God's Last Words

“Seeking/Finding?”

John 6: 24-35    

Little Johnny and his family lived in the country, and rarely had houseguests. He was eager to help his mother after his father appeared with two dinner guests from the office.

When the dinner was nearly over, Little Johnny went to the kitchen and proudly carried in the first piece of apple pie, giving it to his father who passed it to a guest. Little Johnny came in with a second piece of pie and gave it to his father, who again gave it to a guest.

This was too much for Little Johnny, who said, "It's no use, Dad. The pieces are all the same size."

One night as his family was finishing dinner, a father noticed six green beans left on his daughter’s plate. Ordinarily this wouldn’t bother him, but this night he was irked and said to his eight-year-old, “Eat your green beans.”

“I’m full to the top,” she said.“You won’t explode,” he responded.“Yes, I will explode!” she said. “Risk it!” he said. “It will be OK.” “Dad, I can’t eat another bite.”

The father knew the dessert, pumpkin pie squares, was his daughter’s favorite. So he asked, “How would you like a double helping of pumpkin pie squares with two dollops of whipped cream on top?” “That sounds great!” she said as she pushed back her plate.

“How can you have room for a double helping of pumpkin pie squares with two dollops of whipped cream and not have room for six measly green beans?”

She stood up and pointed to her belly, saying, “This is my vegetable stomach. This is my meat stomach. They are both full. Here is my dessert stomach. It is empty. I am ready for dessert!”

What we eat reveals what we hunger for. Jesus knew humanity has a physical hunger and a spiritual hunger. WE are more than just physical beings.

The people of his day didn’t understand the difference: part of the problem with Judaism was that they often confused spiritual well being with physical comfort and security. Listen to our scriptures for this day:

So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for 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, “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 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.”

Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform 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, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it was written. ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

The Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it was my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which 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 will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (NRSV)

The world looks for Jesus only in the places where they want him – but Jesus goes where he wants and associates with who he wants. Jesus challenges human wisdom, human expectations, human plans and schemes.

 Jesus is not in the places we put him, the theology we conjure to allow human beliefs to be true.

Jesus is found in the Boy Scouts, “Chick-Fil-A,” and even in some churches, much to the chagrin of our secular society and some city mayors who claim otherwise.

In searching for and developing physical food we have lost our true focus: We have lost our desire to feed our spiritual hunger – we think everything we do and want is okay with God and seek physical food. We forget the covenant with God that provides the spiritual food we so desperately need.

How are you finding food for your spiritual hunger? Most of the world seeks it this way:

Ken Mansfield, the U. S. manager for Apple Records (the Beatles’ label), tells about the wonderful times with the Beatles in the 1960’s and 70’s before they broke up. Everybody had plenty of money, drugs, and a glorious lifestyle.

But things went downhill after the Beatles broke-up.

Ken was recently led to Jesus through a girlfriend. Before committing his life to Christ, he says Billboard magazine was his Bible; record charts, his God; and philosophy like John Lennon’s “Imagine” his ideology.

“The Holy Grail was a Grammy, and the best table at the Brown Derby was the Promised Land, and Caviar manna from heaven,” Mansfield says.

After his commitment to Christ, he realized how hollow the way of the Beatles had been compared to the way of Christ.

“They, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are the authors of the map I needed for my journey,” he wrote.

 “I needed a chart, a journal with clear directions, a log to refer to — a guidebook wherein their commands could speak and feed my wandering spirit.

I needed a book so powerful that its very words could burn a living message into the absolute heart of my heart. I needed the irrefutable, holy Word of God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of the very seas I was lost upon!”

As we prepare to commune with Christ let us ponder the meaning of the promises we find in Him: forgiveness of sins, clarity of purpose, restoration of relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the eternal life we are given as a manifestation of this grace.

They come to us through the spiritual blessings we receive through the mystical symbolism of Christ’s presence in the body and blood, shed for each of us on the cross. Amen.