A Pastor’s Thoughts

By Pastor Leon Jicha, Park Terrace Community, Little Meadows and Apalachin UMC —

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.” (John 6:35) 

Just after Jesus feeds the 5,000, he travels to the other side of the sea to Capernaum. The crowd begins to wonder where Jesus and his disciples went, and they get into boats of their own to look for Jesus. 

When they find him they ask, “When did you come here?” 

People had eaten their fill and seen the miracle of Jesus feeding so many with just five loaves of bread and two fish, but it appears they were just looking to get more bread to feed their bellies and not “the bread of life”. 

The crowd that follows Jesus wants even more evidence, “Show us a sign,” as if Jesus did not just show them with the five loves and two fish. The crowd brings up the manna (bread from heaven) that was provided to their ancestors in the wilderness with Moses, which was from God. Jesus is that very bread from heaven that feeds us. 

Some of my time as a Pastor is spent in two food pantries at churches I serve, offering meals to those who are hungry with another group. This almost always includes bread. 

While these missions are important, and will certainly continue, I often find myself wondering how we can serve the “bread of life” as well when we are feeding others the bread of this earth. Also, are we feeding ourselves as Christians, that we have enough leftovers to feed others around us? Do our lives show evidence that Jesus is the real bread from heaven in which we live? 

There is a game I’m sure you all have played at one point, or another called “The Game of Life”. In the game you choose among the options of college, careers, investments, retirement, and so forth. When the game ends, it is not who finished first but who has the most that is declared the winner. 

This is what we have been groomed to chase after, the bread (money) and not the “bread of life”. We are so blessed in America, as we have so much more than so many in the world and appear to be “winning”, yet there are so many that are downright unhappy. 

Jesus says, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures eternal life.” 

The word translated as “endures” is a word used multiple times in the Gospel of John to describe the relationship between Jesus and believers.

In the end, this enduring means nothing less than the God, the Father and the Son dwelling in believers through the presence of the Holy Spirit. The “bread”, which endures to eternal life, is a relationship that is made possible by God becoming a human being in the form of Jesus Christ and walking on this earth and dying on the cross for our sins.

In fact, the bread itself, the bread that endures, is Jesus Christ Himself, Whom God gives out of His love for His creation – for you and for me – for all who will just believe. 

Perhaps we should ask ourselves today, are we simply running after food that perishes?

If so, Jesus invites us to seek “food that endures for eternal life”, which is offered by Jesus to satisfy our deepest hunger.

And those hungers are hungers for meaning; hungers for relationships; hungers for love, to be loved and to love; to give our lives for something other than ourselves; to help to feed the world, heal the sick, care for the broken hearted; to be changed and transformed from the inside out.

Don’t go after the money, the cars, or whatever you’re chasing from the game of life. Don’t miss out on the peace, the joy, the hope, and the love that only a relationship with God through faith in Christ can offer.

Don’t just run after the food that spoils.

Trust, believe, and consume the “bread of life” that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man is offering you. Amen.