10th Sunday after Pentecost If you were able to bring back any four people from any period in history for a one-hour round-table discussion, who would you select? Years ago, Steve Allen had a series on PBS called Meeting of the Minds, which used actors portraying historical personages in a round-table discussion with him as host, that did this very thing. Some of you may remember that series. If I could bring back actual people from the past for such a round-table discussion, I would want the four evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I would be interested in hearing why each of them gave the particular identity to Jesus that they did. They all shared the early Christian belief of Jesus’ resurrection as reflected in the ancient post-resurrection statements of faith “Jesus lives” and “Jesus is Lord.” But I would be interested in why the particular portrait they each gave Jesus. For Matthew, it was Jesus the successor to Moses, fulfiller of the Law and bringer of a new law. For Mark, it was Jesus as the Suffering Servant of God. For Luke, it was Jesus as the universal savior. And for John, Jesus as the Word of God made flesh. It would be extremely interesting to ask John the Evangelist why his Gospel is so different from the other three. A prominent second-century Christian teacher named Clement of Alexandria called John’s Gospel the Spiritual Gospel. Contemporary theologian L. William Countryman states that possibly this was to capture the distinctive quality of this Gospel. Not long after, John the Evangelist became known as John the Theologos, meaning Divine or Theologian. And again according to Countryman, in antiquity, this term often meant mystic rather than an academic or professional theologian of today. If I were to ask Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John why they portrayed Jesus the way they did in their gospels, conceivably their response would be because that is the way they needed to feed their respective communities the mission, message, and identity of Jesus the Christ. On the first Sunday of Advent, generally the last Sunday of November, we begin a new cycle of worship known as a liturgical year. The Matthew, Mark, and Luke Gospels are given their own year for the entirety of their Gospel to be read within that year. John’s Gospel does not have its own year, but is read throughout the Season of Easter and often during Advent, Christmas, and Lent. From the 9th to 13th Sundays after Pentecost of Year B (Mark’s year), the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John is read in parts. Herein we find the story of the feeding of the 5,000 and what is called Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse. Today’s reading takes us to the day after the feeding of the 5,000. On that day, some of the crowd got into boats and went to Capernaum to find Jesus. Our reading begins when they meet him. Jesus realizes they are here not because they understand who he is but because, as Jesus says, “their stomachs are filled.” They marvel at what he has done and wonder what’s next. It is interesting that when Jesus speaks of the bread from heaven which is true bread, they respond much like the Samaritan woman at the well desiring the living water of which Jesus spoke. She said, “Sir, give me this water.” They ask, “Give us this bread always.” They also ask for a sign, but a sign has already been given to them in the feeding of the 5,000. We may ask if Jesus is being clear. His message is that he is the Bread of Life but is it bread that satisfies a certain hunger? What is that hunger? And do they have that hunger?
In the reading from Exodus, the hunger spoken of is truly a physical hunger. Having left the securities of slavery, they now face the uncertainties of freedom. Facing uncertainty is scary. Moses has encouraged them to face the uncertainties with a trust in God. In the continuation of this story, quail is provided for meat and manna for bread. They are fed and they are content –for the moment. The hunger Jesus offers to satisfy, what is it? For the first-century people who encountered Jesus, whether Jew or Samaritan, what was that hunger? For the Christian community of John the Evangelist composed of Christian Jews and Christian Gentiles around 90 CE for whom John wrote the Gospel, what was that hunger? For us today, what is the hunger that Jesus the Bread of Life satisfies? One hunger that exists is a hunger for meaning. We are part of a complex and yet marvelously wild and magnificent universe. Why? Many people worldwide understand this cosmos of ours as the result of an Ultimate Reality’s action. The Creator has brought all things into being. But why? The Christian tradition maintains that the love of God is why this reality exists. Jesus communicates in his teaching and actions, that God not only creates but also invites humankind to share in that love. Jesus shows us the way to interact with God and with one another. His life nourishes us in living our identity as beings made in the image of God. Within our tradition, we understand that being made in the image of God means we are free to make choices: to love, to create, to reason, and to live in harmony with creation and with God. Unfortunately, through so much of our lives, we do not see ourselves and each other as being made in the image of God crowned with glory and honor to use the words of the Psalmist. How different our world would be if we could truly believe that the meaning of our lives is to live out the love of God and neighbor throughout our lives. Jesus continues to be the Bread of Life to satisfy the hunger for meaning. Our lives mean that we are holy beings encouraged to manifest the love of God through our thoughts, words, and deeds. It is not an easy way to be and often we fail but we are encouraged to get up and continue following the example of the one who offers us his very self as example and nourishment. Holy Communion is such an offering of Jesus to help us re-establish our identities as beings made in the image of God. When I receive Communion and hear the words “Body of Christ, Bread of Heaven,” Inwardly, I say YES! Though outwardly it sounds like Amen! Whether you call him St. John the Evangelist, St. John the Theologian or the author of that truly different Gospel, John the Gospel Writer shares with us a portrait of Jesus that can truly feed our relationship with God. Amen.