CYPRESSWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST Return to Bulletins for 2010
January 24, 2010
25424 Aldine-Westfield, Spring, TX. 77373
www.blakehart.com/cypresswoodbulletin.htm
PRAYERS AND REQUESTS:
God’s will for our congregation Our nation, military and leaders
Various friends, relatives and co-workers The spread of the good news
MANNA IN THE WILDERNESS
“For the bread of God is the bread that come down from heaven and gives life to the world” (John 6:33).
The story of the manna in the wilderness is a familiar one. When Israel left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea and journeyed into the wilderness, it wasn’t long before they needed both food and water. What became characteristic of Israel though was the complaining they would do for the next forty years. God, recognizing the need for food, did an amazing thing: He provided what has become known as manna (see Exodus 16). Each morning for six days manna there would be enough for each person to collect it. They did not have to get extra during the week because it would ruin by the next morning. But on the sixth day, they were to collect two portions so that the Sabbath could be observed, and it would not ruined. For forty years, until Israel crossed the Jordan River, God provided manna for Israel, giving life to the nation. Rabbinical teachings saw this as God opening the storehouses of heaven for forty years and closing them after entering the land of milk and honey. Jewish teaching now waits for the storehouses to be opened again and the life giving manna to come (1). This would happen when the Messiah came.
Bread played an important role in Israel’s history. Unleavened bread was part of the Passover festival as a reminder of God’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage. Some of Israel’s fertile ground was used for various forms of barley and wheat. Bread was part of every meal used often as a means to eat other food provided at the table. Fresh bread played a role in the hosting of visitors or guests at various times. We find bread in the parables of Jesus and we see, especially in Luke, the concept and importance of breaking bread together. Needless to say, the Lord’s Supper has bread as one aspect or emblem to our celebration.
In John 6, Jesus declares in one of John’s “I am” sayings, that He is the bread of life (vs. 35). The context began with the feeding of 5,000 men and more. It was here that five loaves of bread and two fish were spread out among the multitude of people. There is no doubt that many in the crowd would catch the implication and comparison between this and the manna in the wilderness. Just in case they missed it, Jesus makes it clearer later in the chapter. Like the idea of never thirsting again (John 4), so now comes the idea of living bread, a bread that gives life. The metaphors used were confusing to them, and to us at times.
It is interesting that this miracle of feeding five thousand plus was done in the Passover season. When Jesus began to explain to them the meaning of this and the comparison to the manna in the wilderness, He brings up the subject of belief and unbelief. That should not surprise us. The Jewish people of Jesus’ day lack the faith needed to believe in the Messiah, much like the nation lacked the trust in God in the wilderness though everyday they saw a miracle. Maybe it was complacency, maybe a desire to go back, maybe it was just the disappointment of successive armies marching through the land; that it was easier to not believe than to believe and be disappointed again. When Jesus finished a very difficult explanation of the bread of life, many left, not able to handle what He was saying.
What we see in the text is that, first of all, God is the source of the bread of life. God provided the manna in the wilderness and He is the one who gives life. We understand the importance of food for life, and in many parts of the world, bread or rice are staples for life. Jesus was using bread as a metaphor for Himself. He is saying that He came from heaven, from God. He brings life. It is a part of John’s ongoing theme that Jesus is God in the flesh. He is the symbolic manna from the storehouses of God. The people of Moses’ day ate the manna and died. Using another metaphor, Jesus is the eating this living bread and living forever (vs. 51). He expands that by using both flesh and blood (vs. 54-57). He is speaking metaphorically or symbolically. What He wants them to see is that they need to believe, to trust in God’s work or activity. Many missed the symbolism and turned away.
Why would John include this in his Gospel? That’s an important question. John is writing in the 80s A.D. to cause or deepen belief. In part, like the Jews cast out of the synagogue for believing in Jesus (see chapter 9), this time saw Christians being cast out of synagogues and trade unions in Asia Minor (2). Was there a question of belief again? Were they losing sight of who Jesus was, Messiah and Lord? Could it be that the Gnostic teachings were causing problems for various congregations of God’s people? Whatever the situation, this text and its Old Testament backgrounds were important to understanding how to confront the difficulties of the late first century church.
For us today, understanding the Old Testament background and how belief, or lack of it, enhances the text. Jesus is the living manna, that is, the bread of life. But it is not a literal statement that we are looking at. Rather, we must keep the symbolic or metaphorical use of words in mind in reading this text. It appears that the Jews of Jesus day missed that. When we read of breaking bread together, this text helps give a deeper understanding of what that means. While we remember what Jesus did at the cross when we partake of the Lord’s Supper, we also should see that He is the One who gives life. As we participate in the Supper, we participate in the life of Jesus. Beyond that, when we break bread together around a meal, likewise, we share in the life of Jesus.
Bread would play another role in the Passover described by John in chapter thirteen. There Jesus gives a piece of bread to His betrayer, Judas. Is unbelief seen again? What about the desire to go back to the wealth of the world, Judas being a thief?
The manna has come again, the storehouses being opened by God, sending the Messiah Jesus to the world. We participate in the daily life of the manna, that is, Jesus, as we, being pilgrims, walk in our Exodus to the Promise Land of the new Jerusalem. The old has nothing in comparison to what is coming, so let’s not look back. Life is found daily in Jesus. or as Paul would say, “For me to live is Christ“ (Philippians 1:21)..
George B. Mearns
(1) Gary M. Burge, The Bible And The Land, Zondervan, 2009, p. 94.
(2) It appears that many Jewish Christians maintained a relationship with the synagogue, and Christians had good relationships with Jews for several centuries before a more centralized church government came into play. See Rodney Stark, Cities of God.