Awe and Wonder*

*(John 6: 1-21), talk given at HTS 28th July 2024

Again, we have a reading that is often preached on. The feeding of the 5000 and walking on water – as recounted by John.

Consequently, I have heard so many different theories about how the feeding of the 5000 was accomplished.

These theories are spoken by supposed men of faith, and yet, what they all have in common is that they detract from the awesomeness of the miracle performed by Jesus.

I have said before (and will probably do so again) that we, mere mortals, try to explain away acts of God. We are so eager to know how something has been done that we make up theories to translate the unknowable, the un-understandable, the sheer magic if you like of God’s awesome power into something mundane as we falsely claim we know how it was achieved. Like explaining away all illusionist’s tricks as mere slight of hand. We can’t just accept the wonder – the miracle – for what it is.

A miracle!

The work of God!

An amazing gift from Him to us!

We don’t need to know how it was achieved – not if we have faith and believe. It should be enough for us just to know that God did it – God provided!

God did not ignore the pleas made on behalf of His people. Instead He provided what was needed and a lot more besides.

No one went hungry. Everyone ate their fill. And yet 12 baskets of bread remained at the end of the feast.

12 baskets of bread
12 tribes of Israel
12 Apostles

Whilst you think about that for a moment; let me mention some more parallels that are at work here.

The Passover, a major festival in the Jewish calendar remembering when the Angel of Death passed over the houses of the Israelites the night before they, in a mass exodus, followed Moses out of Egypt into the Wilderness, where God provided for them with another miracle – manna – bread from heaven.

Moses, the foreteller of the plagues of Egypt, leading a crowd through a Wilderness where God provides them with the food they need each day. Moses, who went up a mountain to speak to God in peace and solitude away from the crowd.

Jesus, instead of foretelling plagues upon Egypt, provided healing in abundance. The crowd followed Him, drawn to Him by the signs they witnessed. Jesus was leading a crowd. John just tells us that they were the other side of the Sea of Galilee. The lack of a specific place name for where this significant event takes place puts it in parallel with Moses leading the Israelites through the Wilderness.

Jesus leads a crowd through the Wilderness. With the power given to Him by God His Father, Jesus provides bread in abundance. This acts as confirmation to the crowd that Jesus is from God. He sees what is in their minds and, knowing God’s plan knows that becoming the warrior king the crowd wanted was not how God wanted Him to save the world. Jesus goes up a mountain to speak with God in solitude away from the crowd.

As is a common thread through John’s Gospel; this passage is about who Jesus us and about proclaiming Jesus’s greatness. John does this by recounting this event in such a way that we see these parallels.

Both Moses and Jesus enabled their multitudes to have food in the Wilderness. However, it is the difference that is important here.

Moses asked God where to get food for the people. He didn’t know and asked God genuinely. Moses needed to rely on God. God provided, in abundance, food for His people. When Jesus asked Philip ‘where will we get bread for the people’ it was actually a rhetorical question. Jesus already knew what He was going to do. Jesus, the Son of God with the power of God, already knew that He Himself would perform a miracle providing food in abundance for the people.

John claims Jesus is testing Philip – and this is possible. The Jews knew the Scriptures in great depth. It is possible, therefore, that Jesus wanted to see whether the disciples knew enough about who He was, and is, and to see if they remembered the manna from heaven and would realise that in a similar way Jesus would be providing for His people.

We cannot second guess God, but what we do know is that if that was the case Philip failed. And not only Philip.

Like many today, Philip could only focus on how much it would cost to find a ‘shop’ and buy bread and Andrew could only focus on how little the supplies were.

And likewise, if Jesus tests us in a similar way, do we truly acknowledge that He will provide, or, do we fail the test by focussing on cost and resources?

Jesus fed His people. He took the loaves, gave thanks and distributed it to the people. And here we have the next important difference highlighting Jesus’s greatness.

If the Israelites collected more manna than they needed and tried to store it then the manna perished. When the disciples gathered the leftovers so that none would be wasted there were 12 baskets of good food leftover. Proof of the abundance Jesus provides for those who truly put their faith in and rely on Him.

The crowd see Jesus as a prophet sent from God. It is possible they may have seen Him as a second Moses.

But regardless of how the crowd saw Him, Jesus is more than just a prophet. He is the Son of God.

And in case we had any more doubts, like many passages in the Bible, like the Trinity, we have a third significant difference highlighting who Jesus is, His greatness and His power.

When the Israelites reached the Red Sea, Moses had to rely on God to part the waters so that he could lead the Israelites across on dry land.

