Thoughts on Food

The Gospel Lesson

John 6:24-35


The next day, when the people who remained after the feeding of the five thousand saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

Jesus said to 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 Sermon

Thoughts on Food

Are you being fed?

I saw a television show once that was talking about our eating habits as Americans. They used plate size as an example. If any of you have plates sitting around from the 50s or 60s you will notice that the dinner plates were much smaller back then. I looked in our cupboard and measure the diameter of plates made in the 60's. They were eight inches in diameter. Our everyday plates which are probably fifteen years old measured ten inches. People seem to be piling on more food today than they did when I was a child so the people who make dinnerware are making bigger plates.

Attendance at church services in America has dropped considerably since those days which makes me wonder. Is there some relationship between our physical appetites and our spiritual appetite. Have we lost our balance. Are we over feeding our physical bodies and leaving our spiritual selves to go hungry.

Jesus seems to be saying the same thing when he says, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”

When the people asked him for that food, Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

So, are any of you feeling fed? How do we feed ourselves spiritually? I am not being rhetorical here. I am asking you.

Now for a harder question. Are we doing anything to turn away from that spiritual food. Are we in some way poisoning ourselves. It is a tough question and one worth pondering.