Reflection for the Fourth Sunday in Lent
By the Rev’d. Allison K. Dean
Listen to this reflection here.
(Find last week’s reflection here)
The collect for the Fourth Sunday in Lent reads,
Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that He may live in us, and we in Him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
In 2003 the illusionist David Blaine spent 44 days in a plastic box. During that time, he experienced heart palpitations, breathing problems, and blurred vision. The cause: no food for 44 days. He spent his entire time in the box only drinking water. When he finally left the box, he couldn’t return to eating normally right away because his starved digestive and immune systems would not have been able to handle it. If he had continued, eventually he would have died from starvation because we, and all living things, need food to survive. We need the energy and nutrition that food provides. We can fast for a few days and be just fine. But we can’t fast indefinitely, or our bodies will begin to break down. And guess what? The same rule applies to our spiritual lives.
Without food for our souls, they too will wither and die. This week’s collect makes it clear that Jesus is the food we need for our souls. It says, …Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world… Jesus Christ didn’t come only to bring food for our souls. Jesus came to be food for our souls. In John 6 we read, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (v. 35).
For Jesus to be the bread of life means that apart from him, and without him, no life is possible. This is the truth of who he is, regardless of our belief. But we only experience it as true when we are in a deep and abiding relationship with him. The deep longings we feel for something greater than ourselves are filled by Jesus. The questions we have about life after death are answered by Jesus. The desire we feel for things to be ‘right’, ‘fair’ are fulfilled by Jesus.
The hymn writer says, “We have an anchor that keeps the soul steadfast and sure while the billows roll…” That anchor is our faith, faith that keeps us fastened to the unmovable and unshakeable rock that is Jesus. And the nourishment we receive in and from Jesus is what keeps alive and strengthens our souls, our faith and our hope. So, we need an unending supply of the thing, indeed of the person, in whom and from whom this nourishment is to be found. Thus we pray in the petition in the Collect, Evermore give us this bread, that He may live in us, and we in Him. These words call to mind what Jesus said in John 15, “Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me” (v. 4).
This is what it means for Jesus to be the bread of life.
But how do we feed on Jesus?
By Faith
In John 6:47 Jesus says, “…whoever believes [i.e. has faith] in me has eternal life.”
We can also consider Galatians 2:20 “…it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
And Romans 10:9 “…if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
If you are like me, you always have questions, always want to ‘understand’. But what I came to realise is that at some point we have to make a decision, because there will always be more questions, and always be things that my limited human mind cannot grasp or understand. The children’s chorus calls us to declare, “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.” The decision to follow Jesus must be made over and over again throughout our lives. And the faith such a decision both requires and expresses comes from, and is sustained by, ongoing encounters with Jesus in our many spiritual disciplines.
With Scripture
Scripture is God’s written revelation of himself to us. The Bible is a source of spiritual nourishment, and by studying it, meditating on it, we can learn about Jesus and His teachings, strengthening our faith and relationship with Him. The prophet Jeremiah says, “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart…” (15:16) When Jesus was being tempted by the devil he replied, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4).
To quote another chorus, “Read your Bible, pray every day, and you’ll grow, grow, grow. Neglect your Bible, and forget to pray, and you’ll shrink, shrink, shrink.”
Scripture tells us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). The hymn writer says, “we perish if we cease from prayer…”
Prayer is how we communicate with God and receive strength and guidance from Him. In his own life Jesus regularly withdrew from crowds, even from his disciples, to pray, to commune with God. The Lord’s Prayer is how Jesus taught his disciples to pray. In monastic communities prayer is the principal work undertaken, so you’ll find that their days are structured by and ordered around the times of prayer.
Many people struggle with prayer, for a variety of reasons. If that is you, do not give up. Perserverance has its reward.
Through Faithful Service
In John we have the account of Jesus and the woman at the well. At the end of the passage we see the disciples encouraging Jesus to eat something. He tells them that he has food they don’t know about. This confuses them and they wonder if he’d already eaten. Then he explained, “my food is to do the will of him who sent me and complete his work” (4:34).
Following Jesus’ example of serving others, showing love and compassion, living a life of holiness and righteousness feeds us because our lives become shaped and moulded into his likeness.
Last, but certainly not least, we feed on Jesus in Holy Communion, the Eucharist. The catechism (p. 411) teaches us that in Communion we receive “…the forgiveness of our sins, the strengthening of our union with Christ and one another…” Along with baptism, Communion/Eucharist/Lord’s Supper is a sacrament – a means of grace – instituted by Jesus himself, in which all of us are commanded to participate.
Jesus said, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever” (Jn 6:53–58).
Bread of heaven, on thee we feed
for thy flesh is meat indeed
ever may our souls be fed
with this true and living bread
day by day with strength supplied
through the life of him who died.