When the disciples were crossing the sea in a boat, Jesus needed no such help. Jesus, God’s Son, with power over creation, walked on the water to the boat and immediately they all reach shore.

Jesus walked across the surface of the water as Lord and Master, revealing Himself to His disciples using His name – the name God revealed to Moses – I Am.

Moses is considered to be God’s greatest prophet and lawgiver. But Jesus is God. Jesus is mightier. Jesus is more.

Whoever you see as that Moses equivalent – be it as prophet or leader …

Jesus is greater
Jesus is the one who provides
Jesus is more

Let us see Jesus for who He really is. Let us fully put our faith and trust in Him. Let us fully rely on Him and allow Him to provide for us. Let us not continue to fail the test as Philip and Andrew did. Let us be ever thankful to God for HIs great grace, abundance and mercy. Amen.

Cake

Cake is really the simplest thing to bake. Obviously I am talking about really basic cake (like what I bake) and not the really amazing designs you can buy from experts for special occasions.

It follows the basic rule of three (like The Holy Trinity):

150g butter (3×50g)
150g sugar (3×50g)
150g self raising flour (3×50g)
3 eggs (3×1)

Mix it up and bake in the oven till cooked – yum yum yum.

So with cake being so popular in today’s society, if Jesus came to us today, what if He said “I am the cake of life” instead of “I am the bread of life”?

Would it have the same effect? Would it have the same meaning? Would it be more popular?

Okay, so we know that unless someone really hates cake the likelihood is that it would definitely be more popular. The thought of being able to live on cake is certainly popular around here.

But Jesus wasn’t trying to win a popularity contest. He came to save us. And if we are honest, if we want to be healthy, we can’t actually just eat cake (sadly). We have to accept that we must eat healthy food to live. So cake goes back to being bread and for this we are thankful as the sacrifice of Jesus and God’s forgiveness saves us from spiritual death. Trust in God and He will provide for us and sustain us.

“Don’t You Think She Looks Tired?”

Those Doctor Who aficionados in the room will recognise that quote. There is a point! The Doctor brings down the Prime Minister with just those words because she made one mistake. But, and here’s the thing, when the Earth was moved and was out of phase and they needed The Doctor to save them, it was that same person who gathered his old companions and helpers and found a way to show how to find the Earth and who then sacrificed herself.

The Doctor had judged her on one mistake and didn’t see past that to what she was capable of and who she really was.

The Jews in the Gospel reading (John 6:41–58) knew Jesus as Mary and Joseph’s son, as a man in their small community. They rejected Him. They did not believe. Pride prevented them from seeing Him as anything other than a poor lowly man and stopped them seeing who He really was – the Son of God – the one from God.

We likewise make assumptions about others. We put them in little boxes instead of seeing them with open hearts and minds, instead of seeing who they really are and what they will achieve.

So do we see Jesus as the Bread of Life? As the one who will sustain us?

Jesus said “I AM the Bread of Life”.

“I AM”.

These two words tell us precisely who Jesus is. We don’t need anything else. We are left in no doubt about who Jesus is.

“I AM” – the covenant name for God (Yahweh) in the Old Testament, a name for God that the Jews were very familiar with. The Jews, well versed in the Scriptures, knew precisely who Jesus was claiming to be.

But Jesus is also taking His miracle of the day before, providing actual bread, to the next level – the spiritual level. “I am the living bread that came down from heaven…The bread I will give to you is my flesh which I give so the world might live”.

Jesus is the incarnation of God who came down from heaven. He, like bread, is essential to life. Our Spiritual life, our Spiritual nourishment, renewed in our sacrament of Holy Communion.

Dying on the cross to save and forgive us and rising to new life. Just as, when we believe, our old life dies and we are raised to new life with Christ.

A repeated thread throughout the Scriptures is man’s desire for righteousness with God, a desire for eternity and to earn our way to heaven.

Jesus says those who believe in Him will never hunger or thirst. He is referring to our spiritual hunger.

By believing in Him and having faith in Him and His sacrifice for us on the cross, where He takes our sins and atones for them, He does what no one else can and feeds our spiritual hunger allowing us to be right with God.

The very moment a sinner believes in Jesus he is justified, welcomed, loved and accepted with no condemnation. He has peace with God instantly.

However, knowledge is nothing if you don’t believe! Knowing that Jesus died on the cross for us is not enough to save us. We have nothing if we do not believe in Him. The point now to be considered is whether we do actually believe.

“He that believes has everlasting life but he that does not believe will not see life” (John 3:36).

So let us believe and allow Jesus to be in our hearts, sustaining us as our Bread of Life.