“I AM the Bread of Life”
John 6:35

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Maundy Thursday—April 9, 2020

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

We continue our Lenten sermon series on the great “I AM” statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John:

“I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life”

“I AM the Door”

“I AM the Light of the World”

“I AM the Resurrection and the Life”

“I AM the True Vine”

“I AM the Good Shepherd”

For our Maundy Thursday meditation, we consider Jesus’ declaration in this evening’s Gospel Reading: “I AM the Bread of Life.”

In 1943, psychologist Abraham Maslow proposed a theory that has come to be known as “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.”  You may remember, as I do, being taught this theory in school.  It has become widely accepted, and has had an enormous impact on our society.

Maslow’s theory is that there is a natural progression of human needs, a hierarchy that is unchangeable and universal.  Most basic are physical needs, air, water, food.  Next comes our need for interaction and relationships with other humans.  Then comes our own self-esteem, self-actualization.  According to Maslow, it is only after all these many other needs have been satisfied that humans are free to then be concerned about spiritual matters, their relationship to God.

However, in today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus turns Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs on its head.  Jesus says our spiritual needs should not come last, but FIRST in priority.  The #1 need you have is not mere bread, but rather THE Bread of Life.

“Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.  When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, ‘Rabbi, when did you get here’”

The crowd in today’s Gospel Reading is composed some of the same people whom Jesus miraculously fed the day before, in the Feeding of the 5,000.  The purpose of that dramatic miracle was the same as all Jesus’ miracles: To prove that he is the promised Messiah. But, some of the 5,000 who were fed missed the point.  They didn’t care about the spiritual significance of this miracle.  All they cared about was free food.  Now, it’s the next day, they’re getting hungry, and they’re back for another helping.

“‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus answered, ‘you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life.”     

Jesus turns Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs on its head: “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life.”   Our spiritual needs should not come last, but FIRST in priority.  The #1 need you have is not mere bread, but rather the Bread of Life.

Paul says in Romans, “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator.”  This is really the fundamental sin, in your life putting created things ahead of the Creator himself.

In many parts of the world, almost every home has a pagan altar with the household idols that the family worships, prominently displayed as the central focus in the main living room.  There is a story of a visitor from such a country in the United States.  From his perspective, he observed that every home here also has a prominent idol.  Although different in size and shape, it is basically the same idol every home, with all the seating in the main living area focused on it.  And he noticed that the people here are very faithful, spending many hours each day worshipping this household idol we call “TV.”

In India, there is even a Hindu cult that actually worships cars as gods, with drive-in temples.  It seems so primitive to us, worshipping a car.  Of course, what do you suppose those people would think if they came here, and saw our attached garages—drive in temples, perhaps?—and the care and attention we often lavish on our cars?

We may not be so primitive and crass in our idol worship as to have a pagan altar with an actual idol to which we bow down.  But, whether it is TV, cars, houses, money, work, pleasure, ANY worldly thing we put ahead of God, we too have our idols.   We too often exchange the truth of God for a lie, and worship and serve created things rather than the Creator.  That was really the original sin of Adam and Eve, being so fixated on getting the apple, that they lost their relationship with the Creator of the apple. 

The proper place of things in our lives is a prominent part of Jesus’ teaching: “No one can serve two masters,” he said in the Sermon on the Mount.  “Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. . .  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Paul puts it this way in Colossians, “Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”  And in 1st Corinthians he tells us the proper perspective on worldly things, “From now on . . . those who use the things of the world should live as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.”

“Do not work for food that spoils,” Jesus tells the crowd in today’s Gospel Reading, “but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”  Jesus is telling them and you and me, “Look beyond your immediate, earthly needs, to your eternal, spiritual needs.” 

“What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?  Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

They are trying to get Jesus back to what they consider to be the #1 subject: lunch.  They are trying to coax out of Jesus another miracle of free food.  So, they recount Moses’ miracle of manna in the wilderness, and challenge Jesus: “Can you top this?”

Jesus reminds them of something they were overlooking: “Your forefathers ate manna and DIED”.  Even with a steady diet of manna from Moses, an entire generation, everyone who had originally left Egypt in the Exodus, had all died in the wilderness.

So it is with us.  For we too are on a journey, through the wilderness to the promised land, through the wilderness of this world to the promised land of heaven.  All the things of this world are only like the manna of old.  They indeed come down from heaven, as gifts and blessings from God.  But they are only temporary, only to sustain us for our journey through this world.  And even if gorge ourselves on manna, stuff our lives to overflowing with everything this world has to offer, without the Bread of Life we too will die in the wilderness and never enter the promise land.

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”  It is very sad that due to present circumstances we are unable to have Holy Communion this evening, I’m sure the first time in 150 years there hasn’t been Holy Communion here on Maundy Thursday. 

However, in these verses “eating” Jesus’ flesh and “drinking” his blood refers not only to Holy Communion.  “Eat” and “drink” in these verses is also a broader metaphor for faith in him.  To “eat” Jesus’ flesh and “drink” his blood in these verses means believing that he is God in the flesh, trusting that he shed his blood as a sacrifice which cleanses you from every sin.  “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”  Through faith in him, through trusting in his sacrifice for you, you receive forgiveness, you receive eternal life.

“Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”  That’s best Good News: This most wonderful treasure is GIVEN you as a free gift.  As the Lord says in Isaiah: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!  Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.”

“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. . .  This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.”

Feed on the Bread of Life!  Feed on the Bread of Life, by trusting in him as your Savior.  Feed on the Bread of Life, by taking comfort and assurance in who you are by virtue of your Baptism, born again as a child of God.  Feed on the Bread of Life, by hearing and reading and studying his Word.  And when we are able to celebrate the Sacrament again, feed on the Bread of Life in Holy Communion, in which he gives you his own body and blood to strengthen and preserve you steadfast in the true faith unto life everlasting.

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. . .  Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”  It’s no accident that in English we use “bread” as a slang word for money.  Throughout human history bread has been the most basic staple, and as Martin Luther explains in the Small Catechism “bread” is symbolic of “all the wants and needs of this life.”  But, as Jesus said, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

In GOD’S hierarchy, your spiritual needs do not come last, but first in priority.  For, the #1 need you have, and the #1 gift you receive from God, is not mere bread, but the Bread of Life.

Amen.