Sermon - The Loaves and the Fishes - John 6.1-15 on 8-1-21
“The Passover, the festival of the Jews was near” (John 6:4), and I imagine the minds of the large crowd following Jesus were at some level occupied with Moses.
Jesus plays on the crowds’ — and our own — preoccupation for tradition for all that it is worth.
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As in the Exodus, God and God’s will are about to be revealed.
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While I am calling this series in August “the Bread of Life,” this chapter is not as much about bread, even the bread of Holy Communion, as it is about who Jesus is.
Over the next five weeks we are going to dig deep into chapter six of the Gospel According to John.
Hopefully together we will learn more about
• What’s the lesson behind the miracle of the loaves and the fishes?
• What did Jesus mean when he called himself the bread of life?
• What makes Jesus the bread of life?
• What does this have to say about the Communion practice we have today? Are we actually eating his flesh and drinking his blood?
• Why couldn’t the disciples understand this teaching, and do we even yet understand it?
• Finally, what does all this mean for us today? How should these truths, these lessons from ancient scripture impact our lives today?
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Which great people of faith come to mind for you from our faith tradition?
Who might our “Moses” be?
• The Apostle Paul 4 - 62
• Saint Augustine 345 - 430
• Francis of Assisi 1181 - 1226
• Joan of Arc 1412 - 1431
• Martin Luther 1483 - 1546
• Mother Teresa 1910 - 1997
• Billy Graham 1918 – 2018
• Pope John Paul II 1920 - 2005
• Martin Luther King Jr. 1929-1968
These people were close to God and embodied the gospel of Jesus Christ.
These people did great things with God that lasted way beyond their lifetime and influenced thousands for faith in Christ.
There may be others that come to your mind, that were as great for Christianity as Moses was for faith in the God of Israel.
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I cannot help but think of the church’s tendency to respond to Jesus, and the needs of the people, in terms of the amount of money it would take and the scarce resources that we possess.
I am mindful that, if Jesus is testing us, and even when we know it, how often we nevertheless fail the test.
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Jesus comes across the waters as Lord and reveals himself to the disciples with the name that God gave to Moses — I am (v. 20).
While Moses is God’s greatest prophet and lawgiver, Jesus is God.
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Jesus is more.
I hope you’ll join us over the next few weeks to discover how much more.
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REFERENCES:
• Brown, R. E. (2008). The Gospel according to John (I–XII): Introduction, translation, and notes (Vol. 29, p. 252). Anchor Yale Bible Commentary. New Haven; London: Yale University Press.
• Büchsel, F. (1964–). εἰμί, ὁ ὤν. G. Kittel, G. W. Bromiley, & G. Friedrich (Eds.), Theological dictionary of the New Testament (electronic ed., Vol. 2). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
• Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1). New York: United Bible Societies.
• O’day, G. R. (1994–2004). The Gospel of John. In L. E. Keck (Ed.), New Interpreter’s Bible (Vol. 9, p. 595). Nashville: Abingdon Press.
• Satterlee, C. (2015). Commentary of John 6:1-21. Online article accessed on WorkingPreacher.com
