Following the signs

Jock Stein September 28, 2023 2 1

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John 6: 28-40 (NRSVA)

28 Then they said to him, ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’ 29 Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’ 30 So they said to him, ‘What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”’ 32 Then Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ 34 They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’

35 Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; 38 for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.’

John’s Gospel has been called a book of signs. They all point to Jesus. Here Jesus goes back to the Old Testament for a story which is a sign, the story of the manna given in the wilderness. He quotes Psalms 78: 24 and 105: 40, bread from heaven indeed, to whet their appetite. And when they say, ‘Yes, give us this bread, always!’ he gives this verse 35 which has nourished millions of his followers in every age and place, ‘I am the bread of life . . .’

But not everyone. Here we have the mystery of unbelief, the crazy possibility of hearing about Jesus, even seeing him, and failing to trust him. And also the mystery of faith, that it is on the one hand the gift of God, and on the other our free choice (verse 37).

There is a song, ‘You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains’, a song written by Brendan Graham. It’s popular and accessible in a world of many religions, because it can refer to a human being or a God. And believers can have the best of both worlds here, since indeed we stand on the shoulders of many who have gone before us, whether Moses as in verse 32 or any other great person. And applied to Jesus, it foreshadows the last day, the eternal life of which Jesus speaks in verse 40.

PRAY:

Lord Jesus, your Father’s will is so big and so wonderful, it embraces all time and all space, and yet so intimate and so personal that it touches us right where we are. You will lose nothing that God has given you, held in the mystery of who you are, introducing us to the Father, working among us by the Spirit.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, Amen.