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At Sandals Church, our vision is to be real with ourselves, God and others. This channel features sermons and teaching from Pastor Matt Brown and other members of the Sandals Church preaching team. You can find sermon notes, videos and more content at http://sandalschurch.com/watch
I have some of the fondest memories being a very young kid growing up and visiting my grandma every Sunday afternoon. There was something we did every weekend and we were there. Well, I was there to eat grilled cheese sandwiches. And for whatever reason as a young kid, I could not figure out what it was that made this sandwich like so dang special. Now obviously she had lived a pretty long life before she passed. She had been through a lot of ups and downs and so she had a kind of maturity in love to the way that she made things, especially for her grandkids. But I couldn't figure out what it was about this bread. It was so dang good. Until one point, I remember my mom sitting me down and telling me what the secret was the whole time like why I love these grilled cheese sandwiches. She said, well, listen, you've been raised on Roman meal wheat, which is boring brown. Some of you, no, no, I know it's Roman meal wheat. It's a whole diet. But she said your grandma has been making your grilled cheese with wonder bread. And I was just like wonder bread as a kid. I'm like, wow, wonder bread. It's gotta be amazing. It's not really. It's just white, so we bread. In a white package with polka dots on it, it's common. Which when you think about it is very much how bread is in the world. Common yet very delightful. So common that it finds its way into every meal of the day, no matter how simple or perfected the bread is. So much so that the average American eats 53 pounds of bread a year. Think about that 53 pounds of bread just in you. The UK eats 12 billion sandwiches a year. That's 380 sandwiches every single second. When you think about it, bread has been a part of the human experience for so long. Each and every culture seems to use bread in a way that helps tell the story of who they are. When you look at someone's bread, when you look at a people group's bread, what you can see in that is their identity. What they've been through, the journey they're on. And so whether you're young, Fredo, and you're just enjoying a grilled cheese or you're in France and this new baguette's about to change your life, bread has played such an important part of our lives. And think about it right now. Some of your favorite restaurants, you like that spot because of the bread that give you for free on the front end. You get into that. So it's no wonder that in scripture we see when God wanted to show up, when God wanted to reveal to the world who he was and what he's come to do, he used bread to do that. Manif from heaven were told every day. And then when he wanted Israel to remember who he was, the story of salvation, delivering them from slavery, taking them to the promised land, he instituted what we know as the Passover meal. A time where they every year enjoy this meal, take this bread, remember who God is, remember how far they come. They do this every single year. It's a lot like when you and I have birthdays, when we have anniversary celebrations with our spouses, or in graduation season, right? We have these milestone moments to help us remember how far we've come. If you've been in recovery, you hopefully carry around a chip or a coin as a reminder of how long you've been sober, what you've been delivered from. The journey you're on, right? Every time you flick it around in your pocket, working through the temptation of the old self, these moments matter. The Passover was there to help them remember as they ate something as simple, common, ordinary as bread, know who you are and where you've come from. And the journey you're on, and that's what God offers us, bread to remember the provision, the life that he sustains. And so you fast forward a few hundred years, you get Jesus on the scene, he, like Israel, is in the wilderness, wandering off for forty years, but for forty days. And then the Satan, the tempter comes to him and what does he offer him? If you are the Son of God, turn these stones to what? To bread. To bread. You see, if you want to have an encounter with Jesus, if you're asking, who is he? And how do I counter him in my regular life? In my real life, then you need to look a little closer as something is so ordinary, so common as bread. And that's what we're going to do today. We're going to continue through the Gospel of John, looking at the place where Jesus first declared an I am. He gave us His name. And He did so in performing a miracle that a lot of people know about, which is the feeding of the five thousand. So I'm going to ask that if you're willing and able, wherever you are, if you're watching online, if you're at a campus that you would stand with me for the reading of God's Word, then I will pray for us. John chapter six, starting in verse 35, John writes these words, then Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. This is God's Word. Let's pray together. And with