WARNING: There is a light bulb exploding in this service.

February 13, 2022
John 6: 35-59

The new congregational council at  LCOS held its first meeting earlier this week.

Communion came up as part of council’s discussion around the suspension of in-person services … the suspension of services has tentatively been extended until Palm Sunday, BTW.

“What about communion?” was the question that was placed before council.

Basically, communion hasn’t been offered since the last in-person service was held on Christmas Eve and we moved to pre-recorded online services. 

Some people practice what we’ve taken to calling “virtual communion” … communion offered over the internet.

Others have communed members of their family as part of their Sunday worship, while others have abstained from communion since the pandemic has altered how the sacrament can be offered. 

All this speaks to the importance communion holds in people’s lives. 

This sacrament is a key part of today’s reading from John.

Word has spread of the signs that Jesus had shared in Jerusalem … of his acts in the Galilee and points in between. Last week, we heard how he healed the official’s son and later he healed the man who couldn’t walk.

After all this, thousands had flocked to see and hear Jesus. 

It’s close to the time of Passover and no one thought enough to bring food for themselves … let alone for any of the other 4,999 people sitting with them. 

But Jesus takes five loaves of bread and ensures everyone has more than enough to eat … in fact, there is more than enough and there are baskets filled with leftovers.

The people’s bellies are filled and their needs for the following day are all accounted for … in a world marked by scarcity, they have experienced an abundance.

They have all they need from a material standpoint. 

The people recall the story of manna falling from heaven as Moses led the people from slavery. Jesus reminds them that the manna that fed them was not from Moses, but rather from God. 

Jesus tells them … that he … like manna he is also sent from God and that he is the bread that gives life to the world.

In today’s passage is Jesus’ response to a request from followers to provide the bread of God to them always. Jesus’ response points the people to something different.

The manna in Moses’ time kept the people alive and allowed them to complete their journey, but was that all? … was that enough? 

The people who shared the loaves handed out by the disciples have what they need to be live, but perhaps not truly live in the sense that Jesus is talking about. 

Are the people really filled? Do they still feel their heart’s hunger?

“I am the bread of life,” Jesus says. 

It is the first time Jesus says “I am …,” in John’s gospel and it is a foundational moment.

Being alive … truly alive … means being in relationship with God and with one another. Jesus tells the people that whomever comes to him will be filled … they would not suffer from hunger or thirst … they would not endure a sense of incompleteness or aloneness. 

This intimate relationship comes through Jesus.

Jesus tells the people “I am the bread of life.”

… food for the soul … food for the heart.

This begs the questions:

What would life look like if there isn’t an endless struggle to survive … to have enough food for the day … or not chasing down more goods to possess? What would life look like if our hearts and souls were always full?

During the season of Epiphany, we are called to discover more about the nature of Christ … and what these revelations point us toward.

Today’s passage includes Jesus’ eucharistic call to eat his flesh and drink his blood so that they may truly live. All who believe are welcome … that’s the only requirement … to believe.

By answering this call, we are co-mingling … “ingesting “is how one scholar put it … enjoying an intimate, faithful relationship with God. In the bread and wine, we are finding God in a place where God promised to be.

It is at the table … a table where all are welcome … where a faith-filled community comes together in affirmation of our belief that Jesus is the bread of life … where our relationship with God and with one another experiences its deepest expression.

It is at that place and time where we are truly a community of life … of an abundant life … that is shared and enjoyed. It is where we can taste and see that the Lord is good.

Like many churches, LCOS had to suspend in-person worship services due to the pandemic and we have moved to gathering online. 

This has also meant that we also cannot physically gather as a community around the table to celebrate the Eucharist. 

It can be unsettling and a bit sad.

But we can take solace in knowing that God and God’s unconditional love remains present in our lives and that love continues to offer flavour to the life of the world … a soul-filling sustenance that is never scarce … because the bread of life is in endless supply.

AMEN