August 2, 2009 - Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

The Lessons Appointed for Use on the

Sunday closest to August 3
Proper 13
Year B
RCL

Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15
Psalm 78:23-29
Ephesians 4:1-16
John 6:24-35

The Collect

Let your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend your Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without your help, protect and govern it always by your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


Old Testament

Exodus 16:2-4,9-15

The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger."

Then the LORD said to Moses, "I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not."

Then Moses said to Aaron, "Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, `Draw near to the LORD, for he has heard your complaining.'" And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. The LORD spoke to Moses and said, "I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, `At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.'"

In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, "It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat."

The Psalm
Psalm 78:23-29 Page 696, BCP

Attendite, popule

23
So he commanded the clouds above *
and opened the doors of heaven.

24
He rained down manna upon them to eat *
and gave them grain from heaven.

25
So mortals ate the bread of angels; *
he provided for them food enough.

26
He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens *
and led out the south wind by his might.

27
He rained down flesh upon them like dust *
and winged birds like the sand of the sea.

28
He let it fall in the midst of their camp *
and round about their dwellings.

29
So they ate and were well filled, *
for he gave them what they craved.




Ephesians 4:1-16

I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it is said,

"When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive;
he gave gifts to his people."

(When it says, "He ascended," what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love.


John 6:24-35

The next day, when the people who remained after the feeding of the five thousand saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal." Then they said to him, "What must we do to perform the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." So they said to him, "What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, `He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Then Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always."

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."


EXEGESIS:

VERSES 22-23: THE CONTEXT


21Then (the disciples) wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going. 22The next day the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there. They also saw that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23Then some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.


This chapter opens with the feeding of the five thousand (vv. 1-15) and continues with Jesus walking on the water (vv. 16-21) and the crowd realizing that Jesus has departed (vv. 22-23).

Verses 21-23 are draw attention to a miracle that speaks to Jesus' identity. In the "walking on water" miracle, Jesus came to the disciples in their boat and they wanted him to get into the boat, but "immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going" (v. 21) –– the implication being that Jesus never did get in the boat –– that he made his journey across the sea from beginning to end on foot.

Then the narrator adds that the crowd realized that there had been only one boat and that Jesus had not gotten in it.

These facts constitute essential background for the question that the crowd will pose to Jesus in verse 25.


VERSES 24-27: RABBI, WHEN DID YOU COME HERE?

24So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

25When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?"


In verse 1, Jesus "went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee" –– presumably the eastern side. Then in verse 16, the disciples "got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum," on the northwestern side. They rowed three or four miles, nearly across the lake, when Jesus walked on water to join them. After he did so, "the boat reached the land toward which they were going" (v. 21).

"So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus" (v. 24). Surely only a few of the five thousand people actually cross the sea in their small boats. This verse doesn't tell us why the crowd is seeking Jesus, but the last time we saw them, they were trying to make Jesus king (v. 15).

Finding Jesus, they ask, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" (v. 25). Much of this Gospel can be understood on two levels, and that is true of this question. The crowd means to ask only about the manner by which Jesus transported himself to Capernaum, but we learned in verses 22-23 that the crowd had noticed that there was only one boat and that Jesus had not gotten into it. Jesus got there by walking on the water –– a miracle that speaks to his identity as the Son of God (Ridderbos, 223).

And this Gospel has already told us that "the Word became flesh and lived among us" (1:14). The incarnation is the more profound answer to the question of when Jesus came here.


VERSES 26-27: DO NOT WORK FOR THE FOOD THAT PERISHES

26Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal."


Jesus ignores their question and rebukes them for their superficial interest. "Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves" (v. 26). "Instead of seeing in the bread the sign, they had seen in the sign only the bread" (Lange, quoted in Morris, 317). In its hierarchy of needs, the crowd is focused at stomach-level rather than spirit-level. At the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus satisfied their physical hunger, and now they are looking for more of the same.

The meeting of physical needs never loses its appeal. "If (God) will give us loaves and fishes, better houses, shorter hours, bigger wages, gadgets to lessen work and add to our leisure, ...we will follow him for (these things). But who wants his spiritual gifts? What would we do with them? What difference would they make?" (Gossip, 563).

"Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you" (v. 27a). Jesus challenges the crowd to raise their eyes to see beyond the physical realm. Earlier he said of himself, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work" (4:34). Now he challenges the crowd to join him on his spiritual journey. We first heard these words, "perish" and "eternal life" in 3:16, where Jesus speaks of God loving the world and giving the Son "so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life."