others, we have gathered here in this moment. We acknowledge that you two have gathered with us. And so God, I ask now that as we hear your word spoken that you would speak to us. And so like Jesus said, would you God give us ears to hear today? Would you give us eyes to see and would you open us up to receive, to receive all that you have for us? We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much. You can be seated. One of the most natural things that we all do when we want to get to know someone is we begin with introductions. We begin with names. And as I said, the gospel of John is uniquely structured in that John writes his story of Jesus by calling or by giving what's known as the seven signs, the seven miracles, but they're also connected to seven I am statements. And you can think of this as a way Jesus is giving to us his name. And this first one, when Jesus says, I am the bread of life, we got to remember is embedded in a context in which he's going to perform a miracle. In fact, he just did perform a miracle where he fed 5,000 people in the wilderness. Now, what we need to catch in this moment is that this whole thing from the very beginning has been a setup from Jesus. And here's how we know this because the unique little detail that we often miss in reading stories, we think we know are the small things. So verse four, it says, then Jesus went up on a mountain side and sat down with his disciples. And then what? The Jewish Passover festival was near. This little key unlocks the whole meaning of the entire story. This is all a setup. So much so that he kind of messes with his own disciples. Philip says, Philip, where are we going to buy bread? We got all these people in the wilderness. Who's going to go get the bread? Now, if I'm Philip, I'd be a little upset. Like I would have chosen a different duty that day, like Peter duty or something else, like give me something else. But he asks if he sets him up knowing full well that he's going to perform a miracle. And this miracle is the only miracle that actually recorded every gospel and talked about in this particular way. But this miracle isn't just about Jesus' ability to efficiently cater to a lot of people food, right? This is him recreating the wilderness experience. Jesus, like Moses, is in the wilderness with God's people and they need provision. Oh, and by the way, it's also happening on this day called the Passover. Remember that in verse four. The Passover, if you turn to the other side of the Bible in Exodus, you have the story of God's people in slavery for over 400 years. They're set free through Moses. They cross the red sea and then they're on their way to a land and a brand new life. Now, when you've been miraculously set free, you spend 40 years in the wilderness. You're going to want to have something to remember what happened to you. And that's why God institutes the Passover meal. Don't forget this and oh, by the way, to help you remember, you're going to eat bread, to remember all that you've gone through. And that's what God gives them to help them remember this and meal to taste and to recollect who they are and what all that God has done for them. But this points beyond them, right? This points far beyond them. This is much more than just a sign. This is all about the person, the person of Jesus, when he says, I am the bread of life. Like I said, we have these moments in our lives, milestones, right? You know what it's like to have a good meal, whether it is your birthday or something else going on. And at that meal, you oftentimes share stories. You connect. You do things that help you recollect what is actually true and real. Like how many times have you guys had to have a car conversation with someone and it's been over a meal? You've forgiven your spouse over meal. You've confessed sin over meal. You've made an important life decision after your full. Because you know you need your senses, right? There's something about eating that draws us back to reality. Now all the time, you fast forward, we get back to the New Testament and the Jews are once again in a wilderness. Not only the oppression of Egypt, but now under the Romans. And they're again crying out for God for a deliverer, a Messiah who's going to come. And one of the signs are told is you will once again eat manna from heaven. He's going to provide a feast. And so Jesus, like Moses, fulfills this prophecy. And that's what we see there. If you jump to verse 12, it says, when they had all had enough to eat his disciples said to him, or he said to his disciples, excuse me, gather the pieces that are left over, let nothing be wasted. So they gathered them and filled 12 baskets full. The pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. Notice 12, not 11, not 13, 12. Why it? It's a sign. John says, this is a book of signs. The 12 baskets of bread symbolized the 12 tribes of Israel. And everyone in this Jewish audience would have completely understood what he was saying at this moment. They saw the sign. And they're like, this is the prophet who's coming. He's the one who's in the world who can this actually be him. Now, remember Jesus does this same miracle twice. In