A Sandwich or Salvation
John 6:24-35

One day in the wilderness, a prophet by the name of Jesus miraculously prepared lunch for 5000 people using only five loaves of bread and two fish.   The next day, some of those same people want to find this amazing prophet but they can’t, so they go off in search of him.  They climb into some boats and set sail for Capernaum to look for Jesus.  They find him and ask, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”  They obviously hold him in some respect because they refer to him as a teacher – but what they don’t realize is that this Jesus is no ordinary teacher or prophet.  He is the Son of God.

John calls the feeding of the 5000 a sign.  And what does a sign do?  A sign is used for either identification purposes, or to point somebody towards something.  In the case of the feeding of the 5000, the sign identified Jesus as God, and pointed towards God.  However, Jesus knows that the people who had been fed missed the whole point of the sign.  They didn’t see what happened, they didn’t know who Jesus was, and they didn’t realize what He had done.  All they got out of their encounter with Jesus was a fish sandwich, and now they’re hungry again.  Instead of a sign saying “Kingdom of God,” they saw a flashing neon that said “Free Lunch.”

Now that they have come to Him, Jesus tells them they are looking for the wrong thing – and what a shame because they worked so hard to find Him.  They may have rowed boats across the lake, but they missed the boat entirely as to whom they were seeking.  They weren’t looking for the Son of God, but someone who could provide them with a free meal.  Jesus says to them, “You traveled all this way to get what you think you need, but what you really need is something else entirely.  And I happen to have what it is that you do need.”

I stopped to buy some gas the other day and was tempted by a display of Snickers bars.  I thought to myself how good one of those candy bars would be with the cup of coffee I bought, but then I decided I didn’t really need a Snickers bar.  I wanted one, but I didn’t need one.  Now, had there been a display of brussel sprouts and liver, would I have wanted that?  No, but it would be closer to what I need than a candy bar because it would be more nutritious than a candy bar.  But given the choice, I’d take the Snickers – why?  Because, like most people, I happen to be more interested in what I want than what I need. 

Granted, Jesus gave people the people fish and bread, which is certainly more nutritious than if he handed out candy bars – but the point of His action had nothing to do with nutrition, but everything to do with salvation.  Do the people need to eat in order to stay alive – yes, that’s simple biology.  But, will food bring them eternal life?  No.  Is Jesus interested in their health and wellbeing in this life?  Yes, but He’s more interested in their wellbeing in eternity.

Jesus came into the world not to bring us lunch to sustain our physical life, but to bring us forgiveness of our sins and the gift of a new life lived in fellowship with God the Father.  Our relationship with God was destroyed in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve focused not on what they needed but on what they wanted.  God forbid them to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the serpent tempted Eve with the fruit, Eve chose to follow her desires instead of God’s rule, and sin entered the world.  Since that time, we, as human beings, make that exact same choice over and again – choosing to do what we want to do instead of what God tells us we need to do.  God’s commandments were not written to prevent us from doing wrong things; they were written to help us do right things, and to point us towards what we need in this life to have a better life now and prepare us for the life to come. 

Jesus tells the crowd, “Don’t work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”  If you don’t work, you don’t eat.  Groceries cost money, right?  But Jesus points out that what He has to offer is a gift.  And on top of that, it’s imperishable – that is, it won’t ever go bad.  When you work hard and buy a bushel of tomatoes, they’re only good for so long – if you don’t eat them quickly enough, they begin to rot.  The benefits they can provide are only temporary.  Eventually they can go bad, and eventually, you will be hungry again.  What Jesus offers will last forever.

Like with the sign of the feeding of the 5000, the people miss the point of what Jesus tells them: “Jesus, what do we have to do to get this food you’re talking about?”  They think Jesus is talking about more sandwiches, and they don’t understand that God is the one who does the giving of this “eternal food.”  There is nothing they can do to make it happen – it is all the work of God.  When you hear them ask, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” you might think: “How dare they think they can do what God alone can do,” but the fact is we’re guilty of doing the same thing!  Whenever we try to do something to earn God’s favor, or we give money to the church or someone in need expecting to receive a blessing because of our actions, we act as if we think we can do what God alone can do.  We cannot make ourselves right with God – only God can make us right with God!  Eternal life is not a reward for what we do, it is a gift and nothing more.

