6:24 So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

6:25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?"

6:26 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.

6:27 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."

6:28 Then they said to him, "What must we do to perform the works of God?"

6:29 Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."

6:30 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?

6:31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"

6:32 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.

6:33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

6:34 They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always."

6:35 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.

NRSV (ComLec) (c) 1989 NCC

INTRODUCTION:

Our family still talks about the summer we all went to Kentucky to visit my mom's Uncle Joe and Aunt Ethel on their farm. I was thirteen. My Mom's whole family went to visit that farm in Kentucky. Aunt Billie (Mom's sister) and Uncle Ace and all of my cousins, Bruce, Danny and Dale were going, along with Mom's brother Uncle Kenny and Aunt Carol. We had a brand new station wagon. My Dad, Uncle Ace, Uncle Kenny and us "big" kids (my cousins Bruce and Danny 14 & 13 respectively) rode in the station wagon while the moms and the "little" kids all rode in Uncle Ace's car.

One of the things I remember about that trip was hearing an ad on the radio for "Bunny Bread." Us boys thought that was the funniest name for a bread we had ever heard. We laughed and laughed. And then we started singing the jingle. I don't know if there was more to it or not, but what I remember went, "That's what I said, Bunny Bread."

I guess it was because we were thirteen year old boys with too much energy and nothing else to do; but every time we saw a billboard or a sign we sang that jingle. If one of us started, the others finished. Like a broken record, we sang it over and over. We sang it in restaurants and in gas stations. We sang it in the car and in the motel. We must have sung that jingle about a million times. Even today if one of us starts it, the others finish it. We were having fun. Every now and then it would get to Uncle Ace and he would holler back at us, "All right, you knuckleheads, knock it off!"

And for awhile, we would. But then we'd see another billboard and we'd scrunch down in the seat and whisper sing the jingle. Pretty soon we were singing it as loud as ever.

About ten years ago, I ran across an old metal serving tray which had a loaf of "Bunny Bread" painted on it, along with the slogan. I bought it and sent it to Uncle Ace with a note signed, "From one of the knuckleheads." He loved it.

I. IMPORTANCE OF BREAD:

No matter what brand, BREAD is one of the most important staples in the world. In the poorer countries of the world, bread makes up at least half, if not more of the meal. Look at the miracle of the loaves and fishes. The boy had five loaves and two fish. Bread is very important staple.

In our country bread is used to round out the meal. Can you imagine having sausage gravy without biscuits? Or spaghetti without a thick slab of garlic bread. Can you imagine going to the Olive Garden and NOT getting breadsticks? The only people I know who eat hamburgers or hot dogs without a bun are those on the Adkin's diet.

Bread is important. You can't have a BLT without the toast. You can't have a sub sandwich without a Hoagie roll. Beans without cornbread just don't seem right. Enchiladas or burritos without tortillas would just be a mess. Lox and cream cheese wouldn't taste right on anything but a bagel. An Egg McMuffin without the muffin would just be an egg. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich would be a sticky mess without the bread. Try and imagine pot roast without rolls; a patty melt or reuben without rye; seafood without hushpuppies; soup without crackers or BBQ without a big old hunk of Texas Toast.

Just the smell of baking bread can evoke all kinds of warm and toastie memories. Now, my purpose wasn't to drive you nuts or get your mouth watering. But to show you how important bread is to our everyday life.

In this passage, Jesus calls Himself the Bread of Life, Bread from Heaven. In so doing, He tells us that just as we need the daily staple of bread for our physical bodies, we also need the staple of "Bread from Heaven" for our spiritual lives.

II. DEEP HUNGER:

You see, Jesus knew that there is a deep hunger in most of our lives that no amount of bread could ever satisfy. There's a hunger in our spirits that can't be satisfied with anything worldly. It can only be satisfied through a relationship with God, through Christ.

It wasn't always this way. In Eden, we were perfectly satisfied with what God provided. But then the serpent convinced us that we were really hungry and missing out on stuff that only God knew about. But it wasn't until we bit into that nonsense that we had any real hunger.

After the Fall, there was a God sized emptiness that only God could fill. This emptiness filled us with a hunger. The serpent made us think this hunger could be satisfied with worldly things, so our lives get driven by our worldly hungers.

We even have phrases that describe those hungers. We say people are hungry for power. Or they are starved for affection. Or they crave attention. We talk about feeding someone's ego. Those hungers are a part of our everyday lives.

The truth is that there is a lot of hunger in the world. And I'm not talking about physical hunger. I'm talking about hunger for affection, hunger for hope, hunger for a sense of purpose, hunger for someone to love and for someone to love us. We have a deep hunger that can't be satisfied with bread alone. At least any kind of bread that you can pick up in the grocery store.

There is only one kind of bread that can satisfy this kind of hunger and that's the "Bread of Life," the true "Bread from Heaven," Jesus.

Jesus called himself the "bread of life" and said that if we would come to him, he would satisfy all of our hungers, he would fill us and we would never hunger again. THAT is an awesome promise.

And that's the promise that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper reminds us of. Jesus came to bring us life and hope. Jesus gave His life so that we would not be drug down by the burden of our hungers and the sins caused by those hungers. Jesus died so that we could be set free from sin and live for Him.

Jesus was raised from the dead to show us that death is nothing to fear. And that resurrection and new life are possible in this life when we put our lives into the hands of the "Bread of Life."

CONCLUSION:

We all have hungers in our lives. Some are good, some are those hungers to better ourselves or to give a better life to our children. Some hungers though distract us from our purpose in life and our relationship with God. Some are small but they constantly nag. And some hungers are so ravenous that they threaten to swallow us up.

But know this: Whatever the hungers in your life, whether large are small, God doesn't just say, "All right, you knuckleheads, knock it off!"

Instead, God enters our lives, through Jesus and says, "I am the bread of life." And to prove it, in a sacramental moment, the "Bread of Life" allowed Himself to be broken on the cross for our sakes. His spirit and His blood were poured out like wine so that we might know the new covenant and experience the forgiveness of our sins.

The Bread of Life gave Himself in this manner so that we could quench that deep hunger within our spirits and souls. So, I invite you, to come this morning to the table set before us. It reminds us of Jesus' great sacrifice for our sakes. Come to the banquet of bread and wine, and feed upon the Bread of Life. This is the ONLY bread that can satisfy the hungers within you. Come and be fed.

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