The Living Bread
For the Lord’s Day:  the 20^th of February 2005

John 6: 45-51

Introduction:  As I admitted last week, in trying to preach on eleven whole verses, I bit off more bread than I could chew.  That reminds me of the first time we used my father’s recipe for communion bread – I cut the squares larger than what was traditional.  Only when I tried to chew the bread in a timely manner before moving on to the fruit of the vine, did I realize my mistake.  And so, this week – we come back to the same text to finish up the leftover verses.  And these, as well as the rest of this glorious gospel are rich indeed, especially for the souls of those who belong to Christ.

Last week we focused upon the sublime context of the exalted faith in Christ being given in and through the grace and mercy of the Triune God alone.  And as we explored the issue – we realized that in just being able to affirm that fact, we are blessed indeed.  “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.  And I will raise him up on the last day.”

Today, we go a step further to contend with the methodology by which the Creator God accomplishes our salvation.  And in this text is wrapped up our understanding of communion, its application and the benefits given to us through the very real “bread of life:” even Jesus Christ our Lord.

The use of bread in the celebration of God’s deliverance goes all the way back to the Exodus, when the people were charged to eat unleavened bread as they waited for their marching orders to leave the captivity of Egypt behind.  Further in Exodus 25: 23-30 special and specific instructions were given to “set the bread of the Presence on the table before” the Lord on a regular and continual basis.  It was this very bread that sustained David during one of his misadventures from the hands of Saul.  So also, with the blood of the lamb, the symbolic use of specific, symbolic and special bread was entwined from the very beginning of the Temple regulations.

Development:  Here in these verses, Jesus tells all who can hear and comprehend just who and what the “bread of life” really and truly is.  “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever.  And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”  This is a message of hope for all believers who partake of the Lord’s Supper.  Of course, as we all know, there be many false sons and daughters within the pale of the Church.  It will ever and always be thus this side of paradise.  These will content themselves with worldly notions and suppose that the symbolism alone is sufficient to guarantee them a full and hearty future life.

However, it is only on the surface that many skim their crumbs of comfort in believing that all may come on any terms that suit their minds or emotions.  Simply tickle the tonsils with a half an ounce of wine, a fragment of bread and all will be well.  Some never ever perceive the blood and broken body of the Savior. 

While many of us have never been responsible for the death of another, there are some who have made bad decisions and mistakenly contributed to the death of another human being.  In a couple of situations, I have had to counsel people who were stricken with the thought that they could have prevented the death of another, if they had just spoken differently a few hours or days before.  I remember the sadness of a village mayor who had reminded someone that they owed the village $17.95.  Two hours later, that person – who was overwhelmed with debt: committed suicide.  By the time I arrived on the scene, the volunteer firemen and the Mayor were comforting the surviving members of the family.  The Mayor was beside himself; if only he had known, he blurted out time after time, he would have paid the small sum himself to have saved the life of the one who blew his brains out.

As it turned out, the widow was able to satisfy the outstanding debts by simply selling the large number of “collectible antiques” for which the debts had been piled up.  But, that knowledge and remedy were some months away.  The immediate problem was to explain the ways of God to a suffering local official who had only been doing his job.  His of course was not the direct and legitimate cause of the tragedy, the sin rested entirely upon the one who killed himself.  We worked through the issue as quickly as possible, and I went on to speak with others.  By the time I came to preach the funeral – it was a ninety hour week and I was exhausted in more ways that I care to remember.

My purpose for this story is to put us all into the position of the Mayor in my story.  $17.95 is not a large amount of money, but if it were sufficient to cause a death and we were held accountable – that would be cause for grief and discomfort indeed.  Only one little mistake we might plead in court?  I forgot the gun was loaded, I only had a few drinks before I ran into the van, I just simply hated him and I’m glad they’re dead – are all court admitted excuses day after day across the country.

Do you begin to understand where I am going with this?  Let us expand it a little.  One of the tragic events in the history of my small town is that a man was strung up on a lamp pole in the village for a rape that he did not commit.  It was done by a mob gone wild, who decided that justice must be immediate and fatal.  Many individuals contributed to the crime.  Someone provided the rope, others bound and tied the victim, someone kicked the apple crate out from under his feet and a larger number hooted and cheered as the foul deed was done.  All were culpable in a legal sense.  Whole countries have gone mad in similar ways, Revolutionary France, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and so forth down through the countless ages.  “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Paul reminds us in his letter to the Romans.

And so, as you probably guessed it already – we are really and truly culpable in the death of at least one man:  Jesus Christ.  And yet, He was as we understand no mere ordinary man, but in reality the very Son of the Most High God & Creator of all that is!  “Vengeance is mine” says the same Lord God of heaven and earth.  Who can face His wrath and live.  Vengeance is indeed a dreadful thing.  Years ago, some teenager figured out a way to short out the railroad crossing lights and gates.  It took a few months for the railroad and government agents to figure out what was going on.  Everyone in the whole community was getting fed up and people were dangerously ignoring the constantly guarded crossings.  Attempts were made to catch the vandal in the act, but he was too slippery for all of the observers.  Patience was wearing thin.  Finally, someone in the community found a way to deal with the problem.  By word of mouth, it was circulated that when the person was caught, they would not be turned over to the authorities – they would simply be beaten to within an inch of their life.  Given the general attitude of the community – it was almost believable and the vandalism ceased.  At least the threatened crime was not accomplished, and the ones who made it really did not have the means and evidence to carry it through.

Application:  Not so, in the case of the Lord of all the earth!  You kill His only Son – you’ll have hell to pay.  Judas, once the reality and enormity of his deed sunk in, he threw the blood money back into the temple precincts and hung himself in despair.  This is where the worldly find themselves, deep in sin, culpable beyond measure and all they can do is worsen their situation by denying the reality of sin and worse – they deplore the promise of forgiveness and redemption.  And this is the message of hope with which Jesus ends this section:  “The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

And thus, the very object of our culpability: the Lord of life is the very one that promises that by the means of His death, our forgiveness is covered and forgiven!  Such is the great and awesome love of God the Father, that in His compassion and mercy He allowed the Lamb of God to be broken and bleed that we might be saved.  By what authority do we have this?  Straight from the heart of the Father, His own Son, the very one to be murdered:  Jesus Christ.

The people of Israel, early in their history ate the manna in the wilderness; the greater majority died in their sins and never saw the Promised Land.  Down through the ages in the tabernacle and temple worship, in the annual reenactment of the Passover, many drank the wine, ate the bread and the lamb and still died in their sins.  Yet, just as Jesus describes in this whole section, the Father was calling a people to Himself and those elect, as we now know of every nation – these have been saved in the blood of the Lamb.  John the Baptist told us that Jesus was this very Lamb of God.  Now, in this passage Jesus is telling us that He is the bread of life as well.  If you can affirm that fact and next week and every week whenever you partake of the Lord’s Supper you discern the presence of the Lord and are thankful for it – then the eternal life spoken of in verse forty-seven is yours:  “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.”  Praise be the Lord, Amen.

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PREACHING RESOURCES
Calvin, John:  Commentary on the Gospel of John.
Tasker, R.V.G.  Tyndale New Testament Commentaries: The Gospel According to St John.
The Holy Bible:  English Standard Version.

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