“Jesus is the Heaven-sent Living Bread of Life”
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
Dear fellow old and young Children of the Heavenly Father, Grace,
mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord [Amen.]
“Lord Jesus Christ, life-giving bread,
May I in grace possess You.
Let me with holy food be fed,
In hunger I address You.
Prepare me well for You, O Lord,
And, humbly by my prayer implored,
Give me Your grace and mercy.”
(Lutheran Service Book, © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO.
625:1)
Gospel Reading..............................................................
St. John 6:35-51 (esp. 35a, 48-51)
35Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life … . 48I am the bread of life.
49Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50This is
the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not
die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of
this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the
life of the world is my flesh.”
Prologue: History tells us that “During the siege of Leningrad,
the populace made bread out of anything they could find. They used
wallpaper paste and sawdust. Thousands starved to death, because their
meager diet afforded them no nutrients to maintain life.” In contrast,
“Christ comes in fulfillment of Micah’s prophecy to nourish us to a
spiritual strength that will never know death. Christ, the Good Shepherd,
feeds His flock in the very strength of God Himself.” (Encyclopedia of
Sermon Illustrations. Compiled by David F. Burgess. Copyright © 1988
Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Pages 65f.)
What all that simply means is that …
“Jesus is the Heaven-sent Living Bread of Life.”
Without any doubt whatever, our Lord and Savior was the highest
example of what it means to be a lowly servant. In fact, He even announced
to His disciples that He “came not to be served but to serve, and to give
His life as a ransom for many.” (St Matt 20:28 & St Mark 10:45 ESV) He did
so because the heavenly Father’s will was for Him to atone for all of
mankind’s sins by His self-sacrificial crucifixion death on Calvary’s cross.
And, He did so in fulfillment of what He Himself taught His disciples to
pray in the Third Petition of the Lord’s Prayer …
I. “Thy Will Be Done on Earth as It Is in Heaven.” (35b-40)
35Jesus said to them, “… whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever
believes in me shall never thirst. 36But I said to you that you have seen
me and yet do not believe. 37All that the Father gives me will come to me,
and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38For I have come down from
heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39And this
is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he
has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40For this is the will of my
Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have
eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther explained the meaning of that
petition as: “The good and gracious will of God is done even without our
prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may be done among us also.” He
then further explained that “God’s will is done when He breaks and hinders
every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature,
which do not want us to hallow God’s name or let His kingdom come; and when
He strengthens and keeps us firm in His Word and faith until we die. This
is His good and gracious will.” (Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation
[ESV Edition]. Copyright © 1986, 1991 Concordia Publishing House, St.
Louis, MO. Pages 20 &186.)
“Will” and “purpose” are very similar. In fact, the Father’s will
for Jesus was His purpose for Him. Jesus referred to the Father’s will for
Him when He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane shortly before His agonizing
suffering and inhumane execution: “Father, if You are willing, remove this
cup from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.” (St Luke 22:42
ESV) In addition, the apostle John recorded that Jesus said: “Now is my
soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’?
But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.”
(St John 12:27-28 ESV)
Christ alone is the only legitimate object of Spirit-given saving
faith. Faith without Christ as its object or a generic faith in whomever or
whatever someone chooses to believe other than Christ is bogus, meaningless,
and worthless. In other words, “It is God’s will that His name be kept holy
and that His kingdom come, that is, that His Word be taught correctly and
that sinners be brought to faith in Christ and lead godly lives.” Sadly,
however, “The devil, the world, and our own sinful nature oppose the good
and gracious will of God.” At the same time, “We know that the will of God
will always be done, but we want God’s good and gracious will to be done in
our lives.” So it is, then, that we gain great comfort in knowing that “God’s
will is done when A. He breaks and hinders the plans of the devil, the
world, and our sinful nature, which try to destroy our faith in Christ
Jesus; B. He strengthens and keeps us firm in His Word and faith and helps
us lead God-pleasing lives; [and] C. He supports us in all our troubles
until we die.” (Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation [ESV Edition].
Pages 186-189.)
What all that means, quite simply and at the same time very
powerfully, is that “the heavenly Father reaches his chosen ones by the word
of Jesus and works faith in them. Those with faith come to Jesus—and Jesus
receives them. He will not throw aside anyone who comes to him in faith.
“Jesus had a mission from his Father in heaven, not one he made up for
himself. Self-grandeur, such as becoming a king as the crowd wanted, had no
place in Jesus’ thinking. What the crowd wanted ran counter to the will of
God the Father.” (Gary P. Baumler in People’s Bible Commentary: John.
Copyright © 1997 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Page 100.)
The fatally unfortunate result is that …
II. People Who Deny the Divine Truth about Jesus Grumble about Him.
(41-47)
41So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came
down from heaven.” 42They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph,
whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down
from heaven’?” 43Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.
