St Luke’s Evangelical Lutheran Church – Watertown, WI
Pastor Mark Gartner
Sermon for Pentecost 11 – August 16^th and 20^th, 2006

John 6:24-35

Dear children who eat the Bread of Life. Amen

When is the last time any of you have walked down the bread aisle at the store? There are more different brands of bread than we could ever imagine. And each brand has numerous kinds of bread. There is your simple white bread, and there is also sandwich white bread. There is wheat bread, and there is wheat grain bread and there is wheat bread with seven types of grains in it. There is rye bread or Italian bread. How in the world can you even pick out a simple loaf of bread? Which is the right bread and which one will your kids eat. After staring at what must be 50 loaves of bread for way longer than necessary you finally choose the kind you like.

Let’s go back to that daunting bread aisle. Might I ask what you are looking for when you buy the bread that you buy? Do you buy bread because of the brand name, or do you buy it for other reasons? Maybe the texture is better with certain kinds or the taste is better? How many of you buy bread for how nutritious it is? When is the last time that you looked at the little nutrition label on the side of your loaf of bread? I have to admit that I hardly ever look at the nutrition labels on any of the food I buy, much less the bread that I eat.

What if someone offered you the perfect bread? This bread is free, much like the bread that we sometimes have offered to us free on the tables down in the entryway. The brand name is something that is different, but as we read the nutrition of this bread we soon see that the nutrition is unbeatable. Would you take this bread if it was given to you? This is certainly a silly question for Church. You might be thinking to yourselves, Why are we talking about Bread? But in truth this is a very beautiful picture, because God has offered the Bread of Life to us. Jesus uses the picture of bread to describe himself. The problem is that some people have problems accepting that Jesus is the perfect bread. Some people think of religion kind of like a bread aisle. They think that the aisle to heaven is filled with many different kinds of breads or gods that can show you the way to eternal happiness. Because of the work of the devil, some people have chosen to discard the true bread of Jesus only to eat the wrong bread and are sadly doomed to hell. This morning we our theme reminds us.

Let’s talk about the true bread. How good is your memory? How close have you been following along the past weeks as we have read the Gospel readings from John’s Gospel chapter 6? Have you noticed that the past weeks have talked in great detail about Jesus being the bread of life? How observant have you been? Have you noticed the change in many of the followers of Jesus? The attitude of many has gone through a dramatic change. Just a few miles away and only a number of hours before, Jesus had fed 5000 men with five small barley loaves and two small fish. At that time Jesus filled the role of the kind of Messiah they were looking for. They wanted an earthly king who would feed them by miraculous means every day. They were content because they were provided for

Jesus had performed that wonderful miracle of feeding over 5000 people, but our text for today takes us to the next day. Those who sought earthly bread from an earthly king were very disappointed once they caught up with Jesus. He gave them no new miracles. He didn’t produce any more loaves of bread to eat. Instead he changed the topic to something far more important. He said, "I am the bread of life." This was a hard teaching for many of the people, and it is still a hard teaching for many people today. Yet the picture of Jesus being the bread of life is a gospel gem for all those who hunger for eternal life.

24Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus. ²⁵When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?" ²⁶Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. ²⁷Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval." The people wanted answers on why he left, but instead of answering their questions Jesus uses their questions to teach them. He wanted to teach them that their thoughts were wrong about who Jesus really was. He wanted to tell them where to look for true Bread.

All people by nature look for regular physical bread. In our sinfulness we are lost in sin and we only seek to please ourselves. Because of our inherited sin, each and every person who comes into this world doesn’t know of the true Bread of Life. In our sin we will always try to make ourselves happy. We will want to make sure that we have everything to make sure that our earthly stomachs are full.

That is why Jesus directs the people in our text and all people away from their stomachs to the true Bread of Life. This bread is different than earthly bread. This Bread will not spoil or fade away. This Bread is eternal. This Bread is the very Son of God. This Bread was given when Jesus came to this earth. This Bread is when Jesus came to do his heavenly Father’s will and died on the cross for the sins of the world. As our text tells us. "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval." Jesus’ authority is from his Father. His Father’s seal is upon him. Jesus is the Bread of Life. He also says, "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. ³³For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." "Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread." ³⁵Then 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.

How does this Bread come to us? It comes to us through God’s Means of Grace. In simple terms it comes to us through the gospel of Jesus which we find in God’s Word and which we also find in Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The Holy Spirit working through these tools is giving all people the Bread that will last forever. The Holy Spirit is telling us the brand name of the only bread that will give eternal life and this brand name is Jesus.. We cannot find this bread on our own. It is not something that we will eventually find, if we search hard and long enough for. It is God’s gift to this sinful world. We have no part in it at all.

Now we know what the Bread of Life is, but what does the Bread of life give me. The people of our text were concerned about this. They wanted a sign that showed that this Bread that Jesus was talking about was better than the what they already had. The problem that the people had was that they thought that the manna that Moses gave was the good stuff. They pictured Moses to be the real bread giver. Moses was able to supply bread to the people of Israel for 40 years as they wandered in the wilderness. They wanted to know if Jesus could do something better than Moses. In reality they were only concerned about keeping the laws that Moses had given their forefathers on Mt. Sinai. They wanted Jesus to prove that his message was better.

Isn’t that they way that it is with many people today, maybe even ourselves? At times we may wonder if Jesus really is the only way to heaven. Maybe we wonder to ourselves if I need to help God out a little or if just maybe there is someplace else that we need to look. Maybe we would like Jesus to give us some sign to show us that he really is the Bread of Life. When we might have doubts or questions, it would do us well to listen as Jesus answers to the people of our text. These words are the best words that a weak faith could ever hear. No, he doesn’t do another miracle to get his point across. Instead he just reminds us what our sinful hearts need to hear and where we will find it.

²⁸Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" ²⁹Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." ³⁰So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? ³¹Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’" ³²Jesus 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. ³³For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." Jesus first points out that it is not Moses who supplies the Bread of Life. It is God giving this Bread. This bread is not earthly bread, but it is Heavenly Bread. This bread is not meant to fill up your stomachs. This Bread is meant to fill up your souls with a the message of Jesus and the work that he came into this world to do. This Bread feeds our souls with the message of the cross of Calvary.

This Bread gives us life — eternal life. This bread tells us that our sins are forgiven 100%. Not just part of our sins, but every single sin has been forgiven. Not just some of the people’s sins, but the sins of the whole world. Not just sins for part of a lifetime, but every sin has been wiped away. This is the message that the people of Israel needed to hear. They thought they were saved because of the many laws that they kept – such as how they worshipped and ate. They thought that they were saved, because they were part of God’s chosen people and their forefather was Abraham. Jesus wanted them to know that none of this means anything. "Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" ²⁹Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." Jesus made it very simple. Believe or trust in him. No works! No keeping of laws! Trust in Jesus with all your heart! To those who trust in Jesus as the Bread of life, Jesus promises no condemnation. He promises that his death would pay for the sins of the whole world. He has given life.

"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." The Bread of Jesus also motivates our Christian living. We love because he loved us first. We no longer are spiritually thirsty or hungry. We can say that we are spiritually full. We are content. We are free to serve our God who has given us everything. We are free to live lives of thanks as we live in the certain promise of salvation. What a diet God has offered us! While we were still sinners he gave us his Son. He gave us a Bread that never spoils. He gave us the pure Gospel of Jesus. There is nothing else we need. Look to Jesus for all answers. He is the Bread and this bread has been given it to us. Let us feast on this wonderful gift of God. Amen