Matthew 14, he feeds 5,000 people. Then in 15, Matthew 15, he feeds 4,000. Has anyone thought about why Jesus does this same miracle twice? Why does he do this? Why would he go out of his way? Again, this is not a catering business. Like he's not on two or selling shirts with all of his tour dates and places where he's stopping. He's intentional. And so what I want us to consider in this moment that these stories are stacked on each other the way you stack the ingredients of a good burger. Okay, some point. Top bun, feeding of the 5,000. Then you have three crucial stories that go in the middle and then you have the feeding of the 4,000. That's the bottom feeding. Now, just like a good burger, you need to take every single ingredient into account and get that best bite. So you stack these stories up. Scholars call this a literary bundle. You add everything up and then you take it all together to get the very best bite. It's like when Asheniah are out on a date. This one of my favorite things about her because she loves to share. My wife loves to share and I am forever grateful for that. So when we're looking at the menu, she's looking at what she wants. I'm looking at what I want and we decide collectively, let's get these two things and we'll split it. Now, when she gets a burger, she always goes out of her way to rotate this beautiful thing in front of me and ensures that the one bite I get is the best bite. And by that, it has every ingredient in it. The bun, the sauce, the lettuce, the tomato, the bacon, the egg, whatever it is. She makes sure that the one bite I'm going to get has everything in it. You've got to bite all of it to experience what's happening. The same is true with this encounter. The same is true with this portion of scripture. Why are there two feedings because it's like a stack? You have the top, then you have the bottom and all the stories in the middle help provide context for what's going on. So that top bun is the feeding of the 5000. Then we have this moment where Jesus leaves his disciples. He goes and prays. His disciples get in a boat, they get on the lake. You know what happens? The storm comes. They start freaking out. And then he joins them. He starts to walk on the water. You guys might remember this. Peter notices, he's like, oh my gosh, it's Jesus. I'm going. And then he falls. And then you have this exchange there, where he's like, what's going on? And here's what's so profound because in this moment, like you and I, we can see the miracle of Jesus was still missed the person of Jesus. When Jesus tells them, after he's grabbing, he says, immediately he reached out his hand, caught him. He says, you have a little faith. Why did you doubt? Now when I read that, I'm like, man, bro, the man was sinking Jesus. Like, this isn't the moment to rebuke him. And Mark takes it even further. Mark's gospel says they were completely amazed in this moment. After he'd calmed the storm, he rescues Peter. And Mark says this, for they had not understood the point about the loaves. Their hearts were hearted. Now if you're thinking about this, you're probably wondering, what does bread have to do with me sinking in the ocean? That's the point. It was always about the person, not the miracle. If he can provide me bread, what is keeping you from thinking he can't provide safety in this moment? You see, like the disciples, we always generally, like we have these moments where we are seeing Jesus provide for us. You fill him near you. You know he's doing something in your life, but you constantly missed the fact that he's actually there. You see, all of us run the risk of becoming more focused on the signs. And on what we think we need Jesus to do for us, then on who he actually is for us. What matters is not just what Jesus can do for you, but who he is for you. That's the point. You see, it sounds great that God is this provider until it's me that actually needs provision. That's the challenge. That is the wrestle with faith. That is what it looks like to walk through the tension of trusting in God, because I believe God provides until I become the one in need of provision. Then it's a completely different story. Then I'm left in a storm, feeling like my boat is going under and I'm saying, what was the point? Where are you, Jesus? And he's like, you forgot about the loaves, because you only saw the miracle you missed the person. You missed who was right in front of you. Now, right after this encounter, stay with me. You have the second ingredient. Oh, it's gone. It's okay. You have the second ingredient, which is where Jesus has a discussion with religious leaders about purity rights. Jesus is challenged by the leaders. They say, why don't your disciples wash their hands? This is Matthew 14. Jesus gets into a discussion and says, listen, it's not what goes into the body that defiles somebody, but what comes out of them. Now, here is the juicy part of the burger you have got to taste. Right after this conversation about purity laws, Jesus, this third ingredient has an encounter with an impere woman who Matthew calls the Canaanite woman. You can't miss this part. Here's the tea. Canaan has a long history with