Sermon Index
August 4, 2024
The Gospel reading for today and the next two weeks have the same theme, namely that Jesus says, “I Am the Bread of Life.” Today I want to look at each of those words and seriously look at what Jesus is saying.
The first word is “I.” Jesus is not sharing this honor of giving bread with anyone else. Only He is the bread of life. It was not really Moses who gave the manna in the wilderness; it was the heavenly Father. And now the Father in Heaven is giving us the true bread from heaven, not bread made from wheat, but rather the true bread from heaven, which is Jesus Christ Himself. The bread is not the 5 loaves next to the lake that Jesus broke and fed 5000 people. Jesus himself is the bread. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” Do not look for things other than Jesus. Do not look at other teachers or prophets. Do not look to the Law of Moses for nourishment. Do not even look at food to sustain your life. Look to Jesus who said, “I Am the Bread of Life.”
The second word is “Am.” This is present tense. Salvation is right now. We do not have to wait for the future. Life with God is now. Sometimes Christians live with their head off in the future. But we have a calling from God to live for God and with God right now. Jesus comes to us right now. He IS the bread of life. He IS working in our lives right now. And so, we work with God right now too. The word is “Am,” not “maybe” or “represents,” but Jesus is something or someone who really, truly, without doubt gives strength and true life. The “Am” is the same as “Amen.”
The combination of the first and second words is “I AM.” “I AM” is the name of the Lord God, Yahweh. At the burning bush, God revealed his name to Moses. He said “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you’” (Ex.3:14). Jesus is the bread of life; the Lord God Yahweh is the bread of life. This morning I do not want to go into the details of the mystery of the Holy Trinity. But the clear teaching in the New Testament is that Jesus is God. It is God that gives the bread of life. At the same time it is God who is the bread of life. In Jesus Christ God gives himself to us that we might have life.
The third word is “the.” This little word is important. It means that there is only one bread. Jesus is not just one of many breads, a bread among others, but the one and the only bread that will give life. There may be other things, but Jesus is the one and only true bread.
“I am bread.” At the time of Jesus, bread was the main food, just like rice is the main food in Japan. So Jesus says that he is the food of life.
When we are hungry, we look for something to eat. When we are emotionally hungry or bored, we look for things that we think will give us a better life: money, love, education, friends, drugs, food, drink, sports, fun, and entertainment. But do they satisfy or do they leave us hungry in our hearts? Because these things are gifts of God, and because they are in the list when we pray in the Lord’s Prayer “give us this day our daily bread,” they are important and so we receive them with thanksgiving. And when we give thanks for our sandwich or rice ball, we thank God for giving us Jesus Christ, the True Bread from heaven. Bread gives us strength to live. Jesus gives us strength to live eternally.
Finally: “life.” Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” What is life? Ask the biologists and zoologists, the philosophers, theologians, career counselors, your school teacher, your peers, scientists, and adventurers and people who want to have fun. “This is the life,” they say. Today I want to try this definition. Life is being with God, or life is the love of God. Because God loves this world there is life. There is life for plants, animals and humans. And in Jesus Christ there is eternal life. It is eternal because he is eternal and he gives himself to us. He died on the cross, but on the third day he rose again. He died so that we too can live. He is the bread that gives us eternal life, life with God, life with the love of God. Without the love of God, what is life anyway?
Amen.
May the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.
Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church