This scripture and words of Jesus are unmistakable in connecting Jesus as God and what we have come to know as the Second Person of the Holy Trinity… You remember in Exodus, prior to that monumental event…God identified Himself to Moses as the GREAT I AM. Here, Jesus is boldly stating: I AM the Bread of Life. The Person of Jesus in much on display in John’s gospel which is called by many the gospel of belief. Right in the middle of this passage John is teaching that the work that God requires is simply to believe in the one who God has sent…And that one who God has sent…is Jesus who is now saying: I AM the Bread of Life.

There is so much in the passage to reflect over and find application in our lives. But the greatest part is to identify Jesus as God’s provision for the world and to simply believe on Jesus as the only One who can sustain our lives and bring about something ETERNAL, beyond the passing elements of this world, even to the basics of our lives, such as bread or food.

The immediate context of this scripture is Jesus feeding the 5000. A sign or miracle that John is using to help his readers come to believe that Jesus is who is He says He is! Those 5000 people were in a place of need… they were hungry, some of them probably in great distress over not having enough food.

It is hard to imagine, being in a community of prosperity, with a restaurant on nearly every block, that hunger is a reality for some. I looked up some statistics on this regarding hunger in the US.

Overall: One in 8 households (12.8 percent) experienced food insecurity, or lack of access to an affordable, nutritious diet. This is in the US.

The Ten States Facing the Most Hunger
Mississippi, 15.3%
Louisiana, 15.2%
South Carolina, 14.5%
Oklahoma, 14.3%
West Virginia, 14.2%
Kentucky, 13.1%
Alabama, 12.4%
Missouri, 12.2%

I doubt any person here today has been in a situation where you were actually hungry or needing food to survive. It is interesting that we are here in a food pantry to provide for people in need. Further, many of us financially support of physically assist the Kidz Eatz program to provide food from children who are in need. Often hunger is “hidden in plain sight”. But the situation in this scripture was a very visible need.

In the context of this scripture, a multitude of people were following Jesus and let’s just say there were not enough resources to fill the need, especially to feed 5,000 people. So you had a doubly difficult problem. Too many people and not enough resources to feed them. I want you to note something of particular importance. Jesus saw the need and He was not going to send them away hungry. But Jesus looked at the disciples and then to the multitude and told the disciples to get them some food. The disciples had to be thinking…You can’t be serious. How in the world can we do this? How do you think we can feed all these people?

Of course, we know they found a boy with 5 loaves and 2 fish. They sat down to eat, and everyone was filled. They had 12 baskets leftover. Maybe that was to reinforce the point to the 12 Disciples! We really don’t know. The scene of the need for food reminds us of another epic event in the OT… It is actually referenced in verse 31.

Verse 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.

There are many parallels to this story and the event of God providing manna to the Israelites in the OT.

Recall with me this event in Exodus

The Israelites were wandering in the wilderness…a place where there is a scarcity of resources for food and water. You may remember that the people were very angry and murmuring to Moses. It came to a point where they were actually going to kill Moses by stoning him. They were thinking there was no way they could make it. How was there going to be enough food to feed all the people. It was an impossible situation. Of course, we know what happened. God rained down manna from heaven. Literal bread from heaven. What an amazing supply to provide for the people. Then when they got tired of eating manna, they asked for meat…And God brought quail in their camp.

I will never forget the testimony of Paul Cho, founder of the largest church in the world in S Korea. It started in a tent with a few people and has grown to an incredible number. Yoido Full Gospel Church based in Seoul, South Korea. In 1993, with 700,000 members, the Yoido Full Gospel Church, was the world’s largest congregation recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records.

But Cho asked an incredible question: How many quail do you think the children of Israel would have gotten if they had gone quail hunting? The answer of course, is a big “0”. He attributed the growth of the church to people praying. The answer is the same for the manna… it was a total provision from God, not something they could have provided. Back to this story in John…

In the context of the disciples trying to provide food for those 5,000 people…what could they have done to provide for them? Nothing! But here in the midst of that need was Jesus: Who identified himself as God…by stating I AM The Bread of Life! Jesus alone is the Manna from Heaven. Jesus alone is the only One who can save us. He is the Sustainer and of our world!

Another important point in this story is Jesus brinGing a fuller awareness to the motive for people following Him. He was very candid in his statement to the crowd in verses 26-27

“Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.

The crowds motivation for following Jesus was to get physical food. They had their bellies filled and were looking for another meal. Everybody is looking for a free meal, right? I mean wouldn’t you get in line if food was scarce and you knew where to find some food? Hey, even if I am not hungry, I would stand in line to get some free food!! But this is such a profound teaching that has tremendous application. If I were to ask you today and I am…

Why are you following Jesus? I hope it is not just because of what He gives you in terms of the physical stuff of life. I do not like a lot of prosperity theology today because it does proffer motivation in following Jesus because of the blessings that Jesus brings to us and wants to give us. But that is not what Jesus says here. Listen carefully and do not miss this:

Do not work for food that spoils but for food that endures to eternal life.

Let’s repeat that together: Do not work for food that spoils but for food that endures to eternal life. In another event in Jesus’ life speaking about food after Jesus spoke to the woman at the well his disciples were imploring Him to eat something. Jesus simply said:

My meat and drink is to do the will of My Father( John 4). He placed priority on the real manna from heaven.

Temptation was to turn the stone to bread…Jesus words were simply…Man does not live by bread alone. But every word that comes from God. The manna came from God. The food for the multitude came from God. The food that we have comes from God. IN the beatitudes Jesus said…

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness….

Our greater struggle is that we are not hungry…we have become full of junk food that we cannot eat the best food…We have filled up on the world that we miss the real bread of heaven.

Jesus told the woman at the well…If she drank the water He would give her…she would never thirst again. He said something similar here when He said… I Am the Bread of Life.

Like the woman at the well… “I was thirsting for the things in life that could not satisfy”.

My uncle had everything you could want in life. He had 2 homes. A nice boat. An RV. He could travel anywhere you could imagine or desire. But he was perhaps the most miserable man I have known. The relationships in his life were in shambles. And although he had a nominal faith…it was like the people searching for Jesus to get their bellies filled. He knew fully embraced Jesus…he only knew about Jesus.

Nicky Gumble, founder of the Alpha Series…noted these points in his session on WHO IS JESUS?

Prince Charles of England once spoke of his belief that, for all the advances of science, “There remains deep in the soul if I dare use that word, a persistent and unconscious anxiety that something is missing, some ingredient that makes life worth living.”

Bernard Levin, perhaps the most significant English columnist of this generation, once wrote about the void in his life, he said:

“Countries like ours are full of people who have all the material comforts they desire, together with such non-material blessings as a happy family, and yet lead lives of quiet, and at times noisy, desperation, understanding nothing but the fact that there is a hole inside them and that however much food and drink they pour into it, however many motor cars and television sets they stuff it with, however many well-balanced children and loyal friends they parade around the edges of it…it aches.”

ST Augustine said it so well… We are restless, forever restless and we will not rest, til we rest in God. There is only One Person who can fill the longing or the emptiness. Jesus stated it very clearly in verse 35

35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Friends as we come today to receive Holy Communion…I hope you will remember that you are receiving the REAL MANNA FROM HEAVEN. Come hungry and thirsty to receive from the ONLY ONE who is the BREAD OF LIFE.