12^th August 2012

Rev Dr Max Champion at St John's UCA Mt Waverley Sunday 29 July 2012

Lessons - 2 Kings 4:42-44; Ephesians 3:14-21; John 6:1-15

When they saw what Jesus had done, they said, 'Indeed this is the
prophet who is to come into the world!' But Jesus, perceiving that
they were about to come and take him by force to make him king,
withdrew again to the mountain by himself.  (John 6:14,15)

Unlike the cynics in Jesus' own town (Mark 6:1-6) the people here cannot
contain their exuberance. They are so astonished by his ability to feed so
many with so little that they proclaim him to be the long-awaited 'prophet
of God'.

Reasons are not hard to find. The episode takes place at the Passover
festival when, with bread and wine, they celebrated their deliverance from
slavery in Egypt (Exodus 12:11ff). They are also reminded that God
provided manna / bread to sustain them in the wilderness (Exodus 16:31ff)
and that the prophet Elisha fed 100 hungry men with a few loaves (2 Kings
4:42-44). And what Jesus is doing reminds them of the promised future when
suffering, evil and death would be no more and 'all people' would feast
together on the mountain of the Lord (Isaiah 25:6ff). Everything points to
the fact that he is the bearer of the promised Kingdom of God in whom
their hopes will be fulfilled.

However, immediately after they acclaim him to be 'the Prophet' and try to
'force him to be king', Jesus 'withdraws to the mountain by himself'
(v15). He turns his back on them. He satisfies ancient hopes in a most
unexpected way.

Their misunderstanding is perfectly understandable. Jesus has just
performed an economic miracle, the likes of which would gladden the hearts
of capitalists and socialists alike! He performs an act of wealth creation
and social distribution that would be the envy of politicians on all
sides.

It is not surprising therefore that the crowd believes that Jesus is 'the
Prophet' who will set things right and meet their material, political and
religious needs - particularly as they have experienced lack of fulfilment
and much dissatisfaction over the centuries because of their faith in God.

Jesus does not simply meet their expectations! He does feed them, body and
soul, but in a way that overturns their ideas and ours about how religion
should satisfy us. The sharp contrast between our expectations of God and
way in which God sustains the world in Christ is the subject of the long
sixth chapter of John and the third chapter of Ephesians.

Although Paul does not use the image of 'bread' he does speak of the
matchless love of Christ for the human race whereby the 'inner man' (v16)
is strengthened by the Spirit so that 'we may be filled with all the
fullness of God' (v19). He makes the same point as John. In Christ our
bodies and souls are fulfilled and sustained by the 'riches' of God's
grace.

The contrast is also developed in Bonheoffer's 1944 poem 'Christians and
Pagans' (Australian Hymn Book, 182) where our natural desire to seek God's
help at times when we lack bread, mercy and hope is set against the
Christian's responsibility to stand with God in his time of need. For
Bonheoffer, being 'filled with the fullness of God' means being sustained
by grace - even in a Nazi concentration camp - and thus sharing God's love
for a world that is often preoccupied with political, economic and social
problems and desperate to hear a word of hope!

Perhaps this is too hard to grasp or to accept because we are used to
thinking of God as the answer to our needs. We think of God as the One who
gives us bread - of one kind or another - when we are hungry - for
something or other. If it does seem strange that Christ is not concerned
to fulfil our needs as we define them, but calls us to share
responsibility with God in and for the world, then we need consider the
petitions of the Lord's Prayer.

There Jesus' disciples are taught to pray, first and foremost, for the
satisfaction of God's honour, Kingdom and will in a world where
satisfaction of our desires is uppermost.

Only then are we permitted to pray for ourselves. We pray for ourselves in
the light of our prayers for God! So we pray for 'daily bread' and
'forgiveness' - the needs of 'body and soul' - as they are made known 'in
Christ'. It is only in his life, death and resurrection that we know what
we truly need to experience fullness of life. In him we may know the
sustaining love of God and so be filled with the benefits of grace in the
whole of life - personal, social, economic, political.

This is not to be mistaken for thinking that faith in God necessarily
brings us material or social benefits, as preachers of the 'prosperity
gospel' claim. The benefits of grace flow from the 'power of the cross'.
'In Christ', God fulfils his redemptive purposes for humanity in
'weakness'. As we see here and in the temptations (Luke 4:1ff), Jesus
never allows himself to be misinterpreted simply as a performer of
economic miracles. He is 'the Prophet' who feeds our bodies and souls with
the complete self-giving love of God.

In response to him, the Church is called to share the bread of life with
the world. The bread that sustains life - body and soul - and fulfils hope
is not be confused with bread that feeds our need for satisfaction. What
truly satisfies us is the grace-filled person of Jesus Christ in whom 'God
has already distributed the bread in the sacrament of the Cross on
Golgotha'. (JC Hampe, in Dietrich Bonheoffer, Prayers from Prison p69).

When acclaiming Jesus as 'the Prophet', the people thought he would meet
their need for political, social and religious satisfaction. But, as John
makes plain at the end of the episode, Jesus does not satisfy natural
desires and hopes. Instead, he challenges self-centred religion by
pointing us to the cross and resurrection as the place where God's power
is displayed and the Church's mission is shaped. That is where full
satisfaction is to be known and celebrated.

Bonheoffer's poem puts it very well:
God goes to every man when sore bestead,
feeds body and spirit with his bread;
for Christians, pagans alike he hangs dead,
and both alike forgiving.

In Christ therefore there is a genuine word of hope for a world where
bodies and souls are so often broken because we pursue our selfish desires
for economic, political or religious satisfaction.

* Here is a word of hope for those who are hungry for food or meaning in
life.

* Here is the sign that, at last, 'all peoples' shall feast on the
mountain of the One who, by feeding us body and soul, embodies God's
desire that we shall be fully satisfied by grace.

* Here is a word of hope for all who are called to participate in costly,
Christ-centred ministry in the midst of and for the sake of the world.
This is the place where the Church's vocation - our vocation - is
embodied. By God's grace, we are summoned to share in the ministry of
the crucified-and-risen Jesus, the unexpected Prophet, who 'withdrew by
himself' in order to demonstrate the unique way in which the needs of
body and soul are fully satisfied, now and in the future.

---------------

Rev Dr Max Champion is minister in the St John's Uniting Church,
Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia.

Dr Champion is Chair of the Assembly of Confessing Congregations within
the UCA.