Opened Before Christmas

 

Today’s Scripture

Psalm 34         1 Kings 19:4-8            Ephesians 4:30-5:2     John 6:41-51

 

            Think of Christmas.  You see the packages under the tree.  Your name is on one of them.  You know that present is yours.  You just have not seen it yet.  And, if someone takes that present away, you know you lost something that was yours.  But you cannot open and enjoy the present until the giver hands it over to you. Oh for just a peek to see and know what that present is.

            Or before the meal is served.  How many love to snitch a taste of the main course, the bird, the meat, the stew?  It is such a treat to do that.  Still, your place is set at the table and you know you will enjoy the full meal in just moments.

 

            In a restaurant the server comes out with tray after tray.  You do not see what you ordered.  Now your order appears.  Yes it is yours.  But you do not get to enjoy it until it is placed before you.  Then it begins to sustain you with the nourishment it brings.  If you do not recognize your order and say, “No, this is not mine,” and send it back, you do not get the meal, do you?

 

            On Wednesday evenings in the summer we do sing a Christmas hymn upon occasion.  It is so long before Christmas comes but we enjoy that brief taste, that reminder what Christmas brings to us.  How important the Christmas message is at all times, even in the heat of summer!  God comes down from heaven and takes on human form among us.  Mary holds in her heart what she knows, that this son she has carried in her womb is really God himself, our Lord and Savior.  Who would believe her if she told anyway?  Today we rejoice that Jesus came, and is with us always even to the end of the ages [Matthew 28].  Still, many doubt, many do not believe. 

 

            In today’s Gospel, Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.  I am the bread of life,” [. 47-48a].  As Jesus walks this earth, here is salvation, the way to heaven right here among the people.  They have that salvation only when they trust this Jesus for what he brings; the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.  This body, this flesh and blood before them is salvation.  They do not receive it any other way except trusting in Jesus’ words.  Those words alone fill all of our hunger, all of our need for eternal life. 

 

            That is a main point of today’s message.  The people following Jesus already have the gift.  Today, you already have the gift.  The dilemma is that so many of those people did not recognize the gift.  Today, so many people in this world do not recognize Jesus is the gift.  And yet the gift, the precious meal that gives life, is here with us, in us, and for all to taste and see.

 

            We know our bodily life.  We know how we are sustained through eating and drinking nourishing things.  Last week David Einoris enlightened us with the wonders of Wonder Bread.  Jesus enlightens us with the wonders of himself as he says, “I am the bread of life.”  There is no other bread as he is.  There is no other life except the life he gives, the life he brings, the life you have and hold dear in your hearts and souls today and for all time forward.  It is the gift God gives you in him.  That gift is something you and cannot buy.  That gift is something you and I cannot go out and find somewhere.  It comes only from God.  And it is yours.  You do not need to wait until Christmas.  You do not need to wait for the platter on the table.  As Jesus has promised, you have it.

 

            “Taste and see that the Lord is good,” the Psalmist says [34:8a].  We know that God stretches out his hand and satisfies the desire of every living thing [Psalm 145:16].    Elijah sits under a shrub in the desert giving up.  He cannot do what he is expected to do and he is right.  Then God nourishes him with fresh-baked bread and a sip of water that carries him forty days and forty nights on his journey.  That great miracle lead Elijah then and all people today to know that this power is in God’s hands.  The Israelites were in the wilderness forty years sustained by simple “manna” that miraculously nourished them and kept them strong to enter the Promised Land.  Today, you have the bread that not just nourishes you, but gives you a life that no one and not one thing of this earth can give you, eternal life.  You are no longer being held captive by death and the grave, but have life in spite of that.

 

            Who is Jesus?  What is this bread of life?  Jesus tells us that he is not of normal birth, but “comes down from heaven,” [v. 41, 50, 51].  He is true God and true man in his divine and human natures.  It is a miracle the Jews that day did not understand.  It is a miracle we cannot explain in our earthly knowledge.  It is the miracle that gives you that present that has your name on it and you are waiting for that day that you will unwrap it. 

 

            That is the hope, the confidence, the life that believers in Christ Jesus have.  That is the nourishment that sees us through the things of this life when we know that God will not let anything harm us for his sake.  That is why Jesus gives us what we know as the Lord’s Supper.  Today his body and blood miraculously are in this bread and wine so you will depart refreshed knowing that this body and blood have already saved you, always sustains you, and keeps you in this one true faith to everlasting life. 

 

            Without Jesus, we are hungry, in fact starving and dying not knowing what, when, where, and how salvation works.  With Jesus, we are fed, nourished, strengthened, and given the confidence that the prize, the end result, the greatest gift is already yours.  Your name is on it.  Look to the cross.  Your name is there on the lamb who takes away the sin of the world.  Your name is there on the empty tomb knowing you too will be raised up to live in the glories of heaven with our brother, Lord and savior.  Your name is sealed in those waters that wash and renew in baptism.  Your name is “in the book” of those God has drawn to Christ who redeems you, purchases you with his precious body and blood.  Yes, in Jesus you have everlasting life [v. 47]. 

 

            Amen.