Why Do You Follow Jesus? ~ John 6:24-35 ~ 10th Sunday After Pentecost ~ August 5, 2012

When I was nine, my family decided to have dinner out at a restaurant that had just opened up—a place called the Olive Garden.

My sister and I both got this fear in the pit of our stomachs that we were in for a meal we weren’t going to like.  Both of us were very picky eaters!

We were in for quite a surprise when the server delivered the baskets of their famous hot-buttered garlic bread sticks.  It turned out that we’d just discovered our new favorite place to eat.  Chuck-E-Cheese and Ronald McDonald didn’t stand a chance against those bread sticks. 

Whoever came up with the idea to serve all-you-can-eat bread sticks had to have been a genius.  I don’t care what people say—people pack their restaurants to eat their fill of bread sticks.

Jesus’ bread loaves were enjoying a similar fame.  Last week we heard of him filling the stomachs of five thousand people with five barley loaves and two fish.

Needless to say, this made Jesus quite popular—so popular, in fact, that this same the crowd got into boats and pursued him across the Sea of Galilee when they’d discovered he’d left them.  When they finally catch up to him, Jesus knows why they were there—they ate their fill of bread, and now they’re hungry for more. 

He tells them that they are following him because of what they believe they can get from him.

And who could really blame them?  In the First Century Roman Empire economy, the vast majority of people lived on the brink of starvation—even those who worked.  From their perspective, following Jesus was the perfect solution.  Stick with him, learn his secrets, and never be hungry. 

But this is not why Jesus fed the people.  He fed the people as a sign to show that he was sent into the world by God.  He fed the people to draw them into a saving relationship with God through himself. 

As long as the people were following their stomachs, they were missing out on the truth of who Jesus really was—and why he came into the world.

And that is something for us to remember...  It’s just as easy for us to fall into the same trap of following Jesus—because of what we believe we can get from him.

Sometimes, we treat our discipleship as a means to an end.  We believe in Jesus, we worship him, we pray to him, and we serve him—but not always for the sake of knowing him better.  We’re looking for prosperous lives and answered prayers; we want good feelings and an experience of Jesus so powerful that all doubts are removed.

The trouble is that we make gods out of what we desire most.  We’re not truly seeking Jesus if we’re out to win his blessings.

If we follow Jesus to get something for ourselves, we will eventually find ourselves disappointed.  A life lived in Jesus Christ does not always to health and wealth and prosperity.  Things will not always turn out like we think they should.

There will be times when all we’ll have to show for our relationship with Jesus is some faint hopes and promises for a future that’s a long way off.

So we must turn our focus away from what we can get from Jesus—to the gifts Jesus gives to us... 

His innocent suffering and death free us from death and the devil.  In baptism, our sins are washed away.  We are united with him in his death in order to be united with him in his resurrection. 

But receiving is only part of the life of a disciple.  Of equal importance to the receiving of God’s gifts is the sharing and the giving of God’s gifts.  All of God’s gifts are gifts of grace; meaning that they are freely given apart from our own merit.  So to know grace, we must practice grace towards others.  To truly know Jesus, we must take part in his work.

As we receive Christ, our hearts are filled with a selfless love for those who suffer and for those who do not know Jesus Christ.  Jesus calls us to go with him in healing those who dwell in darkness.  His presence makes our loving acts fruitful in bringing faith and hope to life in those we serve.  Following Christ puts us in a position to see all of his promises coming to life before our eyes.  We experience what it means to be saved by grace when we give grace—and receive it.

We’ll always face the temptation to follow Jesus in pursuit of what we can get from him. There will always be needs and hurts in our lives.  But as children of God, we’re not left to fend for ourselves through life—and in death.

Today, Jesus gives us food that endures for eternal life.  Jesus gives himself as bread and wine by which we shall live forever.  There’s nothing we have to do to gain these gifts.  And with these gifts comes a promise: “whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”  The same Jesus who saves us from death will redeem us through all our fiery trials.  He will never fail to provide everything we need to reach our eternal home with him.  We can entrust ourselves to his care.

And with that, he asks us, what can you give so that you may know me more fully? 

With Jesus in our lives, there are always gifts to be shared.  For it is in giving and sharing that we are all drawn closer to the one who gave his all for us.  We will see Jesus for who he is and what he does for all humankind.

We shall eat our fill of the bread of life—and there’ll be plenty more to share.