When God called Moses and sent him to deliver His people, the Children of Israel from their bondage of slavery in Egypt, “13Then Moses said to God, ‘If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they ask me, “What is his name?” what shall I say to them?’ 14God said to Moses, ‘I AM who I am.’ And he said, ‘Say this to the people of Israel, “I AM has sent me to you.”’” (Exodus 3:13-14). This year during the season of Lent through to Easter morning we are exploring the “I AM” words of Jesus, especially as John expounds on God’s telling Moses that His name is “I AM.” Today we are looking at Jesus’ words as He declares, “I AM the Bread of Life.”
Again, as we have been doing, we begin with God’s name as He tells Moses, His name is “I AM.” His name declares Him to be God from eternity, living outside of time, in the eternal present. In our text for today, as Jesus declares Himself to be the Bread of Life so He says He too is “I AM,” in other words He proclaims His divinity, from Exodus.
And again let me reiterate that Jesus is true God in the eternal present. Jesus is not a God who was as He has no beginning. He is not a God is to be as He has no tomorrow, at least not in the same sense of time which He created for us, yesterday, today and tomorrow. Rather He is God who is I AM such that He lives in the eternal present thus all things with Him are concurrent and outside of time as you and I sense time.
Jesus declares that He is the Bread of Life which came down from heaven. With this declaration Jesus brings to mind the Manna which God rained down on the Children of Israel while they were wondering in the wilderness. As you might remember, when Moses led the Children of Israel out of Egypt, when they were ready to enter the Promised Land they grumbled and complained and in doubt they refused to believe God and enter thus God punished them such that they wondered in the wilderness for forty years, enough time for that generation to pass on and not be able to receive the land promised to them. While they wondered they rebelled many, many, many times. Although God had dramatically rescued them from Egypt, although He promised to continually care for their needs, which He did, they continually rebelled. To their rebellion concerning food God provide Manna or “what is this” from heaven, food for them to eat.
Thus, we see, even in the sin and unbelief of His chosen people, the Children of Israel, God continued to keep His promises. He continued to provide for His people all that they needed. This Manna was bread from heaven, God’s providence in the wilderness.
As the Children of Israel were getting ready to leave Egypt and to prepare for the passing over of the Angel of Death God instituted the Passover in order to rescue, set apart and keep His people safe. A lamb was selected and set apart. The lamb was sacrificed. The blood of the lamb was painted on the door post and lintel. The lamb was roasted and eaten, it was consumed. The marking of the door post and the lintel were seen by the Angel of Death so that he passed over those houses and did not kill the first born of anyone in those houses. The lamb was eaten so that it became a physical part of those in the house.
When Jesus began His public ministry John the Baptist pointed to Him and told the people, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Jesus is the Lamb of God. He is the one promised in Eden. He is the one to which all the sacrifices of the ceremonial law pointed. He is the one man sent to live for us, take our sins, suffer and die for us.
As Jesus was celebrating the Passover meal with His disciples, on the night in which He was betrayed, He took from that Passover meal and has given us a new sacrament His Holy Supper, the Lord’s Supper. Although this reference here in John is not necessarily a reference to the Lord’s Supper, which has not yet been given, it does help us to make a connection to what is given in the Lord’s Supper. Indeed, as God provided physical bread for His people in the wilderness, so He provides spiritual bread for us in our world today. Thus, when Jesus gives us the Lord’s Supper, when He gives us the bread and says “Take, eat, this is my body,” we can know for certain that we are eating the body of Jesus. Although human reason may not understand how this can be bread and body of Jesus, we know, we believe, teach and confess what the words of Jesus’ say, it is His body. And we understand that Jesus does not say it symbolizes His body nor is changed into His body, but it is His body. This being His body is important such that just as the Israelites ate the lamb before leaving Egypt so that the lamb became a physical part of them, so too as we eat His body, physically not symbolically, but physically eat His body He becomes a physical part of us.
Likewise, when in the Lord’s Supper Jesus takes the cup of wine and says, “Drink of it all of you, this is my blood,” then we can know for certain that we are partaking of the blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And again, perhaps contrary to human reason we take Jesus at His Word such that we are physically drinking the blood of the Lamb of God. So, we can rest assured that just as the house of the Israelites were marked on the door post and lintel with the blood of the lamb, so we are marked with the blood of the Lamb of God. And just as the Angel of Death passed over those homes in Egypt, so the Angel of Eternal Death and Hell will pass over us.
Jesus speaks words that are temporal and eternal. While we live and remain in this world we will always have a need for food, for physical food which we eat to nourish our bodies. Without physical, temporal food we would eventually starve to death. We need food to eat and water to drink. And God provides such food. He gives us gifts, talents, and abilities as well as work, a job or career so that we might earn a living so that we might have a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs, shoes on our feet and food on our table. God’s promise is that He will care for our needs, notice not wants but needs.
Without God taking care of us, without our needs being met, without our eating, our bodies will die. Of course, this dying is the result of sin and the curse in Eden. We are conceived and born in sin such that from the moment of conception we are doomed to die. Without physical food we would die a physical death.
We need physical food for our physical life while we live in this world, but more important is the fact that we need eternal, spiritual food, the Word, which nourishes our souls. God also provides our spiritual nourishment which He does so through the means of grace which He provides, His Word and Sacraments. His Word is the first and foremost sustenance, Bread of Life if you will that He provides for us. As Jesus declares, “I am the Bread of Life,” so He is. As we have been hearing over the past few weeks, Jesus is the great I AM, God in flesh, with the Father and the Holy Spirit at creation. He is the oral Word of promise passed down. He is the written Word of promise passed down. He is the Word taking on flesh and blood here in person. He is the Bread of Life, that Word which gives and does what it says. He gives faith through His Word, His name and water in Holy Baptism. He gives forgiveness of sins through Holy Absolution. He strengthens faith through His read and preached Word. He gives forgiveness and strength through His body and blood in His Holy Supper.
Although our bodies will eventually die a physical death, should the Lord tarry, our souls will live forever. It is only as our souls are nourished with Jesus, the Bread of Life that they will live forever with Him in heaven. Apart from Jesus and faith in Him we would be eternally lost, we would suffer eternal death and hell. Thanks be to God that He feeds us with the Bread of Life.
What does this mean? God’s desire is that all people are saved. In order to save all people He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, God in flesh. Jesus came to do for us and all people what we are unable to do, what God demands, live a perfect, obedient life. Which Jesus did. He lived the perfect life for us in our place and then took our sins and paid the price for our sins as well as the sins of all people, of all places, of all times. He died the eternal death penalty, the price for sin, for us in our place so that we might have forgiveness and life.
Today we rejoice that God gives all we need, both temporal and eternal. God provides for our everyday, physical, bodily needs and most important He provides for our eternal, spiritual needs. He provides us with the Bread of Life. Even more so, this evening as we celebrate Jesus giving us His Holy Supper, the Lord’s Supper so He is the living bread of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. As we come to His table we eat His body, in, with and under the bread and we drink His blood, again, in, with and under the wine so that He becomes a physical part of us. We thus participate in Him. His perfect life becomes our perfect life. His perfect suffering becomes our perfect suffering. His eternal death becomes our eternal death. His resurrection becomes our resurrection and His eternal life in heaven becomes our eternal life in heaven.
Jesus continues to be with us and provide for us today. Through the means of grace which God provides, His Word and sacraments He pours out on us and lavishes us with all the good gifts and blessings He has to give. He gives faith, forgiveness, strengthening of faith life and salvation. And He stirs in us our response of faith, the joy to say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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