Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost August 3-4, 2024
“Hungry?” John 6:22-35
Rev. John R. Larson Ascension Lutheran Church Littleton, Colorado
There are two miserable words that seem to pop out of our mouth when we are discontented with life. The words? “If only…” “If only I had…” “If only they hadn’t…” “If only I were…” Those two words can steal the joy that God wants to bring into our life.
There was a group of folks who had been part of the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 and now were looking for Jesus. He had fed that group with two fish and five loaves of bread. This man, in their eyes, was like Moses who had fed the people of Israel with manna and quail for 40 years when they were in the desert. If only God would do this again!! Maybe, they thought, Jesus would be the new Moses.
This crowd saw His disciples get into a boat but they knew He didn’t get into the boat and so they walked about 10 miles around the Sea of Galilee and asked Jesus a simple question, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” (John 6:25) Jesus ignores the question. He doesn’t answer how long He has been there or even how He got there. (He had walked on the water, remember?) But He does speak about their motives for seeking Him. “I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life.” (John 6:26-27)
Sometimes we expect too little in life. We only want the immediate, the stuff for right now. Sometimes we speak of our emptiness with the words, “If only I had this or that, if only this would have turned out differently, then I would be happy, I would be satisfied.” Too often we look for the fullness of life in the wrong places.
They only wanted bread for their bellies. Jesus wanted to give them so much more. He wants to give us so much more. Jesus would tell them, “It is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Jesus says a verse later, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:32-33, 35)
Perishable things don’t meet the deepest needs of our lives. Now, that is just ridiculous for me to say such a thing, isn’t it? We strive to get ahead in life. We look forward to the next big purchase, the next new thing, the greatest vacation that we have ever gone on. We can be amazingly materialistic. If that is how we determine if we are rich, then we have become pitifully poor. If that is where we look for lasting joy, we will never be content.
Jesus says, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26) Perishable things won’t satisfy our deepest needs. We have sung the hymn, “God of Grace and God of Glory”, (850 LSB) numerous times here at Ascension. Verse three says:
Cure Your children’s warring madness; bend our pride to your control;
Shame our wanton, selfish gladness, rich in things and poor in soul.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage lest we miss your kingdom’s goal,
Lest we miss your kingdom’s goal.
Jesus, in a warning said, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15) When Jesus was tempted by the devil in those 40 days in the wilderness He said, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)
It is good when we are hungry for God. It is good when we yearn for His peace in our lives. It is good when we realize that He alone can cure the emptiness of our soul and grant us forgiveness for all our sin and give us the absolute assurance that we will spend our eternity not in hell but in the joy of heaven.
Every life needs Jesus. That is what Jesus was telling them. When they want to engage in a conversation about when He had arrived in Capernaum, He doesn’t address it at all, rather He addresses them. “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry. He who believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35)
Much of Lutheran theology finds its roots in a church father called Augustine. Martin Luther was an Augustinian monk. Augustine said to God, “You have created us for yourself, our heart knows no rest except that it finds its rest in you.” “Our hearts are restless until they find rest in You.”
If you really want life you must look in the right places. Isaiah 55 begins: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.” (Isaiah 55:1-2) It is like the old Baptist hymn which says, “I need Thee, O I need Thee; Every hour I need Thee! O bless me now, my Savior – I come to Thee.”
Jesus tells them to look at Him not just for daily bread but the lasting peace for their soul. He calls for us to seek Him with our whole heart. But the greatest news is not how much we want God; it is how much He wants us. The heart of Jesus is passionate for us, always desiring us to know the fullness of life. Do you remember how He wept over Jerusalem because of the hardness of their heart? “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” (Matthew 23:37)
You will be hearing this wonderful reading from John 6 next weekend and the one after that. It is quite a chapter. Here is part of what Jesus says He will bring us, “I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (John 6:47-51)
In John 4 Jesus gives the invitation of receiving living water as He speaks to the woman at the well, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14)
Have you ever gone to a party and the host said to you, “I hope you’re hungry”? You look and there are so many things to eat. Such a spread! All beautifully displayed. And they are so proud that they can feed you and that you have come to the event.
I picture Jesus in that way. We have hunger for peace in our soul and the knowledge that God is in our lives. We have hunger that we are not alone and that our lives have a wonderful divine purpose. We have a hunger for forgiveness of sins and cleansing for soul and mind.
Hungry? Jesus fills our cups to overflowing. We can’t speak the words of discouragement, “If only I had this, or had that, then my life would be good.” No. We have Jesus. Jesus has us. He said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” Amen and Amen!!
