John 6: 24-35

Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for 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 for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” John 6: 26-27

What is You Struggling for?

Some of us may remember that ‘puzzle’ which begins by staking a prize that will be won by anyone that first provides the correct answer to a very fundamental life question. Let me keep it simple here. So, I invite you to imagine me standing before the congregation of St Andrew’s one Sunday morning and going:

“Good morning! I have a very important question for you all. Anyone who comes up with the most accurate answer will receive a copy of say- ‘Concordia Self-Study Bible,’ New International Version. The question is; what is your struggling for?”

True to character, some of us will no doubt respond that we are struggling to find ‘fulfilment in life!’ Other peace, or joy and happiness, or financial independence, or even heaven!!

Of course none of these would have won the prize. True as they may all be, everyone who provided answers to my question at the time they did was struggling to win the prize at stake: my ‘Concordia Self-Study Bible,’ New International Version.

This is very like the character of the crowd that followed Jesus to Capernaum after the feeding of 5,000 in John 6. The Israelites in the wilderness wanted to return to captivity because in Egypt there was bread for eating. After all starving slaves were not productive so it made economic sense to feed them. In the desert there was nothing; or at least there was the fear of slow starvation. Moses talks to God and it is God who provides meat through quail and bread through manna. The people’s needs are met in the wilderness. Through bread from heaven the Israelites learn not to rely on their own strength and resources, but on God. The great hymn ‘Guide me, O thou great Jehovah’ puts it

‘I am weak but thou art mighty,
hold me with thy powerful hand:
Bread of heaven, bread of heaven,
feed me now and evermore.’

After years of quail and manna one wonders how the people might have hungered for different and more varied provision! Yet they learned that daily bread, possibly no more, would be given.

The people with Jesus had experienced the feeding of the 5000, so they persisted in following Jesus; gone was the possibility of a quiet life for him. Yet Jesus challenged them to move on from a very physical material perspective on life to a more spiritually based one. Bread from heaven is not only about God as provider, but about the Son of Man, Jesus himself being the bread of life. Not only can we rely on God for our physical needs – there is more than enough for the world to be fed if only we had the moral and political will to do so, but we can also rely on God for our spiritual needs, for meaningful abundant life. Even if our experience in the present leaves a question mark hanging over it with a billion hungry every night on the planet our faith suggests that in the end love and good prevail.

Tim Hansel in ‘When I Relax I Feel Guilty’ tells of an American Indian visiting New York. Walking with a friend from the city he said suddenly, “I hear a cricket.” “You’re crazy,” his friend replied. “No, I hear a cricket. I’m sure of it.” ” Don’t be daft. It’s noon. Listen, the traffic is deafening. I’m sure you can’t hear it.” “But I can.” The American Indian listened attentively and then walked to the corner, and found a shrub in a large planter. He moved the leaves aside and found a cricket. His friend was astounded. But he said, “My ears are no different than yours. It simply depends on what you are listening to. Here let me show you.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of loose change and dropped it on the pavement. Many heads turned to the noise. “You see what I mean?” he said as he began picking up the coins. “It all depends on what you are listening for.”

When the people followed Jesus their perspective, what they were listening for had to change. No longer was it material provision necessarily, bread for lunch, no longer was it the coins dropped that their ears needed to be attuned to. Rather it was the cricket, the rising bread of heaven, the food of life not only physical life but life in all its fullness, offered and given by Christ that needed to be heard. Their focus needed to change, from human survival to trust and reliance on God.

So, what are you struggling for?