[AI translation] Perhaps some of you will find it strange that I am not reading the usual Christmas gospel from Luke 2 - the precious, well-known story of the shepherds and the angels - but a passage which seems to have no connection whatsoever with the celebration of the birth of Christ, Christmas! But those who regularly listen to the sermon here from Sunday to Sunday will know why this is so. So let me tell those of you who have come to church again after a long time, this Christmas, that we started studying the Gospel of John four months ago, so we continue with the next part of the Gospel at each service. That's how the passage we read today came to be the 18th time we've preached from the holy Gospel according to John. But what is the Christmas message in this? Is there a Christmas gospel in it? Because that is what we are waiting for today, that is why we are here! And the great thing is that in this passage, which is not chosen, but is ready for us, the Lord speaks of the abundance of a very rich Christmas. Of the many precious gifts that this passage contains, let me highlight and give you the three that I found in it!(1) The first is spoken of in these verses, "For this is the bread of God, which cometh down out of heaven, and giveth life to the world. And they said unto him, Lord, give us this bread always. And Jesus said to them: I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst." (Jn 6:33-35) This is God's gift to the world of the abundance and riches of His Fatherly love. He has given the people of this earth such a gift in the person of Jesus that it can only be spoken of in parables, images and metaphors. Something like this: the bread of heaven; the bread of God who comes down from heaven; the bread of life - and Jesus spoke of this to people who could appreciate bread very much, because they lived in a very bread-poor region, their land was difficult to cultivate, and it was with great effort that they could only grow grain. To people with serious bread problems, Jesus spoke about how He is the bread that came down from heaven, which they, the hungry people, need! He wasn't afraid that someone would speak back harshly: Don't talk about spiritual food here when our stomachs are rumbling! In fact, he spoke to them of the bread of heaven precisely because he knew what bread meant to these afflicted people! As if he were just saying that: People, you truly appreciate bread because you spend your energy solving bread problems. Well, then, I want to give you not less, but more than solving your daily bread problems. I want to give you more than Moses gave you with the manna in the wilderness, because people ate of it, but they died. It does not solve the problem of your human life to have your daily bread! Pharaoh could make bread stores in Joseph's time, and Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel's time: but I am bread such as no one else can give! For I am the bread of life!
When Jesus said, "I am the bread of life," those Galilean peasants understood the phrase in a much deeper sense than we do today. They knew that the idea of life-giving food was as ancient a dream of humanity as the idea of life-giving water, the water of life! The bread of life, according to pagan mythology, was the food of the gods, granting immortality to those who somehow managed to eat it. And now Jesus is saying that what is merely a wishful idea in the mythology of the pagan world is a living reality in Him. Behold, He is indeed the bread of life. Not the bread of the gods, but the bread of the one true God, the true bread of heaven, Who truly descended from heaven to earth. God has given in Jesus a precious heavenly bread to satisfy every spiritual hunger and thirst.
One of the most pressing hungers and thirsts of the human soul is the desire for forgiveness of sins. There is no power in the world that can quiet and soothe a troubled conscience. We cannot forgive ourselves. No one can truly forgive us in such a way that the burden of sin is lifted from our souls. Well, Jesus, who came down from heaven, is the bread of forgiveness, the precious bread of heaven: His holy body is broken precisely for the full forgiveness of sins. He who hungers for the forgiveness of sins: in Him is full satisfaction.
Another great need of the human soul is holiness, purity! In no way can the world restore the moral beauty of the human soul. A painting or a building that has been damaged in war can be restored in such a way that it may even be more beautiful than it was. But where is the artistic hand that can restore the purity of a soul that has been contaminated? Well, Jesus descended from heaven is also the bread of holiness! By his power life is changed, the soul is purified, the inner soul is cleansed. The heavenly bread of holiness, of purity, of innocence, God has given to the world in Jesus, so that all who desire purity may be nourished and cleansed by His blood.
The constant need of the human soul is peace. "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall never hunger" (Jn 6,35b), says Jesus, and he who comes to me will not lack peace in his life. He may have an upset stomach, he may have many things that don't go his way, he may have pains and sufferings that alternate in his life, but he who feeds on the bread of heaven goes on in peace. And this peace is not shaken by bread or clothes. Nor does sickness or death make him rebellious or revolutionary against God, but he remains a reconciled, peaceful, full life. Whoever accepts God's gift of the precious bread of heaven will never go hungry.
And the supreme need of the soul, that for which it yearns most insatiably: eternal life, immortality! Well, it is just that the bread of life, the bread of eternal life, is our Lord, Who nourishes and enables eternal life, Who makes mortal man immortal, triumphant even in death. Yes, the very bread of God is He who gives life to the world! In no way is eternal life missed by anyone who comes to Him, who seeks it in Him!
