1531AFC073115 – Fresh Bread
Read it online here, please.
John 6:35 – 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.
Peace be with you, Belovéd. As we wend our way through the heat of summer, the storms, the fires, and the floods seem to make the heat all the more oppressive. It seems everything and everyone is subject to dangers and irritations from all sides. We long for peace and quiet; what we get is annoying disruptions and uncomfortable disturbances. The world seems to be filling up with crazy-violent people dedicated to destroying themselves and everyone and everything around them. At the same time, however, we know that there are people who are good and generous, kind and gentle, and willing to give of themselves to help others. Because some hunger for carnage, and others thirst for death, some days we want to say, “What is wrong with this world?!” On other days, we see the Goodness of God expressed in “the milk of human kindness,” the care and compassion that should be the basis of all human relationships. How and why do we live in such a divergent dichotomy, and what can we do to resolve it? When given such a contradictory diet of bitter and sweet, how can we make our lives – and the lives of others – more satisfying? For us earthlings, satisfaction is often based in the presence or lack of sufficient food – the quantity, quality, and accessibility of food and drink often sets the foundation for our assessment of our state in life.
Last week, we looked at the Gospel of John and the Feeding of the 5000. Today’s reference passage comes shortly after that event. The people who experienced or heard about that miracle wanted more from Jesus – more bread, more works, more evidence, more miracles, more security, more of everything which, they believed, would make them happy. Instead Jesus told them not to pursue those things, but instead to accept him as the eternal fulfilling of all their hungers and thirsts. It’s not hard to imagine there were plenty of folks in that throng that said, “Wha-a-a-a-at? Are you kidding me?” Sometimes, even when we can readily see (if only we look) that God is providing everything we need, we still get all cranky about not having everything we want. In the Old Testament reading for this coming Sunday, “The whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.” (See Exodus 16:2) They were complaining that they didn’t have all the “good things” they had in Egypt – plenty of meat and bread and the comfort of being full. Now they were in the desert “and dying of hunger and thirst” – or so they had convinced themselves. They conveniently forgot about the slavery, the abuse, the fear, and the pain they endured as slaves. They’d had a belly-full of that stuff, but they wanted full bellies now like they used to have then. God heard their complaints and sent them Manna and quail. Free. No cost to them other than picking up the food and preparing it. They were not to take too much; they were told to take just enough. If they took more, it rotted. If they took less, it was still sufficient. Like all of God’s Good Gifts, it was just right as-is. The Manna was something they had never seen before. In Exodus 16:31, scripture tells us they called it מָ֑ן (man) {mawn} which means “What (is it)?” According to the accounts of their wanderings in the desert, they had it available to them – along with the quail – for 40 years. It could be prepared several ways – baked, boiled, ground into flour and made into cakes/loaves of bread. It was always there, always fresh, and always the same.
Manna had to be collected before sunrise or else it melted in the sun. No matter how much you picked up, it always came out to exactly one omer (about two quarts dry measure). It always “descended” during the night so that in the morning the ground was covered with it. On Friday there was enough to collect two omers so that no one would have to gather on Saturday – the Sabbath. If someone tried to collect extra and save it, it turned putrid and filled with maggots! Despite the flocks and other provisions the Israelites took with them out of Egypt, the Manna was their staple provision for all the years in the desert. God provided them with Manna, meat (quail), and water thus teaching them that he was their only provider. Whatever they had that sustained life came from him. That is the lesson Jesus was teaching to his followers in today’s passage.
Jesus is the Bread come down from Heaven. In John 6:48-55, he tells people, “I am the bread of life.” He reminds them that their ancestors ate Manna in the wilderness, and it did not give them eternal life; they died. He further tells them, ” … and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. … for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.” This means that, as bread becomes fully assimilated – completely incorporated – into our living bodies, it is the same for Christ Jesus who becomes fully assimilated into our souls as part of the Divine presence. The Manna which came down from Heaven into the wilderness sustained the bodies of the Israelites, but not the souls. Jesus, the Bread come down from Heaven feeds us the source of all life – God. God is the Father of Life. Jesus is the Deliverer of Life who announces the Salvation of God through the conquest of Death. We literally become what we eat because he says “for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.” The doctrine of Salvation Christ presents to us through his Passion, Death, and Resurrection is the only Truth that gives Life to the soul. There is no other food, nor any other drink, that can bestow this Gift in us. Christ is indeed with absolute certainty the food of souls – not food for our corporeal beings – but the only Perfect Food for our spiritual existence. Like the Manna, it is always there, always sufficient, always nourishing, always unique, always fresh, and always the same.
“But what about the Manna that went bad if someone tried to gather too much?” Ah. That was food for the physical world. For the Spiritual world, it is possible to attempt to be greedy and “save it up for later.” However, I don’t think God lets us do that. Just as in the old adage, “you can’t take it with you,” I think God tells us there is no way we can gather an excess of his Grace, for even though our need for Grace is immense, God’s store of Grace is infinitely larger. Remember what he told Paul: “My Grace is sufficient for thee.” There’s always just enough, never too little and never too much. It’s always just Right for he himself is Righteousness. And what did Jesus say about those of us who want that Righteousness? Matthew 5:6 – Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Fresh Bread from Heaven is yours! Just open up your heart and tell God, “Fill’er up!”
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service, Beloved!
“Can’t get no satisfaction?” You’re feeding on the wrong bread!
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com.
1531AFC073115 – Fresh Bread
Read it online here, please.
John 6:35 – 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.