Israel. They don't like each other. They've been sworn enemies. If you remember, as God sends Israel into the Promised Land, it's being occupied by Canaan. Their religious practices, their sexual ethic have been a problem for the Jewish purity rights all along. Their lifestyle is not pure. So Jesus goes from a dispute about purity with priests to an encounter with a woman who would be seen as the spiritual most impere woman around the Canaanite woman. Now, that's a big thing. And at this discussion, we read this in Matthew chapter 15, Jesus is at the table. This woman comes and says, Lord, help me. He said, in reply, it's not right to take the children's bread and then what toss it to the dogs. Now, some of us hear that, what's he mean? That's rude. That's cruel. That's harsh to say to a woman in need, Jesus. What's he getting at? But notice her response, yes, it is, Lord, with confidence. She says, even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table. Then Jesus said to her, woman, you have great faith. Your request is granted and her daughter was healed in that moment. Now, here's what I want to see. According to Jewish purity rights, dogs were the most unclean animal in that time. And it would have been a very common slur for Jews to say about Gentiles, you are dogs and direct that to them. Jesus knows all this. And so for him to say that to her, he is intentionally saying something that will, yes, be undeniably offensive, but he isn't doing it to offend. He's doing it to heal this woman's daughter and to teach his disciples. She says, yes, it is, Lord, even the dogs at the crumbs of the master's table. And then Jesus calls her faith great. Y'all, this is amazing. No word in this gospel. Does Jesus refer to anyone's faith as great, except for this impure, socially marginalized woman? Here's the point. The woman, the person who feels deemed unworthy to get bred from Jesus is filled, is filled. But why? Because she asked. She asked. She had enough faith to name her needs. You see, to receive the bread of life today, you and I must begin with the acknowledgement that we have needs. You must begin by acknowledging your needs. And so let's pause on the storytelling. Let me just ask you, what are your needs today? What do you need from God? And do you believe that he can actually provide it to you? Or have you subtly begin to convince yourself that you are deemed unworthy? You're in peer. You're on the outside because the highest spiritual compliment and praise that was ever given from Jesus was directed arguably to the most spiritually impure person in the town. And so however rude, you might think Jesus was at the beginning of this story. He is remarkably honoring at the end by now revealing to everyone that this whole thing too, just like the feeding of the 5,000, was a complete setup. Jesus gives her bread by healing her daughter. That's the middle of the sandwich. Now here comes the bottom bread, the feeding of the 4,000, the identical setup. But here's the only difference. He's moved from Jewish territory now into Gentile territory. Gathered on the other side of the region, dealing with other people who are hungry, but they are not Israelites. He is surrounded by a massive crowd of people who are deemed second-class citizens. Then Jesus performs the same sign. Matthew 15 says this, he told the crowd, sit down on the ground. He took the seven loaves and the fish. And when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them each of the disciples and inserted them into the people. They all ate and were satisfied. Afterwards the disciples picked up seven baskets of broken pieces that were left. And after all of them ate, how many did it say were there? Seven. You guys were all nervous to say. Seven baskets full. Seven as in the Hebrew word for completion. Seven as in the Canaanite people. Seven representing all the nations of the world. Do you see it now? Do you see it now? The person that this sign has been pointing to. When Jesus says, I am the bread of life, he's saying, yes, I am the provider to Israel and I am the bread of life for all people. Everyone and anyone who feels forgotten, disqualified, impure, gross on the outside, the people in our lives who we would not think are close to God, they can have the bread of life too. They can have it too. To any one of us who would feel as though they can't be with us, Jesus said, no, they can sit at my table. They can be provided for it too. You see, these two miracles are very good on their own, but when you get a bite of this whole thing, when Ashley shares that burger with me, I can't turn it away. It gets so much better. You see, every move that Jesus is making is charged with meaning, which is why when we go back to John 6, our original story, we're told that Jesus, after he comes to the storm, he crosses the lake. Now, notice that picture. He just fed people in the wilderness and they crossed the waters. What is this? This is the Exodus again. The people asked him, when did you get here? It says they asked them in verse 30. They want to know what is going on, what sign then will you give that we may see it and believe? No, that's what's crazy. They want another sign. They want another miracle. We didn't know you got in here. We were just fed. We heard there was a storm. We want another miracle. Our answers, they say our answers are eight, the man in the wilderness, as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven to eat. In other words, they want to see the same thing again and again. Moses gave them bread every day, they believed. And now we've been waiting for the new one. Are you that guy? Are you the one who's going to give us bread every day? And here is the problem I think with so many of us. We want to regularly be dazzled by Jesus. Another sign. Another sign. We want to see it again. And we want to be satisfied. We want Jesus to satisfy our problems and answer our questions and meet our needs in our timing. But again, what matters most is not just what Jesus can do for you, but who he already is for you. And once you've embraced this, then you begin to receive all that Jesus longs to give you, which is the bread of life. As I reflect on Pastor Fredo's last point, I'm just reminded that Jesus is the ultimate provider for all of our needs. If you would like to support Sandals Church and reaching others with this type of message and content, you can do so at anytime at donate.sc. For now, let's get back to Pastor Fredo's message. A great Christian writer, Eugene Peterson, said it just like this, he believed that one of the great mysteries of life is that God is not always going to solve the problems of our lives in the way we think He should. And that does not sit well with us. That's so hard. And we see Jesus just compound this as He continues this conversation. They want another miracle. We a bread every day. They're ready to make Him king. He says, you're not ready for me to be king. You're happy because I filled your stomachs, but you still don't see me yet. He says, I am. Like everything that you're talking about in the Old Testament, everything that you're challenging me on, it was all a sign pointing to me. And they say, how can that be? We know your parents. We know where you come from. We know your address, Jesus. How can you be from heaven? He goes on. He makes this even more challenging. And here's what he says, verse 53, very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever drinks my flesh and drinks, I'm sorry, eats my flesh and drinks my blood, has eternal life. And I will raise them up at the last day. It gets worse. What does he mean by that? This is quite the exchange. Eat his flesh, drink his blood. You just fed us in the wilderness. We just had bread. What is happening here? It would have been much more poetic and beautiful if he said something like, my victory for your loss, my joy for your sorrow, my wisdom for your stupidity, my love for your hate, my resurrection for your inevitable death, but that's not at all how Jesus said it. He said, eat my flesh, drink my blood. Jesus, you know this sounds like cannibalism. Why is it really necessary to lose all these followers over a misconception? But I believe Jesus said this to both challenge and comfort the people. To remember their parody loss, they cannot come into contact with blood. What is he getting at? I think he's wanting them to rethink what it means to encounter God and to consider that taking on God and his life, being changed by him, is going to mean that they step out of the bounds of what they have been so used to for so long. Their encounters with him will look different than what they would expect. And the beauty of the invitation would have been so clear to us, post-resurrection. Oh, he's talking about him dying. We see that, but we're not them in this story. They're still baffled by that. This is a hard statement for them to hear, and it bothers them so much so that John writes in John 6 that many that day of his followers left him. They left him. This statement was too hard for them to stomach. And it makes me think again of bread. Do you guys know that the human body cannot consume raw wheat? They can't do it. We before it's been ground into flour and then baked into bread cannot be processed. If you do try to eat raw wheat, it will make you sick. Some of you will vomit. Some of you for sure will vomit. You got a week's stomach says it is. Cheesecake Factory Bread makes you bad, right? It'll make you sick. It can't be digested. Wheat has got to be processed before it can be life-giving and nourishing. This word from Jesus, I am the bread of life, has to be processed. In other words, here's the point, oftentimes, a word from Jesus in your life has to be processed before it nourishes us. And you cannot follow him without having these kinds of situations in your life where you're like, man, Jesus, I really like what you say about caring for all people in the poor, but you're really hard on those of us who got nice 401k's and nice houses. I love that you seem to have this broad invitation to all people. Anyone, any center can come and know the God who loves them and died for them. But then the road is so narrow. It's so narrow to get to you. Like the sermon on the Mount is beautiful. It's profound. It talks about this new way of living. But then you offer this sexual ethic that makes zero sense today. A standard of forgiveness that is very hard to imagine. You see, some of your teaching Jesus is nourishing to my soul and then there are other parts of it that just turn my stomach. It's like eating malreat. And the tragedy in this story, in John 6, after people are fed and then they hear this hard statement, they don't stick around. In the words, they are unwilling to stay and allow the week to be processed. Even his disciples acknowledge us. They're in John 6 later on towards the end of the chapter. It says, from this time on, many of his disciples had turned back and along or followed him. And then Jesus has this, do you not want to leave too? Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the holy one of God. You see, here's what I want us to think about. Jesus hasn't like revealed to us a God that we can fully understand, but he has revealed to us a God that we can fully trust. You know, I can trust a God who probably won't take all my suffering away despite how much I ask for it, but he will wear it on himself and he will walk next to me through that darkness. I can trust a God who, you know, though he's seen the ugliest parts of me, he's not going to leave me or forsake me. I can trust a God who, though at times what he says to me makes my stomach turn and tastes like raw wheat. I know that he's going to walk with me as I process this so that it can be nourished and over time become something that is life-giving, like bread. Something is common and simple as wonder bread to a young boy in grilled cheese. He also, man, I could trust him enough to be patient with my view of other people in a time where being judgmental, politics, the cultural animosity in the world is so high that I don't have the ability to see a can of night woman as worthy of bread. Jesus will be so patient with me in that moment and say, no, they get bread too. When they ask, they get bread too. This is who we're dealing with when Jesus says, I am the bread of life. Sometimes his words, they must be processed in your life before they can become nourishing and actually fill you up. But the good news is that all of his words finally and fully are in fact life-giving. They all are. Sometimes it's good to require a journey, though. But that didn't happen for everyone there. I'm wondering us now today, not just in the story, but now how many of us are on the verge of not staying through what tastes like wheat right now to work out the confusion. Like, when you come across a hard teaching in the Bible, what do you do? Do you stay or do you leave? What do you do? Do you want to walk away? Does it taste like wheat? Are you open to staying, to processing, to figuring out how over time this can actually nourish me and transform me? The question for us is this, how do we experience this kind of process? My first thought is we close as this. We need to wrestle with and hold your questions before God. So when you come across passages, when you come across moments where you're having these encounters with Jesus and you think what he's maybe saying to you does not align with your experience in life, wrestle with him, say to him, and I don't know how to make sense of these two things. Help me, help me to do this. What you're saying to me, what this says to me fills and tastes just like raw wheat. I can't stomach this. Would you help me God? Help me to know that you're with me so that this over time can become life-giving. The second thing I would encourage us to do is to wrestle with and be honest about your doubts with your community. This is the new challenge I think for the church is to stay and be honest with your doubts with the people who you trust in your life. And listen church, to not be scared of the doubts of other people. One of the greatest gifts I got as a teacher, teaching young high school students in a Bible class of all places, the best gift I got from them was their doubts. Because I learned over time, I don't need to be afraid of their challenges or their questions. This is a sign that what they're hearing from me tastes like wheat, but God over time is going to turn that into life-giving bread. That's what it can turn into. And so we have got to posture ourselves as a church to not be so bothered all the time by what people say and their issues, their doubts. Of course it bothers them. It tastes like wheat, because it is. What if we as a community can open ourselves to people just long enough so that they feel like they can go on this journey with us? And those doubts, that stomach feeling that you feel like your mouth gets water, you're about to throw this up. Over time, become something that man, that's an incredible grilled cheese that my grandma just made. Because we have become a community that feels safe enough for people. You see, staying means remaining to work with those who have even hurt you, who have said things to you and offer forgiveness, when avoidance just feels so much easier. Staying means confessing the same sin over and over that you've had to work through. Staying means understanding that wrestling with Jesus is the primary way and the most crucial part that we actually mature