John 6:25-35.              Important work!!                                            10/2/13

 ²⁵ When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

²⁶ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. ²⁷ Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
²⁸ Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
²⁹ Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
³⁰ So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? ³¹ Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
³² Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
³⁴ “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”
³⁵ Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

 Here this morning, as we celebrate Harvest Thanksgiving, we have a very interesting and challenging message for us and our world today. The crux of his message here is the question; what are we chasing after in this life?  What is it that we should be striving after if we want to truly live? Important questions for everyone. That will then be reflected in, to whom and what we are thankful for.

 As we look at our society around us, and thereby what has a huge influence on our lives, we find that the attitudes are very disturbing, even on a human level, without taking into consideration what Jesus has to say here in this reading. The danger is that we are, and will be, caught up in the thinking that is around us and therefore of what makes for life and living. That also flows on to our thankfulness for what we have.

 Now as we look around us here this morning, what do we see? The churched packed with people readily seeking to give thanks to God for the wonderful harvest of all the things that we so enjoy! Do we see our church magnificently displaying the abundance of all that we have been blessed with – too excess?

 Then as we widen our view we see a society that is aching and striving for more and more; never satisfied. Constantly seeking to have enough of everything so that they might somehow find happiness and contentment; but always coming up short. A society that has way in excess of what it needs, but wants even more. A society that is obese in every way, but still ever hungry for more.

 Along with this, is the attitude that we have worked for what we have and we deserve every bit of it and more. It is for our own pleasure and benefit that we live and work. So we work so that we can have that which will give us what we want in order to be happy and fulfilled. Along with this is the attitude that it is our right to have everything, even if it is at the expense of others.

 Unfortunately, of course, we never achieve what we believe should be there for us. Along with that we are rarely thankful for the much that we have; for there must be something more that will make us truly happy and fulfilled. Amid the absolute abundance of what we have, we live with a spirit of hunger and poverty.

 And yet we still strive on for more and more. We have not yet stopped and begun to question whether we have missed something vitally important. Because we are so inwardly focussed we cannot, or do not, want to see that something which is by all intents and purposes plainly obvious. Saddest of all, we do not want to seek the help and advice of the one who truly knows what it is all about; God Almighty himself.

 Therefore Harvest thanksgiving will never be what it should be: life and the strivings of life from our society’s perspective will always be one of poverty and hunger: even in the midst of plenty.

 So with this in mind let us focus back on our reading here.

 It begins with the people looking for Jesus and finally catching up with him. But Jesus knows what on their hearts and minds: they we simply looking for him because of his miracles. In others words; they wanted the food he could provide without them having to work for it and healings and other earthly benefits that they could have, so that they could live happily here and now: to hang with the future.

 What did Jesus say? “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

 Instead of simply looking for the here and now, he saying we need to strive for that which endures to eternal life: In other words to think about that which is of lasting value and importance. Our life here on earth is but a blink of the eye compared to eternity: it is much more than simply, here and now. Something then, that we need to be mindful of as we go through life.

 But the question arises: “What must we do to do the works God requires?” What is it that is important for us to work at as we go through life? What is it that should be important for us to consider, work at and strive after as we go through life?

 Jesus surprising answer to this question of ours is: “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” From his perspective the most important thing for us to do as we go through this life is to believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. If we want to strive after something that will make life truly worthwhile and fulfilling, then faith is what it is that we will be after; at all costs; first and foremost.

 Our focus is turned outward to God, rather than to ourselves and what we think, do and achieve for ourselves. It is to take Jesus Christ and his death on the cross seriously as that which will make life here and in eternity truly worthwhile and fulfilling. Now, that certainly goes against the grain of our thinking. We want to see that it is what we do and achieve that is what will give us true satisfaction and meaning. We want to put ourselves into the centre of the picture.

 So we like the Israelites hold on to manna and material possessions as our signs that we are on the right track and that we are blest people. We think that if we have more of these things then surely God is obviously pleased with us.

 However he again reminds us quite clearly that it is not material possessions and earthly food and pleasures that we need for true and lasting satisfaction and wellbeing. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. What he has for us, and wants us to have for our ongoing benefit, is what he has to give. He has bread which is a lasting food: not that which we have got today and is gone down the toilet tomorrow.

 When we have what he wants us to have, he tells we will never be hungry or thirsty. Not just physically, but in every way. When we have what he has to offer we will never be left unsatisfied and unfulfilled. We will not be left longing for something more – something better. We will have everything necessary for this life and the next.

 So surely we will be like the people to whom Jesus was speaking here.

“Sir, always give us this bread.”
Then Jesus declares, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

 So Jesus alone is what we really need if we want to have life in all of its fullness. He is what we need to chase after as that which is vitally important for us if we want to be fully satisfied and fulfilled. There is what we need more than all the things that our society strives for around us.

 With him as the Lord of our lives we will then be enabled to be truly thankful for all that we have: whether it be much or little. We will gather in his house week after week for him to fill us with himself through Word and Sacrament so that we can go forward fully satisfied and strengthened for the work that he has for us to do. With Jesus as the centre of our lives we have that which is truly good and lasting. To him then be all glory and honour, now and always. Amen.

 Pastor Roger Atze

Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish