From the Pulpit: His name is 'I Am'

Last week I began a consideration of the “I Am” saying of Jesus. I made a connection of his “I Am” sayings to God’s conversation with Moses in the 3rd chapter of Exodus in which God tells Moses that His name is “I AM.” God’s conversation with Moses was one that any Jewish person who knew scripture would know quite well. So, when Jesus used the phrase “I Am” over and over to identify himself, they understood that he was identifying himself as God.

In the 6th chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus says to a crowd of people that he has just fed with simply fives loaves and two fish, “I am the Bread of Life.” These people were part of a crowd of several thousand people whom Jesus miraculously fed with that meager meal. After having the hunger in their stomachs satisfied, these people went after Jesus, tracked him down, and probably figured that they would never have to worry again about providing food for themselves if Jesus would just keep doing that for them. But Jesus didn’t go along with their plan. Instead, he confronted them about their misguided intentions and told them not to simply seek the food that perishes, but to seek food that endures to eternal life.

It can be very easy for us to focus only on seeking to satisfy the hunger in our stomachs while ignoring the hunger that can only be satisfied by The Bread of Life. Jesus has what we all need to quench the hunger that we experience when all that the world would offer us leaves us empty, famished in our soul, wanting to fill the void that only can be filled by God. If we only try to fill the hunger that food and possessions and other such stuff can satisfy, we will find ourselves restless and continually “wanting”. In the fourth century, St. Augustine declared, “Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our heart is not quiet until it rests in Thee.” When he wrote the 23rd Psalm, David declared, “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Only by receiving The Bread of Life can we know what truly puts our hungering heart at rest.

Jesus told the people who were fed from the five loaves and two fish, “the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Those people responded by pleading with Jesus, “Sir, give us this bread always.” I hope that is our prayer as well.