44No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will
raise him up on the last day. 45It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they
will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the
Father comes to me—46not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is
from God; he has seen the Father. 47Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever
believes has eternal life.
Grumbling is a common symptom of sinfulness. We all grumble—even
complain, gripe, and moan—about other persons, places, and things. Some
complain about the weather outside, the temperature inside a house or the
sanctuary, and other drivers on the road. Some gripe about the economy, the
length of the worship service, and including or not including peoples’ names
in the Prayer of the Church. Some moan about their health, their living
conditions, their relatives, their friends, and fellow congregational
members. Like Adam and Eve, the Old Testament Israelites, and Jesus’
disciples, some even grumble against God Himself when they grumble about
what He has done or not done that disagrees with what they think should have
been done or not done.
The Jews at Jesus’ time grumbled about His righteous claim to be
the Messiah sent by God to rescue, redeem, and reconcile mankind. Their
grumbling denied His divine nature and mission. “This is characteristic of
man in search of spiritual truth. He wants to do something for a sense of
achievement that satisfies his pride. But Jesus required only faith in
Himself as the sent one.”
You see, “This made the time opportune for Jesus to say outright
that He was the Bread of Life. The need for faith was again underlined.
They must understand that Jesus Himself had come to do the Father’s will.
It was His will that everyone who believes on the Son should have eternal
life. Unless He drew them to Himself they would never come. It is
difficult for men to recognize their own inability to come to God. Jesus
nonetheless demanded nothing less than such recognition.” (Donald Guthrie in
Jesus the Messiah: An Illustrated Life of Christ. Copyright © 1972 by The
Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids, MI. Page 157.)
We today are specially blessed by God with accurate hindsight. As
we look back in the pages of the Spirit-inspired Holy Scriptures, we
recognize Jesus as the Lamb of God … the ultimate sacrifice that satisfied
God’s righteous anger against us because of our sinful rebellion against Him
who is our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. We see Jesus, who as our
Substitute lived for us the perfect life that we’re unable to do; endured
for us the penalty of physical and spiritual suffering and death that we
deserve because of our sins that include grumbling; and rose from the dead
for us thereby validating all His claims, teachings, and self-sacrifice as
good, right, and salutary.
Immanuel now feeds us heavenly health food bread for our souls in
the reading of God’s Holy Word, the declaration of Holy Absolution, the
blessed water of Holy Baptism, and the consecrated bread and wine of Holy
Communion. He does so with the liberating message that “Christ died for our
sins in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Cor 15:3 ESV); that “He is the
propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of
the whole world” (1 John 2:2 ESV); and that in Him “We have an advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1 John 2:1 ESV) Today’s Old
Testament Reading reported that, after two God-given nourishing meals,
Elijah “went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to
Horeb, the mount of God.” (1 Kings 19:8 ESV) In like manner, we travel
through this life to eternal glory with Jesus in heaven nourished by Him
with the written Word about Him and with His true body and true blood in the
Lord’s Supper.
The Reverend Rudolph F. Norden wrote in a devotion entitled
“Jesus, the Bread of Life”: “God avails Himself of the laws and forces of
nature, also of human resourcefulness and diligence, to provide daily bread
for the people. A case in point is hybrid corn, which scientists developed
to greatly increase the quantity and quality of corn. In the end the glory
belongs to God, for He created the basic materials with which scientists
work, and He gives people the health, strength, and brain power to do their
work.
“God does more than give us corn or grain from which we bake bread for
the body. For our souls He provides the bread of life. By His own
testimony Jesus is the bread, saying: ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes
to Me will never go hungry’ (John 6:35).” (Each Day with Jesus: Daily
Devotions through the Year. Copyright © 1994 Concordia Publishing House,
St. Louis, MO. Page 247.)
The simple summary is that …
“Jesus is the Heaven-sent Living Bread of Life.”
So heed what you heard in today’s Introit: “Oh, taste and see that
the Lord is good! Blessèd is the man who takes refuge in him!” (Ps 34:8
ESV) and constantly pray from today’s Collect that God would “Grant that
Christ, the bread of life, may live in us and we in Him.” As you do so, be
reminded by today’s Gradual to “Fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who
fear him lack nothing!” (Ps 34:9, alt. ESV)
And, as you daily pray the Lord’s Prayer give conscientious
consideration to the meaning and application of the Third Petition …
I. “Thy Will Be Done on Earth as It Is in Heaven.” (35b-40)
At the same time, be aware of and avoid the devil-designed trap
that …
II. People Who Deny the Divine Truth about Jesus Grumble about Him.
(41-47) In so doing, strive by the Holy Spirit’s power to shape your life
to reflect the direction contained in today’s Epistle Reading: “Therefore,
having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his
neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do
not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away
from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators
of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave
himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Eph 4:25-27,
31-32, 5:1-2 ESV)
God grant it all for the sake of Jesus Christ, His humble Son, our
holy Savior. [Amen.]
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
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