The Emperor of Rome - Caesar - was proclaimed as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and that was a true statement. There were kings and lords throughout the empire - King Herod, for example - but Caesar was the king over all these other kings. He was the king of kings.
Caesar was also the giver of peace. Caesar gave peace by violently oppressing any dissenting minority and ruthlessly attacking any rebellion, so that no one dared stand against the Roman Empire. It was peace that was enforced through intimidation and threats and fear … which, really, is no peace at all. But it kept full-scale war from happening, and for that reason Caesar was called the savior of Rome, the savior of the people.
Caesar was also the giver of bread; and bread means life. In every culture. In Arabic, bread and life are so closely related that a single word means both bread and life.
In the Roman Empire, Caesar was the giver of bread and life. Caesar literally gave bread to the people, and more generally considered himself the father of Rome.
So when Jesus fed the 5,000 in the wilderness, it wasn’t just a way to feed 5,000 men, plus however many women and children were present. It wasn’t just a way to end their physical hunger.
It was a political statement. It was a statement that the true giver of bread, the true giver of life, was not Caesar, but God. And God did it even better than Caesar did. With Caesar, there was never quite enough. With Caesar, the people were always left wanting more.
But with God, even though they started out with next to nothing - just a few loaves and a few fish - in the end it was more than enough. There was an abundance of bread. Everyone had their fill. Everyone was full. Everyone was satisfied.
And there were baskets leftovers.
Which showed the contrast between Caesar’s scarcity, and God’s abundance.
The image of Jesus providing bread was so important to early Christians, that this is how they pictured him. For many modern Christians, the first picture of Jesus that comes to mind is Jesus on the cross. For many of the earliest Christians, the first picture of Jesus that came to mind was Jesus giving bread.
And the traditional Jewish prayer which Jesus likely recited when he blessed the bread is known today even by a non-Hebrew speaking person like myself. I only know two sentences in Hebrew by heart, and this is one of them. Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech haolam, hamotzi lechem min ha-aretz. Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.
After that miraculous feeding, a bunch of people followed Jesus. Jesus commented that they were only following him because they wanted more bread. In other words, they didn't recognize that the bread was more than just bread. They didn't understand that there was a spiritual significance to bread. They didn't realize there was more to eating this Jesus bread than just a full belly.
There is a different type of bread, Jesus said, a bread that lasts, a bread that, once you eat it, will keep you full forever.
The people, still thinking about their bellies, said to Jesus: “Give us this bread!”
And Jesus said: “Don't you get it? I am the bread; I am the bread of life! Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
And with that statement, Jesus takes things to a whole new level. Bread becomes a metaphor for something much bigger.
Jesus doesn’t just give bread. He is bread. He is the bread that is given. He is the life that is received.
Think of a parent, who provides food for their child. The parent works hard to put food on the table, and the child eats the food, and grows, and is healthy.
The parent is giving food to their child.
Caesar did that. He gave the people food.
But Jesus says: “I am the food. I am the bread that gives life.”
Again, think of a parent: the parent provides food, but this parent does more than that. This parent makes a real sacrifice in order to ensure the wellbeing of their child. This parent works long hours. This parent gets little sleep. (This is especially true if the parent is poor, or is a single parent with little support.)
Perhaps this parent even sacrifices their own wellbeing on behalf of their child. If there isn’t enough food, the parent makes sure the child has enough before the parent eats. Perhaps the parent’s own health suffers as the parent puts the child’s needs ahead of their own.
What love the parent must have for their child to do this, to sacrifice their own wellbeing for the sake of their child!
And the parent knows that, if it ever were necessary, they would give their life for their child… which, in fact, they do. They give their life, not all at once, but little by little, as they sacrifice their own comfort and their own wellbeing and maybe even their own health for the sake of their child.
This is what God does through Jesus. Jesus’ own life is given to the people. Jesus’ own wellbeing is sacrificed so that the people may have life in abundance.
Jesus gives himself completely. His life was spent helping people find abundant life, even though he knew that doing so would bring him closer to death. He gives life by empowering people, which is a threat to the Roman way which gives life to people as a way of keeping people in their place. Caesar gives bread so that people recognize their dependence on him, a dependence that makes them think they can do nothing without Caesar.
Jesus also gives bread and helps the people recognize their dependence on God, but there is a difference. Our dependence on God doesn’t make us think we can do nothing. Our dependence on God makes us realize that we can do all things through Christ.
This is what it means to eat the body and drink the blood of Christ. Christ gives himself to us so freely, so unconditionally, so that we might have life in abundance. Lives of wholeness. Lives of richness.
Because Jesus is the bread of life. The bread of eternal life. The bread of the life of the ages.
And this eternal life has multiple dimensions. There is the horizontal dimension, which is what most people think of: this life with Jesus will go on forever.
But there is also a vertical dimension, which is often overlooked. With Jesus, it’s not just the length of life that matters, but the depth of one’s life.
What good is an eternal life if it is shallow? If it is without meaning? If it is unfulfilling? What good is a never-ending life that you aren’t really living?
When we receive from Jesus all that Jesus offers to us, we find that life of meaning, that life of abundance, that life of richness. We find it, because it is life that is rooted in love.
The eternal life is about liberation, and about helping others be free.
The eternal life is about being made whole, and helping others find wholeness.
The eternal life is about learning that you are loved, and letting others know that they are loved.
The eternal life is about discovering a purpose for your life, and helping others discover their purpose.
This is what we receive when we come to Jesus, when we receive from him his body and his blood, when we take his life into our own bodies and allow it to nourish us.
Those who were opposed to Jesus weren’t looking for depth. Like many Christians today, they were content with a shallower version of faith: simple answers, simple rules, many of which only reinforced their own fears and prejudices, but which hindered their ability to love their neighbor.
But when we receive the bread of life, we feel compelled to love our neighbor. And we feel compelled to know our neighbor, because to love our neighbor, we need to know our neighbor.
The elders talked a little about this at our meeting last week. Because of our New Beginnings program, we feel called more than ever to reach out to our neighbors, but to do that, we need to know our neighbors. What are their needs? What can a small congregation like Bixby Knolls Christian Church do to provide life to those living in our community?
The Tuesday before last, I walked a few blocks from my house to the home of a friend who was hosting a gathering of neighbors in his front yard. It was “National Night Out,” a day when neighbors in communities all across the country come together to get to know one another better. Many of us don’t even know the names of our neighbors, let alone what we can do to help them find a more abundant life.
In the past I’ve also worked with a group called We Love Long Beach, which encourages neighbors to get to know one another. Each year, this organization invites individuals to host neighborhood gatherings, like ice cream socials and breakfasts and pumpkin carving events. Neighbors who get to know one another help create safer neighborhoods, friendlier neighborhoods, neighborhoods that are more conducive to the abundant life Jesus offers.
There is of course more to the abundant life Jesus offers than just getting to know our neighbors, but doing that is a really good place to start.
People today are longing for a deeper, richer, more meaningful existence. They are longing for bread that is satisfying, nutritious, wholesome.
People today are tired of bread that is stale, bread that is lacking in flavor, bread that is cheap & full of air.
How much of our time do we spend consuming that stale, tasteless, unsatisfying bread? How much of the TV we watch, how much of the time we spend on social media, fails to provide us anything nourishing?
How can we find that rich, satisfying, wholesome bread of life for ourselves? What changes do we need to make in our lives to feast daily on the bread of life?
And how can we help provide that rich, satisfying, wholesome bread of life to our neighbor?
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