John 6:51-58
Here we are on week four of I am the bread of life and it seems like we should have nothing else to say. Yet here we are intentionally again reflecting on Jesus' meaning for this bread. We've had crowds fed, we've discussed intentionally going deeper into looking at all the meanings for this bread, we've even discussed recognizing where God is in our daily bread, and today we are going still deeper into what is eternal life. The commentator this week points our the verb here is in the present tense. So this bread brings eternal life now, today.
As Christians we assume eternal life is some far off distant happening. This is not what John's gospel is alluding to here. Today starts our time of eternity. This reminds me of the time in seminary where we discussed eschatology and whether the kingdom of God in the future excuses us from doing any work now, today. Maybe, just maybe God's kingdom may mean here, now and not some far off distant place and time.
Now I don't know about you, but to me this is a little disturbing. Because if our focus is the eternal now what does this mean? Have we been living like Jesus expects something of us or have we all bank rolled it into another date and time and we haven't even thought about it? There is so much the gospel has to offer us on this too. There is this word about abiding here in the text. Now we could ignore it. We could think its just one little word. John never works this way though. Remember John likes to give us meaning.
Abide occurs in chapter 15 of John also. It's where Jesus says, I am the vine, you are the branches. After this follows the caution to the disciples to abide in Jesus as Jesus abides in them. If there is one thing I have learned from St. Benedict and intentionality is we have to learn to abide. We are not good abides. We tend not to notice the holy or sacred in our day. We tend to think if we are justifiably right we don't have to care whether we hurt one another. We don't take the time to ask for forgiveness when we have wronged someone because we think we will look weak. Yet if we abide in Jesus aren't we supposed to do all these things.
See the miracle of feeding the five thousand wasn't in the food itself, it is in this dialogue which goes on afterward. If we set our mind on being fed by the eternal then we won't be hungry, we won't thirst because we will recognize the power of the One greater than ourselves. So we need to take time to immerse ourselves in the eternal. To recognize a holy encounter, to see when we have hurt someone, to admit we sometimes don't know it all, and to seek forgiveness when we have wronged another. The funny thing about all of these things is you start to see a change in you because of doing these things daily. It's a way of healing in your life you would never have experienced unless you take the time to reflect and pray on your day, asking yourselves the above questions.
It is bread, living bread, which can sustain you in your daily walk. It is living bread for now to give you a new outlook on life and whose you are and who you are. Intentionally seeking all of these answers leads us down pathways of prayer, to deeper wellsprings of life in Christ. Isn't that worth the journey? We forget some days, and we have to start once again, over and over. Because a spiritual practice isn't something which is just there, like bread you need to mix it, knead it, let it rise, and knead again. It is a conscious daily choice to engage in learning about ourselves in relation to God. It is the bread which will feed us. Come and make a loaf and enjoy what you consume.
Here we are on week four of I am the bread of life and it seems like we should have nothing else to say. Yet here we are intentionally again reflecting on Jesus' meaning for this bread. We've had crowds fed, we've discussed intentionally going deeper into looking at all the meanings for this bread, we've even discussed recognizing where God is in our daily bread, and today we are going still deeper into what is eternal life. The commentator this week points our the verb here is in the present tense. So this bread brings eternal life now, today.
As Christians we assume eternal life is some far off distant happening. This is not what John's gospel is alluding to here. Today starts our time of eternity. This reminds me of the time in seminary where we discussed eschatology and whether the kingdom of God in the future excuses us from doing any work now, today. Maybe, just maybe God's kingdom may mean here, now and not some far off distant place and time.
Now I don't know about you, but to me this is a little disturbing. Because if our focus is the eternal now what does this mean? Have we been living like Jesus expects something of us or have we all bank rolled it into another date and time and we haven't even thought about it? There is so much the gospel has to offer us on this too. There is this word about abiding here in the text. Now we could ignore it. We could think its just one little word. John never works this way though. Remember John likes to give us meaning.
Abide occurs in chapter 15 of John also. It's where Jesus says, I am the vine, you are the branches. After this follows the caution to the disciples to abide in Jesus as Jesus abides in them. If there is one thing I have learned from St. Benedict and intentionality is we have to learn to abide. We are not good abides. We tend not to notice the holy or sacred in our day. We tend to think if we are justifiably right we don't have to care whether we hurt one another. We don't take the time to ask for forgiveness when we have wronged someone because we think we will look weak. Yet if we abide in Jesus aren't we supposed to do all these things.
See the miracle of feeding the five thousand wasn't in the food itself, it is in this dialogue which goes on afterward. If we set our mind on being fed by the eternal then we won't be hungry, we won't thirst because we will recognize the power of the One greater than ourselves. So we need to take time to immerse ourselves in the eternal. To recognize a holy encounter, to see when we have hurt someone, to admit we sometimes don't know it all, and to seek forgiveness when we have wronged another. The funny thing about all of these things is you start to see a change in you because of doing these things daily. It's a way of healing in your life you would never have experienced unless you take the time to reflect and pray on your day, asking yourselves the above questions.
It is bread, living bread, which can sustain you in your daily walk. It is living bread for now to give you a new outlook on life and whose you are and who you are. Intentionally seeking all of these answers leads us down pathways of prayer, to deeper wellsprings of life in Christ. Isn't that worth the journey? We forget some days, and we have to start once again, over and over. Because a spiritual practice isn't something which is just there, like bread you need to mix it, knead it, let it rise, and knead again. It is a conscious daily choice to engage in learning about ourselves in relation to God. It is the bread which will feed us. Come and make a loaf and enjoy what you consume.
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