31 Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave
them bread from heaven to eat. 32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you
the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven,
and giveth life unto the world. 34 Then
said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. 35 And Jesus
said unto them, I
am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that
believeth on me shall never thirst. 36 But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and
believe not. 37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
38 For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
(John 6:31-38)
The Eighth Sunday after
Trinity.
The Collect.
O
|
GOD, whose
never-failing providence ordereth all things both in heaven and earth; We
humbly beseech thee to put away from us all hurtful things, and to give us
those things which are profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The subject today of this parable is
not new to my readers. I have made reference many
times in other studies about that Bread that comes down from Heaven – that very
Bread of Life. However, I have not covered this topic primarily from the
standpoint of the entire exposition which Christ gives it here in these verses.
If we know not that Christ is our Bread, and how desperately we need that Bread
for our daily sustenance, we are indeed spiritually starving, and living in a
penurious destitution that leads to a constant atrophy of soul. Our physical
bodies have innate means to inform us of the need for physical bread. Our
stomach growls and demands that we eat – not tomorrow, or next week – but
immediately.
The malnutrition of the soul is more subtle because it does not reveal itself
in a physical manifestation. It is more subtle and subdued in its
appearance. The soul, if deprived of the daily Bread of Heaven, will actually
begin to wilt and die. There being no nerve system of the soul (except a keen
conscience) to alert the heart of the gradual death, the soul may decline in
its fervency and life juices until it has become as dead as it was ever before
it came first to taste that sweet Manna of God. The first organ of the soul to
fall victim to this malnutrition is the eye. No longer does the eye find the
beauty of God's Creation of great inspiration. The beauty of God in all of its
expressions becomes dull and unimportant to that eye. It no longer can see
clearly to read the Words of God because the soul's brain is also afflicted by
the want of Bread. It may even decline into spiritual Alzheimers. Next in
the natural decline of the soul is the ability of the soul's ear to hear the
beauty of nature and the Voice of that loving Redeemer who has continued to
make that Bread available even while we reject it for lack of appetite. He
remembers our souls even if they do not remember Him and have fallen away in
dullness of health and love. Failure to see God in His Word and to hear His
Voice calling us to return will result inexorably in spiritual anorexia. The
soul dies because it does not know that it is starving to death. It is at this
moment that the soul needs the miracle of Lazarus to have the Voice of Christ
penetrate the dead ears and stone-cold tomb and to quicken a heart that has
grown cold and moldy after a long famine of hearing the Word of the Lord.
31 Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it
is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. This assertion
of the multitudes that had followed Jesus from across Galilee to Capernaum
followed this earlier exchange: Then said they unto him, What shall we
do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them,
This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. They said
therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe
thee? what dost thou work? (John 6:28-30) Jesus clearly explains that
the works of God are a condition of the heart and not of the hands. The works
of God in our lives is not what we DO, but what we BELIEVE! And the ONE in whom
we believe makes all of the difference! Have we not seen enough miracles of God
in nature itself…in the birth of a newborn baby…in the budding of a red rose….in
the Lily of the Valleys? And what of the Bright and Morning Star that graces
the heavens with perfect regularity? The mountains of the Lord, His seas, His
verdant pasturelands….are these not signs enough?
Those who seek special signs and wonders beyond that which Christ has given in
His very death and resurrection are dead already to life. An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign;
and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For
as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son
of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matt 12:39-40) This SIGN has already been
given. Upon this Sign hangs all of our hopes for Salvation and Eternity with
God. We need no other. Or, perhaps you feel that this present generation is not
that "evil and adulterous generation?"
Please sober up and look at reality. There has never been a time in the history
of the United States, or the world, that nations have given the benefit of law
to abortions and homosexual marriages. Never has the murder rate and other
great crimes been so common.
32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the
true bread from heaven. This is a truth that we may not digest
without the words of Christ given in parable and metaphor. The people of Israel
wondered in the Wilderness. They were brought to that Wilderness as a means of
gaining liberty, not only of body, but of conscience as well. They needed
sustenance for their bodies. God gave them Manna from Heaven to sustain those
bodies. With God, the physical manifestation usually precedes the spiritual
one. We are told in Exodus 16 that the Children of Israel could only
gather Manna sufficient for the day. If they gathered more than their need, the
left-over Manna would sour and stink the next morning. This was true for every
day except that preceding the Sabbath, for on that day, they gathered
sufficient for the Sabbath as well so that no labor would be expended on the
Sabbath. Herein is an important lesson for our souls. We must gather of the
Bread of Heaven every day. We cannot read five chapters of the Bible one day
and fast from the Word for the next six days. We cannot eat enough bread today
to keep us from starving three days hence. Good health requires daily food for
both body and soul.
33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from
heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Do you now see distinctly what that Bread truly is? What is it
that has come down from Heaven and given us life? Do you remember these verses?