Peace be with you, Belovéd. As we wend our way through the heat of summer, the storms, the fires, and the floods seem to make the heat all the more oppressive. It seems everything and everyone is subject to dangers and irritations from all sides. We long for peace and quiet; what we get is annoying disruptions and uncomfortable disturbances. The world seems to be filling up with crazy-violent people dedicated to destroying themselves and everyone and everything around them. At the same time, however, we know that there are people who are good and generous, kind and gentle, and willing to give of themselves to help others. Because some hunger for carnage, and others thirst for death, some days we want to say, “What is wrong with this world?!” On other days, we see the Goodness of God expressed in “the milk of human kindness,” the care and compassion that should be the basis of all human relationships. How and why do we live in such a divergent dichotomy, and what can we do to resolve it? When given such a contradictory diet of bitter and sweet, how can we make our lives – and the lives of others – more satisfying? For us earthlings, satisfaction is often based in the presence or lack of sufficient food – the quantity, quality, and accessibility of food and drink often sets the foundation for our assessment of our state in life.
Last week, we looked at the Gospel of John and the Feeding of the 5000. Today’s reference passage comes shortly after that event. The people who experienced or heard about that miracle wanted more from Jesus – more bread, more works, more evidence, more miracles, more security, more of everything which, they believed, would make them happy. Instead Jesus told them not to pursue those things, but instead to accept him as the eternal fulfilling of all their hungers and thirsts. It’s not hard to imagine there were plenty of folks in that throng that said, “Wha-a-a-a-at? Are you kidding me?” Sometimes, even when we can readily see (if only we look) that God is providing everything we need, we still get all cranky about not having everything we want. In the Old Testament reading for this coming Sunday, “The whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.” (See Exodus 16:2) They were complaining that they didn’t have all the “good things” they had in Egypt – plenty of meat and bread and the comfort of being full. Now they were in the desert “and dying of hunger and thirst” – or so they had convinced themselves. They conveniently forgot about the slavery, the abuse, the fear, and the pain they endured as slaves. They’d had a belly-full of that stuff, but they wanted full bellies now like they used to have then. God heard their complaints and sent them Manna and quail. Free. No cost to them other than picking up the food and preparing it. They were not to take too much; they were told to take just enough. If they took more, it rotted. If they took less, it was still sufficient. Like all of God’s Good Gifts, it was just right as-is. The Manna was something they had never seen before. In Exodus 16:31, scripture tells us they called it מָ֑ן (man) {mawn} which means “What (is it)?” According to the accounts of their wanderings in the desert, they had it available to them – along with the quail – for 40 years. It could be prepared several ways – baked, boiled, ground into flour and made into cakes/loaves of bread. It was always there, always fresh, and always the same.
Manna had to be collected before sunrise or else it melted in the sun. No matter how much you picked up, it always came out to exactly one omer (about two quarts dry measure). It always “descended” during the night so that in the morning the ground was covered with it. On Friday there was enough to collect two omers so that no one would have to gather on Saturday – the Sabbath. If someone tried to collect extra and save it, it turned putrid and filled with maggots! Despite the flocks and other provisions the Israelites took with them out of Egypt, the Manna was their staple provision for all the years in the desert. God provided them with Manna, meat (quail), and water thus teaching them that he was their only provider. Whatever they had that sustained life came from him. That is the lesson Jesus was teaching to his followers in today’s passage.
Jesus is the Bread come down from Heaven. In John 6:48-55, he tells people, “I am the bread of life.” He reminds them that their ancestors ate Manna in the wilderness, and it did not give them eternal life; they died. He further tells them, ” … and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. … for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.” This means that, as bread becomes fully assimilated – completely incorporated – into our living bodies, it is the same for Christ Jesus who becomes fully assimilated into our souls as part of the Divine presence. The Manna which came down from Heaven into the wilderness sustained the bodies of the Israelites, but not the souls. Jesus, the Bread come down from Heaven feeds us the source of all life – God. God is the Father of Life. Jesus is the Deliverer of Life who announces the Salvation of God through the conquest of Death. We literally become what we eat because he says “for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.” The doctrine of Salvation Christ presents to us through his Passion, Death, and Resurrection is the only Truth that gives Life to the soul. There is no other food, nor any other drink, that can bestow this Gift in us. Christ is indeed with absolute certainty the food of souls – not food for our corporeal beings – but the only Perfect Food for our spiritual existence. Like the Manna, it is always there, always sufficient, always nourishing, always unique, always fresh, and always the same.
“But what about the Manna that went bad if someone tried to gather too much?” Ah. That was food for the physical world. For the Spiritual world, it is possible to attempt to be greedy and “save it up for later.” However, I don’t think God lets us do that. Just as in the old adage, “you can’t take it with you,” I think God tells us there is no way we can gather an excess of his Grace, for even though our need for Grace is immense, God’s store of Grace is infinitely larger. Remember what he told Paul: “My Grace is sufficient for thee.” There’s always just enough, never too little and never too much. It’s always just Right for he himself is Righteousness. And what did Jesus say about those of us who want that Righteousness? Matthew 5:6 – Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Fresh Bread from Heaven is yours! Just open up your heart and tell God, “Fill’er up!”
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service, Beloved!
“Can’t get no satisfaction?” You’re feeding on the wrong bread!
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com.
About Chick Todd
American Roman Catholic reared as a "Baptiterian" in Denver Colorado. Now living on Kauaʻi. USAF Vet. Married for over 50 years. Scripture study has been my passion ever since my first "Bible talk" at age 6 in VBS.
