Communion By The Sea
based on John 6:1-21 ff
by Dr. David  Rogne

Today our order of worship will be altered in a way that we hope will help all of us to experience and better appreciate a Biblical event. Instead of a sermon in a specific place, the unfolding activities of the Biblical event will be recounted and expanded upon at various points during the service. First then, let us become familiar with the Biblical account of what happened as the Scripture is read.

John 6:1-15, 25-35

The Gathering

The people were coming together to listen.  There was anticipation in their minds as to what they might hear. Let us gather up our thoughts and expectations for the time we shall spend together in this service of worship.  To prepare ourselves, in a moment we will stand to join our voices in singing hymn number 59, “We Gather Together.”

(Following the hymn, the people are seated)

The Setting

It was perhaps the second year of Jesus’ ministry.  Jesus was at the height of his popularity.  It was in the spring, just before the Jewish Festival of Passover. Many people were on their way from Galilee and points north to Jerusalem so that they might be in the Holy City for the celebration. As they passed through Galilee, they heard that the popular teacher, Jesus of Nazareth, was in the vicinity, preaching and healing the sick. So it was that many turned aside to go and see and hear for themselves. This took them off the beaten path, out to a hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee. There Jesus did indeed speak to them.  They became so interested that that they lingered longer than they should have. Many of them had undoubtedly become hungry, but they were far away from a town where they could purchase food.

Realizing their dilemma, Jesus turned to one of his disciples, Philip, and asked, “How are we to buy bread so that all these people can eat?”  It was logical that he should ask Philip, for they were in Philip’s territory, but when Philip heard the question, he almost choked. This was no family outing; it wasn't a little picnic in the park. To feed this number of people would call for an air-lift.  There were well over five thousand people there. Just a little lox and bagels and a dash of potato salad for each one present would set somebody back six months' wages.   Philip knew that Judas carried the bankroll for their operation and he wasn't having any trouble carrying all of it in a very small bag. They couldn't afford to feed all these freeloaders, and besides, there weren't enough kosher delicatessens in the whole region to take on the job. Like many of us, Philip was a realist. “The problem is unmanageable. Jesus. Just dismiss the crowd and let them fend for themselves.” There was no hopefulness in Philip, no imagination, no new ideas.

Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was standing nearby.  He couldn't help but overhear the conversation. In fact the rumbling in his own stomach had told him some time earlier that he had better be on the lookout for somebody with a large lunch.  As luck would have it, he had found a little boy who had cut school to go fishing.  The boy had seen the crowd gathering to listen to Jesus, and since this was the biggest thing to hit these parts in years, he had decided to post pone the fishing in favor of the medicine show.  The boy had managed to stash away some lox and bagels from breakfast and it was the pleasing aroma of theses things that had attracted Andrew’s attention.  Andrew’s needs, at least, were going to be met.  Now that Jesus was pointing out that everyone was hungry, Andrew was smitten in conscience and sheepishly announced that he had found a boy who was willing to share his lunch.  But it wouldn’t do much good, Andrew was quick to point out, if Jesus intended to share it with everyone.  

Surprisingly, Jesus responded to this offer as a concrete beginning to the solution of the problem. Instead of being immobilized by the enormity of the problem, here was someone willing to respond  with the little that he had. One doesn't have to do everything before one can begin to do something.  What resources do we have, inadequate as they may seem to be, which can be placed at God’s disposal in helping to meet the enormous human problems that surround us today?

In a moment we will stand to sing our second hymn of the morning as the elements of our communion are brought forward.

The people are invited to stand and sing a hymn as the elements are brought forward and placed on the altar table.  The people are seated.

The Serving

Jesus took the bread and the fish, offered a prayer of thanksgiving over it, and gave it to his disciples to distribute. John, one of the disciples, was there that day. What subsequently happened had such a profound impact on him that as he later recorded the incident he did so in great detail.  However, John did not get around to writing down his version of the story of Jesus until long after the death of Jesus. By that time, there were already a number of congregations meeting regularly in the name of Jesus, breaking bread and drinking wine in memory of Jesus.

All the Gospel writers recall that Jesus gathered his disciples together on his last night to share a Passover meal. Three of them recall the words of institution: "As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, do it in remembrance of me." But not so John.  As far as John is concerned, the Lord’s supper had already been instituted in another Passover occasion beside the Sea of Galilee.  In the catacombs, those underground Christian burial places where early Christians met, the symbols which are still visible on the walls show loaves and fishes for the communion meal.  Even as John wrote these words, the initiated Christian was invited to see beyond the description of a mysterious meal by the sea and to recognize that John was talking about the sacrament of  Communion.

It is that sacrament that we propose to experience here today.  We have the bread, which reminds us of the body of Christ broken for us.  We have the fruit of the vine, rather than the fish, for the juice reminds us more graphically of the blood which Jesus shed as he sought to express the nature of sacrificial love. We have here such persons as Jesus invited to distribute the elements so long ago. And we have here the people whom Jesus, in his compassion, invited to partake of these elements. All who wish to Join us in partaking of these elements are invited to do so, regardless of age or church affiliation, so long as they desire to live a new life in Jesus Christ.

In a moment ushers will guide us forward to receive the elements at the front of the church. Take

a piece of bread, dip it in the cup, partake of it and return to your seat.  Any who would like to commune, but who are unable to come forward, are requested to make that known to an usher.  They will be served in their seats.  Any who do not with to commune may simply remain in their seats.  First, however, let us join our voices in the communion prayer, even as Jesus prayed before he distributed the elements.