Jesus is not saying that physical needs are unimportant. Elsewhere he speaks of food, drink, and clothing, assuring his listeners that "your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things," and promising that, if they will seek first God's kingdom and his righteousness, "all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:32-33). Much of Jesus' earthly ministry is focused on healing people's physical ills. But now he calls the crowd to acknowledge their need for "food that endures for eternal life" –– promising that the Son of Man will give them that food.

The people addressed Jesus as rabbi (v. 25), but he refers to himself as "the Son of Man" (v. 27). He could refer to himself as Messiah, but that word would raise expectations that he has no intention of fulfilling. People expect the Messiah to drive out the Romans and to make Israel great once again, but that is not the focus of Jesus' ministry. The phrase, Son of Man, carries less political baggage and, in this Gospel, "is increasingly laden…with associations of revelation brought from heaven to earth" (Carson, 284).

"For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal" (v. 27b). A seal authenticates authorship or ownership. An official uses a signet ring with a distinctive design to stamp an impression in wax on a document. Such a seal gives the document official status, just as a signature does today. The bearer of such a document would be accorded the respect due the person who sealed it. God the Father has set his seal on the Son, who acts as his emissary from heaven to earth (1:51; 3:13). Jesus does not tell us when this sealing took place, but perhaps it took place at his baptism, when the Spirit descended on him (1:33) and a voice from heaven said, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased" (Mark 1:11).


VERSES 28-29: THIS IS THE WORK OF GOD, THAT YOU BELIEVE

28Then they said to him, "What must we do to perform the works (Greek: erga ––plural) of God?" 29Jesus answered them, "This is the work (Greek: ergon –– singular) of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."


"What must we do to perform the works (plural) of God?" (v. 28). Every since the giving of Torah law at Mount Sinai (Exodus 20 ff.) the Jewish people have accepted obedience to the law as the approved way of serving God. Torah law is complex, however, and it sounds as if this crowd is asking Jesus to point them to the heart of the law –– in much the same way that the young ruler will ask, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" (Luke 18:18). Understanding the law to be complex, they do not ask Jesus to summarize it in one commandment, as one of the scribes will do (Mark 12:28) –– although Jesus will later do just that (13:34; 15:12 –– see also Mark 12:30-31, where Jesus summarizes the law in two commandments). Instead, this crowd asks Jesus to identify the works (plural) –– the truly critical laws –– so that they might focus their attention on those. They are asking Jesus for a faithful guide through the maze of laws and commentary that lies at the center of their religious practice.

In the Synoptics, Jesus summarizes the law for his listeners (Mark 12:29-31), but here he directs them away from the law and toward himself. "This is the work (singular) of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent" (v. 29). While the crowd seemed confident that they could perform whatever works that Jesus might identify as critical, the fact is that obedience to the law is fraught with failure. As Paul put it, "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate" (Romans 7:15). Our spirits are willing, but our flesh is weak (Mark 14:38). By inviting the crowd to believe in him, Jesus provides an achievable alternative to the Sisyphean task of law-keeping. Paul stated much the same idea in these words: "For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law" (Romans 3:28).


VERSES 30-31: WHAT SIGN ARE YOU GOING TO GIVE US?

30So they said to him, "What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? 31Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.' "


"What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing?" (v. 30). Signs have been part of human life from the very beginning when God set a bow in the clouds as a sign of the covenant that God would never destroy the earth by flood again (Genesis 9:12 ff.), God has employed signs of various kinds –– symbols or miracles that point beyond themselves to something greater. Thus circumcision is a sign of the covenant (Genesis 17:11). The unleavened bread of the Passover is a sign to remind Israel of the salvation that God afforded them in Egypt (Exodus 13:9). The sabbath is a sign (Exodus 31:13, 17). God expected the Israelites to respond to signs and wonders by believing, and was disappointed when they failed to do so (Numbers 14:11, 22; Deuteronomy 4:34).

The Exodus from Egypt and its accompanying miracles served as the greatest sign of all (Joshua 24:17). Particular signs included Aaron's miraculous rod (Exodus 7:8-13) –– the various plagues (Exodus 7:14 –– 12:32) –– the Passover (Exodus 12) –– pillars of cloud and fire (Exodus 13:17-22) –– crossing the Red Sea (Exodus 14) –– bitter water made sweet (Exodus 15:22-26) –– manna from heaven (Exodus 16) –– and water from a rock (Exodus 17). These miracles not only saved Israel, but also served as signs to authenticate Moses' leadership and to point to God's love and special provision for Israel.

