John 6:24-35
Year B
On the first day of the first seminar of my Doctor of Ministry program, the students peppered the professor with questions about what was required to get a good grade. After enduring the interrogation for several minutes, the professor reminded us that what was important in the end was what we learned from the class, not the grade we received. “You are preoccupied with the wrong stuff,” he told us.
There was a moment of chastising silence; then he continued, “That’s also one of the problems of ministry, isn’t it? Being preoccupied with the wrong stuff.” The 20 ministers sitting in the class nodded in unison, flashing back to the committee meetings when there was a 30-second opening prayer and a 30-minute conversation on whether to serve lemonade or tea at the church picnic, or the day consumed with deciding what kind of smock nursery workers would wear, or the agonizing discussion about just how many lilies were needed for Easter and where they should be placed. We’d all been there. We’d all be preoccupied with the wrong stuff in the course of our ministries.
I suspect it’s not just ministers who regularly find their time and energy consumed by trivial matters. From time to time and in a variety of ways we all become consumed by the wrong stuff. We lose sight of what really matters.
In this week’s Gospel lesson, Jesus faults those who want to be near him for being more interested in their stomachs than their souls. They were present for the feeding of the 5,000 last week; they feasted on the bread and fish that Jesus miraculously multiplied. Now they’re waiting for Jesus to do another trick and feed them again. It happens throughout the Gospels, people flocking to Jesus to have their immediate needs satisfied. Whether it’s an illness or disability or hunger, people come to Jesus for instant satisfaction. Jesus knows what their aims are. He knows the crowds come to him more for the wonders he can work than for the message he brings. After all, 5,000 people ate with him that day, but only a few were present as he hung on a cross.
As they come to Jesus in this passage, Jesus challenges them to examine their motivations. He says they are preoccupied with the wrong stuff, being more concerned with the food that perishes than with the food that endures for eternal life.
We know about the food that perishes, don’t we? We know about the quest for immediate satisfaction and instant gratification. We need to buy more, get more, have more. And we need to do it now. More, more, more. Now, now, now. Getting and gaining and grabbing and attaining and achieving and acquiring and having and holding. We can’t get enough and we can’t get it fast enough. It’s the craving that fuels our economy, it runs our lives, it ruins our lives. More, more, more. Now, now, now. It is the food that perishes. That’s why we have to keep going after it. It’s the food that perishes. That’s why the feeling of satisfaction it brings doesn’t last very long. It’s the food that perishes. That’s why we feel so empty.
Someone in the crowd hears Jesus speak about a different kind of food, a food that doesn’t perish but rather endures. How do we get that food, Jesus? What must we do for the bread that truly satisfies? What must we do?
We hear the question and immediately sigh. What must we do? Oh, no. Aren’t we doing enough? Aren’t we doing too much? No, not another thing to do. Please. We really can’t do anymore.
Jesus responds graciously to the question. Graciously and mercifully. It’s not about doing something else, something more. Rather, it’s about believing. “This is the work of cGod,” he says, “That you believe in the one whom God has sent” (John 6:29). This is how we get the food that endures – we believe. The work of God is believing in Jesus Christ, the one whom God sent.
Start a group conversation about the work of God, and there will be a variety of responses. Some would say that the work of God is mission, reaching out, serving others; or perhaps some would say that the work of God is evangelism, sharing the good news; or perhaps some would say that the work of God is living a holy life, a selfless and simple life.
While these are all good things, none of these is how Jesus answers when he is asked about how to get the food that endures. Instead, Jesus says the work of God is believing: Believing that our lives are in God’s hands in the darkest valleys and on the highest mountains. Believing that God still seeks our good when the chips are down, when the diagnosis is bad, when the opportunity seems to have slipped away. Believing that God is offering us something more, something better, something different amidst our gaining and grabbing and attaining and achieving. Believing that what we see isn’t all there is. Believing that God is lingering in the corners of our lives, faithfully, mercifully, graciously. Believing that God can break through our preoccupations. Believing that God can help us see the wrong stuff for what it is.
Believing. That’s what God would have us do. Believe. Just believe.
Believing. That’s what God would have us do. Believe. Just believe.
A piece of bread, an ounce of juice. It looks pretty meager. It looks like we should go get something else. It looks like what’s on this table isn’t enough.
But it is. Don’t be preoccupied with the wrong stuff. What is on the Lord’s table is more than enough. It is much more than a piece of bread and a shot of juice. What is here is a God whose love knows no boundary. What is here is the food of eternal life. It is more than enough. It will not fail to satisfy. Believe it.
Questions for reflection
- How does attention to trivial matters deter the church from fulfilling the work God has called us to do? How can we avoid being preoccupied with “the wrong stuff?”
- What connections do you make when you reflect on Jesus as the bread of life? What are the hungers he can satisfy?
- What helps you believe?
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