Behold the true bread of heaven; the bread of God, Who came down from heaven; that bread of life. Behold: this is what this world has received from the Lord God on the holy feast of Christmas! Have you received it? Hast thou known, or canst thou now say: Thank you, Lord, for your most precious gift!
2) The other gift is spoken of in this verse. But it is the will of the Father that sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day." (Jn 6:37 & 39) The same great mystery is here alluded to by Jesus, which He repeatedly recalls in His High Priestly prayer, "I have declared thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of this world: they were thine, and thou gavest them unto me, and they have kept thy word." (Jn 17:6), and "When I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name; them whom thou gavest me I kept, and there was none of them lost, but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled." (John 17:12)
In these words Jesus speaks of us as those whom God has given Him! So you are the gift, and I am the gift: we are the gift of God to His Holy Son. And here Jesus lifts the veil on a mystery that is seldom spoken of among us, because it goes back far into eternity. For there a sort of holy agreement was made between the Father and the Son, where the question of our salvation was decided by an eternal divine decree. The consolation and joy in this thought is that every believing soul who is with Jesus can say to himself, "I am the Father's gift to Jesus! So my relationship with Christ, my faith in Him, is not based on the fleeting contingency that someone once spoke very convincingly of Him to me, under the influence of which I resolved to follow Him, oh no! But the cause of my belonging to Christ goes back further and deeper than anything else: into eternity, into God's predestinating will. And when I was converted 17 years ago, it was only a manifestation of the divine decree by which the Father in the counsel of peace gave me to the Son! How much, how much grace surrounded me even when I was still only living in the thought of God!
"All that the Father giveth me" - are you one of those whom the Father giveth to Jesus? Are you convinced that the Father has given you to Jesus?! Someone might now say: I see no sign that I am such a gift from God to Jesus Christ! Well, who would have believed that Zacchaeus was given to Jesus by God? What sign was there of this in his greedy, cruel life? Yet Zacchaeus was Jesus' before he knew it, or before anyone else could have guessed it. And now, my brothers and sisters, I don't know about you which of you has that invisible mark on your foreheads - Jesus' - but I do know that you had to come here today because Jesus is here, even now, seeking his own, whom the Father has given him! Do you know what is the sign that the Father has given you to Him? By coming to Jesus! "Whatsoever the Father giveth me, that will I bring to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." (Jn 6,37) The fact that God has given some to Christ should not be a deterrent, but an encouragement to come, because it is by coming to Christ that that invisible mark becomes visible. Behold: Zacchaeus knew that he was Christ's when he came down from the tree and went to Jesus!
The Father gave you to the Son long ago: why don't you let it be known? Why not give yourself to Him, since you are His too? Perhaps you doubt whether Jesus can be pleased with a gift such as yours? Well, there is a hint of this in the Word, that there is joy in all heaven when someone finally comes to the Lord, prostrates himself before Him and gives his heart! This is what Jesus truly rejoices in, for this is the reward for all His suffering, His bitter agony, His damnable death on the cross! And so that you may have no doubt that the Father has given you to Him, He encourages you, "Whoever comes to Me, I will not cast out." Do you see how open the way is?! You can go to him! He does not ask who you are, where you come from; He does not say that if you behave yourself well, if you do not disbelieve, if you enrich yourself with some good virtues, He may not cast you out. No, but: in any case, it will not cast you out! In fact, even if you're such an outcast, he'll accept you anyway!
3) The third great gift that Jesus gives to the believer is our resurrection. "Now it is the will of the Father who sent me, that whatever he has given me should not be lost, but should be raised again at the last day." (Jn 6,39) So the eternal life that we receive by faith, even in this mortal body, will be fulfilled when Christ raises us up on the last day! It is for this last day and the glory that begins with it that Jesus saves those whom God has given Him. After conversion, after the surrender of your heart, the road is still difficult and perilous! (Rev 2:10) In a body such as our depraved nature, and in a world such as this under Satan's dominion, it is not so simple and self-evident that a converted man should remain called even unto death! He who knows his own weakness and the power of Satan can appreciate this promise of Jesus: 'For I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. (Jn 6,38-39) So it is the will of God that none of those whom He has given to Jesus should perish, that is, that none of those whom He has given to Jesus should perish! That if I perish, I shall fall short of the omnipotence of God! What a great thing it is when God says: I will! And I will that X Y (that is, you and I by name) should be in the host of the saved! That is why Jesus was born in human flesh on this earth, why He lived here among us, why He died on the cross, why He rose again, because God wanted those whom He gave Him not to perish, until the resurrection!
Behold, the three rich gifts of Christmas today: the Bread of Life that God gives to the world; you that the Father gives to the Son; and the promise of salvation that Jesus gives to the believer! All three are for your sake, for your sake, so that you may have a truly happy and blessed Christmas!
Amen
Date: 25 December 1950.
Lesson
Jn 6,22-40