Christ Lutheran Church: Welcome

Two Little Words - October 11, 2009

Two Little Words

John 8:53-58

October 11, 2009

Rev. Dave R. Garwick

We’re going to spend the next few moments focusing on two little words. If you would on the bulletin cover you will see a photo of wheat stalks and one line that Jesus said: “I am the bread of life.” This entire sermon is going to be about just two words in what He said. If I were to ask you which two words were the most important, most of us would assume that the words would be “bread” and “life”. Those two words are indeed very important. It’s just like when Jesus also said, “I am the light of the world” and “I am the gate,” and “I am the Good Shepherd” and “I am the resurrection and the life,” and “I am the way and the truth and the life,” and “I am the true vine.”

Did you notice a pattern there, two little words that came up again and again? “I am.” That’s it, “I am.” Everything else He said would have made no difference at all if it were not for those two little words. For Him to say that He was the resurrection and the life would mean very little unless He could actually deliver on it. And the only person who could deliver on THAT promise is none other than God himself. He’s the bread of life? Big deal .... unless He actually IS God himself.

It would be no more than opening up one of those fortune cookies and reading your fortune which says, “You will become rich and famous.” You crunch it up and throw it away – it’s just a paper joke.

But when Jesus said that He was the way and the truth and the life, He put it this way:  "I AM the way and the truth and the life."  It's those two little words that normally would go in one ear and right out the other" I AM. But they make all the difference in the world!

Here’s why. Thirteen hundred years before Jesus entered this world in Bethlehem, Moses found himself talking with God at the foot of Mt. Sinai. God had just used Moses to lead His people out of slavery from Egypt, across the Red Sea and down to the tip of the Sinai Peninsula. This is where God was going to hand Moses the Ten Commandments along with a whole lot of other things that Moses was supposed to tell the people to do and not to do.

Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

THAT is what God calls himself: I AM. He simply is. There is no other. He is all there is, He is everywhere, at all times. I myself am called Dave R. Garwick – to distinguish me from all other Garwicks and to distinguish me from at least two other Dave Garwicks, one of whom is also a pastor (whom I never even knew existed!) But with God there IS no other. He is simply, I AM.

Now fast forward thirteen hundred years to where Jesus is talking to a Samaritan woman by a well. She tells Jesus that she and her people know that the Messiah will come someday. Jesus looks at her and says, “I AM”. That’s it.

Then in the Sermon Scripture, Jesus told His Pharisee challengers, “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad." "You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!" "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" John 8:56-59 There it is again, “I AM”.

Jesus calls himself God. In other words, Jesus is God who is the Good Shepherd,

When Jesus died for you, it was GOD who was nailed to the cross for you. When Jesus’ crucifixion paid the penalty for our sins, it was no less than God who forgave us.

Jesus is God who is the bread of life. Jesus is God who is the way and the truth and the life.

And that is why, when we take into our bodies the blood and body of Jesus, we are literally taking into our temporary lives, the bread of eternal life .... because Jesus is God who is the bread of life.

So when Jesus said, “I AM the bread of life ...... consider that bread signed, sealed and delivered by no less than God himself!

Amen!