Jesus tells the crowd, “Believe in God – that’s all it takes.  Just believe.”  The crowd, almost as if they need to flaunt their ignorance, say to Jesus, “If you want us to believe, you have to give us a sign so we can believe.”  They’ve already seen Jesus feed 5000 people with less than one bag of groceries – what more do they want?  The people make it obvious that they missed the point of what Jesus did for them – when He fed them, He was pointing them toward the saving work of God the Father through His Son Jesus Christ; yet, when he fed them all they got out of it was a sandwich.

“Jesus, we’re hungry again,” they say.  “When will you feed us?”

In the early part of the 20^th Century, German theologian Karl Barth said that we only find in the Bible what it is we’re looking for.  If we want to encounter God in the Scripture, we will find God there.  If we want to find science, we will find science.  If we want to find nothing at all in the Bible, we will find nothing at all there.  It’s the same way with Jesus.  If we want salvation, we can find it in Him.  But if all we’re looking for from Jesus is a free lunch, then that’s all we’re going to find.   

In our world today, there are churches and Christian leaders who preach a prosperity Gospel.  They present a message that God wants us to be happy and comfortable in this lifetime.  That all we’ve got to do is name our desires and then claim our bounty as God showers us with all that we could ever want.  But if we look at God in this manner, we might begin to see Him as little more than the genie from Aladdin’s lamp, waiting to grant us three wishes.  But, because it’s God we’re talking about, then that supply of wishes will be endless, right?  Some people want us to believe that God is like a big catalog where we turn to a page, select what we want, and have it delivered.  Folks, God doesn’t work that way.  God is not about us being happy during our time in this world; God is all about us being saved from our sins.  God doesn’t want our lives to end when our time in this world is through.

Jesus came into the world as the revelation of God to God’s people.  Jesus did not come to feed everyone bread; Jesus came to be the Bread that brings eternal life.  The bread that was distributed with the fish helped to sustain the physical lives of those who ate.  The Bread that is Jesus Christ gives life to all who believe.  The people tell Jesus about how the manna that God gave to the Israelites during the Exodus was bread from heaven, and Jesus tells them that He is the true bread from heaven.  The manna was a sign that God cared for His people and would provide for them in this lifetime, but Jesus is a sign that God wants them to have a life that is about more than just this lifetime.  Yes, God provided physical food for the Israelites, and He provides food for us today (that’s why we need to say a prayer of thanks whenever we sit down to eat.)  God does care about our biological survival, but He cares more about our eternal salvation.  A meal may be what we want, but salvation is what we need.

The crowd that went looking for Jesus wanted a relationship with Him because of what He could give them; they saw Jesus as a meal ticket, and nothing more.  “Hey, this guy fed us – and He did it when there was no food available.  If we stick with Him, we’ll never be hungry, right?”  This was their attitude because they weren’t looking for anything more than food to eat, they didn’t understand what kind of bread Jesus was talking about, and they were not aware of their need for what Jesus was truly offering them.

How do you suppose Jesus felt following this encounter with the crowd?  I imagine He was frustrated at how they just didn’t get it.  Here He was offering them the gift of eternal life, and all they cared about was what was for dinner.  In verse 34, they say to Him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”  While this may sound like they finally understood, they didn’t.  They were looking for an endless supply of bread so that whenever they were hungry their hunger could be satisfied.  But the bread from heaven that Jesus offers them is not something to be given always, but given once and for all. 

When Jesus Christ was crucified, His body was broken and nailed to a cross and He died a single death for the sins of humanity.  His body was the bread from heaven, broken for us.  And unlike the broken bread of 5000 lunches on a hillside in Galilee, this bread brought something eternal into the world.  The 5000 would be hungry again in a few hours; but those who accept the free gift of the true bread from heaven, Jesus Christ, shall never hunger.  Does that mean our stomachs won’t growl when they get empty?  No!  We still need to eat!  But never again will we hunger for righteousness or forgiveness or eternal life.  Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.  Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” 

Jesus did not come into the world to provide food – God already does that for us.  Jesus came to provide life for all of us who are dying in our sins.  What are you hungry for? A sandwich, or salvation?  Jesus can provide either one.  The question is, which one is more important to you? We need to want what it is we really need!

Amen.