This morning, the people Jesus fed last week are hungry again, so they’ve piled into boats, crossed the water and have tracked Jesus down.
Although Jesus isn’t surprised that they’ve come… he IS a tad annoyed at their shortsightedness—happy to have their stomachs filled but completely oblivious to the real reason for His presence in their lives. Just as we often are, these folks are clueless as to the real reason for Jesus’ presence in their lives.
Jesus didn’t come to fill our stomachs, Jesus came to fill our souls. But, and Jesus knew this, it’s really difficult to pay attention to one’s soul if one’s stomach is growling. So, he filled their stomachs hoping—maybe even assuming---that once their stomachs were full, they’d realize just how empty their souls remained.
But to do that, to realize how empty we may feel, is not so simple. There’s no definitive signal---like a growling stomach---to tell us we’re spiritually empty, that we need some spiritual nourishment. It takes awhile to figure it out.
And, apparently, it takes awhile to explain it as well.
In John’s gospel, Jesus spends FOUR Sundays trying to get his followers, those then and us now, to distinguish between physical and spiritual hunger. It’s annoying as we hear, again, again, again and AGAIN that the manna from Exodus and the multiplication of loaves and fishes in the gospels is nothing…NOTHING compared to The Bread of Life...the bread that is Jesus.
And while in theory we may join with the folks from the gospel and say, “yes Jesus give us this spiritual bread forever,” it’s a lot more involved than just saying yes. We can’t just say it. We have to live it. We have to believe it. We have to accept it. We have to receive it.
You see, since time began we’ve been separated from God. And God has been, since time began, trying to bridge that gap, trying to reach us, trying to touch us.
According to philosopher Louis Dupre (wiki preacher) religion is how we reach out to God. It’s how we try to bridge the gap from our end of this divide.
Remember Michelangelo’s depiction of Creation on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? In it is the iconic image of Adam-- stretched out on the ground, dazed and confused, one arm, one hand, reaching out toward an old and slightly wild looking God, who’s also stretching out an arm, a hand, with one finger almost touching Adam’s. In between is a teeny space separating God from humanity. Separating us from God.
Dupre says that our entire life is lived in that tiny space between God’s finger and Adam’s hand. Trying to bridge that gap.
The problem is, we don’t know how. We try to be good and faithful Christians, but it doesn’t always work. It doesn’t work because we forget to do what Jesus told us to do---- believe and trust in him.
It doesn’t work because instead of letting go and trusting God, we hold on and try to do it on our own: “Just show us how to do it and we’ll do it ourselves, God. We really don’t need this Jesus fellow…just give us the magic formula and we’ll take care of things.” That never works. It doesn’t work because it isn’t about us, it isn’t about our filled bellies, it isn’t about what we can do. It’s about what God does. And what God has done is given us Jesus.
Jesus says, “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of God will GIVE you” And the people respond, “OK, so how do we learn to get this food ourselves?”
Jesus tries again. “This is the work OF GOD: That you believe in the one God sent. It’s a gift. God does the doing, the sending. We do the receiving. The accepting.
You see, Jesus is the one who fills up that tiny space between God’s finger and Adam’s hand. Jesus bridges that gap, so tiny in the painting, so vast in our lives. What we need to do is walk across that bridge between God and us, reaching God, touching God, being one with God.
It really is that simple: walk. Reach. Touch.
As many of you know, my mom’s health has been failing quite precipitously for the past 18 months. I just returned from Chicago where mom entered into a higher level of nursing care. Mom’s most debilitating symptom of kidney failure is unrelenting fatigue. She said to me the other morning. “I just want to be able to walk on my own and get to where I want to go. I just want to walk.” Of course, the only way she’ll be able to walk without lots of assistance is when she transitions from this life into eternal life. When that happens she will walk, she will run, she will be free. She will walk, she will reach, she will touch, she will be one with God, forever.There is great wisfon within her lament.
Just walk. Just Reach. Just Touch.
This is really it. It’s the wisdom of God, manifested in my mother’s waning days on earth, the wisdom of our Savior: Just walk. Just Reach. Just Touch.
My friends, we are hungry. Let us, fueled by the Bread of Life, walk, reach, touch and be filled. Amen.
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