This crowd recognizes the radical nature of Jesus' invitation and demands assurance that he has authority to advocate such a sweeping departure from their traditional religious practice. They want a sign to authenticate him as God's prophet. For twelve centuries, they have observed Torah law –– Mosaic law –– God-given law –– as the way to please God and to assure their own salvation. For centuries, their rabbis have devoted their best efforts to applying the law to every situation. Throughout Israel's history, God has called Israel again and again to faithful observance of the law, and has called prophets to help them to understand it.

Now this thirty-something-year-old uncredentialed product of an undistinguished father and an even less distinguished town is suggesting that they abandon their long-held allegiance to the law and stake their lives on him. No wonder they want to authenticate his authority in some unmistakable, compelling way! To follow him otherwise would be the height of recklessness. However, the crowd seems to have lost sight of the fact that Jesus has just now authenticated his Godly connection by feeding five thousand (or more) people with a boy's lunch!

"Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat' " (v. 31). They ask for a sign (v. 30), and cite manna as the kind of sign that they expect (v. 31). They quote scripture, but imprecisely –– "He gave them bread from heaven to eat" (v. 31) is an amalgam of several scriptures (Exodus 16:4; Nehemiah 9:15; Psalms 78:24; 105:40). Moses' gift of manna authenticated his status as prophet. If Jesus expects this crowd to accept him as a Moses-like prophet, he must give them a Moses-like sign. They have seen false prophets come and go, and want rock-solid proof that Jesus is not one of them.

Their demand represents the response of ordinary people faced with a new situation. Jesus has thrown them off-center, and they are struggling to regain their balance. So they establish the criterion that Jesus must meet if they are to believe, and establish themselves as judge and jury. "Show us a sign, we will see, we will weigh the evidence, we will draw conclusions, and we might even decide to believe" (Craddock, 367).

Their vision seems astonishingly myopic, given that Jesus has just fed the five thousand (or perhaps ten or twenty thousand including women and children) with a few loaves and fishes (vv. 1-15), but Jesus' miracle pales when compared to Moses' miracle. Jesus fed a few thousand people on one occasion; Moses fed the whole nation every day for forty years. Jesus gave the crowd ordinary bread; Moses gave Israel bread from heaven. The crowd has seen Jesus perform a miracle, but now they raise the bar to demand that he match Moses' miracle.

There is a lesson here for us. We, too, suffer from spiritual myopia. Wonderful things happen in our presence every day, but we fail to see them or take them for granted. Martin Luther observed:

"God's wonderful works which happen daily are lightly esteemed,
not because they are of no import
but because they happen so constantly and without interruption.
Man is used to the miracle that God rules the world and upholds all creation,
and because things daily run their appointed course, it seems insignificant,
and no man thinks it worth his while to meditate upon it
and to regard it as God's wonderful work,
and yet it is a greater wonder
than that Christ fed five thousand men with five loaves
and made wine from water."

God feeds billions daily, but we take notice only when we miss a meal –– or when the feeding takes place under dramatic circumstances. We, too, say, "Give us a sign, Jesus. Do something spectacular, so we can believe in you." Sometimes we even present Jesus with trivial tests –– "Find me a parking place, Jesus, and then I will believe."


VERSES 32-34: THE BREAD OF GOD GIVES LIFE TO THE WORLD

32Then Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." 34They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always."


Jesus makes a half-dozen points here:

• It was God, not Moses, who gave the manna (v. 32).

• The manna was not the true bread from heaven (v. 32), but was "at most a type of the true bread that God, who is in a unique sense Jesus' Father, now gives" (Smith, 153).

• It isn't that the Father "gave" (past tense), but that the Father "gives" (present tense) (v. 32).

• The bread of God is incarnational –– comes down from heaven (v. 32). That is in keeping with the Prologue of this Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth" (1:1, 14).

• The bread of God gives life (v. 33). The manna sustained physical life, but the true bread of God gives eternal life (see 3:16).

• The scope of the life-giving "bread from heaven" is broad, embracing the whole world (v. 33; 3:16). Manna gave life to the Israelites, but only temporarily –– the wilderness Israelites died centuries earlier. The true bread of life gives eternal life –– and gives it to the whole world –– not just to Israel.

