Text: John 6:1-15
(Ex 16:2-21)
In the name of + Jesus. Amen.
In a typical mystery novel, the beginning of the book involves a crime, the middle is a series of clues, and the last page reveals who did it. The Bible is not a mystery book, but it is a book of mysteries, some that have been revealed, and some that have not.
The crime indeed happens near the beginning of the narrative. But we know right away who the criminals are: Adam, Eve, and all of us who join them in their sin. We are all guilty. As a result of this rebellion, the superabundance of the Garden of Eden was transformed into a world of scarcity, and of even more crime, as human beings fight over scarce resources. But instead of the introduction of a detective who tries to bring the guilty to justice, our Creator comes to the scene of the crime to work out forgiveness for the man and the woman, who were created in God’s image, and to destroy the one who deceived them.
God made a promise to the serpent that a future Savior would be born, a “Seed of the woman.” And though the devil would bruise His heel, He would bruise the devil’s head, mortally wounding him. The mystery in the Bible, for a couple thousand years, was “Who would this Seed of the woman be, and what will He do?”
We had clues throughout the Old Testament, like the Angel of the Lord who visited Abraham, and the mysterious stranger who wrestled with Jacob and changed Jacob’s name to Israel (“the one who wrestled God”). There was Melchizedek, the mysterious king and priest to whom Abraham tithed and gave gifts of bread and wine. There was this mysterious sacrifice of Abraham’s son Isaac, that ended up not happening, replaced by a sacrifice of a substitute, a ram whose head was tangled in thorns. There is the suffering servant prophecy of Isaiah, and many previews in the Psalms about this coming Christ.
The mystery is not revealed on the last page of the book, dear friends, but in the beginning of the New Testament, in the Gospels: our Lord Jesus Christ. He connects the Old and New Testaments by fulfilling the Old and by drawing us into the New Testament in His blood.
Moses taught us about Jesus when he recorded God’s provision of the Israelites by feeding them manna in the wilderness. This was miraculous bread from heaven that gave the people life even in the desert, the place of scarcity. And, of course, the people grumbled about it. But God preserved them anyway.
In our Gospel reading from John Chapter Six, we notice that “the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.” The Passover featured a meal of bread and wine, and a slaughtered lamb, whose blood brought salvation to the people of Israel. Jesus is the “Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.” And He is about to give us a continuation of the Passover, with bread and wine – and a feasting upon the slaughtered Lamb unto our salvation.
The mystery of the Passover is revealed in Jesus, and He is about to show us what He is up to in this miracle, a preview of the Last Supper. He has the crowds sit, and “when He had given thanks,” He has his servants, that is, His ministers, distribute this new manna, this miraculous bread from heaven. And not only had everyone “eaten their fill,” but twelve baskets were left over. The scarcity of our fallen world was rolled back to the abundance of Eden before the Fall. Jesus is demonstrating that His coming is intended to undo the effects of sin and death, and to restore Paradise. Of course, the people do not understand, and they only seek to make Him their political leader. Jesus wants no part of that.
Later, these same people demand yet another sign from Jesus, saying, “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus responds that it was not Moses who gave them bread, but rather: “My Father 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.” For, dear friends, Jesus is this bread. He fulfills the mystery of the manna. “I am the bread of life,” He says. By saying “I am,” Jesus is claiming to be God. For that is God’s name that He revealed to Moses.
In an interesting repeat of history, “The Jews grumbled about Him because He said, ‘I am the bread that comes from heaven.’” But here, once again, Jesus doubles down. He reminds them that their ancestors ate manna, but died. But we who eat the bread of His flesh “will live forever.” This results in more grumbling, and Jesus again doubles down. He says something terribly shocking and offensive: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in Him.”
This caused some of His disciples to be offended and leave. Jesus asks the twelve if they too are going to abandon him. And although they do not yet understand this mystery of eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the bread of life, of the Lamb of God, Peter speaks for them in response: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
Dear friends, we don’t know how all of this works. We don’t know how the manna got there or what it was made of. We don’t know how Jesus multiplied the bread and the fish. We don’t understand how we eat bread and drink wine and also eat His flesh and drink His blood – but we trust His Word: for He has the words of eternal life!
Part of the mystery was revealed “on the night when He was betrayed.” He “took bread.” And just as He did when He multiplied the
loaves, “when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it” to His
disciples. And interrupting the Old Testament
Passover ritual, just before His passion and death, our Lord establishes the New
Covenant: “Take, eat, this is My body,” He says. “This cup is the New Testament in My blood.” And on that day, the mystery was revealed to
the twelve, that is, what He meant by eating His flesh and drinking His blood, “for
the forgiveness of sins.”
Our Lord returns us to Paradise, dear friends. Just as He rolled back scarcity and gave us abundance when He fed the five thousand, He now multiplies His true body and blood, the bread of life come down from heaven, the blood that covers the sins of the people and protects us from the angel of death. And just as Adam and Eve sinned by eating from the forbidden tree, their sin is undone by the tree of the cross, and we eat this manna, that is, His flesh, and we drink this cup: the blood of the New Testament, “shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Instead of the fruit that leads to death, we now partake of the fruit that leads to life. Instead of the cross as a tree of death, it is now the tree of life – and we are invited to partake and live forever!
There are many mysteries in the Scriptures, dear friends, and God does not answer every question. But the mystery of God’s response to our sin is revealed to us. He sends His Son to die for us, to destroy death, to rise again, to feed us with His body and blood, and proclaim the Good News of forgiveness, life, and salvation to us in His Word.
The end of the book does not reveal the criminal, but rather reveals the never-ending end of our narrative: living in a paradise restored in perfect harmony with God, with one another, and with all creation – just as was always meant to be. The serpent’s head is crushed, and he is destroyed. We no longer have to eke out a living of bread by the sweat of the brow, but rather we enjoy the feast of the banquet that never ends: the richest food, the sweetest wine, and eternal table fellowship with Him who has forgiven our sins, restored abundance, and called us out of darkness into paradise.
The last page of this revealed mystery does indeed tell us who does it, dear friends. Jesus does it. “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely, I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.”
Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment