The Christian Funeral of Lois E. Winters

In the sixth chapter of the Gospel according to St. John we are presented with the struggle between faith and unbelief, or, the struggle between trusting in God to strengthen our faith, the gift we need the most, and relying on the things of this world.  The chapter begins with the miracle of Jesus feeding the five thousand.  The people who witnessed and ate wanted to make Jesus their king because He satisfied their physical hunger.  As we read on in the rest of the chapter, we find that the people weren’t very interested in Jesus as their spiritual Bread.  They wanted to be comfortable in this life.  They wanted someone to feed them, to make them wealthy and comfortable.  They wanted a bread king.  So when Jesus tells them that He came to give eternal life, to reveal the temporary nature of this world, to awaken a hunger and thirst for eternal righteousness in the Kingdom of God, they reject Him.  He tells the people that the bread He fed them in the wilderness will not keep them alive, but whoever eats of Him, that is, whoever believes in Him, will live forever.  The people’s response was “This is a hard saying; who can understand it” and then many were offended and walked with Him no more.  But the Twelve understood a little bit.  St. Peter confesses, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  But before he made that good confession he spoke words that instruct us still today: “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the Words of eternal life.”

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