“I am the Bread of Life.” (John 6:35)
Prop: a puppy or kitten; recipe for barley flat bread
I have with me a little friend today [allow for the oohs and aahs]. Who would like to come and pet him?
I know last Sunday was World Animal Sunday. But every Sunday should be World Animal Sunday, our pets are such an important part of our families.
[No rushing, give people time … especially children to come up front or walk about the congregation with him….allowing people to see him and touch him. Consider letting the kids come up front and sit with the pet(s) during your sermon. While they’re getting settled and having fun with the animals, you might do a “Did you know?” litany like this ..]
[Did you know that the first images humans represented and painted on their walls were of . . animals?
Did you know that in Asian cultures you read the “roofs” to tell the importance of the person? For example, the more animals on the roof the more important the building and the people living there?
Did you know that animals used to live in the roofs? For most of human history, houses had thatched roofs--thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained, it became slippery, and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying, "It's raining cats and dogs." There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.
Did you know that some people subscribe to the notion that animals are superior to or happier than humans? It’s a philosophy called “theriophily.” Can you say that? “Theriophily.”]
[Face the entire congregation, continuing to allow people to pet the puppy. Hold him up for all to see.]
Did you know a lot of nursing homes have added to their staff resident pets? Studies have proven that caring for a pet, even just seeing one, touching one, lowers the heart rate, elevates the spirit, and gives a sense of calm and well-being.
Those of you with pets, when you’re afraid or sick or nervous, what happens? Your pet is right there beside you. Your pet is sensing your pain, feeling your grief along with you. Many a pet will guard anxiously until you are feeling yourself again.
Here’s a commercial from Argentina that speaks to this, with a little twist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nySUhtaf2QQ
You could say in a way that pets are one of our chief “soul foods.” They nourish our spirit. They give us hope. They feel warm, loving, soft, and they somehow for us represent all that is good in life, don’t they?
Soul food.
When Jesus lost John the Baptist, he was deep in mourning. He went across the lake to a deserted place to be alone in his grief. As Vance Havner used to put it, Jesus would often “come apart so he wouldn’t come apart.”
But people from everywhere had heard about what had happened. They could not leave him alone, and they followed him. Matthew tells us they followed Jesus, because they heard about John’s death. John tells us, they just wanted to be healed. Either way, they kept him company in his grief.
Their presence actually aided in Jesus’ recovery from his mourning. Jesus was distracted from his grief, having compassion on them (as it reads in Matthew), and began to teach and heal them.
Jesus’ “deserted place” where he went to heal his wounds must have felt something like the “desert” of his soul at that time. Not only was his ministry rooted in John’s, with many of his disciples coming from John’s circles. But John was his first cousin. We see in the Scriptures how Jesus defends John’s ministry, his habits and his oddities. In more than one way, Jesus is close to John. And his head on a platter is a blow.
It’s probably a blow too, because it’s an omen of his own fate. John didn’t push the envelope half as much as Jesus did. Jesus knows what is coming also for him, and he is preparing himself for the inevitable. When the crowds gather around him, consoling him perhaps, offering their sympathy perhaps, perhaps just providing him company in his time of grief, perhaps “sitting shiva” with him in a sense during his sorrow, he reaches out to them, and he heals and teaches them.
The power of touch.
The power of touch for the soul, the power of embodied relationship for the heart, the power of Christbody community, can never be underestimated.
If you have ever served in a soup kitchen, or any facility that feeds and houses the homeless, recovering addicts and alcoholics, you probably can tell similar stories to the one that I’m going to tell next. The hungry and homeless would listen politely to a sermon and scripture, sing hymns, and then they would be invited in to the dining area, where they would be fed a meal, enough to fill them. They would sit at their tables and eat with each other. But all too often the servers would remain in the kitchen.
More than one time, when I was serving in such a ministry, I had to ask those in the kitchen to go out and sit with our guests. Reluctant at first, eventually they did, men, women, and children. Coming up to one man, who had just delivered his tray to the sidebar, I went up and smiled at him, said hello and reached out to hug him. The astonished look on his face stunned me. I realized, he was not used to anyone addressing him, especially not with a smile, and for someone to want to touch him was a shock. It had been so long since he had been able to receive a smile, a touch, a respectful conversation that it almost brought him to tears.
The power of relationship. The power of touch.
Visit a nursing home, and you see the same thing. People who are starved for touch, starved for attention, starved for a little conversation. When I speak at a nursing home, I try to do a time of laying on of hands, a healing time, a gathered prayer time, in which the community is holding hands. These times are so powerful, because touch is “soul food.”
God tells us first through Moses that no one lives by bread alone, but by God’s “Word” or “Truth”-–a no-hiding relationship with God, a hands-outstretched relationship where God’s touch is upon our lives, a life lived within God’s ordinances, being close to Jesus (see Deut 8:3).
