Bible Reading: John 6:24-35
Dear Friends,
Five weeks in a row the Gospel readings in the lectionary come from John, chapter six which are all about bread. Jesus feeds 5,000 people on five barley loaves and two fish and then, when the crowds follow him around, he explains that he himself is the true bread from heaven that satisfies our spiritual hunger. It’s such an important event that the “feeding of the
5,000” is the only miracle that is told in all four of the Gospels. The crowds that followed Jesus around the Sea of Galilee flocked to him because he had just fed them all until they were filled up and satisfied completely, something that just didn’t happen in that time and place of scarcity.
This weeks’ Gospel reading has left me with various questions in my mind. Why should I judge hungry people most of them poor, who probably had NO guarantee if they would eat from day to day? Having worked with poor and hungry people I would not begrudge them for one minute looking for even a hint of either a “free meal” or, even more unlikely, assurance of food
for the next day. The promises of eternal life are meaningless to children starving much less the theological reasons for “believing” in Jesus as God. I’m not so sure that Jesus spoke with rebuke toward those who followed him after eating his free bread. Perhaps it was more with disappointment that they were unable to see the bigger picture, to look beyond their immediate hunger to the “bread of life” that feeds the spirit. Still it’s hardly their fault, it’s hard to focus on anything when you are starving.
It feels to me that it’s these kinds of stories and misinterpretations that make the church irrelevant in the world today. Theology seems more interested in making arguments for Jesus’ divinity and “dying for sin” than in helping the world which has so many issues to be dealt with from billions in poverty to climate change killing the planet. I wonder if the argument could not be made that the human Jesus who confronts the powers to be on the side of the poor and hungry is much more remarkable than Jesus who only comes to die for sin. In my opinion, as long as the church is more about heaven than this world, it will continue to die in irrelevance. So much for Jesus praying for “this world”, “on earth, as it is in heaven.” Maybe heaven is fine, it doesn’t need our help the way we understand it to need it. The earth, on the other hand, is in dire need for people to stand up for life, justice and equality and the health of the planet which, in the final analysis, if not taken care of, will make all religion moot. I think it makes more sense to act upon our shared suffering as a human species rather than believing I am a “sinner” who needs conversion. Nonetheless, we all have the challenge to act out of compassion from our shared suffering rather than anger or vengeance. “Sinner” is a theological construct, and a bad one at that.
It suggests I need change and, if not change for the better, then punishment eternal if need be. There is nothing, ultimately, loving or compassionate about that kind of theology and it does not seem to me that it actually represents Jesus. For me, Jesus comes to show the world that there is more power (and humility) in accepting our shared vulnerability and suffering as a human family and trying to find ways to alleviate that suffering as best as we can primarily through belief in Jesus, whose acts points to a social justice activism, changing those systems that cause suffering and violence, and in so doing is pointing to the Kingdom of God hear on earth.
We can trust God and let go of our demands, our fears, and our sins we can turn all those things over to Jesus Christ and just follow the trail of breadcrumbs to our true home in God’s kingdom.
Solomzi