Some children wrote letters to their pastor:

Dear Pastor, I know God loves everybody but He never met my sister. Yours sincerely, Arnold. Age 8, Nashville.

Dear Pastor, Please say in your sermon that Peter Peterson has been a good boy all week. I am Peter Peterson. Sincerely, Pete. Age 9, Phoenix

Dear Pastor, My father should be a minister. Every day he gives us a sermon about something. Robert Anderson, age 11

Dear Pastor, I''m sorry I can''t leave more money in the plate, but my father didn''t give me a raise in my allowance. Could you have a sermon about a raise in my allowance? Love, Patty. Age 10, New Haven

Dear Pastor, My mother is very religious. She goes to play bingo at church every week even if she has a cold. Yours truly, Annette. Age 9, Albany

Dear Pastor, I would like to go to heaven someday because I know my brother won''t be there. Stephen. Age 8, Chicago

Dear Pastor, I think a lot more people would come to your church if you moved it to Disneyland. Loreen. Age 9, Tacoma

Dear Pastor, I liked your sermon where you said that good health is more important than money but I still want a raise in my allowance. Sincerely, Eleanor, Age 12, Sarasota

Let''s deal with Elinor''s letter for a moment. What is really important in our lives? What is it that is more important than money? Fifteen hundred years ago, Isaiah the prophet asked one of life''s most profound questions: "Why spend money on what is not bread," he wrote, "and your labor on what does not satisfy?" Pretty good question. Then he added: "Listen, listen to me and eat what is good."

At the Last Supper Jesus took a loaf of bread and blessed, and broke it; and he gave to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." (Mat 26:26)

This is the first of seven messages on the great "I am" statements from the gospel of John, plus one more on Christ as the source of living water. Our text today is the bold claim that Christ made when he said, "I am the bread of life." He said it four times in chapter six--verses 35, 41, 48, and 51.

Bread is a good word. Bread is a word we use a lot around the church house. Bread is important to life.  It is a universal food for our bodies. You can go around the world and some sort of bread is found in every culture. We have Italian bread, New York rye, Matzah crackers, scones, white bread, whole wheat, English muffins, etc. In years past, even prisoners in jails were entitled to at least bread and water. Jesus knew the needs of the human body. Remember, he hungered and thirsted in the wilderness. He grew up in a Jewish home where his mother, Mary, as part of her daily routine made bread. He used bread in the Passover meal. He fed 5,000 people bread because he had compassion on them. He would not permit them to go home hungry. Throughout history bread has been central to human existence.

Immediately after fighting had stopped in World War II, American soldiers gathered up many hungry and homeless children and placed them in tent cities. Many of them were malnourished and in need of medical care. The soldiers shared their bread with them. However, the soldiers noticed the children were afraid to go to sleep at night. One of the soldiers tried an experiment after dinner--he gave the children a piece of bread to hold. The result was astounding. When they had the security of bread for tomorrow they slept like babies. It took away fear.

Bread! There is a surplus of meaning in this word. The word evokes strong emotions like security, fellowship, the presence of God, provisions for the journey. Bread is deemed holy by peoples everywhere, and the root word for bread in most languages can be translated "food," as it is in the Bible. 

People invest the word bread with special meaning and even with religious significance. For the Jews, bread was a symbol of the Torah, the Law and God''s covenant with His people. The word bread has amazing powers.

Abraham Maslow developed a theory which he called a hierarchy of needs. What he said in essence was that the physical needs of our bodies are among our most powerful drives. Unless these needs are satisfied, we probably will not search in earnest for satisfaction of our higher needs--like love and achievement. Jesus realized this. People must have their physical needs met.

However, he knew that there is a deeper hunger in life which also must be met and satisfied. There is bread (with a small b)--and then there is Bread (with a capital B). It is that tension between bread (little "b") and Bread (big "B") that we find in our text today. It is a very real tension--and to understand that tension--we must see it in the context of the gospel of John. 

Earlier in the chapter, Jesus had fed the five thousand. What a marvelous, unbelievable miracle! Five thousand men--plus an unknown number of women and children--were fed from a small lunch. All four gospels record this miracle. What an impression it left. The biblical text says that bread was multiplied in Jesus'' hands. The crowd went crazy at this occurrence and wanted to name Jesus king--but he refused, and retreated to be alone with his disciples. And it was during that time that Jesus walked on water.

Guess how the people responded to these amazing events? When Jesus began to talk about Bread with a capital B, they asked of Jesus, "Can you give us a sign?" Here Jesus had fed 5,000 people and walked across water and they wanted a sign! Talk about being locked into the temporal dimension of life and not being able to see the large picture. That is why this story can be set squarely in the midst of our modern world. Not one thing has changed! We modern people love the spectacular just as first century persons did.