When Jesus distributes food to those people who come to comfort him in our story today, he does not feed them mere bread and fish. Bread and fish become messianic metaphors-–Jesus IS the messiah who will feed them with the “Word” of God –the presence of God, the glory of God, the hope of God’s salvation and restoration.
The scripture today is what we call an eschatological passage. It indicates what is to come. John tells us, Jesus spoke to the people about God’s coming kingdom. And then he fed them with the same “bread” and “sea quail” or “fish” that God did in the Exodus story. All of this takes place nearing the time of Passover, when the story of the Exodus is told. In fact, the Jewish tradition calls the coming kingdom the “new exodus!” Jesus IS the messianic Bread, and he demonstrates the power of God in feeding God’s people with the symbols of the kingdom to come.
Soul food.
What kind of food is in your diet? Are you content with the mere “fast foods” of life? The “eat and run” version of relationship? That may get you by, but it won’t get you the “soul food” you need to flourish in your faith, and nourish others with God’s love.
When you soak in God’s love, when you are in relationship with Jesus deeply and lovingly, you experience even more joy than petting this puppy, even more comfort than holding a pet close to you when you feel sad. When you know Jesus, in all his fullness and glory, you will be filled with all you need.
God’s love is all comforting, all nourishing, all uplifting, all sustaining.
And it’s as simple as petting this puppy. There are so many ways you can be close to God. You can experience the closeness of God when you accept God’s gifts and partake of God’s “soul food.” Scripture, prayer, communion, spending time with Jesus –every experience of God is an experience that fills you with the joy and comfort of the coming kingdom.
In the scripture for today, Jesus feeds God’s people barley loaves and fish –both messianic symbols letting us know that Jesus IS our hope and our gateway to God. Jesus IS the Bread of Life –filling us with God’s love and mercy, so that we too can take our place at God’s heavenly banquet.
The feast is a time of thanksgiving, a time of recognizing our dependence on God’s providence, a time of celebration, for the kingdom has come into our midst today!
Does your soul hunger for the love of God today? Are you ready to prepare for God’s “soul food?”
I have here today a very special recipe. It’s is a recipe for Barley Flat Bread. I share it with all of you today in hopes it will remind you that only in God will your soul find its nourishment. Not by bread alone can you live, but by the “Word” of God.
[Hand out the recipe …or have it in their bulletins.]
1 t active dry yeast (the zeal for sharing Jesus’ message)
¼ c warm water (the waters of your baptism)
1 c milk (the hope of the coming kingdom)
½ t baking soda (God’s ordinances)
2 c barley flour (the promise of God’s blessings)
½ t salt (a little bit of faith)
½ c seeds (God’s Word planted within you)
3 T olive oil (the anointing of the Spirit)
Honey if desired (the sweet love of Jesus)
Dissolve your “zeal” for Jesus into the waters of your baptism.
Meanwhile stir the hope of the coming kingdom with a loyalty to God’s ordinances.
Combine the promise of God’s blessings with a little bit of faith.
Then add the first two mixtures into the third.
Toss in the seeds of God’s Word –the Son, and add the sweet love of Jesus.
Knead deeply 10 minutes in order to allow God to enfold the Holy Spirit within you.
Cover with plastic wrap and allow Jesus to work within you –let the Spirit rise 2 hours.
Divide into 8 portions (as Jesus did before he fed the multitudes).
Roll into balls and flatten. Let sit again 20 minutes ….and then marinate in Jesus’ love and glory.
Heat a griddle, add olive oil, and cook each flat bread several minutes each side until well done.
I promise –your transfiguration in Jesus will leave you fulfilled, sated, and wanting for nothing more.
What are the words of the psalm?
“The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want. ….[allow them to continue to say the psalm with you.]
*The photo for this sermon was taken from the article, “Israel: Seven Species” by Dr. Marcellino D’Ambrosio, http://einron.hubpages.com/hub/israelsevenspeciesbarley
Based on the Story Lectionary
Major Text
Matthew’s Witness to Jesus’ Feeding of 5000 People
Mark’s Witness to Jesus’ Feeding of 5000 People
Luke’s Witness to Jesus’ Feeding of 5000 People
John’s Witness to Jesus’ Feeding of 5000 People
Minor Text
God’s Feeding of Manna and Quail in the Wilderness through Moses (Exodus 16)
God’s Promise of Abundance and the Call for Faithfulness (Deuteronomy 8)
Elisha’s Feeding of the Multitude of People with Bread from First Fruits (2 Kings 2:42-44)
The Story of Ruth (the Barley Harvest)
Psalm 23: God’s Provision
Psalm 72: The King Has Come
Psalm 80: Prayer for Restoration
Jeremiah’s Prophecy of Restoration (Jeremiah 31:10-14)
Ezekiel’s Prophecy of Restoration (Ezekiel 36:29)
Joel’s Prophecy of Restoration (Joel 2:18-19)
The Apocalyptic Apocryphal Book of Baruch: The Prophecy of the Messiah and Feasting from Leviathan (29-30)
The Apocryphal Book of 2 Esdras 6:49-52: The Prophecy of God’s Provision From Leviathan
Matthew’s Witness to Jesus’ Feeding of 5000 People
[Now when Jesus heard about John the Baptist’s murder], he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.
