Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier.