Sermon: I Am the Bread of Life

I Am the Bread of Life | Rev. Kevin Johnson | North Raleigh UMC

What are we really hungry for?

In this message from our I Am sermon series, Rev. Kevin Johnson explores Jesus' powerful declaration in John 6:35: "I am the bread of life." As Jesus speaks to a crowd that has just witnessed the feeding of the 5,000, he invites them—and us—to look beyond physical needs and discover the deeper satisfaction found only in him.

Through humor, biblical insight, and practical application, Kevin examines what it means for Jesus to be the true bread from heaven, the source of eternal life, and the one who brings us into relationship with God. In a world constantly telling us we need more, Jesus offers a different promise: that in him, there is enough.

In this sermon, you'll discover:
• Why Jesus' "I Am" statements are so significant in John's Gospel
• How the manna in the wilderness points to Christ
• What it means for Jesus to be the Bread of Life
• Why worldly satisfaction never lasts
• How communion invites us into God's life and love
• What it means to trust God for our daily bread

Scripture: John 6:30-58
Preacher: Rev. Kevin Johnson
Series: I Am
Church: North Raleigh United Methodist Church

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Today I'm going to be preaching from John 6. Um, in your pew Bibles, that's on page 92. If you want to follow along, if graduates, your hymnals and and and and Bibles are underneath you, so it's just kind of weird, but just so you know, because sometimes in the front row you're like, where is it? Um, so just to share with you. I don't imagine that all of you like have sat in the front row a lot. So um just sharing that with you. In our culture, we are pretty bad at introducing ourselves to one another. After we learn someone's name, oftentimes we ask them the question so uh what do you do? And and I think we ask this question because it gives someone a chance to talk about their work or what they do for most of their day, but it also implies that we can size someone up a little bit by how they answer it and by the work they do. So we say, I'm a teacher, or I'm an engineer, I'm a grocery store employee, or I am a nurse. And if we go deeper with a person, we might eventually get to ask the question, well, well, who are you? Right? And we get an understanding about the roles they play. They might say, I'm a husband, or I'm a mother, or I'm a caregiver. These are the times we usually say I am, unless we're describing our feelings. In those cases, we answer the question, how are you? The greatest question we have as American conversationalists, if you ask a teenager this question, 90% of the time they will give you a response like, I'm tired. Same with a young parent. Other classic responses include, I am busy or I am fine, by which we learn nothing about the person who we asked. When Jesus says, I am, it is more than just the first person singular of the verb to be. For the Jewish hearer, the words I am were words that stopped them dead in their tracks. For when Moses was introduced to the God of his fathers, to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he asked God who was in the burning bush, well, what should I tell them when they say your name? What is your name? And God said the letters Yod He, Vav, He in Hebrew, which is a take on the first person singular of the verb to be. Oftentimes we say that word as Yahweh. So when Yahweh is translated, it is I am who I am, or I will be who I will be. Jesus is saying that he is one with the God of Israel. In his very name, he is making the claim to be God. In the Gospel of John, Jesus uses this Greek construction, ego, a me, or I am, many times. I am, he says, the one who is speaking to you. But he uses this construction seven specific times, known as the I am sayings. And we're going to begin talking about those today, the first one being I am the bread of life. And that's what we're going to look at for these next seven weeks. We're going to look at every time when Jesus says, I am, and learn from him about who he says he is in John's gospel. Jesus uses these common everyday symbols, bread, sheep, or shepherd, in order to show that our greatest longings are met in him. In these I am titles, Jesus shows that he is not just the Messiah or the Son of God. Those are more like Jesus' official titles. They're his answer to is, what are you? or what do you do? Well, I'm the Messiah, right? But these I am sayings help us understand and help those around Jesus to understand the breath of who Jesus is. So today Jesus begins by telling who he is to the crowd. He will tell them, I am the bread of life. I'm going to start in verse 30 of chapter 6 of John's Gospel. So the crowd 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? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then 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. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. They said to him, Sir, give us this bread always. 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. But I said to you that you have seen me, and yet you do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of my Father that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day. The bread of life satisfies. What is the opposite of being satisfied and being satiated by food? I think about junk food. We all know that junk food is mostly made up of empty calories. It doesn't really fill us up. Sometimes does that. Have you ever been somewhere to a restaurant that prizes their yeast rolls? I think about those Texas steakhouse chains that specialize in these rolls, especially with cinnamon butter, kind of glazing the outside, right? And if I pound three of those when I first sit down, right, I'm not going to have room for the food with protein that will actually fill me up. Listen to Jesus, right? 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. It's the same promise he made to the woman at the well that she would never have to come and draw water again, for he would give her living water. Never be hungry, never be thirsty. Can you imagine it? But this crowd doesn't get it. After all, Jesus has just fed the 5,000 earlier in this chapter. Jesus seems to be reflecting on that miraculous sign as he calls himself the bread of life, because even after such a sign, the people are wanting more. They are asking for more. They want another sign. In back-to-back stories in John, Jesus has just multiplied five loaves and two fish to become food for 5,000 people. And then he walks on the water and the crowd comes. What sign are you going to give us then? So that we may see it and believe you? The crowd is saying, give us more. We need another sign. We want proof. They are like the Rolling Stones singing, I can't get no satisfaction, right? When I look at the lyrics of that song, I realize they're a little bit less about chasing women than I thought, and more about the plight of living in a capitalist consumer-driven world. I need more. The iPhone has a new number behind it. My neighbor just got a new car and it does this. You should see her after her Botox treatment. You almost sing Matra. Right there we go. Um at 945, I did my McJagger dance for him. But you want it? Okay. Alright, there you go. Just a little bit. For you youngins among us, that's the guy. I got the moves like Jagger. I got the moves like Jagger. I got the moves. Alright, there you go. That wasn't in my notes, see, sometimes. Jesus is saying he is the provision for us. He is saying that we can always be satisfied in him. And Jesus continues talking about the bread of life in John 6. We'll pick up in verse 41. Then the Jews began to complain about him, because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. They were saying, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he say, I have come down from heaven? Jesus answered them, Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me. And I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, and they shall be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God. He has seen the Father. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I give for the life of the world is my flesh. The bread of life gives eternal life. You see, the crowd begins to complain, the scripture tells us, some versions use the word grumble. This is the same word that the Greek translation of the Old Testament uses for what the people of Israel do over and over again while they're in the desert wilderness, when they complain and they grumble to Moses. In our Old Testament scripture today, God begins, I have heard the complaining of the Israelites. Why is the crowd complaining? They are complaining because Jesus is saying that he came down from heaven. In other words, Jesus is claiming to be divine. Jesus is claiming authority, and we know that when he says, I am, that authority he is claiming is that he is one with the Father. Jesus then compares himself as the bread of life to the manna that the people of Israel ate in the wilderness. God provided daily bread for the people of Israel in that wilderness. Every morning they were to go out and collect the bread they needed for the day. And there will be twice that amount on Fridays so that they could collect it for the Sabbath and not have to collect on the Sabbath. But what happened? Some people could not trust that there would be enough bread the next day. So they overcollected and their manna spoiled. The provision of bread in the wilderness is an extremely vital part of the people of Israel's story. They are the people who God provided for in the wilderness. For 40 years, wherever they wandered, God provided them with the bread they needed for the day. But what does Jesus say about that bread? He tells the crowd their ancestors ate that bread that miraculously provided bread, and they still died. But Jesus is saying that if they eat this bread from heaven, they will never die, they will have eternal life. Now we are used to these words of Jesus talking about eternal life. But most Jews in Jesus' day were not. So when Jesus talks about eating bread and never dying, he is making quite the claim. How can we eat this bread? What does it mean to eat this bread when the bread itself is Jesus? The crowd interacting with Jesus had the same questions. Verse 52, the Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? So Jesus said to them, Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life. And I will raise them up on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever. The bread of life brings us into God's relationship. What do I mean by that? Take a look at what Jesus says again, when he says, Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. God is in relationship as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Pastor Laura talked about that in depth last week on Trinity Sunday. And one image that St. Augustine used was that the Spirit is the bond of love between the Father and the Son. In John's Gospel, Jesus talks often about how he is sent from the Father and about his unity with the Father. And what Jesus does by calling himself the bread of life is extend the relationship between him and the Father to us. Jesus is saying that when we eat his flesh and drink his blood, then we abide in him, and we are brought into relationship with Jesus. But because Jesus is sent by the Father and is abiding in him, then we are caught up too in the relationship of the Father and the Son. Sometimes when we talk with kids about receiving Jesus into their lives, we talk about asking Jesus into your heart. Maybe some of you graduates remember learning this at Bible school sometime. What Jesus is saying here, though, is that when we eat the bread of life, Jesus receives us into God's heart. When we eat the bread of life, Jesus receives us into God's heart. Jesus gives us this bread. He takes it, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it to us. This is my body given for you. Given. Jesus is giving his life to us. He is giving us all that we could ever need. But we try to make our own bread. We deny the gift of Jesus by saying, I'll make the dough, thank you very much. And we use language when we talk about it like dough and breadwinner to describe how we are going to be self-sufficient and provide for ourselves. And Jesus will tell the devil in the wilderness, man does not live by bread alone. And invite us to pray, like the people of Israel in the wilderness, give us this day our daily bread. When we come to receive this bread, we are saying to Jesus, you alone satisfy. In Psalm 16, 5, the psalmist writes, The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup. In a world that wants to keep me on a treadmill feeling like I never have enough or I never am enough, the Lord is my portion. In a time when it feels like satisfaction is always fleeting, the Lord is my portion. Friends, there is always, always enough in Jesus. Feed on him today and always. Amen.