“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.” (John 6:37-39)
God has a dream.
God has a vision.
God has a plan.
The dream, the vision, the desire that God has is one in which God’s people might not continue forever to be lost.
Lost. Yes, that is the state of humanity. Lost is the reality of the state of the world. Don’t believe me? Haven’t you read the paper or watched the news on TV? Just this week: an unimaginable terrorist plot uncovered; bombs continued to kill and maim in Lebanon; 6,000 children today will become AIDS orphans; our own citizens, our own neighbors here in San Antonio, are suffering from poverty and hunger; untold numbers of families are on the verge of utter collapse chasing the “American Dream” of economic and social success. I could go on and on and on but you get the point.
This is the will of him who sent me that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
Jesus himself points to the truth of God’s love for the world. His mission is to reclaim that which has been lost and raise it up on the last day.
No longer does humanity need to seek after the bread of this world which is here today and gone tomorrow. For that is exactly what the manna does in the desert. God sends it and the Hebrews are to gather up only enough for today. If they gather up two days worth the bread goes bad, spoils, after a day. Yet, the crowd in chapter 6 of John seeks the “magic” bread, the bread which is perishes.
Jesus himself is the bread provided by the Father and is the only bread which last for eternity. The words which precede the beginning of the passage today are these: “you have seen me and yet do not believe.”
There is warning in those words for you and for me. Are we looking for the bread which perishes? Are we looking for the bread which we make with our own hands and our own efforts? If so, it will spoil. We can do no good on our own. We might get lucky for eventually our luck will run out. We need something more than bread made by our own hands. We need something more than bread which is here today and gone tomorrow.
God provides this bread. God provides the finest of bread. God provides the bread of eternal life: Jesus, his Son.
This is the will of him who sent me that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
So, what are we to do?
Our salvation depends not on our work. Thank God! I don’t know about you, but I am not very good at baking bread. I have yet to make any that lasts very long.
Here are some of the recipes I have tried:
W Think that straight A’s would make me happy.
W Think that drinking and eating were the answers to my problems.
W Think that acquiring material possessions would give me fulfillment.
W Think that the latest self-help book or management theory or leadership tactic or spiritual fad would bring me an enlightened heart and mind.
W Think that the more ministry I did the closer I would get to God, the more He would love me, the more anyone would love me.
W Think that I could earn my salvation.
I have seen yet I have not believed.
Yet believing is all that I can do. Believing is all any of us can do. And believing is enough. If we can just come to believe in the one who has come to bring salvation, if we can just come to believe in the one who is making God’s dream come true, then we too can be sure of being raised up on the last day.
Listen to what else Jesus says: For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."
Amazing, isn’t it?
Jesus, the one who claims to know and live “the will of him who sent” him and promises that he will “lose nothing of all” that he has been given,” but raise it up on the last day,” has already done what we could never, ever in a million years do for ourselves.
He has brought us salvation. He has given himself to us as bread which will bring us life with him forever. He has given himself to us as bread, not made by human hands and human will, but by the will of God to bring the world back into relationship with him.
What is even more amazing is this: That as we are fed by the bread of heaven, we become a part of God’s plan for the reclamation of the world. As you and I are fed by God’s word and sacraments, we are a become part of the flesh, the Body of Jesus Christ. We become, with Jesus, the bread which he gives “for the life of the world.”
God has a vision. And that vision is of a world which once and for all recognizes God’s rule, God’s reign. It is a vision in which God’s people once and for all completely trust him to give them their daily bread and quit living as though God has no power to bring the world and all of its people to himself.
God has a dream. And that dream is a dream in which humanity would once again walk shamelessly with God in complete trust and in complete relationship with Him and each other. A dream in which “swords will be made into plowshares” (Isaiah 2.4); where The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together” (Is. 11.6); where the poor receive good news, the brokenhearted are raised up, the captive receiving liberty, where the blind receive sight, where God’s favor is proclaimed. (Is. 61.3)
God has a plan. The plan is Jesus. This is the will of him who sent me that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
God’s plan includes you and me as we take care to prayerfully seek to look on the Son, Jesus, and trust and believe that God has already uniquely called us and equipped us to be agents of His life transforming love in Christ Jesus.
How humbling it is to know that through us, through our lives lived to God’s glory in the ordinary everyday world, Jesus will draw the world to himself. How awesome that Jesus will accept our offering of our lives and labors to be an ingredient in the Bread he will give to for the life of the world!
Let us pray:
“Yes, Lord, we believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who has come into the world.” May we seek you where you will to be found and may our lives be acceptable ingredients in the bread you fashion to bring life to the world. Use us, we pray, as you will and always to your glory and for the welfare of your people! Amen.