Princeton Presbyterian Church

Princeton Presbyterian Church (EPC) Sermon # 1684

May 4, 2025

John 6.22-40        Click here for audio worship.

Dr. Ed Pettus

(This is an extended outline, not a verbatim transcript.)

 

“The Bread of Life”

 

On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 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. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

 

• Remembering Five Loaves and Two Fish

 

Our reading today begins with the words, “On the next day…” It helps us when studying or reading passages from Scripture to know the context of our reading. What was the day before? Chapter 6 begins the day before and it is a major story in the life of Christ and the disciples and all who were present to eat a meal. It is the story of the feeding of the 5000. What makes this story amazing is that all they had to feed 5000 were five loaves of bread and two fish. Now, these were not world record size loaves or fish, just regular bread, probably unleavened, and two fish, at best a couple of pounds each. So, Jesus takes the loaves and fishes and ends up feeding all 5000+ people and has an abundance left over. Miracle. Amazing. Imagine being a part of this scene, in the crowd or somewhere close enough to Jesus to hear what He said and did...

Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted.”

Hospitality at is best! An amazing sight. But that is not all that happened on that day. In between the feeding of the 5000 and our passage today, which is the day after, is the miracle of Jesus walking on the water.

When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

We marvel at that event as well as the 5000 fed and we marvel even more that the people, and sometimes the disciples, are still in the dark on so many things after what they have seen and experienced in Christ. How could they possibly see so many wonders and signs and miracles and hear teaching that was more authoritative than any teacher ever heard and all the other marvels Jesus performed and still not have a clue as to what was going on before their very eyes and ears?

But you know, there are days when we might be in the same place, unable to grasp the vast wonder of Jesus Christ and who He is and what He has done. There are times when we miss the mark of gratitude for what Jesus has done. There may be days when we doubt and question and just do not get it. We look at the gospel stories that have become so familiar to us that we just think, “okay, that’s great. What else you got?” What we need is a renewed wonder and amazement about these narratives. We might ask ourselves how these stories shape how we conduct our lives and how we relate the gospel to others? How can we look upon the miracles of Jesus and stand in awe yet again?

 

 

• Bread

 

The 5000 fed and the reading for today are stories that include bread. When COVID was at its height, stores ran out of flour and yeast and other products related to bread baking, not to mention all the mass produced bread. I jumped on the bread baking tour a little bit during that time as well and have since taken it up more seriously in the past couple of years. I’ve had a love of bread, not just physical bread, but the theological and biblical bread that is throughout the stories of God and His people from manna in the wilderness to Jesus as the Bread of Life. I enjoy the process of sourdough in particular because it takes time and a living leaven and a particular process to make a nice sourdough loaf. One of the expert bakers has said that it can take a new baker up to a year to get it right! I’m still learning after two years.

Jesus said of the kingdom of God, “He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened” - Matthew 13.33. I think of the kingdom of heaven here are parallel to the gospel, as Jesus Himself ushering in the kingdom from the first time He said that the kingdom was at hand. The leaven of the gospel does something like leaven in flour, it permeates and transforms everything about us just as leaven does to dough. I like to think that baking bread has a connection to sharing the gospel in that we are seeking to pour the leaven of the gospel into the lives of others as it has been poured into us. Then our entire life is risen to new life just as the bread rises in the pan. I was trying to think of something to do with this along the lines of Jesus making Peter a fisher of men. How might we be bakers of men? Doesn’t work. But we can be like the woman who hid the leaven in the flour by telling others about Jesus until their hearts are risen to know the Bread of Life.

Bread is important in the Bible partly because it was a heavy staple food in biblical times. Still is today in many cultures. The Bible has much to say about bread and one of the particular themes is that we do not live by bread alone. The word “alone” implies that we do need bread, we need food, we need the physical nourishment, just not bread alone. That statement also could be shifted outside the realm of bread to say that we do not live by work alone, but by every call of God on our lives. We do not live by status alone, but by every joy of being a child of God. We do not live by our sexuality alone (male and female, by the way), but by the new creation we are in Jesus Christ. We do not live by education alone, but by the wisdom of God. We do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. All things in our lives have their place, but they are not the only thing. All things in our life may have some importance, but the things of God and the things of the kingdom matter above all else. It is so much to that degree that Jesus would teach that if we love our own family more than Him, we are not fit for the kingdom.

