St. Matthew's Sermons

Today’s Gospel comes from one of the most theologically significant chapters in the entire Bible. John Chapter 6. The reason for this is that Jesus tells us the significance of the Eucharist. In feeding the five thousand with bread, Jesus uses this event to compare himself with the bread that comes from heaven, but also to discuss that ordinary bread, although it provides our bodies with sustenance, will not lead to everlasting life. The food and sustenance that leads to everlasting life is Jesus himself. Jesus tells us that his flesh and body is this Bread of Life. Jesus tells us that the Eucharist, which we will receive in a few minutes, is that Bread of Life that we are commanded to eat. From John 6:53, “Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” If you have not read this entire chapter recently, you really ought to do it as soon as you possibly can. In fact, as a teacher, I have the authority to assign homework, so consider this your assignment for the week. Read and meditate on John chapter 6.

The Gospel reading makes a reference to the Passover. St. John’s Gospel has three mentions of the Passover, and this is why we believe Jesus’ ministry was three years long. As it happens, the feeding of the five thousand takes place one year before Good Friday. St. John is linking Jesus giving bread to these five thousand with his giving of his Body as a sacrifice on the cross. Jesus asks St. Philip the rhetorical question, “Where are we going to buy enough bread?” This is an important question, and it shows that one cannot buy, or earn, or work for this bread that will be coming from heaven. This bread only comes from the Lord. Jesus later makes a remark about the manna from heaven, linking this event with that one. From Exodus 16:4, “Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you…”When Israel wandered in the desert, bread was the symbol of God’s aid, comfort, and sustenance.

Bread is used as a powerful motif in the Old Testament, for the various provisions and comforts God gives his people. Jesus links himself with this motif as Eucharistic Bread. God commanded the Hebrews to eat unleavened bread during the Passover. Moses says in Exodus 13:9, “[unleavened bread] will be for a sign… For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. Eucharistic Bread is an everlasting symbol of God’s salvation, linking the usage of unleavened bread with the mighty hand of God to save his people from Egypt. There were three things that were required to be in the Temple’s Holy Place: A lampstand, an altar for incense, and a table with bread placed on it. From Leviticus 24, “You shall take fine flour and bake twelve loaves from it…And you [shall] set them … on the table of pure gold before the Lord… Every Sabbath day Aaron shall arrange it before the Lord regularly.” This bread was a symbol of God’s presence and was called the Showbread or the Bread of Presence. Eucharistic Bread is actually Jesus’ presence among his people. You may also notice that we have candles, incense, and a table with bread placed on it right here.

One of the first mentions of bread is in Genesis Chapter 14 is when Abraham meets King Melchizedek, a priest of God Most High. Melchizedek blesses Abraham and gives Abraham bread and wine, Abraham gives Melchizedek a tithe, 10% of all his possessions. Directly after this encounter, God makes a covenant with Abraham and promises that his descendants will be more numerous than the stars in heaven. The author of Hebrews argues that since it was Melchizedek who blessed Abraham, and it was Melchizedek that received the tithe, Melchizedek’s priesthood is superior to the priests coming from the descendants of Abraham. All of the sacrifices at the temple, made with the tithes of the people, were ultimately in service to something greater. That something greater is referred to in the Psalm 110 as the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek. That greater priest is later revealed to be Jesus, the High Priest and the King of all Kings, whose sacrifice of himself is superior to all the sacrifices made by Israel at the Temple. Jesus chose bread and wine as a symbol of that sacrifice during the last supper, and it is not a coincidence Abraham received these things when he gave a tithe and was blessed by the priest of God Most High. Eucharistic Bread is the symbol of Jesus’ superior sacrifice.

The day after Jesus feeds the five thousand, he gives a sermon to the people where he says, “I am the Bread of Life.” He says this three times. On the first Sunday in Lent, we heard Jesus say to the devil a quote from Deuteronomy 8, “…Man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” Jesus is the Word of God, the Word of God is what we consume when we eat the Eucharist. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which is Hebrew for, “the house of bread.” Jesus takes the symbolic power of bread and infuses himself with it. “I am the Bread of Life.” Jesus is God’s presence on earth. God with us. Jesus is our sustenance. Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice. Jesus is God’s salvation

In the Eucharist, Jesus comes to us as all these things. Jesus comes to us as sacrifice, savior, and sustenance through his presence in the bread and wine. We are commanded to receive him as such. When we receive the Eucharist we are receiving Jesus into our bodies and souls. We recognize that we cannot be our own sacrifice, we cannot be our own salvation, we cannot even provide for ourselves without God. We need to allow Jesus to fill us. Indeed, much of Lent is geared toward experiencing Jesus as these in new ways. We have been going through our Lenten fast now for weeks, and it feels as if we have cleared away a few of the distractions keeping us from spiritual growth. As the bishop pointed out last week, we must fill the vacuum those distractions left with Jesus, the Bread of Life. We do this by receiving the Eucharist; however, we also do this through prayer and other spiritual disciplines. We experience the presence of Jesus through prayer. Concentration on our own lives of prayer is important to make sure we are in the presence of God throughout the week, not just here in church. The people in today’s gospel freely received the bread Jesus gave to them, but they had to show up to get it. We too must show up, by faith, to receive the grace Jesus wants to give for us. We cannot give something that we do not already have ourselves. With a habit of receiving grace from God through prayer and through the Eucharist, we are given the sustenance we need to minister to others. Things like patience, perseverance, faith, obedience, generosity, kindness, etc…

In our culture, we find it difficult to accept hospitality from others, or even to ask for help. We feel uncomfortable if we are not able to reciprocate a gift, a compliment, or any other display of generosity. If we receive help, often we view ourselves as weak or out of control. Too often we treat God the same way when he tries to give us his grace. We feel like we need to do it all on our own, or pay him back in some way, perhaps no cheating in our Lenten fasts? This can lead to our relationship with him feeling transactional. This is the danger of liturgical worship…That it can become transactional. We can get into the rut of checking the box and treating the whole relationship as legalistic. This is the heresy of the Pharisees: If we follow the law, God will give us his blessings. This led to a nation of people who were shut out from God’s grace because they could not keep the Law. The meaning of St. Paul’s analogy in the Epistle is that we do not have a transactional, Pharisaical relationship with God. Instead, God gives us grace that leads to new life. We must receive that grace with thanksgiving. God gives us his blessings, and out of genuine thankfulness we obey the laws. Thankfulness is an act of humility: It is a recognition that what we have, we did get on our own. The word Eucharist comes from the Greek verb for “to give thanks.” It is with thankfulness that we must receive everything God wants to give us, but especially himself.