The Fourth Sunday in Lent (2024)

March 10, 2013

Rev. Ross Mahan, Pastor
John 6:47-57

Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God the Father and Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.

1. No one in history ever spoke like Jesus. When the Pharisees heard how the people were beginning to believe on Jesus they sent soldiers to arrest him but the soldiers came back without Him. The Pharisees couldn’t understand it: Why have ye not brought Him? The officers answered, Never man spake like this man (Jn. 7:45, 46). The words of Jesus were bold, original, and audacious and no one ever said things the way He did. After the Sermon on the Mount we read: And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes (Mt. 7:28, 29). Jesus said of Himself: The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life (Jn. 6:63). No one ever made such claims. Listen to our Gospel lesson: I am the Bread of Life. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Listen to these words again! Jesus claimed He was the Bread of Life, the living bread which came down from heaven that if a man eats he will live forever, but if man refuses to eat of His flesh and drink His blood he will have no spiritual life. The claims of Christ are either true or false; every person has to decide for himself, there is no middle ground. Let us examine together first the soul of man and then the bread of life.

I.

2. The soul of man: Every living organism needs nutrition to live. We not only need the right quantity of food but also the right quality. We have an obesity epidemic today because people eat the wrong kinds of food. God has blessed our nation tremendously. Our farmers are so productive and efficient they could feed the entire world. Hunger is our body’s way of telling us we need to eat and if we do not eat properly we will grow weak, sick, and eventually die. Man’s physical body needs food and so does his soul. Man is more than a body. You have an eternal soul. The Bible mentions the soul for the first time in the book of Genesis. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (Gen 2:7). God created man and breathed life into his body and man became a living, eternal being. Here is doctrine we would not understand without the first three chapters in Genesis. A literal understanding of Genesis is the key to understanding the Creation of the world, vocation, time, marriage, and the fall of man, Genesis is the foundation of the entire Christian faith. The soul of man is eternal and will never cease to exist. Every one of you will live somewhere for eternity. Your soul is the real you. Man is not just a body with a soul but a soul dwelling in a physical body. Our bodies make it possible for us to live in the physical world and death occurs when the soul is separated from the body and the physical world.

3. Man is connected to God and to spiritual reality through His soul. Solomon told his son to protect his soul. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life (Pr. 4:23). Jesus said: For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mk. 8:36, 37). What does the Bible say about the soul? Your soul belongs to God. When Adam fell into sin he plunged his own soul into sin and death along with the souls of all of his descendants, so that every person born into the world is born in sin, under the condemnation and wrath of the Law. But Christ loved the soul of man so much that He came into the world to redeem mankind. Christ continues coming to man through the Gospel and the Sacraments to offer and apply to your soul the forgiveness of sins earned for you. The Word of God creates faith in your heart which enables you to receive the forgiveness He offers you. The hearing of the Word of God is food for the soul. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God (Mt. 4:4). Your soul has no need of calories and carbohydrates but it desperately needs spiritual nourishment that only God can give. The soul consists of the mind, will, and emotions. Some people are smarter than others, but we all had to grow and learn. The smartest people who ever lived whether Shakespeare, Plato, or Newton at one time were children and had to develop their knowledge over a time.

4. No one is born a full grown genius. We send our children to school to learn and grow for we know that education will help prepare them for life. What is the secret to growing and learning? If you want your child to be good at math you must give him math books and teachers. If you want him to know history you must give him history books. If you want your children to be musical, you must surround them with music. The same is true with the knowledge of God. You must teach children the knowledge of God’s word from an early age. Education without the Word of God is dangerous. Luther wrote: I am afraid that the schools will prove the very gates of hell, unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures and engraving them in the heart of the youth.The church is losing its young people today in part because after a few years in public schools, our children think we have been lying to them. We tell them they are God’s special creation and that the entire world was created in six 24 hour days but their teacher at school tells them they evolved over billions of years from monkeys. We teach them that Jesus Christ is the only way to God, but modern education teaches them religious and cultural equivalency, that all religions and cultures are equally true and if they believe otherwise they are racist and bigoted. Many parents send their children to schools that undermine the very doctrines they have taught them and before long, their children conclude that the Bible must be false.

5. The real problem is that parents do not understand the Word of God. When their children present them with their newfound understanding of religion or evolution, they reply: Well, God could have used evolution to bring the world into being, after all, He can do anything. The question is NOT what God could have done the question is what did God SAY He did. These Christian parents are helping to destroy the foundation of the faith in the hearts of their own children by denying the authority and inspiration of God’s Word. The public schools and universities are striking at the foundation of the Christian faith with the religion of secular humanism, man’s philosophy. The cultural struggle we are fighting today is a theological one, a battle between rival religions that will continue until one of them is destroyed and the other established as the law of the land. Rather than defend the doctrines of Scripture many people are choosing to go along with secular humanism. This is why parents must inculcate the wisdom and knowledge of God’s Word into their children’s hearts. Did you ever see a glider? To get a glider off the ground they connect a cable between the glider and an airplane and as the airplane takes off it pulls the glider along with it. At some point in the air, when the winds are right, they release the cable and the glider continues on its own. When children are young we pull them along with us to Baptism, church, and confirmation. But at some point hopefully they will have a faith of their own.

