Ephesians 4:1-16; John 6:24-35
Ordinary 11B; Proper 13
Question-and-answer time with Jesus in John’s Gospel makes you want to go, “Wait, what?”
I picture a member of the crowd raising her hand, being recognized by Jesus, earnestly posing what she believes to be a straightforward question and then scratching her head when Jesus’ answer appears unconnected to her query. Those eagerly following Jesus ask, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus, we would assume, should answer, “Last week.” Or “Last month.” Or even, “I have always been here.” But instead he goes on a tangent about their motives for following him, saying something about them looking for bread because they were fed with the 5,000, but really they should be looking for food that endures for eternal life. Wait, what?
Someone else gets up their courage and asks, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Not a softball like, “When did you come here?” But still, relatively easy for this rabbi, right? Shouldn’t he say, “Sell all you have and follow”? Or, “Love the Lord your God with all you heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself”? Or, “Those with two coats give to those who have none”? Instead Jesus replies, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” Wait, what?
Then the crowd gets savvy. They start to regroup and revise their line of questioning and they ask, “What signs are you going to give us, what work are you performing?” If we are to believe, then give us something to go on, some holy ta-da that confirms our suspicions that you are one in whom we should believe. I can’t help but wonder if Jesus is the one who goes, “Wait, what?” Didn’t these folks just experience two loaves and five fish turned into a feast for five thousand with baskets left over? What else do they need? But Jesus instead tells them a story, one they likely know all too well. Remember Moses? The manna and the quail in the wilderness? Yeah, that wasn’t Moses’ doing, that was God’s. Oh, and by the way, I am the bread of life and those who believe in me will never be hungry or thirsty ever again. Any more questions?
Wait, what?
Q-and-A with Jesus requires a lot from those posing the questions. He doesn’t offer easy answers even to questions that appear to have a straightforward answer. “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Well, we know in John, in the beginning is the Word. So, when does Jesus start counting? With Gabriel’s announcement to Mary? With his birth? Or is it when he begins his earthly ministry? Jesus instead answers the deeper questions of the crowds following him, this crowd teeming with life’s most basic and most profound needs. He knows they are seeking bread and who can blame them? Who can think of anything else when they are physically hungry, exhausted and beaten down? Jesus knows their yearning for rest and sustenance. He has compassion on them after all. He is not chastising them for seeking bread. He is telling them he has so much more to give them. This is no prosperity gospel that seduces with a message to “believe and be blessed with material things.” Jesus tells the crowd hungry for food and desperate to be valued that he offers eternal life and in John’s Gospel eternal life is abundant life and it starts here and now and never ends.
Jesus doesn’t need them to work for that grace, he only asks them to believe. Wait, what? In a world then and now that is all about transactions and quid pro quo and working the system the best you can or being crushed by it, Jesus says: “No, wait. Believe in me. You cannot earn what I offer. You can only believe and receive.”
Jesus tells this needy crowd for whom he has compassion: I will care for you now and forever. You are God’s beloved with whom God is well pleased. God knows you need bread, but life is more than bread. Believe and receive the bread of life and never be hungry again.
I recently spent some time with my dad. He told me a story about my great-grandfather that won’t let me go. My dad’s grandfather spent much of his working life building the wooden supports for the shafts in a gold mine. He contracted a lung disease as a result. When he was too sick to work in the mines, he would take my dad and go pick blueberries to sell. My father described his grandfather with his breathing hampered, his physical strength waning, crawling on his hands and knees, picking blueberries. It helped me understand my father’s relentless work ethic and inability to admit when he is tired or sick.
I imagine my great-grandfather in that crowd asking Jesus questions, one of those in need of that ordinary bread that perishes. Would Jesus fault him for following because of that hillside miracle? I don’t think so. I think Jesus would have compassion for him. I think Jesus would want to offer him so much more than bread and fish. He would want to offer him an unquestionable confidence that he is not forgotten, worth more than the sum of his ability to produce, invaluable in the eyes of God. Jesus wants us to believe, so that we know God believes in our worth, beauty and ability to contribute to the kingdom no matter our abilities, or lack thereof, in this world.
Often, we are asking Jesus questions to which he wants to answer: “Wait. You are asking the wrong questions. What I want to give you is so much more and so much better than anything you can hope, dream or imagine.” We ask what works we need to do and Jesus says it is not about works. Believe. Appreciate the signs, but believe in the One who does them. Believe that God so loved the world the God sent the Son to save it, not condemn it. Believe that God calls you to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers, preachers and witnesses; no matter what your job, God gives you a life-giving vocation.
We look for signs when Jesus gives us his very self. We want bread that perishes, of course, but Jesus gives his body, the bread of life. We want water, of course, but Jesus gives us his blood. We seek the person who satisfied our hunger, but when we believe in Jesus the deepest longings of our hearts are sated, too.
Jesus doesn’t fault the crowds for looking to be fed. He has compassion on them. So much so that he doesn’t answer their questions. Instead he offers them life, abundant and eternal. He gives them his very self. If they can only believe it.
This week:
- What questions are you asking Jesus? How might Jesus be answering those questions with something deeper and more than you can imagine or hope?
- Do you have a difficult time accepting that works are not needed, but only belief in Jesus? Why or why not?
- What changes do you need to make to better lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called?
- Look up “bread” in a biblical concordance and read some of the other texts that mention bread. How do those texts color your understanding of this text from John?
- Do you think Jesus is chiding the crowd for following him because they were fed on the hillside? When do we seek Jesus out for bread that perishes?
- Take some time this week to consider when and how you came to believe in Jesus. How has your belief in Jesus changed or remained the same?
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