July 30, 2023

"O Living Bread from Heaven" | Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

15 minutes

ZACHARY'S NOTES:

Stanza 1 // We are guests at the Lord’s table because He extends an invitation - and even more - He gives a command. “Take and eat; take and drink.” We sing this song of thanks because of the “living bread” and “cup of healing” God gives. With this gift, we have God’s blessing in the midst of woe and strife.

Stanza 2 // The gift of the Sacrament depends completely on Christ. It is Christ who leads us in faith and feeds us with faith. The hymn draws an important distinction between those in today’s Gospel reading who were “filled” and the gift our Lord gives in the Sacrament. The crowds returned home, filled for the day. We leave the Lord’s Supper with death behind us, filled with a promise: “Now you shall not die.”

Stanza 3 // The third stanza shifts to the response of those who receive the Sacrament. To suggest we receive “all we want” in bread and wine is because of the result. It speaks not to our desire, but to God’s doing. Because “death is destroyed” and “endless joy” is given by God, we “want” for nothing - we have everything we need! Even the hymn-writer knows “we do not merit” or deserve what our Lord offers. We spend our lives “wanting” so many other things. The gift of life Jesus offers means we have everything needed in this life and the next.

Stanza 4 // The gift of life we receive from Christ is not simply for our benefit. Filled and nourished with this promise, this stanza says our “course on earth is lengthened to serve” our Lord. While we do this in many ways, such service is given purpose next to Jesus’ words in this weekend’s Gospel reading: “Give them something to eat…bring them here to me.” Service in God’s name is bringing others to Christ, that they might be fed with the “living bread of heaven” and be given a place in God’s house.

SUGGESTIONS: