Asking the wrong questions... Jesus is the bread of life

 Exodus 16: 2-4, 9-15     John 6: 24-35

I’m sure we have all been struggling with our reactions to the story of the attack on a children’s dance class in Southport this week, and the death of three young girls - Bebe, Elsie and Alice.

 

We know a 17 year old boy has been arrested. We’re told that he moved to the Northwest from Cardiff, and that his parents were from Rwanda. Stories are emerging that this lad had communication issues and is living with an autism disorder. 

 

But we are left with so many questions, including:

-       What can make a young man want to attack children in this way?

-       How can we keep children safe in future ?

-       Why do terrible things like this happen to innocent children?

 

 

 

And some have turned to violence – attacking the mosque in Southport, rioting in central London, and attacks on taxis, police, and shops in Manchester, Hartlepool, Aldershot and Sunderland. 

It seems from the chanting and placards in these places that they are blaming migrants, Muslims, and multiracial areas for making Southport ‘unsafe’ – when the violence of the thugs themselves is surely making the streets unsafe.

 

We might want to ask why God allows these things to happen. Why can’t God stay the hand of the attacker; calm the crowd; teach people to love?

 

Perhaps, like the crowd talking to Jesus in our Gospel reading, we are asking the wrong questions.

Perhaps we have to look wider to ask ‘where is the God of love in all this?’

 

Last week’s gospel reading was the feeding of the five thousand as told by John. 

Yet, as we heard in today’s gospel reading, the people fed by Jesus have questions. They are looking for Jesus and the disciples and so cross the sea to Capernaum. 

When they find Jesus there, they ask  

“Rabbi, when did you come here?”

“What must we do to perform the works of God?” 

“What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you?”

 

But in feeding the five thousand, Jesus is not just making sure people get a decent lunch, he is demonstrating how he can provide all they need to truly live.

 

What do we already know about what ‘bread’ can signify?

The gospels of Matthew and Luke give us Jesus’ teaching of how to pray – with the words that we call, now, the Lord’s Prayer. We pray this often, so we are used to praying

“Give us this day our daily bread”.

Bread is important - it’s hard to imagine a chapel tea without sandwiches. Bread is a central part of lots of people’s diets and the idea of ‘daily bread’ is not just a loaf of Mother’s Pride – but a symbol of everything we need.

We might still call someone who earns money for a household the ‘bread-winner’ or say that they ‘earn a crust’. Slang words for money include both ‘bread’ and ‘dough’. 

The German organisation which is the equivalent of the UK’s Christian Aid is called “Brot für die Welt” – bread for the world – though it’s about providing people with food, work and security – it’s not just about bread.

When we pray for our ‘daily bread’ we know we’re not just praying for bread, but for everything we need: what gives life, what sustains us.

 

People who are desperate know what they need, as we saw in the story from Exodus.

The people complain that they will die in the wilderness – they are starving, They even look back fondly to how well fed they were when they were slaves in Egypt.

God tells Moses that he will provide for his starving people – and he does.

Each evening quails come and settle on the camp – providing meat.

Each morning a strange flaky food is found on the ground – so strange they call it ‘What is it?” – ‘mannah’ in Hebrew – they have something like bread. Here is another way of understanding ‘daily bread’.

 

The gift of bread is the first gift God gives to the people of the Exodus – travelling through the wilderness to the land God has promised.

The second gift is water – which comes out of the rock when Moses strikes it with his staff.

The third is light – the pillar of fire which guides the people of God by night.

 

In John’s gospel Jesus acts out giving people each of these gifts, as Moses did: yet in ways that shows he is even greater than Moses.

To the five thousand he gives bread.

To the woman at the well he gives the ‘water of life’

To people who need direction he doesn’t just give light -he is light, the light of the world.

 

The people ask questions that show they are living on the surface – seeing only bread given to eat, when there is really so much more Jesus’ answers try to point them back to what God has given them in the feeding of the five thousand. 

Bread from heaven – a greater miracle even than the one of the manna in the desert.

 

Then the people ask “give us this bread always”… and Jesus tells them 

“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

The people are distracted by what Jesus has done in feeding the five thousand – but Jesus helps us them to see it is a metaphor – a sign of all the things that Jesus can offer them, as he gives his own life to change the lives of all who believe in him.

 

It’s easy to look at the story and think how slow on the uptake the people are, not realising that the feeding of the five thousand was not just about bread, but about everything they need in life.

But I’m not convinced that we, in our world and our time, are any more perceptive.

 

In Southport, in shock and dismay, faced with terrible suffering, some people ask questions in which they try to find others to blame.

 

There will need to be a police investigation, and in due course a court case, and perhaps we will learn more about the ways in which our society could help a young 17 year old who thinks violence is the answer.

But already, in Southport, in the face of violence and blame, we have seen signs of love in action, as people have come together to mourn and support one another, and then following the violence have acted to put things right. I saw amazing footage on television of people ordering pizzas to feed workers clearing the streets; building firms providing free labour and resources to rebuild walls; a fire engine ladder being used to reach and repair windows in the mosque.

 

So Jesus directs us back to the real question: What is God giving people in this situation?

The presence of God himself in Jesus, who is the bread of life.

Jesus can bring comfort to those who mourn; hope to those in despair; peace where there is conflict.

 

The imam of the mosque, Ibraham Hussein, has spoken very movingly of the love that he finds in the community of Southport, and the need to pray for all people.

Where people allow the love of God to be present within them and between them we can see that good will flourish, and defeat evil.

 

Our task is to give thanks to God for all we are given – and to help others to know that the love of God is with us and can inspire us to love and pray for our neighbour: here in Pembrokeshire, in Southport, in Gaza.

In the name of Jesus, the bread of life. Amen.