II.

6. Food for the soul. Man knows in his heart there is something within him that is greater than his physical. The physical part of life is all some people seem to know, but the mind, and soul of man is beyond the body. The spirit within us is able to reach outside the body. For example, I can sit in a room and never leave my chair, yet my mind can travel to the Grand Canyon. I can sail the bay of Naples, or race to the Orient. I can visit with old friends, and even see the smoke rising from a volcano in Hawaii. Everyone knows there is something in him that is greater and more important than the body, which of course the Bible reveals. God created the soul of man perfect, but the soul has been affected by sin. Sin brings spiritual sickness and death. Man’s greatest need is to be forgiven and reconciled to God. The Gospel is food and medicine for your soul. The words of Jesus in our Gospel lesson are difficult to understand. Whenever you deal with a difficult passage you begin by asking, what is the simple meaning of His words. The flesh and blood that Jesus refers to is the sacrifice of His body on the cross for sinners. Jesus said: I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The bread of life is the result of Christ’s death on the cross, a death that satisfied God’s perfect Justice and paid the penalty of our sins. Christ endured the punishment we deserved.

7. The eating and drinking Jesus describes, takes place when we personally receive the benefits of His death through the means of grace, the Gospel and Holy Baptism. Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life (Jn. 6:29, 35, 40, 47). Eating and drinking of Christ is an inward spiritual act of the soul. When Jesus speaks about eating His flesh and drinking His blood He is making reference to Holy Communion, but we must not confine His words to the Lord’s Supper. We eat and drink of Christ by faith in the Gospel. Jesus is describing what happens when a man realizes his guilt before God and lays hold of Christ by grace through faith trusting in His atonement for his sins. When a man places his trust in Jesus Christ he is eating the flesh of the Son of Man and drinking His blood and thus partaking of the salvation Jesus accomplished for sinners. Such faith is absolutely necessary to be saved. In the Old Covenant on the night of the Passover, there was no salvation for any of the Israelites in Egypt who did not personally eat of the Passover Lamb.

8. In the same way, there is no spiritual life today for the sinner who does not eat and drink of Christ by faith. Faith in Christ unites the sinner to God in the closest possible connection. Without Christ, man has no spiritual life or hope of heaven. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you (Jn. 6:53). And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. (I Jn. 5:11, 12). By nature man is dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:2). When Christ comes into a man’s life He gives him new life, forgiveness of sins and a transformed life. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (II Cor. 5:17). Through faith in Christ we enjoy fellowship with the one true and living God. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him (Jn. 6:56). The life of Jesus in our hearts by faith is the sustaining power of our life. The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me (Gal. 2:20). His strength and righteousness now becomes ours and His purity and life is gradually perfected in us. If you are a new creation in Christ this morning He has given you salvation, peace, and hope in this life and for eternity.

9. Every one of God’s elect will be saved for eternity, not one of them will be lost. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day (Jn. 6:54). All who believe on Christ in this life will one day share in His resurrection. Eating the flesh of Christ and drinking His blood takes place in your heart the moment you believe the Gospel. But we partake of the Body and Blood of Christ each day. No one can eat and drink for us just as no one can believe for us. We need physical food each day, not once a week or once a month and we need the Bread of Life every day. We sin each day and need the forgiveness of sins. When we eat a good meal we feel refreshed, strengthened, and nourished. And when we hear or read the Word of God or partake of the Holy Sacrament in the divine Service we leave the church with God’s strength, peace, and hope in our souls. God has chosen to preserve His people in the true faith through the regular hearing and receiving of His Word. The hymn writer has written:

Bread of Heaven, on Thee I feed,

For Thy Flesh is meat indeed;

Ever may my soul be fed,

With the true and living bread;

Day by day with strength supplied,

Through the life of Him who died.

10. We must hear these truths and put them it into practice. Many people neglect their soul and as a result, their faith is weak. They lack faith, peace, and joy because they have been feeding upon the things of this world, which can never satisfy the soul. A life of strength begins with repentance, turning from sin by faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus said our relationship to Him is like a branch connected to a vine. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned (Jn. 15:4-6). The believer in Christ is in a relationship with God through Christ the Vine. As long as the branch is connected to the vine it will continue to live and grow, but when the branch is separated from the vine and cut off from the life of God it will experience a slow withering death. Feeding on Christ the Bread of Life is a life and death matter. God gave you the Church for your spiritual health and life. It is the means God has chosen to save and preserve us in the true faith. I pray that God may grant each of us a true hunger for His Word and the peace, joy and forgiveness of sins He offers us today; Amen.