Above all, we need spiritual nourishment, we need the bread of heaven more than the bread of the earth. I might bake the best bread I can make this week, but there is better bread in the Bible. We need our daily bread, physical and spiritual. We need the true bread most of all.

 

 

 

 

• The True Bread

 

Jesus is the true bread.

Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

Jesus is the true bread because He is the bread of God who has come down from heaven to give life to the world. The true bread was first revealed in the wilderness of the Exodus. Just as the manna was bread from heaven, so too is Jesus bread from heaven. It is the miracles of physical bread and the miracle of spiritual bread. All comes from God, all from heaven, all as gift, all as grace.

Jesus’ birth place is about bread as well. Bethlehem literally means “house of bread”. Beth means house, and lechem means bread. Lechem is an interesting word in that it can be a noun or a verb. As a verb it means to eat. As a noun it means bread. English has many words that do the same thing. Milk as a verb is an action taken with a cow. As a noun it is what you drink. You can have a garden and also take the action of gardening. Sin can be a noun or a verb, as can love. Jesus, who is the bread of life was born in the town known for sustenance, nourishment, bread. Jeremiah says of God’s Word, “Your words were found and I ate them,” – Jeremiah 15.16.

The signs of the true bread began as far back as the manna, as far back as the remembered passover meal, as far back as the birth of Christ, as far back for us as the last time we ate bread, as far back as sharing the Lord’s Supper. It is the true bread from heaven that feeds us, the bread that gives life.

 

• The Bread of Life

 

Jesus is the bread; Jesus is the Word; Jesus is our nourishment. Jesus is the bread God has sent. This is the bread we are to work for more than the bread we bake or buy in a wrapper.

John 6.27 – Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

 

Listen to the same thought from the prophet Isaiah,

Isaiah 55.1-3 – “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.

 

The Bread of Life is in the Word of God, in the person and work of Jesus Christ, in the gifts from heaven, in the Holy Spirit, in the spiritual nourishment of God’s gifts and grace. Jesus once told the disciples that He has food they did not know about – John 4.32. What food? Spiritual food, God’s food, God’s Word, God’s bread, provisions, mercy, love. This is the bread of life and the gift of life all wrapped up in the metaphor of bread and the reality of Jesus Christ. This is the source of our life, life in all its opposition to death, for death is conquered, death has no sting, Jesus has risen and taken away all that threatens life, all that temps us away from life. But the irony is this: we must die in order to live. Take up the cross and follow Jesus, die to self, die to sin, die to death itself, in order that we might live to God and live to righteousness. All that is in me and all that is in you that is of that old sinful nature must be nailed to the cross. This is a process we call sanctification or, in simple terms, becoming more and more like Jesus. We are already justified by the Bread of Life, the person of Jesus Christ and His death on the cross. Sanctification is about eating more and more of the bread of life. Eating the Word. Feeding at the table of the Lord which are found in the words of Isaiah and Jesus and the apostles. God says, listen to me, eat what is good, delight in what you hear from the Lord, delighting in His Word and in His Spirit and in His call to follow. The result in Isaiah is so that our souls may live...life from the bread of life.

Catholic author Brennan Manning has said, my paraphrase, “Evangelism is one beggar leading another beggar to bread.” To share the gospel, to share bread that is life giving bread, is to share Jesus. People know that this world is filled with fake bread, processed bread that does not give life. It takes life away. What we might think is feeding us, the things of this world, are not at all nourishing. We fall prey to the lies of Satan, the power of this world, and we fall prey to our own weakness in sin, but what we truly need to recognize and trust is that only by God’s grace are we set free to feed on the Bread of Life who is truly feeding our hearts and minds and even our bodies more than anything of this world.

Today is a great day to feed on the bread, the bread that is the Word of God and the bread that symbolizes the body of Christ. We are fed like those who ate from 5 loaves and 2 fish. We are fed like those who heard Jesus speak of the bread of God who is He who comes down from heaven. They said to Jesus, “Sir, give us this bread always.” We might say the same thing today, but what we know and what I hope we all believe is what Jesus said to them in response,

 

“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger,

and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

 

Let us come to the Lord and never hunger and let us believe in Him and never thirst, for He will feed us with an abundance of bread, His Word, His Life, His daily bread. Think on these things with the next meal, with the next bread, with the table set before us, with the words of John’s gospel. Jesus is the bread of life. Feed on Him. And give thanks. Amen.