The Gathering In

What actually happened that day by the sea we shall never know for sure.  By the time John wrote down his description of the incident it had been lovingly told hundreds of times in the young church and perhaps to emphasize different points. Even today, interpretations differ. Many simply attribute it to miracle, and if one is satisfied to focus on the miraculous, then let that explanation suffice. Others see it as a description of a sacramental meal, such as our communion meal was this morning - each person receiving a small morsel. And since John does not mention the last supper later in his Gospel, it would appear that he saw this event as of sacramental significance. Still others feel that by offering to share the small boy's lunch, Jesus stimulated others to share, who had  previously been afraid to share what they had lest there not be enough for themselves.  If this is what happened, it means that human beings who had been afraid to share were changed into human beings who were ready to give.  If that is the case, the miracle becomes, not the miracle of changing little food into much food,  but the miracle of changing selfish people into sharing people.

However it was accomplished, when all had eaten and were satisfied, Jesus told his disciples to go among the people and gather up the fragments.  There was enough left so that each disciple collected a basketful.  The baskets mentioned were like lunch pails which Jewish people carried with them when they traveled so that they would have kosher food even though they might be

among Gentiles. The significance of the gathering up is that there was enough left over, after feeding the multitude, to take care of those who did the serving.

Today there are people who are serving in the name of Jesus Christ all around the world: in this community, in the ghetto, in the jungle, in the bush country, on the reservation, everywhere.  Their ability to continue to serve is dependent on our capacity to share.  As on that day by the sea so long ago, there are those who are ready to pass among us to receive what we have to share.  Let us be generous.

( The offering is received)

The Misunderstanding of the Sign

To say the least, some in the crowd were pretty impressed by what had taken place.   Those on welfare found this better than food stamps.  If they could just stay close to Jesus they wouldn't have to bother with all that government red tape.  The religious people could see benefits here too: all those food  bank shelves that are so hard to fill; all those boxes of groceries to help the unemployed. And the incident was not lost on the hot-blooded young nationalists who saw in Jesus' trick the possibility of feeding a revolutionary army when they made their bid for power.  It didn't take any effort at all to get the crowd to start singing "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" and chanting slogans such as "Jesus for President." This was not the kind of notoriety Jesus had in mind, however, and while people were working out still other cheers, Jesus slipped away to be by himself.

Those with big plans for Jesus' future were not easily discouraged, however. The next day a number of them tracked Jesus to the other side of the lake and began to ask him questions. But Jesus saw through their intentions. They were not attracted by his message; he just happened to be someone they could use to further their own plans. They wanted to sign Jesus up for what they could get out of him. They had witnessed what had happened, but they did not see it as a sign of anything. So Jesus  tried to set them straight:  "You have come looking for me simply because your stomachs are filled, and not because you really understood what was going on," he said.

In those words Jesus put his finger on a problem that still troubles those who seek to follow him. Each of us has our own things we hope to receive: success a business, success on romance, peace of mind, safety for ourselves or for loved ones, escape from some dreaded problem. And there is nothing wrong with such requests: often they emanate from love; and they are an acknowledgement that we are weak and limited children who can do little more than ask for help. The problem is that we are often willing to remain as children when what we need to do is to help solve problems by saying to God such things as "make me," "mold me," "use me," "show me." Bread is essential to life, and we are taught to ask for it, but there is more to life than just bread.

It is in Jesus’ words that we find the meaning of the sign.  Do not spend all your efforts for the food that spoils," said Jesus, “but for that which endures to eternal life.   Jesus had caught their attention

by meeting a physical need, but he hoped that they would move on from preoccupation with food to some more ultimate questions such as, "What are we to do with these lives that are sustained by God's gifts?" Fortunately, that question did occur to someone because someone from the back of

the crowd, wearied by all the double-talk, eventually asked Jesus flat-out, "All right, what should we be doing, if we are to do what God wants us to do?"

Jesus answered, “What God wants you to do is to believe in the one whom he has sent.” Now Jesus was becoming too specific. It was all right to think of him as some kind of miracle worker who could expand food, but for Jesus to suggest that this was evidence that he was sent from God was a little bit much. Nevertheless, this was the connection Jesus was hoping that they would make!

One of the more religious people in the crowd began to see a connection with an Incident out of their past, for he said, in effect. "If you want us to believe in you, you are going to have to do better than you've done so far, Jesus. In the old days our people were hungry while in the wilderness and Moses fed them with manna, that strange food from heaven, for forty years. Obviously Moses was from God but, but you, you fed us once.  What else can you do to convince us so that we can believe?”  Jesus then responded, “I not only give the bread of life, I am the bread of life.”

Here, then, was the significance of the act of feeding the previous day: though that bread had sustained the physical body temporarily, the nourishment that it offered was short-lived.  It was really intended as a sign pointing to someone who could sustain the spirit.  In our communion service today the food which was provided, while real enough, was also little enough so that we would not fall into the trap of seeing it as just another meal.  With portions so small, it must stand

for something beyond itself.  The intention is that these elements should for Jesus Christ.  As those elements are taken into our bodies and literally turned into energy, they are to remind us of a spiritual presence taken into our lives , energizing us, so that our lives become extensions of his spirit.  Are we hungry for meaning?  He offers to feed us.  Are we thirsting after life’s purpose?  He offers satisfaction.

"I am the bread of life;" says Jesus, "the one who comes to me shall