The crowd responds, "Sir, give us this bread always" (v. 34). Their answer parallels that of the Samaritan woman, who said, "Sir, give me this water" (4:15a). Both sound as if they are asking Jesus for a spiritual gift, but the Samaritan woman added, "so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water" (4:15b). Her understanding was only superficial. We suspect that the same is true of this crowd.


VERSE 35: I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE

35Jesus said to them, "I am (Greek: ego eimi) the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.


The crowd failed to understand when Jesus spoke of "the bread of God (that) comes down from heaven and gives life to the world" (v. 33), so Jesus makes his meaning clear. "I am the bread of life," he says (v. 35a).

This is the first of a series of "I AM" (Greek: ego eimi) sayings in this Gospel that remind us of the burning bush story. When Moses asked God his name, God replied, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'I AM has sent me to you' " (Exodus 3:14). "I am," of course, can be simple self-identification, but in John's Gospel it clearly means more. The "I AM" sayings in this Gospel are as follows:

• "Ego eimi he" (4:26)
• "Ego eimi the bread of life" (6:35).
• "Ego eimi the living bread" (6:51).
• "Ego eimi the light of the world" (8:12; 9:5).
• "Before Abraham was, Ego eimi" (8:58).
• "Ego eimi the door of the sheep" (10:7).
• "Ego eimi the door" (10:9).
• "Ego eimi the good shepherd" (10:11).
• "Ego eimi the resurrection and the life" (11:25).
• "Ego eimi the way, the truth, and the life" (14:6).
• "Ego eimi the true vine" (15:1).

"The 'I am' sayings form the distinctive core of Jesus' language of self-revelation in the Fourth Gospel…. Through these common symbols, Jesus declares that people's religious needs and human longings are met in him" (O'Day, 601).

"Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty" (v. 35b). "According to Deut. 8.3, the manna had been given as an object lesson in order that Israel should 'understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord'. The latter clause clearly has in view the Torah in particular.... Philo makes a similar connection...of the manna as a type of Wisdom... or of the Logos.... Now as the divine revealer and giver of the life of the age to come, Jesus claims to fulfil and surpass what Torah, Wisdom and the Logos would have signified for first-century Judaism. This central claim of the discourse relates back both to v. 27 and to v. 31. The food which remains for eternal life and the bread given from heaven are both to be found in Jesus, who is the bread of life" (Lincoln, 228-229).

Jesus' comments will elicit complaints from "the Jews," who will say, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" (v. 42). We should not wonder that they complain. "A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said wouldn't be a great moral teacher. He'd either be a lunatic –– on the level with a man who says he's a poached egg –– or else he'd be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse" (C. S. Lewis, The Case for Christianity).

Paul speaks of the offense (Greek: skandalon –– stumbling block) of the cross (Galatians 5:11), and the cross is surely a skandalon to anyone who expects God to behave in keeping with his stature. But the incarnation is also a skandalon –– perhaps an even greater skandalon.


THOUGHT PROVOKERS:

Who worships God as God, God hears.
But he who worships God for worldly goods, worships not God;
he worships what he worships God for
and employs God as his servant.

Meister Eckhart

* * * * * * * * * *

Don't forget until too late
that the business of life is not business,
but living.

B.C. Forbes,
founder of Forbes, a magazine about business

* * * * * * * * * *

For a small living, men run a great way;
for eternal life, many will scarce move a single foot from the ground.

Thomas à Kempis

* * * * * * * * * *

Pity the nation whose factory chimneys
rise higher than her church spires.

John Kelman

* * * * * * * * * *

I have often thought that if Hollywood stars
have any God-given role to play in our society
it is to teach us that happiness, satisfaction in life, has nothing to do with fun.
These rich, beautiful and celebrated individuals
do indeed have constant access to what they desire ––
glamorous parties, fancy cars, expensive homes, luxurious vacations,
a steady supply of attractive sex partners,
invitations to exciting sporting and theatrical events.
And yet in memoir after memoir,
many of these celebrities reveal the unhappiness hidden beneath all the fun:
depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, broken marriages,
troubled children, profound loneliness.
We should feel greatly indebted to all the Hollywood stars
who have written about their sad lives.
If we could only learn from their experiences....

Dennis Prager

* * * * * * * * * *

Richard Niell Donovan, SermonWriter.com

The Bible texts of the Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel lessons are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the USA, and used by permission.

The Collects, Psalms and Canticles are from the Book of Common Prayer, 1979.