Daily Bread from Heaven
Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15; Psalm 78:23-29; Ephesians 4:1-16; John 6:24-35
So it’s the morning after Jesus has fed the five thousand with a little bread and fish. At first the crowd wanted to make Jesus the king, and Jesus ran away. With Jesus absent, the disciples pack up the 12 baskets of leftovers and head back home, across the lake, and Jesus comes to join them walking on the water during the night. So morning dawns with Jesus and the disciples back in Capernaum, and the crowd back on the far shore of the lake still looking for Jesus.
Eventually, some of the crowd catches up with Jesus back in Capernaum, and they are puzzled. How did you get back here, Jesus? There was only one boat, and we saw your disciples leave in it without you. And Jesus replies strangely: “You’re not looking for me because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.”
I say this is a strange response because, to our modern ears, it sounds like Jesus is saying something like: “You’re just looking for another free lunch. You should be ashamed of yourselves for being such freeloaders.” Our culture definitely shames people who don’t pull their own weight – but Jesus never does this. And in fact Jesus actually taught us to pray and ask God: Give us today our daily bread! So there is no shame in asking to be given our daily bread. Then, why does Jesus have an issue with this question?
“You’re looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” Signs. John’s gospel never uses the word “miracle” to describe the things Jesus does – instead John calls them “signs.” Turning water to wine at Cana, healing the man born blind, raising Lazarus, and feeding the five thousand – all of these are called “signs,” because they point to something beyond themselves.
When John tells the story of the feeding of the five thousand, as we heard last Sunday, he makes a point of saying that Jesus distributed the five loaves and the two fish, and that the people ate “until they were satisfied.” Yesterday they were satisfied, but that was yesterday, today they are hungry again, so they return to Jesus hoping to be satisfied again. And I think what Jesus is telling them is: I was trying to show you how you can always be satisfied. And if you’ve come back for more bread, that tells me you didn’t understand the sign. You didn’t understand what I was trying to show you. So let’s talk about it.
OK then, the people say – what is the “food that endures to eternal life,” what is the sign really about? Show us, tell us, what are you trying to do? We know the stories about manna in the wilderness, how God gave our ancestors bread from heaven. Is that what you are talking about?
This story of manna in the wilderness, which we read a part of this morning, is one of the touchstone experiences that forms the identity of Israel. After the people were freed from slavery in Egypt, they set out for the Promised Land, and it took them forty years of wandering in the wilderness. It was sort of like Covid now – a few weeks of making progress, then a setback and things get complicated, and everyone got tired and frustrated and wondered whether they were actually making progress, whether it would ever be over.
And right from the beginning – immediately after they crossed the Red Sea, immediately after being delivered miraculously from the pursuing Egyptian armies, immediately after seeing God act decisively for their freedom, for their life, for their good and their safety, for their flourishing – immediately they say, But what are we going to eat? Moses, why did you lead us here to the wilderness to die of starvation? At least back in Egypt we had food to eat! What good is freedom if we don’t have anything to eat?
And God didn’t say: Quit your complaining and look at all that I’ve done for you already! Nor did God say, Hey, freedom isn’t free, sometimes you have to make sacrifices, man does not live by bread alone, suck it up and deal. No, God doesn’t say any of those things. God hears the complaining of the people and responds.
God provides manna in the desert because God knows that the trip from Egypt to the Promised Land, from bondage to freedom, from being ground under in a system of exploitation and dehumanization and death to living as a free people with respect and dignity for all – this is a difficult and scary journey, and there will be times when all of us find it just overwhelming. And so God provides sustenance for the way. Because otherwise we might get scared and want to run back.
You know, no other ancient people tells the story of their origin in this way. No modern people, either. Usually the story of origins is the story of heroes. So George Washington confessed to chopping down the cherry tree, he could not tell a lie. And maybe that’s even true. These are the kinds of stories most people tell about their founders – the founders were wise and far-sighted people of integrity and courage. But not the Bible – the Bible says our ancestors in faith were scared to death, lacked faith, and had to be dragged kicking and screaming out of Egypt.
And yet the Biblical story has the ring of truth to it – even when we know that God is for us and not against us, even when we know that God is leading us to a place where we will find life and joy and healing and community – God knows that faith is difficult, that trusting God’s grace can be scary, that we need constant reassurance of God’s provision so that we will allow God to lead us through the wilderness to the life that God has in store for us.
And the manna in the wilderness is a sign for a second reason. It’s not just a sign that God provides for us while we are being transformed by God’s grace – it is itself a sign of how that grace works. The manna is given freely – a free lunch is the only kind of meal God knows how to provide. It is enough for everyone and can’t be hoarded. It surprises us and we don’t really understand where it comes from. That’s why the Old Testament tradition calls manna “bread from heaven” – not because the taste was so good, but because it reflects the place where God’s will is already done, even before God’s will is completely done here on earth as it is in heaven.
So when the crowd mentions manna in the desert, Jesus affirms them. Yes, the manna in the desert is indeed the kind of sign that I’m talking about, Jesus says – the manna in the wilderness came from God. Not that it was a miracle – I’m sure there is a perfectly good scientific explanation for what it was and where it came from. But the manna points beyond itself to the God who was leading and sustaining the people through the wilderness, the God who is now leading all of us to a place of abundant life.
So this is the sign of the feeding of the five thousand too. It is a sign of the way that God continues to provide for us on the way, so that we can trust and have faith even when the way is confusing and dark and perhaps even overwhelming. And it is a sign of the community God is calling humanity to become – a community where all are fed and all live to the full. This is what Jesus wanted the crowd to see in the feeding of the five thousand – not just one free lunch for one day, but the free gift of God’s gracious care that satisfied and transforms us forever.
And so the crowd says, Sir, give us this bread always. And Jesus says, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
Now is Jesus himself the bread of life? This Jesus goes on to explain to the crowd, but we won’t read that part until next week. But for now we have this promise from Jesus: I am the gift of God that satisfies and gives life, I am the presence of God who cares for you and provides for your needs. This promise brings us together each Sunday around this table. Where we are fed and invited to trust ever more deeply in the God who calls us together, guides us on the way, and sends us out to share the promise and presence of God.