When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick.
When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”
Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”
They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.”
And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.
Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full.
And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
[Later in Matthew, Jesus would feed 4,000 people in a similar way with seven loaves and two fish, yielding enough for seven baskets left.]
Mark’s Witness to Jesus’ Feeding of 5,000 People
[Mark’s witness is similar to Matthew’s, except that the disciples note it would cost about two hundred denarii worth of bread to feed the crowd. Mark also tells us that Jesus divided the people into groups of hundreds and fifties as they sat down on the grass to be fed. Mark tells us that those who ate were five thousand men. Mark doesn’t mention the additional women and children.]
Luke’s Witness to Jesus’ Feeding of 5,000 People
[In Luke’s account, we learn that the deserted place he withdrew to was in the region of Bethsaida. Luke also tells us, Jesus spoke to them about the kingdom of God, in addition to healing them. Luke says, Jesus told the disciples to sit the people in groups of about fifty.]
John’s Witness to Jesus’ Feeding of 5,000 People
[John tells the story a bit differently. He doesn’t mention John the Baptist’s death, but notes that after a confrontation with the Pharisees about his authority, he goes on to the other side of the lake, the crowds following him.
John notes that Jesus ended his confrontation with the Pharisees with these words:
“I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God?
Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”
[Jesus’ reference to Moses precedes in John’s Witness the Feeding of the 5000, which theologically points to the Exodus story.
John also tells us explicitly that the feeding occurred on a mountain at a time close to Passover (the time of the Barley Harvest). He mentions in addition that six months wages wouldn’t even scratch the surface of feeding a crowd this size. Also in John’s witness, the loaves and fishes come from a boy in the crowd. At the end of John’s witness, the crowd believes Jesus is the coming messiah, but they do not understand what that means.]
After this, Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick.
Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near.
When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?”
He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.
Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.”
One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?”
Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all.
Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.
When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets.
When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”
When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
Image Exegesis: God’s Banquet of Abundance
Not by bread alone does one live, but by the Word of God shall humankind live.
(Deuteronomy 8:3)
Two metaphors stand out in this story about Jesus. Bread. And fish. And so we begin our exegesis today by looking at bread and fish.
Bread: bread, eaten and made, has been the staple of society for over 6,000 years. It was an everyday need in Jesus’ time. It represents therefore life and sustenance. It provides nourishment. It fills. It sates.
Bread can be made with or without yeast. The “bread” of the Jews was most times “matza,” unleavened (yeastless) bread. Most of this kind of bread was made from barley. Barley was very popular in Jesus’ day, particularly among the Greeks. It could be of various qualities, the barley of the poor containing the most chaff. Barley was one of the gifts of the promised land.
Metaphorically, bread is also a symbol for God’s sustenance and sovereignty, for God’s providence and protection, gifts and salvation. Wholesome bread is the symbol of truth and of life.
Bread from heaven (manna) was sent providentially from God during the Exodus with Moses representing God’s provision for the people –and their salvation into the promised land.
When Jesus provides (multiplies) bread, it is a messianic symbol of God’s restoration and promise. It is an eschatological sign that God’s kingdom had come, and all people would be fed, and abundance would follow for all God’s faithful.
Bread also provides community, and a social bond. For the Jewish people in particular, bread is broken together, and thanks is given for God’s gift of a good harvest.
The area was filled with grain fields. Beth(lehem), the house of bread in Hebrew, was the place of birth of the Messiah –the Bread of Life.
When the people are finished eating, Jesus’ disciples gather up 12 remaining baskets of bread crumbs. 12 is also the number of loaves put out for the bread of presence at the temple. The act therefore that Jesus performs is also a ritual of thanks to God, and a sign that he is the High Priest as well as Son of God.
God’s promise throughout scripture is to feed his people. Jesus fulfills that promise with God’s words (his teaching of scripture and healing power).
In Jesus’ time, any kind of food can be one’s daily “bread.” It means sustenance. When Jesus “feeds” the people with him, he feeds them not just physical elements, but the Spirit of God. He feeds them the knowledge and love of God, sustains their faith, uplifts them into salvation (health).
Bread can be stale or fresh. Jesus provides enough bread for all. Whereas in the exodus, the manna grows inedible after one day, Jesus has 12 baskets overflowing at the end when everyone has eaten (5,000 men…plus women and children!). God’s “New Exodus” will be full of abundance. People will not just have their daily bread, but more than they can imagine!
