Several years ago, our family took a trip to North and South Carolina. April and I had found a three-day event in Hot Springs, North Carolina, that we wanted to attend and decided to do a little vacationing on the front end of the journey. We went down to Charleston, South Carolina, and took the kids to see the ocean for the first time. After a little over a day in South Carolina, we got back in the car and drove to Hot Springs. Now, the event we were attending was at a campground and most of the attendees and speakers would camp in tents for the event. The campground was nestled in the mountains with a small little downtown district close by but very little else. We had brought a cooler with us but we had not stocked it with much food in advance as we planned to shop once we had arrived. I think the only food we had was some bread and some peanut butter and jelly. We arrived in late afternoon, checked in for the event, and then found ourselves a spot to set up our tent. Once our tent was set up and everything loaded into it, we had to take our car and park it in a parking lot across the street from the camp. Once parked, it was well after dinner time so we got back to our tent and ate some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. But we all still felt hungry. At this point it was nearly 8pm. But we had seen what looked like some food trucks in part of the campground earlier on our walk through, so April and the kids stayed in the tent and I ventured out to see what there might be. I wandered around the camp for quite some time, finding only closed food stands. Finally, I came across one food stand that was still open. I excitedly rushed over to it and looked at the sign to see what sort of food they had. The sign told me that they sold vegan food. I remember thinking to myself…what am I going to get from a vegan food stand that my 7 and 5-year old kids would actually eat. And once I read the options on the menu, I was even more worried. In the end, I ordered a pasta bowl. It had all sorts of vegetables mixed into it, but I hoped the kids would at least be able to eat the noodles. When I got back to the tent, I divided some out onto separate plates for each of us. The kids, who’d never had anything like this, began to devour the noodles…even taking in some of the vegetables along the way. And when it was all finished off, the kids raved about how good those noodles were. And I can’t help but wonder if Jesus would have said to them, “You are only raving about these noodles because you were hungry and now you’ve been fed.”

It is amazing how meeting that basic need of hunger can really change our perspective on things. In our gospel passage for this morning, Jesus has just performed the miracle known as the “feeding of the 5,000.” He took five barley loaves and two fish, given generously by a young boy, and fed the multitude. This was an amazing show of Jesus’ power. And the people say of Jesus, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.” But then here in our passage for today, just a little while after this miraculous feeding, we see the crowd track down Jesus after he escaped from them across the lake to Capernaum. And they come up to Jesus and say to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Which I think seems a relatively understandable question. It seems like in the previous passage that Jesus had kind of snuck off to be alone and then his disciples left in a boat, but Jesus wasn’t with them. And then here Jesus is on the other side of the lake with his disciples again. They are confused. And Jesus’ response to them seems even perhaps a bit more confusing…at least on the surface.

Jesus says to them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” When I first read this, I thought it seemed backwards. I mean, it seems clear that they saw the signs. They were astounded by what Jesus had done with the fish and bread. John even says they wanted to make Jesus their king. But Jesus says that that is not why the people searched for him and came all the way across the lake to find him. He says that it is because they were filled. They looked for Jesus because he filled their stomachs.

I don’t know how many of you have been watching or at least paying attention to the Olympics currently taking place in Tokyo, Japan. But something quite significant took place this past week that I think relates a bit to our story from the gospel of John for this morning. As you may or may not know, one of America’s and the world’s greatest athletes withdrew from competition due to some significant mental health concerns. Simone Biles, top American gymnast and perhaps the greatest in her sport, stepped back from competition at the Olympics in order to care for herself. This is something almost unheard of in sports…especially on a stage as large as the Olympics. I mean how many times have we seen the heroics of physically injured athletes completing their event despite the pain. But Simone Biles chose a different path. And she has faced some harsh criticism for it. Many are saying that she is weak and that she let her team down. These are the same people who a week ago were rooting her on and calling her one of the greatest ever. But now that things got tough, many people turned against her. They only supported her when they were being filled.

The people who crossed the lake to find Jesus were excited about Jesus because he had given them something they wanted. Many of them may not have had a meal for several days, but Jesus fed them. And not only did he feed them, but it says that they were satisfied. And so they followed Jesus, perhaps hoping that this would become a regular occurrence. But Jesus knows that tougher times are ahead. And there will not always be enough for everyone to be filled. There may be times where people suffer. There may be times when people die. Jesus knows that he himself will die. Everything will not always be hunky-dory.

Are we like that crowd? Do we only come to Jesus to get filled? To get what we want? Or do we come because we see the signs that Jesus truly is the Son of God, the Messiah, our Savior? Jesus says at the end of our passage, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” Two things come out of that statement for me. First, Jesus is not talking about physical hunger and thirst. He’s clearly transitioned away from that to something more spiritual. The crowd came to Jesus because he had alleviated their physical hunger. But Jesus is trying to teach them that there is something more important that he offers them. He offers them life. And this life is zoe life. Zoe is the Greek word for life that represents God’s life, which God pours into the created world. When Jesus says he is the bread of zoe, the bread of life, he is talking about God’s perfect, all-powerful, sustaining life. And when we come to Jesus, we are offered that life…the true life that lasts.

Jesus is not talking about physical hunger. But also, there is a charge here for us to live into that life that Jesus offers. Jesus is the bread of life and when we go to him, we receive that same life in us. Therefore, that life should be evident in the way we interact in the world. Do we offer life to others the way Jesus has offered us life? Do we feed people’s bodies AND their spirits? Do we pour into the world goodness and kindness and peace and love? When we come to Jesus, are we coming just to be filled with the things that don’t last? Or are we coming to be filled with God’s own life, so that we might share that life in the world? This morning, it is my prayer that we will come to Jesus and discover the life he has for us. And then we will go forth and share that life with everyone we meet. God’s life is abundant with the riches of love and grace. May that be made evident in everything we say and do! In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. AMEN!