Hungry
John 6:24–35 When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. 25When they found him on the other side of the sea, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” 26Jesus answered them, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: You are not looking for me because you saw the miraculous signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. 27Do not continue to work for the food that spoils, but for the 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.” 28So they said to him, “What should we do to carry out the works of God?” 29Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God: that you believe in the one he sent.”
30Then they asked him, “So what miraculous sign are you going to do, that we may see it and believe you? What miraculous sign are you going to perform? 31Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32Jesus said to them, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the real bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34“Sir,” they said to him, “give us this bread all the time!” 35“I am the Bread of Life,” Jesus told them. “The one who comes to me will never be hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty.”
They all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them—and that rock was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:3). Amen.
The family was in New Orleans for the day. They came hungry. They were ready to eat.
They began with a breakfast of beignets at Café du Monde. A beignet is a square piece of dough that is fried and covered with powdered sugar. Not healthy. But delicious. And addicting.
For lunch the family stopped at the French Market. They shared plates of Alligator Po Boy, Seafood Gumbo, and Grilled Catfish. For dessert they had Po Boy Ice Cream Sandwiches. On the way back to their rental home, they stopped at Whataburger.
They weren’t hungry anymore.
The people following Jesus were hungry. Earlier in John 6 crowds follow Jesus into a remote area. It’s dinner time and no one has any food except for a young boy whose mom packed his lunchbox with fish and bread. Jesus used that boy’s dinner to provide fish sandwiches for dinner for over 5000 people.
After the people went home with full bellies, Jesus sends his disciples across the Sea of Gailee. They are caught in a terrible storm, Jesus walks on water, climbs into the boat, calms the storm, and brings the boat to safety on the other side of the lake.
The day after the feeding of the 5000, the people can’t find Jesus. So, they get in their boats to create a search party. When they finally find Jesus, they are tired and frustrated and a little cranky. You can hear the edge in their voices, “Rabbi, when did you get here” (John 6:25)?
They are hungry. They want more of what they had the previous day. Jesus answers them, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: You are not looking for me because you saw the miraculous signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled” (John 6:26). Jesus knows they are hungry. But they are hungry for the wrong food. They want fast food. Not heavenly food. The crowds think that they can speak into the intercom, place their order for more fish and bread, and their stomachs will be full again for another day. But Jesus insists that he is no bread king. He is no Burger King.
The people are hungry. They know Jesus has something they want, though they are not real clear on what it is. Jesus doesn’t turn them away. He turns their attention away from what they want to what they need. He offers them himself. He says, “Do not continue to work for the food that spoils, but for
the 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” (John 6:27)
We really are not all that different from the people searching for Jesus in Capernaum. We are hungry, too. The Lord gives us physical gifts like “clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals and all I have.” They are great blessings of providence – just like God providing manna and quail in the desert or Jesus providing enough food to feed over 5000 hungry travelers. God provides us all these good gifts … and then we make them into idols because we believe the lack of them is death … and the possession of them is life.
In the movie The Lion King, the lion named Scar wants to usurp the throne, and he’s recruiting the hyenas to be his henchmen. His sales pitch? “Stick with me, and you’ll never go hungry again!” That sounds pretty human, doesn’t it?
We are so easily focused on the things of this world, thinking that if we could satisfy earthly longings, that we could then be content: “If only I had more money in my retirement account, then I could be happy.” “If only I had a different job, then I could be happy.” “If only I could get that new car, house, clothes, shoes, furniture, phone, then I would be satisfied.” But it never works.
We fill up our eyes with things that appear good to our flesh. But our eyes ignore what is godly for our soul.
We fill up our ears with the words and music of the world. But our ears are muted to the words and music of the spiritual world.
We fill up our bellies with regular meals and snacks. But our soul is often starved of the Bread of Life.
We fill up our time with education and entertainment, activities and athletics. But we leave little time to be educated and entertained by our Lord and his Word.
We fill up our days with work. But we are so tired with physical labor that we have no energy left to labor and work for our Lord.
Our natural appetites have a sweet tooth for the devil’s sugar and are turned off by the Living Bread from heaven. But that’s what happens when we have Adam and Eve’s taste for forbidden fruit. God’s food starts to taste bland, dull, and boring.
We spiritually starve ourselves for weeks by not sitting down to eat in the House of the Lord. We want quick and easy meals for the body. Sitting down to eat a seven-course meal for the soul with confession, absolution, liturgy, Scripture lessons, sermon, hymns, and benediction seems to take way too long.