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made
by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life;
and the life was the light of men. (John 1:1-4) and And the Word
was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of
the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
Who is this Word? Aren't we told in the very first verse of John's Gospel? We
are even told in the first chapter of Genesis as well. It is the Lord Jesus
Christ! He is the Word! He is the Water of Life! He is the Bread of Heaven!
34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us
this bread. These dunces were blind to the gentle voice of God.
Amazingly, they still miss the point! Let us go easy on them for so have we oft
missed the point, too.
If we (or they) have further doubts (which would be unbelievable!), we have it
in the next verse spoken by Christ: 35 And Jesus
said unto them, I
am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that
believeth on me shall never thirst. Can there be any doubt of the Communion Bread and
its symbolic meaning to us at the Lord's Table? If we have taken Christ into
our hearts, not as a guest but as the Sovereign of our hearts, we have an
overflowing abundance of Bread for our souls. It is quite inexhaustible!
Have we "come" to Him – REALLY come to Him? Have we believed beyond
foolish whim? Have we believed with such faith that our hearts cannot be
shaken? If so, like the woman at a fateful Well of Jacob's without the gates of
Sychar, we shall never thirst again from that Water He has given us. If we have
been left alone face to face with the Master, we shall depart filled and
brimming over with that same love the woman taken in adultery felt at the
soothing words of the Stranger of Galilee. We, too, shall "Go and sin no more!" I do not recoil
at being taken red-handed in my sins. I count it an honor and privilege to have
been drawn, even by my enemies, before the only source of my salvation in
Christ as was that woman. These are two women I can love and admire after their
confrontation with the Lord of Life. I am privileged to have had the same
confrontation!
36 But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me,
and believe not. The conscience of Thomas no doubt stung at the
Words of Christ in reminding him that he had seen Christ and doubted. Thomas, because
thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and
yet have believed. (John
20:29) Whether we admit it or not, we have ALL seen Him. We have seen Him in
the heavens, in the evening dews and damps, in the full balance of life under
the Sun. We have seen Him in the innocence of a child's eyes, have we not?
Whose artful Hand, pray tell, painted the iridescent colors of the sunrise, the
petals of the Morning Glory or the daisy, the intricate color patterns of the
butterfly or the wings of the cardinal? Do you know HIM? Knowing all of the
sure mercies and beauties of God, how is it possible to doubt. Yet, some do
even as Thomas.
37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me;
and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Here is full
measure of comfort and joy to the Chosen of God! God the Father has given you
to Christ BEFORE ever you CAME to Him! Is this some variant of Calvinism? Not
at all, it is simple biblical truth! If Calvin said it, he simply stated
biblical truth in that case. The mystery of WHY or HOW we finally come we
will leave to Arminius and Calvin to settle when all mysteries shall be
revealed. Both will probably be taken by the surprise of truth. All that we can
know of the subject, presently and with certainty, is that which has been
revealed in God's Word. Theologians despise mystery. They are too proud to
admit that some mystery exists in Holy Scripture of which they are not fully qualified
to reveal. But they are wrong. Were there no mystery, there would be no
compelling curiosity – no amazement at the power of God.
Did you sneak up unawares and surprise Christ by choosing Him as Lord and
Savior? Ye
have not chosen me, but I have chosen you……(John 15:16) Do you
believe these words were offered for the benefit of the apostles only? What of
Paul's words to the Ephesians? According as he hath chosen us in him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame
before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved. (Eph 1:4-6 (KJV) When did you choose Christ? Did you
do so before the foundation of the world? Perhaps He actually chose you before
you chose Him since you may have missed the forming of the world. Did we become
`good enough' at His choosing us? No, not at all. Then how came we to be good
enough? "….he hath made us accepted in the beloved."
Oh, I see: perhaps it is by the imputed righteousness of Christ, our Redeemer
and Substitute, that we are viewed in righteousness by God! Isn't it a comfort
to know that you belong to Christ and, that in belonging to Him, you are secure
in your faith? Those who come to Him, He shall "in no wise cast out!"
38 For I came down from
heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. By what measure should we serve God? Do we serve by
intricate planning and labors, or do we simply seek His perfect will in ALL
that we do? Look at even the works of His Beloved Son, Jesus! He came not to do
His own will, but the will of the Father in Heaven. That is no new concept, is
it? Do we not pray the Lord's Prayer at every communal worship? We pray that
prayer because it IS a communal prayer in worship. It begins with
the possessive pronoun, OUR! Have we seriously considered the words, "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven?"
(Matt 6:10) or have we taken the Lord's name in vain by simply responding with
the words and not the meaning? In fact, EVERY prayer we utter should contain
that sentiment expressed. If we lived our lives according to our own will, what
provision would that hold for faith in God? Reader, have you eaten the Bread of
Heaven today? Have you sought, diligently, the will of God for your life? Do
you know Him and hold Him in your heart of hearts? You will know that you are
His chosen vessel if you have that burning desire to be so, and you will also
KNOW in your heart that He is there (for He fills that heart up with Love).
