Published: Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009 / Updated: Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009 03:47 PM
The bread that satisfies
Jesus said, “I am the bread of Life...” John 6:35
As a child I remember visiting my great-grandmother – Big Mama – and helping her make biscuits. I'd mix flour, shortening and buttermilk to make the dough. Then I'd roll it out on a pastry board, cut the dough into out perfect rounds and lay them on a baking sheet. As the biscuits baked, the air filled with their hearty aroma and I became so hungry!
As Jesus taught, the Jews listened to his words, but they too were hungry. They needed food. We have a hard time appreciating this need. We just go to the grocery store when we're hungry. But food wasn't as abundant. People were often hungry. They had a memory of the abundance of the past – when the Israelites were in the wilderness with Moses and God sent manna – fine bread – to feed the people.
With this memory in mind, the people were always looking for God to do it again. When Jesus spoke, the people started hoping for a sign. They wondered if he would give them bread as Moses did.
Jesus knew that they were hungry for food. But he also knew that there was a greater hunger. Jesus knew that they needed the bread that truly satisfies. They hungered for the word and life of God. “I am the source of that life,” Jesus said. “I am the living bread of heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
We need this bread also. Like the Jews, we are hungry. Probably not physically hungry, but nonetheless, there is a void in our lives. Often we try to fill that void. We turn to a multitude of devices. For some it's power over others – maybe power over employees, or controlling family members. If only we can be in control, we think we will feel complete. Sometimes we try to fill the void with things. We think that if we just have enough money, or the right possessions, we will feel full and complete. But the truth is that nothing can make us feel complete – nothing can fill the void in life except God. The philosopher Blaine Paschal said, “Inside every person is a God-shaped vacuum which cannot be filled by the things that are created, but only by the creator.”
Like those first century Jews, we are hungry too.
Jesus says to us also, “I am the bread of life.” He knows our hunger and he longs to feed us with his word and with his life. We are fed as we focus on his words and actions, as we allow his life to speak to us today. We know his life as we pray. In prayer we allow God's Holy Spirit to direct and guide us today. Through prayer, we allow the life of God to live in and through us daily. And we experience the life of Christ – the bread of heaven – through the words and actions of others. Christ feeds and cares for us through them. We feast on the bread of heaven through their lives.
When we turn to Jesus, when we listen to him and allow his life to live in us, then Jesus gives us what we need for life. Our hunger is satisfied. Not with things that are created, but with the life of God. Jesus said, “I am the bread of heaven…” and when we eat this bread we will never be hungry again.
The Rev. Sally Franklin is pastor of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Fort Mill.
McClatchy Interactive is pleased to be able to offer its users the opportunity to make comments and hold conversations online. However, the interactive nature of the internet makes it impracticable for our staff to monitor each and every posting.
Since MIReference.com does not control user submitted statements, we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted on our website. In addition, we remind anyone interested in making an online comment that responsibility for statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not McClatchy Interactive.
If you find a comment offensive, clicking on exclamation icon will flag the comment for review by the administrators, we are counting on the good judgment of all our readers to help us.