What the body wants the body usually gets because we allow God’s physical blessings to become our stomach’s idols. Jesus wants to replace our idols with himself as the true God of heaven and earth. That’s the connection he makes when he says, “I am the Bread of Life. The one who comes to me will never be hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35). This is the first of Jesus’ “I am” statements in the Gospels. He is reminding the people of when Moses was on Mt. Sinai, and he saw the Angel of the Lord in the burning bush. Moses asked the Lord, “Who should I say sent me?” The Lord replied, “I AM has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:13, 14). Every time Jesus says, “I am,” he is connecting himself to the Angel of the Lord in the burning bush. He is more than a rabbi or teacher. He is the eternal, all-powerful Lord.
The eating we’ve been working for, the bread we’ve been chasing after, doesn’t give life. None of these bear the seal of the Father (John 6:27)! None of these shoulder the burden of guilt, the weight of glory, nor the hope of everlasting life. As long as we continue to scarf down the wrong kind of bread, we will continue to slowly starve ourselves to death. There is only one Bread that offers and delivers life.
Jesus declares, “I am the Bread of Life. The one who comes to me will never be hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty.”
Some people stay away from bread because they are trying to cut carbs. I tried cutting back on bread once. I lasted one whole meal. I know sandwiches are Pastor Klusmeyer’s favorite food. Bread is essential. It can meet any need. So can Jesus.
Not only is Jesus the great I Am. He is also the Word made flesh. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and dwelled among us” (John 1:1, 14). Jesus is the Word that fills you up when you are hungry.
When you are afraid, you read, “I sought the Lord, and he answered me. From all my terrors he delivered me” (Psalm 34:4).
When you are anxious, God reminds you, “Do not worry about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6).
When you are hurting, depressed or lonely, you pray, “Do not forsake me, O Lord. My God, do not be far from me. Hurry to help me, O Lord, my salvation” (Psalm 38:21, 22).
When you are tempted, you are told, “Submit yourselves to God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).
Jesus says the reason God gave the Israelites manna in the desert was to nourish their bodies (John 6:31-33). But it was also to draw the people to trust that God would provide enough food for each household for each day (unless it was a Sabbath). The manna was given to sustain them body and soul, to strengthen faith, and point them to God (Exodus 16:15-31).
And so it was with Jesus and the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus provided this meal for the people not just to fill their bellies, but to point them to himself. That he is God in the flesh. That he is the One who has come to satisfy our greatest need – our need for forgiveness to overcome our sinful desires; our need for life to overcome death; our need for salvation to re-establish our fellowship with God. For that is the hunger we can never satisfy – only Jesus can. Only he who came for us, to be the Bread of Life.
That is true whether you are in the wilderness or by the lake or outside for worship; whether you have much or little; whether struggling or secure. There is only One who has what you need. Only One who can satisfy your hunger and fill you with good things. Only One who can purge death from you and grant you life eternal.
He is the One who has come down from heaven to do the work we could never do in defeating sin, death, and the devil. He is the Bread of Life baked in the fiery furnace of God’s wrath against sin. Like manna laying on the ground, so the Bread of Life was laid within the ground for three days. Now risen from the ground and death, he is the Bread of Life that is preached from our pulpits, taught in our classrooms, and laid upon our altars.
We don’t have any problems praying for the obvious needs of our stomachs. We are always hungering for something. Earthly problems are a concern. Earthly emergencies demand attention. Earthly conflicts need solutions. We must confess that the needs of our heart are not as pressing. That’s why we need to hear Jesus’ message on the Bread of Life today and for the next two Sundays. We need what the Bread of Life offers us – a stronger faith, the peace of forgiveness, the strength to overcome temptation.
Our prayer life is a good indicator of what is more important – our stomach or our heart.
Notice what Jesus does. He answers your prayers to fill your stomach with daily bread. But then he gives you so much more to meet the needs of your heart. He gives you his Word to refresh you. He gives you his forgiveness to renew you. He gives you his Spirit to regenerate you.
Still, we struggle. Our stomach is powerful. It controls our decisions, and it makes countless demands. Yet, your heart strengthened by the Lord is more powerful. It leads you to make God-pleasing decisions and helps you to recognize what is really important and what you really need.
What is really important and what we really need most is food for our souls. We need to know that our sins are removed and that we are at peace with God. We need to know where we are going when we leave this world. We need to have an answer to guilt and a purpose in life.
And in Jesus, we get all those things. Jesus paid for our sins and washed our guilt away. Jesus opened the gates of heaven for us. We are given purpose in life in loving and serving Jesus.
So, do you never want to be hungry again? Then feast! Feast on God’s Word, feast on the good-news message of Jesus, your Savior. And you will never go hungry again. Amen.
Jesus told them, “I am the Bread of Life. The one who comes to me will never be hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35). Amen.