The Bread Provider – 9 August 2015 – Lectionary 19/ Proper 14

Although many themes echo in today's lessons . . . one theme stands out as uniting all of the lessons—the Lord provides. From manna and a meal from an angel to the Bread of life and living in Christ's love, the Lord provides. – Jeffrey Galbraith

John 6:35, 41-51

In today's Gospel reading, the crowd is grumbling. The original word used in John's gospel for “complain” in verse 41 was meant to be the same as the Hebrew word in Exodus for the grumbling of the Israelites. Jesus encounters a grumbling crowd that doesn't understand his words, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” But he perseveres: “Do not [grumble] among yourselves.” Then follows the “bread of life” discourse, the living bread from heaven, the new manna.

[T]he common thread . . . [in] these readings bids us to respond to something troubling—betrayal, despair, bitterness, slander, confusion, grumbling—with patience, mercy, hope, kindness, and trust. – Stephen Crippen

In verses 43–50 Jesus again explains that he is the bread of life and the only way to the Father, for he is from God and sent by God. John's realized eschatology is clear from verse 47 in that life/salvation is not something for later but now—“whoever believes has eternal life.” Verse 51 is a clear reference to the Eucharist and the eating of the bread. . . .

Life/salvation is bestowed in a sacramental act, not in simply recognizing Jesus as the one who reveals the Father. – Jeffrey Galbraith

When we eat the bread we enjoy the fullest experience of the indwelling God that we have ever known. Living Bread is what allows us to choose a different path in the world, to be living witnesses and move closer to God and help those who come in contact with us to move closer as well. – Mary Katharine Deeley

This food that gives life is the subject of Elijah’s miraculous meal as a fugitive. Perhaps setting Elijah’s witness beside that of Jesus is meant to help us to see that we are all fugitives, running from what is dangerous and fear-inducing and therefore called by the Bread of Life to feast. Like Elijah, we are fed and emboldened to continue our journey.

1 Kings 19:4-8

Elijah's recent confrontation with and triumph over the priests of Baal whom he killed (18:20–40) provided the context for this flight into the wilderness. The patron of the slain priests, Jezebel, is now out for revenge. . . . Elijah, pictured as a second Moses (although here he wants to “run from Yahweh”), is a pivotal figure in the “theological” summary of Israel's history. Both clearly marked off what had gone before from what followed. . . . In the case of Elijah it was the wide spread worship of Baal from a return to Yahweh. – Jeffrey Galbraith

Ephesians 4:25–5:2

The church, like each of us individually, is confronted with hunger for what can relieve us from doubt, fear, oblivion, and simple failure. The epistle's words to the church give us a task that also feeds the body of Christ with good nutrition.

Paul's “rules for a new life” bring us face to face with the demands for anyone who claims to be a Christian. . . . “Speak the truth; don't go to sleep angry; do honest work,” and. . . the many others serve as a reminder of our struggle to live a fully Christian life. . . – Mary Katharine Deeley

In this 2006 issue of Homily Service, Cheryl Magini offered a perspective from Larry Rasmussen on the response Jesus calls for in the face of suffering. Jesus calls us to the meal – the intimate link between liturgy and justice, sacramental practice and relief for the weary: 

“One does not need to be a keen student of society to realize that table fellowship is itself is a reliable map of economic well-being and discrimination, political order and differentiation, and social hierarchy and caste. Table governance shapes communities. The practice is distilled in how we take, bless, break, and give bread to one another.” –Practicing our Faith, Dorothy Bass, ed. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1998), 130.

Jeffrey Galbraith is pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Greenfield, MA, and a professor of business administration at Greenfield Community College.

Stephen Crippen is a psychotherapist and a deacon in the episcopal Diocese of Olympia, Washington.

Mary Katharine Deeley is the director of Christ the Teacher Institute of the Sheil Catholic Center, the Roman Catholic campus ministry at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. She is the author of many books, a frequent speaker on diverse topics, and a pastoral advisor.

Rev. Cheryl Magrini, PhD, is a United Methodist minister in Chicago, chair of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA), and a speaker, writer, and advocate on behalf of those living with bipolar disorder.

Homily Service 39, no. 9 (2006): 17-26.

Food for Faith – 2 Aug 2015 – Lectionary 18/ Proper 13

The connections between wilderness manna and bread provided by Jesus – physical sustenance for the body – draw our attention to the sign of gift, of giving, and of the giver. Rather than seeing our groceries as products of our own labor and ingenuity, we are invited in these texts – just as were the Israelites and the crowds following Jesus – to hear Jesus’ insistence that we see these provisions as gifts from God.

Food does far more that keep us individually alive. It brings people together. We gather around meals to cement our bonds, to celebrate. We eat together after funerals to commit ourselves to life in the face of death. We were commanded by the stories of Jesus’ last supper to eat together to remember him. Food is essential to faith in the way that the community of faith itself is essential.

This day asks us to ponder food not only as tangible life necessity and community creator but as a sign and reminder of God’s gift of life.

John 6:24-35

Jesus warns the crowds: “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life.” The Gospel writer continues to develop the relationship among gift, Giver, and act of giving, and in doing so, Jesus is lifted up as the culmination of this relationship: as the Bread of Life, Jesus is both the gift and the Giver, and he embodies the act of giving. – Steven H. Fazenbaker

Curiously but not surprisingly, the crowd is interested in knowing the steps or the formula for doing the works of God. “What must we do… ?” That's so North American. You would think that came out of a twenty-first-century self-help manual. What must we/I do to do the works of God? I think they were expecting Jesus to answer something like, well, pray. Eat well. Read your Bible. Walk the labyrinth. Journal. Exercise.

. . . Jesus' simple reply is that they need him. We need him. Jesus is the food we need, the One who is the provision for the journey, the manna from heaven. He offers, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” – Neal D. Presa

Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15

Six weeks out of Egypt, and the memory of the Israelites is already beginning to fade. Not only have they forgotten the miserable conditions from which they have come, they have also forgotten the acts of God that rescued them . . .  God hears their complaints and responds, “[I]n the morning you shall have your fill of bread. . .” The author is very clear that the gift of bread is meant to be a sign of God's provision . . . [and] that the Israelites fail to grasp the meaning of the sign, and almost fail to recognize the gift itself. . .

When we are not able to remember God's gracious acts in the past, nor recognize God's gracious acts in the present, it is difficult to hold any hope for the future (cf. v 3, “you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger”). Yet God continues to act on behalf of God's people, and into the future we go! – Steven H. Fazenbaker

Ephesians 4:1-16

The author of this letter is begging the church in Ephesus (and, most likely, several other churches in Asia Minor) to think of themselves not as separate and individual congregations, but rather, “bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,” they are asked to think of themselves as “one body”. . . .  

Each church's responsibility, therefore, is to develop its own gifts and help other churches discern and develop the gifts unique to their communities. It is important to remember, however, that each of the various gifts was given for a common purpose: “for building up the body of Christ. . .”  – Steven H. Fazenbaker

Steven H. Fazenbaker is director of the Wesley Foundation at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Neal D. Presa, pastor of Middlesex Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth Presbytery, New Jersey, was the Moderator of the 220^th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA).

Homily Service 42, no. 3 (2009): 100-110.