as Christians. Some of the most mature, godly, older people we know in our lives are those who have learned to allow the word to become processed over time so that it can be nourishing. You see, there are many people who want to leave and oftentimes we see this because the word tastes like wheat and oftentimes what they do is they form other groups and those groups are built around a shared pain. A foundation that basically is, we are all hurt. We don't like what Jesus says, we don't like what the church says and those kinds of groups, though they can empathize with you, they cannot challenge you and if you are in a group that only empathizes and never challenges, you can never heal. You need to be in a place where both are present because that is the spiritual equivalent of basically taking a motor and for when you have a headache. The symptoms will go away but you will not actually be healed. You need to be in a place where the foundation is a shared sense that yes, what Jesus often tells us is hard but man, we're going to stay because we're else. Are we going to go to have the words of life? Who else has bread? Who else has bread? You know, this process is incredibly painful to the wheat. You guys have very watched a good video, a good documentary, chef's table or something on Netflix, man. They have incredible graphics to describe what it's like for wheat to go through this torturous moment from being raw, undigestible to something as beautiful as this big, little, façadeau bread. They talk about how the wheat is first cut, it's winnod, it's pressed over and over until it turns into dough. It's unrecognizable. The wheat floating in the wind is not what's on that table's dough but it's still wheat all the same and then it's placed through an intense heat, an intense heat until it rises and turns into something as beautiful as this. Jesus on the night that he was going to be betrayed, had a meal with his disciples and what did he have? He had bread. We're told that that same night is also the week of Passover. Again, communion instituting by Jesus is a complete setup. He knows what he's doing. He says the exact same thing at communion to his disciples as he told him in John 6, eat my flesh, drink my blood and then he takes bread, he breaks it. I would imagine that some of the disciples in that moment immediately thought about that moment where they were miraculously fed in the wilderness. My God, he's doing it again. He's making bread. Like if you saw Jesus do something miraculous for you, you would never look at that thing the same. Like if I had a broken leg and I couldn't play back anymore and then Jesus healed me, my leg, like I would never play the same. I look at that leg like man that leg got Jesus touch on it. That's amazing. I would always remember what happened in that moment. That's what's the disciples. That's exactly what they're going through in that situation. They're remembering because on the cross Jesus, light grain was cut, beaten, unrecognizable, put through an intense heat of suffering, torture. But then on the third day he rose. He rose and he is in fact the bread of life. He's the bread of life. And so for anyone today, there's an opportunity to receive that bread and be nourished because what heaven is like you guys, what heaven is ultimately like is a lot less like a church service and far more like a feast where you eat so much where the wine never runs out and you can have another bite because you're never getting full. I can't wait for that body. This is going to be an amazing, amazing moment. That is where we are heading. He is the bread of life. For some people, you can taste that right now for the first time. All that takes is like the Canaanite woman to say, God, help me. All you have to do is ask and know what your needs are. You've gone to other things to try to satisfy you. You know, I was asked last week to try to summarize the Bible in four sentences. That's tough. Creation. Here's how I said it. Life is a gift. Old Testament New Testament, two sentences. I love you. I forgive you. Jesus in the end of the story come home. The food is ready. If you ask me to retell you the story of the Bible in four simple sentences that anyone might get today, life is a gift. I love you. I forgive you. Come home. The food is ready. The food is ready. That's what we're offered today. Bread. Bread. Let's go to him. Let's go to him. Bread. Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this opportunity, God, to experience you as a bread of life. And Jesus, I ask that you now in this moment would help make this real on our hearts as we discover once again that you offer us something so nourishing. God, for those who are wrestling now who are dealing with the reality that they want to leave because what you say is too hard would you help them to stay and the process to go through the journey of processing. And would we be a community at church that could embrace those on that journey? They could allow the words to become nourishing. So a lead us to a place now by your spirit where we open ourselves up, we state our needs and you are our provider. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.