Here’s How to Enjoy the Bread of Life!

12th Sunday after Pentecost, 8/19/12
John 6:41-51

Here’s How to Enjoy the Bread of Life!
I. Put away your human reason.
II. Listen to God’s saving gospel.

Some foods are better when eaten a certain way. For instance, what do you eat with your French fries? The vast majority of people wouldn’t think of eating a French fry without ketchup on it.

And this Thanksgiving, how will you eat your pumpkin pie? Just plain? Or do you like a healthy serving of whipped cream on top?

Here’s a personal favorite. I can’t think of the last time I ate a toasted cheese sandwich plain. I like mine with jelly on it. Grape jelly if it’s available. Try it some time.

Speaking about sandwiches reminds me about bread. Again, I’m sure you don’t eat your bread plain. Most enjoy it with butter. If it’s an Italian bread, you might like to dip it in olive oil mixed with pepper or some other spice. Plain bread is OK, but it’s much better with something on it.

Today’s reading from John’s Gospel is another portion of our Savior’s Bread of Life discourse. Two weeks ago we heard how he fed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread and two small fish. The crowd was so pleased with him that they wanted to make him their earthly king, and use force if necessary. Jesus quickly took action to avoid such a thing. He was not here on earth to be their Bread King. He was here on earth to win their forgiveness and their salvation. He was here to establish an eternal, heavenly kingdom.

To become members of that kingdom, Jesus urged each and every one of these people to feed themselves on him as the Bread of Life. That was something these people had never considered before. They weren’t sure what that involved. So Jesus filled them in.

He wants all of us to do the same. That’s why we’re here this morning. To feed our faith on Jesus, the Bread of Life. We’re here to eat the Bread of Life. But what’s the best way to do that? Jesus tells us. Here’s how to enjoy the Bread of Life. Let’s listen to Jesus and find out.

Part I.

From the time a person enters elementary school until the end of their life, he or she will hear the following encouragement countless times, “Use your head! Think! Don’t be foolish!” And that’s good advice. When something goes wrong, when an unanticipated result occurs, when an accident happens, a common response is, “What were you thinking?” We may even wonder if the person was thinking at all. God gave each one of us a brain capable of astounding thought processes. He has placed learned people and gifted teachers in our lives. He has given us years of enriching life experiences. Not to draw on that wealth of knowledge as we make decisions is a deplorable waste. Failure to put our human reason to work is a travesty.

Unless we’re talking about the human reason of someone who doesn’t trust in Jesus to try to understand the saving truths of Jesus.

That was the situation confronting Jesus as he addressed this crowd of people. In the verses before our text, Jesus had claimed to be the Bread of Life and that he had come down from heaven. We know that to be true. Jesus is the eternal Son of God who left his home in heaven and came to this earth. He was born of the virgin Mary and came into this world in human flesh and blood. You and I nod our heads in agreement here with what Jesus says.

But not the people in this crowd. That was too much for them to take. They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?” Jesus was speaking to these people near the Sea of Galilee. The town of Nazareth where Jesus grew up was not far away. I’m sure these people were telling the truth when they said that they knew Joseph and Mary. They might have even been able to point to the house where Jesus spent his boyhood. Some of them may have grown up in Nazareth with Jesus. For them to hear Jesus say that he came down from heaven was preposterous. They knew him as the son of Joseph and Mary and that’s it.

And they held to that erroneous opinion in spite of everything they had seen and heard. Again, these people had witnessed Jesus performing miracles. He had healed those who were sick and injured right before their eyes. He had miraculously fed them just a day earlier. Most of the miracles Jesus performed during his 3-year ministry were done right in this region. But they rejected those signs. Their human reason told them that Jesus was just another great prophet, just another human being like themselves. The thought of feeding on Jesus as the Bread Life seemed like nonsense to them.

But that’s always the way it is with those who don’t trust in Jesus as their Savior. The truths about Jesus are nonsense to them. In one of his letters, St. Paul called the good news about Jesus foolishness to those who are perishing. Human reason wars against every supernatural act, especially when it comes to Jesus. It rejects everything from his virgin conception by the power of the Holy Spirit to his resurrection and ascension into heaven. And the saving truth that Jesus died for the sins of all people? That’s preposterous! What makes sense to human reason is this: If I am going to get right with God, I’ll have to do it myself.

But that’s not eating the Bread of Life. It’s not even coming to the table where the Bread of Life is available to be eaten. Human reason rejects it.

So here’s how to eat the Bread of Life. Put away your human reason.

Please note that I’m not telling you to stop using your human reason in every situation of life. I’m only telling you it can’t help you eat the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ. Martin Luther wrote, “I cannot by my own thinking or choosing believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to him.” Coming to faith in Jesus doesn’t involve my human reason. But with faith in Jesus, we believe so many saving truths that are against human reason—Jesus’ conception, his vicarious work as our Savior, his miracles, his resurrection, to name just a few. What comfort and peace those truths give us! And yet look how often our human reason causes us to doubt his truths for our lives. We know Jesus died for all our sins, yet guilt pains our hearts from time to time. We know his promise to give us strength to meet every situation of life, but we think this latest situation is too much for us. We know his truth to turn everything out for our good, but we just can’t see how he’s going to do that with this latest tragedy. Put your human reason away! Go back to what you know and believe about your Savior, who sacrificed his own life for you. That’s eating the Bread of Life while leaving your human reason behind.

Part II.

I mentioned Paul’s words about the gospel being foolishness to those who are perishing. But Paul doesn’t stop there. He goes on to say that the gospel is also God’s wisdom to us who have faith in Jesus. That faith comes solely through the gospel.

Jesus knew that. That’s why he didn’t try to reason with this crowd of people. You can’t use your human reason to come to faith. That’s what the gospel—the good news about Jesus—is for.

And so that’s what Jesus shares with them—one unreasonable statement of the gospel after another. First he told them, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.” Jesus quoted a passage from Isaiah to remind the people that only God can teach a person the saving truths about God. Sinful people don’t learn that on their own. God reveals his saving wisdom to us. That’s how we approach God, not by our own efforts, but by the power of God.

And why should the people there that day listen to Jesus speak about things that are unreasonable? Jesus told them, “No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father.” As the Son of God from eternity, Jesus has always existed with the Father. Everything the Father is and says and does, Jesus is and says and does. There is no more reliable source of information about the only true God. This information comes from Jesus who is God himself.

As such, there’s no comparison between Jesus and anything else. The people standing before Jesus recalled the miraculous manna that God supplied for their ancestors who wandered through the wilderness. But Jesus reminded them, “Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die.” Even feeding on miraculous manna didn’t prevent death.

Only Jesus, the Bread of Life, gives real life which is eternal life. Again, Jesus offered these people another gospel promise, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.” That’s why Jesus came to this earth—to win eternal life for us. He ended this portion of his discourse by telling the people that he will give his life for the salvation of every person in the world. Now that’s sweet gospel. That’s nourishing soul food!

Here’s how to enjoy the Bread of Life! Simply listen to God’s saving gospel.

I didn’t tell you anything new this morning. I hope you didn’t expect me to. There’s only one way to enjoy Jesus as the Bread of Life. There’s only one way to receive the forgiveness and eternal life he won for us when he suffered and died on Calvary’s cross. That’s listening to his saving good news. I can’t plead with you enough to do just that! Make listening to his gospel your highest priority! And enjoy! Enjoy the Bread of Life! Amen.