[Propertalk] Gospel quotes for August 2 sermon - Part 1

[Joe Parrish]

As so often happens in John, Jesus refuses to answer the question which they have asked, but instead redirects the conversation to more important issues. Because they have focused on the wrong "bread," Jesus redirects them toward the bread which "endures." The word translated "endures" (meno) in verse 27 is a word which takes on profound meaning as it is used throughout the fourth Gospel, especially to describe the relationship between Jesus and the believer. In the end, this "enduring" or "abiding" will mean nothing less than the Father and the Son dwelling with the believers through the Paraclete (14:23; see also 6:56). 

http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=8/2/2009&tab=4

Brian Peterson, Professor of New Testament
Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary
Columbia, SC 
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...it seems that John doesn't want us to read, or hear, these stories on their own, but as part of a larger story, one that resembles several that we've heard before. This is one way that John wrestles with the profound question of Jesus' identity, and what it means to have faith in him. 
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Mahatma Gandhi, 20th century
There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.

Mother Teresa, 20th century
There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.

D.T. Niles, 20th century
Christianity is one beggar telling another beggar where he found bread.

Bishop Desmond Tutu, 20th century
I don't preach a social gospel; I preach the Gospel, period. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is concerned for the whole person. When people were hungry, Jesus didn't say, "Now is that political or social?" He said, "I feed you." Because the good news to a hungry person is bread.

http://i.ucc.org/StretchYourMind/OpeningtheBible/WeeklySeeds/tabid/81/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/217/Bread-of-Life-Jul-27Aug-2.aspx

Kate Huey, UCC
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In 6:27 Jesus exhorts the crowds to work for the food of eternal life. This is an interesting use of the word, 'work', which in some of our traditions is the opposite of 'faith'. Here, on the contrary, it is a way of talking about faith and means something like: 'set your heart on, make it your goal, put your effort into, work on acquiring'. 6:29 tells us what this effort entails: believing in the one whom God has sent. 6:28 has the crowd speak of 'the works of God'. The effect of the dialogue is to address the question of spirituality. Where do we find God? In wonders? In some mighty achievements of our own or of others? John reduces the options to one: we find God in relationship. That relationship is established when we believe that Jesus is the message and messenger from God. 

http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/MkPentecost9.htm

William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia
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Jesus tries to clear up the misunderstandings: 
a.. it was God, not Moses who gave you manna; 
a.. the Father gives bread now; and 
a.. manna met physical needs but "true bread" is more than that. 
Then v. 33: Jesus himself is the true bread, the "bread of God": he "comes ... from heaven and gives life ...". They still do not grasp that he is the bread, Finally, he says: I am the sustenance of life itself, of very existence, for those who trust in me; I will fill their every need.

http://montreal.anglican.org/comments/archive/bpr18m.shtml


Chris Haslam, Anglican Diocese of Montreal

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Verse 27: "food": The Torah was familiarly known as bread.
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Verse 35: The Eucharist is not yet clearly in view; the thought here is rather of the moment of conversion than of the continuing life nourished by the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. 

http://montreal.anglican.org/comments/archive/bpr18l.shtml

Chris Haslam, Anglican Diocese of Montreal
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