[ii Sam. 18:5-9; Eph. 4:25-5:2; Jn. 6:35, 41-51]
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς (35, 48)
“I am the bread of life.”
ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος ὁ ζῶν (51)
“I am the living bread...”
Sounds exotic and perhaps a little fancy, reading it in the original Greek.
Sounds a bit strange too; who describes themselves as bread?
Jesus uses seven of these kinds of descriptions:
▪ I am the Bread of Life, in John 6 (35);
▪ I am the Light of the World, in John 8 (12);
▪ I am the Door, in John 10 (9);
▪ I am the Good Shepherd, in the same chapter (11, 14);
▪ I am the Resurrection and the Life, in John 11 (25);
▪ I am the Way and the Truth and the Life, in John 14 (6);
▪ I am the Vine, in John 15 (1, 5).
At the time, these were controversial and dangerous self-descriptions, because had God not explained to Moses who he was in Exodus 3 (14): “I AM that I AM.”, יהוה, YaHWeH.
'I am the very existence itself and I exist here today for you, all that I am is yours! All I am, is you!'
It’s the name of God, which to this day, no religious Jew is allowed pronounce, to say out loud.
So, imagine Jesus going around describing himself each time with “I am...”
No wonder the religious authorities were upset with him: ‘Who does he think he is? We know his parents, we know where he came from, and now he’s making statements that equate him, make him equal to God?’
In Jesus’ time such seeming blasphemy was a capital offence and could get you stoned to death.
For Christian these verses are well-loved and very important.
They offer an insight in how God approaches and relates to Creation: I AM.
Being is the foundation of everything.
Forgiveness, hope, love, righteousness, they all restore the wholeness of existing, of be-ing.
“I am the bread of life.”
“I am the living bread.”
It’s not just on a spiritual plane, it’s very physical, very practical too, because when Jesus used these seven descriptions, people would have instantly recognised and related to them.
Heaven and earth are both represented in these sayings: the created, natural elements and the divinity of I AM: it’s a balance of eternity in the here and now and in the after.
Nowhere does this become clearer, does it come closer as in Holy Communion.
Holy Communion, Mass, Eucharist, Lord’s Supper, etc… it’s pivotal for the faith-life of the Church.
Together with the Sacrament of Baptism, the Sacrament of Communion forms one of the pillars of the Church.
Water, bread and wine form the Church’s little Trinity -if you will- by which God shows his grace and love in an intimate, holy and yet very earthly way.
The sacraments celebrate the wholeness of existing.
Jesus coming to us, bodily, lovingly; Jesus present with us and for us.
'This is my flesh, this is my blood…whoever has part of this, has part of me.'
It must have caused quite a stir and quite a few frowns: flesh and blood?!
‘What's this preacher from Nazareth talking about?!’
Even now, it makes people smirk or dismiss Christianity completely.
Was Jesus a vampire? Was Jesus a cannibal?
It's a historic fact, that the Romans accused the early Christians of practising cannibalism because they kept referring to the flesh and blood of Jesus.
This is to misunderstand the essence of the Sacrament: God so close that you can literally smell, taste, see, touch him -even hear him as the words of Scripture are spoken: “...given for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins.”
'Come to me,' God speaks to each of us, 'cling to me, feed and drink from me; I am your resting place, your place of love and renewal, of refocus, and a pause in all what troubles or ails you, a moment of reflection. In this moment you become I AM.'
At the beginning of John chapter 6 –the chapter of our Gospel reading this morning- Jesus had fed the 5000, and now people are back for more; more bread, more signs, it almost feels gluttonous.
The crowds refer to the story in Exodus 16, about the manna eaten by their ancestors in the wilderness.
However, Jesus wants them to also look and think beyond the material, He wants them to acknowledge that all of them –and by extension all of us- need more than just food and care for the body, we all need spiritual nourishment and care as well.
Remember when Jesus rebuked the devil by saying “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Mt. 4:4)?
Don’t be blind for the present, don’t forget about the future either.
We’re encouraged to not get trapped in the daily worries of bills and food.
It’s not just all about now, it’s not just all about then; it’s about now and then, about balance in our lives, wholeness in our lives.
Easier said than done, of course, when our daily lives are entangled in a very complex economic system, relying on money and trade and exchange.
But the Word and Sacraments of God are free! Free and accessible for all! No down-payments, no credit-scores, no loans and no perishables! Just simply the free and unconditional grace and salvation of God, through his Son; life abundant and eternal.
It’s a message we ourselves can share very ‘cheaply’ –so to speak- with others: we can be their bread.
We’re called to feed the hungry -also the spiritually hungry- to support and uplift them, to teach them how to feed themselves.
We’re called to be bread for others. Maybe we’re even called to be a sacrament for others.
‘I am the bread of life, and I have come to feed all who come to me.’
Amen.