The Bread of Life - Coming to Faith

Here is the notes for my sermon this morning. I usually preach without a manuscript, but I study the readings the for the whole preceding week. So these notes were written after the fact.

In today's Gospel reading (August 12, 2012, Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost), we read a continuation of Jesus' discourse of himself being the Bread of Life (John 6:35, 41-51).

I. Lack of Faith: Unbelief (vv. 41-42).

Here, the people doubted that Jesus "came down from heaven" because they claimed to known his parents; thus "proving" that Jesus is really just human and not divine. Even today many believe that Jesus is not God but just human. Some people even claim that Jesus never existed; he is the product of religious imagination. Other may admit that a man named Jesus may have existed, but that's it; he has nothing to do with their lives. Unbelief can take many forms, whether theoretical or practical.

II. Coming to Faith: Belief (vv. 43-46)

Jesus answered that no one can come to him (that is, come to believe in him) except if the Father draws a person to Jesus. Jesus is also famously said that no one comes to the Father except through him (John 14:6). Jesus also said that it is the Holy Spirit who brings people unto him ("shall testify"; John 15:26).

Faith is not by any means a human act; as if it is accomplished solely by human means. Faith is not a human achievement; or else it would be classified as 'good works'. Faith is possible only by the grace of God. This is what is called by John Wesley as "preventing (now called 'prevenient') grace": By the grace of God that was made available even before we know God, we can come to faith.

(But this grace can be resisted: People come to not believe not because they were not given the grace to believe. It is because they resist the grace to believe [to "resist the Holy Spirit"; Acts 7:51].)

III. Result of Faith: Eternal Life (vv. 47-51)

The result of faith is eternal life. How is this possible? Jesus is unlike manna, physical food, which the ancient Israelites ate but nonetheless they died in the desert. Jesus, as he himself said, is the Bread of Life. By this he meant his flesh; i.e., the sacrifice of his Passion and Death on the Cross. And this sacrifice is commemorated in the Eucharist: "This is my Body which is given for you: Do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19). ("Do this," not just "Remember me".) So Communion is not a ritual; it is a proclamation: For as often we partake of the Sacrament, we proclaim the Lord's Death until he comes (I Corinthians 11:26). Holy Communion is a Sacrament because it points us to the one who is the Bread of Life: Jesus Christ.

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