Bread of Life

This coming Sunday is the last of five Sundays in which our gospel reading is from John chapter 6, the so-called “Bread of Life Discourse.” It is an intriguing read for any number of reasons. Some that interest me --

The semeia (signs) of miraculous feeding of five thousand and of walking on water are part of a hypothetical “signs gospel” pointing to who Jesus is: for those present in the story, the prophet foretold by Moses; for John’s audience, the divine One come down from heaven.

The feeding account in John is different from that in the synoptics. In the synoptics, where all three accounts are close to identical, the feeding is one of a series of eucharistic feedings in which Jesus takes and blesses and breaks and gives the bread -- not so in John, whose agenda is different: the feeding is semeion, a sign.

Jesus identifies himself, his body, his message, his being, with the manna, bread from heaven, that God gave through Moses to the Israelites in the wilderness.

Jesus identifies himself with I AM, the name or self-identification that God spoke to Moses from the burning bush. John chapter 6 includes several of these ego eimi, I AM instances that are spread through John’s gospel and central to John's agenda.

During the time of our readings from John 6, I have enjoyed the liturgical, worship, opportunity to sing some of the church’s “bread” songs, including “Break this Bread,” “I Am the Bread of Life,” and “Break Thou the Bread of Life, Dear Lord, To Me.” Our chancel choir has helped make the five weeks a rich time. Liturgically also, we have used eucharistic prayers that speak of the Bread of Life. We’ll close it out this Sunday with the hymn “Alleluia, Sing To Jesus,” in which one verse begins “Alleluia, Bread of Heaven.”

TW+