The disciples wanted to send the people away. However, Jesus cared for the people and all of their needs. He sees the immediate needs of their stomachs, but he knows they also have a deeper hunger. And that''s true today, as well. Social action and evangelism go hand-in-hand. 

Perhaps some of you remember the famous line that came from the lips of Marie Antoinette. It was during the French Revolution, when the common people were crying out for help in front of the palace, that Queen Marie Antoinette said in an indifferent voice, "Let them eat cake." 

That is how the upper crust of society has always dealt with those on the bottom--with indifference and disgust. Jesus, on the other hand, lay aside his royalty--his divinity--and became a servant in order to meet the needs of his subjects. Jesus is a different kind of king. So with loving compassion he provides bread for the crowd.

In verse 25 we see when the people get to the other side of the lake--after they had been lovingly cared for--Jesus moves the question to a deeper level. Jesus ignores their questions about when and how he got there and proceeds to tell them why they really came to seek him. Notice that he says there are two kinds of bread in the world: that which lasts and that which does not. It is far better, he concludes, to work for the bread that endures. But the problem with most of us is that we are working for the kind that doesn''t last--mere bread, bread that''s temporary.

If Jesus came only to satisfy our physical needs and appetites, then the world could be redeemed by the Pillsbury Dough Boy and the makers of Wonder bread. Jesus was concerned for our physical needs. Not many Messiahs are concerned about such common things. However, Jesus intended the symbol and substance of physical earthly bread to direct us to the spiritual--and the hunger for meaning, purpose and fulfillment. 

Carl Jung, one of our century''s greatest psychiatrists, has said that the central neurosis of our age is emptiness. Humanity''s problem is a spiritual problem. In this story, we see the answer Jesus gives to that need.

Jesus is trying to help the people understand that everyone has a need for living Bread. They are like people sitting at a great feast and yet are famished because they are not taking advantage of the spiritual food that is before them. Jesus is trying to broaden their vision.

Someone wrote this verse:

Into this world to eat and to sleep,
And to know no reason why he was born,
Save to consume the corn,
Devour the cattle, flock and fish,
And leave behind an empty dish.

Jesus is trying to help them see that there is a need deep within their hearts. There''s a hunger that only God can fill. Every single person has that hunger. There is an empty place within your life and heart that only God can fill. You may not know what to call it. You may not be aware that it is there. You just know that something is wrong. The Rolling Stones captured this reality and expressed it in their song, "I Can''t Get No Satisfaction." You never can without God. Life is more than an empty dish.

Carlo Caretto in his outstanding Book, The God Who Comes, writes "Jesus is Life, and he knows his creature can do nothing without Him; He knows the child would die of hunger without bread. But our bread is God himself, and God gives Himself to us as food. Only eternal life can feed one who is destined for eternal life. The bread of earth can nourish us only for this finite earth--it can sustain us only as far as the frontier of the invisible. If we want to penetrate this frontier, the bread from our fields is not sufficient. If we want to march along the roads of the invisible, we must feed on bread from Heaven." This is Bread with a capital "B"--not a small "b."

So Jesus, in our lesson today, provides more than a meal--but a moment in which we can give ourselves to God. Without that--all the manna in the world can''t produce anything but a grumbling spirit. The struggle to discern what is significant and what is superficial is a constant struggle in every generation.

So, from Jesus we learn an important insight. In John 4:34 Jesus tells his disciples, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work." This is where the satisfaction and staying power comes from. The only work I know which can satisfy this inward hunger is the mission of building God''s kingdom revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. This is bread with a capital "B." People who adopt the philosophy of eat, drink, and be merry--usually are not merry or full of joy. This philosophy can only provide bread with a small "b." It will eventually lead to an empty dish and an empty life.

William Broyles, Jr., was senior editor of Newsweek Magazine. He lived in the heady world of power, intrigue and creativity. He spent every day on the phone and in the company of the most influential people in the world. He helped to determine the public perception of events that were shaping history. He made hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. He was the idol of everybody who knew him. Almost every door in the world was open to him. Yet, Broyles found it all increasingly empty. He awoke in the mornings with the taste of despair in his mouth. "There has to be more to life than this," he exclaimed. One day he cleaned out his desk--and walked away from it all. He learned what Isaiah said centuries ago: "Why spend your money on what is not bread and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me and eat what is good."

[For Holy Communion: At this table today God gives us living bread. We can be a different kind of people because we eat a different kind of bread.]