The Berlin Circuit of The United Methodist Church

In ancient Israel and in our own generation, life was about seeking security and fostering our own survival.  This was so basic to the cultural makeup of ancient Israel, and to us, that it is an assumption about life that goes unquestioned and even unrecognized.

In ancient Israel, security and survival was all about creating bread.  Bread was the staple of the ancient Middle Eastern and European diet.  It remained so until modern times.  For Jesus' listeners, life centered around the cultivation of wheat, the harvest, and the baking of bread.

Today we continue to be preoccupied with our own security and survival, but bread no longer is closely connected to security and survival.  We are no longer an agricultural society where most of us harvest wheat.  Bread is no longer the centerpiece of our diet.  We don't spend our days harvesting and baking bread.  Today, our central preoccupation for security and survival is tied to the creation and cultivation of money and property.

In John's gospel, Jesus creates bread to feed the multitudes.  Those who are fed follow Jesus to get more.  Jesus responds to the crowd's desire for more bread by challenging their fundamental assumption that life was about making sure that there was enough bread.  Jesus says that the purpose of life is not about creating and cultivating bread (i.e. our own security and survival), but in seeking to imitate God.  In Jesus, God was not preoccupied with his own security and survival, but lived as a servant who sacrificed his life for the sins of the world.

If we follow Jesus only to facilitate our own safety and security, we are just like the multitudes who followed Jesus to get bread because we share their basic assumption about what the purpose of life is.  We will never be able to satisfy our cravings, and we will remain hungry.  In order for us to be God's people, we have to reorient our understanding about what life is about.  If we let go of our preoccupation with our own safety and security and live our lives for others, we will never be hungry.