John 6:24-35 (NRSV)

John 6:24-35 (NRSV)

²⁴So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. ²⁵ When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ ²⁶Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. ²⁷Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.’ ²⁸Then they said to him, ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’ ²⁹Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’ ³⁰So they said to him, ‘What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? ³¹Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” ’ ³²Then Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³For the bread of God is that which^* comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ ³⁴They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’ ³⁵ Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

My text is written in John 6.34:

³⁴They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’

The reading from John’s Gospel is once again so rich in its deeper meanings. The crowds were fascinated by Jesus – but according to Jesus himself – for the wrong reasons, because they had seen (and others probably heard) of the feeding of the five thousand (and probably other miracles). The same would be true today I am sure. But this is to miss the point.

The people had experienced a miracle, but had failed to see the sign. This is another way of saying that they had focused on the literal and failed to move on to the allegorical and the spiritual. As Barclay writes, paraphrasing the sentiment of Jesus:

“Your thoughts ought to have been turned to God who did these things; but instead all that you are thinking about is bread … It is as if Jesus said ‘…You cannot think about your souls for thinking of your stomachs.’”

By focusing exclusively on the things of this life, we miss out on what it really means to live. I understand how difficult this is. The Scriptures seem quite clear that if I am doing things responsibly, God will provide. And we know the truth of this. If we are living in according to the ways of God, we can trust him to provide for everything else. In Matthew 6:33 Jesus exhorts us to “Seek first his kingdom and righteousness and then all things shall be added unto you.”

The recurring theme is that there is a deep spiritual hunger in every human being – it is part of that which separates us from other species – although animals have it to a very limited extent. Meeting our physical needs is just the beginning; we also need emotional hunger satisfied and so we need other people to love us (and this is where animals’ needs end). But even this is not all; we have a deep spiritual hunger that also needs to be met. Without it we flounder. People try to meet this deep inner hunger by doing many things, not least living lavish lifestyles. And this is nothing new. Roman society – after AD 60 – was one where luxurious living was unparalleled. They had feasts of peacock brains and nightingale tongues – costing the equivalent of thousands of pounds. They clothed themselves in garments costing the equivalent of over £400,000. Barclay suggests that …

“… the reason was a deep dissatisfaction with life, a hunger that nothing would satisfy. They would try anything for a new thrill, because they were both appallingly rich and appallingly hungry …”

Jesus exhorts us not to be interested only in physical satisfaction. The people had experienced an unexpected meal and they wanted more. There are other hungers that only God can satisfy – hunger for truth, hunger for life and hunger for love because it is only on Jesus that God has ‘… set his seal …’ (verse 27). In the days of the writing of John’s Gospel it was the seal more than the signature that was the guarantee. This is why only Jesus can satisfy the human hunger of the soul. He is sealed by God, he is God’s truth, God’s love and God’s life within each and every one of us and ‘… it is God alone who can truly satisfy the hunger of the soul which He created.’

²⁸Then they said to him, ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’ ²⁹Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’

What does it mean to believe? To ‘believe’ in Jesus’ day did not mean give intellectual assent to. This does not mean that the people committed intellectual suicide and just blindly accepted everything. Certainly not, once the Temple was destroyed, the focus of worship for the Jews was the synagogues, where they certainly wrestled with the Scriptures and sought meaning in them for their present time. They argued with each other and God, but found that in the process, they received a word for themselves as individuals and for the community as a whole. This ‘method’ was adopted by the early Church and they developed rituals and liturgies to aid the process. Karen Armstrong explains:

“The carefully devised rituals evoked an ‘ekstasis’ – a stepping out of their accustomed modes of thought. As Theodore, Bishop of Mopsuestia  (392-428) … explained to his catechumens:

… when you say I believe you say I engage myself before God, you show that you will remain steadfastly with him, that you will never separate yourself from him and that you will think it higher than anything else to be and to live with him and to conduct yourself in a way that is in harmony with his commandments. “

‘Belief’ in our modern sense, did not come into it. Even though Theodore saw the importance of a literal understanding, this was only a part of the process. Armstrong concludes that faith was a matter of commitment and practical living.’

We need to live in a way that realizes that what we experience physically in this world is not all that there is – in fact it is the least – that which we share with mere animals. It can be lovely and enjoyable, but it can also be a great challenge – as all of us who have experienced serious illness can testify. However, even in times of serious physical testing, we can know the depth of real existence – peace, and even joy when we know that our real hunger and thirst have been satisfied as we are united with God in Jesus Christ our Lord. As Tom Wright concludes. Verse 34 can be used to this day, as it stands, as the prayer that we will need to pray if our deepest needs are to be met:

‘Sir, give us this bread always.’

Amen.