The multiplication of the bread is a symbol also of God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply.” Similar to Jesus’ parable of the yeast or the mustard seed, the proliferation of the bread to all of God’s people shows the supernatural power of God to care for and save his downtrodden people. It is a sign that the creation story is being reversed. The kingdom is coming, and soon all will have plenty!
Fish: The metaphor of fish is an interesting one as well. Fish are born of water from the depths of the sea and represent also “fertility” and multiplication. Fish multiply rapidly. The fact that they “multiply” here shows the “organic” nature of God’s power. Jesus’ acts of God’s glory are not past and stale, but present and mighty! God is present in the here and now, and can do works of wonder in our everyday lives, even in the midst of a wilderness of grief!
The fish from the deep is also a creature that goes back to the time of creation. It is the “fruit” of the sea from which God created dry land.
Fish in the Torah represents the Jewish people themselves, and here Jesus’ multiplying followers.
Later, the ichthys would represent Jesus himself.
The fish is a creature of the water—from which all are baptized. The people who have a “thirst for the Torah” will be as “little fishes.” For fish cannot live without water. A follower without the Torah is like a fish out of water. God’s people cannot merely live on physical sustenance, but they require the Word of God, the presence and relationship with God, the ordinances and joy of God in order to survive this world and the next.
God’s descendents are like these fish. They will multiply, breathing in the sustenance of the Spirit (the waters of baptism).
Similarly, when Jacob blessed Joseph’s sons, he likened their descendents to “fish.”
Fish are protected by the sea, just as we are protected by God through out baptism and our dependence on God.
The deep of the sea is also likened to the “hidden Torah.” As we plunge deeply into relationship with God, the secrets of God’s kingdom are revealed to us (similarly to what Jonah experienced within the fish, where he was harbored).
At the end times, God’s revelations will be revealed to the righteous. They will “embody” the Torah (as they consume the fish). In a sense, in partaking of the fish, they were “swallowing God’s Word so that it could take root within them.” They “ate up” everything Jesus said to them voraciously and eagerly.
The Jewish sages in Jesus’ time said that in the future, God would feed the righteous from the flesh of Leviathan. The fish is also the symbol of the Messiah himself. In fact, nun, the 14th letter of the Hebrew alphabet in Aramaic also means fish. Leviathan will be fed to the righteous at the messianic banquet in Jewish eschatology. One of the names of Messiah in fact is dag, “fish.”
Interesting about the fish is that where the bread of Jesus in the gospel is compared to the manna of the wilderness, the fish can also be compared to the quail in the wilderness. Oddly, the “quail” are described in Numbers as having been “brought up from the sea” (Numbers 11:31). In other sources as well, the quails are sea creatures, something like a fish. Just as the people were fed both in the Exodus and also by Elisha, Jesus multiplies the fish, so that there would be plenty for all to eat.
Loaves and Fishes: Jesus started out with 5 loaves and 2 fish. The 5 loaves perhaps represent the bread of the Torah. The 2 fish, the two fish mentioned in Jewish eschatology, one of which is Leviathan and the other Behemoth.
Jesus begins with thanksgiving, and then breaks the loaves, recognizing God’s hand in all things. The barley cakes may be an offering for the spring harvest –the barley festival, which comes just before the Passover time. It is the time when the first grains are ready in early spring. The Jewish feasts continue until Sukkot (the ingathering) in the fall.
Without God’s blessing, the food would be wasted. With God’s blessing, not only is the food made more sustaining, but it multiplies. For the Word of God can bring something out of nothing! This is the lesson of creation. God gives life where there was none. Where God says, “let there be…”, Jesus commands also that where there is little, there now would be plenty.
God promises us “a land where you can eat bread without scarcity.” (Deut 8:9)
Whereas in earlier scriptures, the metaphor of bread is used as a threat (lev 26:26, ps 80), now it is the time of God’s favor. This is the scripture that Jesus read at the synagogue in Nazareth. The year of the Lord’s favor has come.
Jesus’ eschatological banquet is for all people. Just as Moses did long ago in the wilderness (as would be told in the upcoming Passover story), Jesus arranges the people in groups of about 50 in order that they may be fed. Eating of God’s bounty is a communal affair. It is the “New Exodus” with all of the sacramental and ritual that this may entail.
Sitting within a wilderness place, hungry and thirsty for God’s rescue and salvation, Jesus, the Messiah, provides.
Afterward, we learn from John, the people truly believed! So much that they wanted to make Jesus king. Like sheep that Jesus feeds in the flock, we may trust the Saviour, but sometimes, even then, we cannot understand who he is, until the final moment of truth.
“You who are hungry come to the table and eat,” Jesus tells us.
Fish, bread enough for all at Jesus’ eternal table.