Fourth Sunday in Lent (Laetare)
March 18, 2012
Jesus Wants Us to Need Him
John 6:1-15
Why do so many believers and unbelievers think that Jesus doesn't care about them? More often than not it's because they confuse what they want with what they need in order to live.
Jesus knows what you need. Through parents, jobs, and neighbors, He gives you bread for your body, as in “Give us this day our daily bread.” Bread means food, of course, but also everything else we need, such as clothing, homes, money, family, friends, and so on.
Jesus is the ultimate cause of those good things, especially food. And to believers of earlier times, hearing about extra food in February or March before the planting and harvesting seasons focused the eyes and stomachs of believers on Jesus.
And having this Scripture read just a few weeks before His journey to the cross reminds us that Jesus is the Bread of Life. Jesus has this conversation with the crowds the day after His 5,000-man miracle:
So they asked him, “What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”
Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
“Sir,” they said, “from now on give us this bread.”
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. (John 6:30-35)
Jesus used His divine power to feed all those people. He still uses miracles today. Perhaps He doesn't miracle what we want into our lives. But He certainly does use miracles to give us what we need in order to live.
We often don't live as though we are the result of a miracle. This is because we are sinners who constantly live with extra. This danger shows up in how we talk about getting things. The most obvious problem is when I say that I'm starving. I'm not starving. The people who are starving don't go around saying that they're starving because they're too hungry to talk. The more subtle problem is that when we talk about needing things, it is almost always the case that we don't need it in order to live. We want it.
There is a problem with our language. How you talk affects what you think and how you think affects how you talk. If you're constantly confusing wants and needs as you talk, you're going to start thinking that way, too.
The thinking and talking of the fully satisfied 5,000 was all mixed up. These people had spent their lives working or trading or farming to get food. And now Jesus had performed a miracle. Why? To show who He is. But why this miracle at this time? To allow the people to hear the Word of God!
Do you remember what Jesus said at the beginning of our Lent? “Man does not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Jesus wants us to need Him. This means that we see how utterly starving we are for Him, the Bread of Life. He has chosen us and by faith we come to Him and He gives us what we need, body and soul.
Remember this in your table prayers. There's bread, and then there's Bread.
Let us pray.
The eyes of all look to You, O Lord,
and You give them their food at the proper time.
You open Your hand, and satisfy the desire of all living things.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
