Here is Bread
I want to start with a warning. For part of this time this morning, we’re going to be talking about food. Not just any food, but good food. If you didn’t get breakfast this morning, I’m sorry. You have been sufficiently warned, now here we go.
One of the best places we ate at during the National Gathering in New Orleans was a place called Deanie’s. It had been raining most of the day the evening we decided to go to Deanie’s and we were all pretty tired and soggy. Personally, I was ready for a Dr. Pepper and a good meal. We had to wait a minute to be seated, but once we where it didn’t take us long to make our selections. The menu at Deanie’s was filled with all the best New Orleans had to offer. Etouffee, Jambalaya, gumbo, fried everything, and po-boys. I had to go with a classic, Crawfish Etouffee. Now, I don’t consider myself a “foodie” but let me tell you I really enjoy food and trying different things. I knew that this was a good choice to go with. Pretty soon our meal arrived and placed in front of me was this glorious bowl of crawfish etouffee and next to it was a sizable piece of bread. I mention the bread specifically because of one of my favorite ways to clean up after a meal. It may not be the most socially correct thing to do but there are just some meals that you just have to have bread to troll around in the bottom of the plate or bowl with to finish off. My friends, this was one of those times. That etouffee was so good that my bowl was sparkling white once I was done with it. It had to have been the combination of lots of walking, working hard at our service project, getting wet in the rain, getting less sleep, being weary from traveling, but this was one of the best meals that we had while there. It was great food and at that point it hit the spot.
Our gospel text this morning comes after a story you may have heard a few times. The feeding of the 5,000. There was bread and fish at this meal but sadly no etouffee. Right after the feeding, Jesus retires to a mountain to pray, the disciples leave him behind, he decides to go meet them in an unconventional way by walking on the water out to them and then they arrive safely in Capernaum. The crowd then follows them because they look around and realize Jesus and his disciples are nowhere to be found. They are looking for Jesus, but why? Jesus knows why and he cuts them off at the pass. Hence,the weird answer to their question: “Teacher, when did you come here?” Jesus’ response: “You’re not looking for me because of the stuff you saw…you’re looking for me because I gave you some bread.” You have to wonder how many of them gave him a funny look or did the Tim Allen off of Home Improvement “uuuuhhhh” Jesus is right though. The crowd wasn’t looking for him because they were super stoked about all the cool ways he was making God’s kingdom known. They were coming for more tangible reasons, bread.
What follows is a comedy of errors; the crowd continues to try and understand but just doesn’t get it! Jesus says “Don’t work for food that perishes” and mentions something about God so they ask “What must we do to perform God’s work?” The answer really isn’t about work, but more about believing. “Okay, Show us something then so that we can believe. Moses did that for us at least with the whole manna bit in the desert.” That’s when Jesus really gets into the depth of what he is talking about. He says “Listen! I tell you this, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
We often miss the point. I was reminded about this with another story from Gathering. When we arrived back at the airport on Sunday night there was a feeling of being tired, but feeling full. Most everyone had gone to Gathering with some sort of expectation and it seemed to have been met or surpassed. I say most because apparently not all of us went with expectations. As we were grabbing luggage and everyone was departing on their way, Hannah Engberg came up to me and said with a straight face, “At first I didn’t want to go. I thought it was going to be a waste of time. I was angry at my parents for making me go and I wished all sorts of things on them but…” and this is where she broke into a smile “I’m glad I went. I had fun.” All I could respond with was “I’m glad you didn’t tell me that on Wednesday morning!” but then I followed up with “I’m glad you came with us. It was a lot of fun and you helped make it that way” Perhaps we have something to learn from Hannah. Not that we always go into every situation thinking the worst, but at least going into things open about what might happen. I’m not sure if all the youth or sponsors did that during the trip. I know there was some great expectation and anticipation about our service project from those who had gone last time especially about the service project considering the last time around the service project was less than desirable. I think there was some anticipation and expectation from those who it was their first time because of stories from others. Hannah came with little to no expectation and was surprised by the experience.
I wonder if Jesus surprised the crowd with his responses. They were expecting one thing and he gave them something completely different. How often does this happen to us? We come to the table looking for something. Expecting something. Then we get something completely different. Something more than we were expecting. Grace, love, forgiveness, and a reminder of who claims us. It doesn’t always take the form that we want it to though, which makes it really easy to get angry and upset. We want our expectations to be fulfilled and surpassed, but with the caveat that it be done in the way we choose. God doesn’t work like that. God will give bread, but it will look different.
God’s bread came in the form of a person, Jesus. Bread that gives life. Bread from heaven. Bread that continues to give life. We could take that at face value and that’s fine, but as people of faith today it’s important to expand this metaphor and connect it to something. Think for just a moment of a time, place, space, group of people, or a situation that you left feeling full. I’m not talking about the last good meal you had, but the last time you felt full in your soul. In that moment the Bread of Life, Jesus was present. It could be that you haven’t felt that way in a while. Perhaps your struggling with something or just don’t feel as though you’re fully connected. Even in these moments the Bread of Life is still present. The promise is continually there that we will be filled because the bread comes from God and it gives life to the world. It’s not something that we work for, God provides it to us. Love, grace, compassion and forgiveness. All of these things are constant so that we will never be hungry and never be thirsty.
The world needs bread in many and various forms. Some literally need bread to be filled. Some need bread for their soul. Some need to break bread with others to remember how they are loved and appreciated. Some need bread broken for them so that they can continue to break bread for others. We all need a little bread. We all want to be filled. Coming back from National Gathering all 12 of us felt full. Full of love for other people. Full of words from songs and speakers. Full and ready to love like Jesus. Now, some of that starts to fade but much of it still remains. There is still that fullness within each of us that is ready to serve. Ready to help be bread for the world. Who knows what the bread might look like? It might just look like tator tots or taco shells at Day Camp this week. It might look like hot dog buns broken next Sunday with our church family or next Wednesday with the community at the jamboree. It might be a conversation you have over lunch this week. It might be a meal with your family. The promise remains that right when we need it Jesus says to us “Here is bread.” We’re going to come to the table today and be reminded “Here is bread, broken for you” and then we are sent by God out into the world and do you know what will be said? “Here is bread.” May we be filled with the bread that gives life. May we be open to the surprising ways that bread will come to us. And may we go out and live out our calling to be bread for the world. Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment