BREAD AS A SYMBOL
John 6: 51-58 (NRSV)   

A German immigrant went to a Diner every day for lunch. He always ordered the soup of the day. One day the manager asked him how he liked his meal. The old man replied, "Vas goot, but you could give a little more bread."

So the next day the manager told the waitress to give him four slices of bread. "How was your meal, sir?" the manager asked. "Vas goot, but you could give a little more bread," came the reply.

So...the next day the manager told the waitress to give him a whole loaf of bread with his soup. "How was your meal, sir?" the manager asked, when he came to hand him the bill. "Vas goot, but you could give maybe a little more bread," came the reply once again.

The manager was obsessed with seeing this customer say that he is satisfied with his meal, so he went to the bakery, and ordered a six-foot-long loaf of bread. When the man came in as usual the next day, the waitress and the manager cut the loaf in half, buttered the entire length of each half, and laid it out along the counter, right next to his bowl of soup. The old man sat down, and devoured his bowl of soup, and both halves of the six-foot-long loaf of bread.

The manager now thinks he’ll get the answer he is looking for, and when the old man came up to pay for his meal, the manager asked in the usual way, "How was your meal TODAY, sir?"

The old man replied, "It vas goot as usual, but I zee you are back to giving only two slices bread!"

Humans have been eating bread ever since water and grain were mixed to make the first porridge. Bread is a staple of life. We relate to bread. We covet bread.

The early Jews related to the concept of bread and to God providing manna during their time in the wilderness. Bread is an important part of every meal in Israel and the middle East. People relate to bread from a physical perspective. But Jesus is asking them to relate to it as a spiritual symbol of relationship (John 6: 51-58).

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.

Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died.

But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

This scripture passage is almost the most controversial to the early church (Jesus rising from the dead is first). The early church was called cannibalistic because of this teaching.

It should also be noted that extra-biblical texts used by the Jews (The Book of Enoch) claimed that the eating of human flesh and the drinking of human blood was why God decided to destroy the world by water in Noah’s day. So people would have a sense of “icky-ness” about this teaching in the first place.

The Gospel of John’s Jesus uses incredibly challenging language in chapter 6. So trobling in fact, that some people stopped following him because of it.

Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.

Imagine hearing this for the first time. Imagine hearing this without any previous experience of Communion and what we call the symbolic Eucharist host.

Imagine a young, perhaps educated, couple attending church for the first time in their lives—maybe even this Sunday as this passage is read! They might think they’ve stepped foot into a Twilight movie or book, surrounded by vampires?

Christians setting around saying, "Pass me another Jesus finger." 

Imagine hearing Jesus say these words.

We know that some in the crowd took offense at Jesus so much that they stopped following him because he said these things – we’ll talk about it next week.

It is interesting that Jesus doesn’t soften or lighten His language in the least bit.

There’s not even a hint that he might be speaking poetically or metaphorically. He doesn’t just say it once, and then move on to other things. Clearly Jesus doesn’t know anything about political correctness or even politeness for that matter.

Eat my flesh. Drink my blood. If you don’t you’ll die. If you do, you’ll live forever.

He drives this point home with clarity and repetition.

We hear it, as people who are “churched,”and I think we let the words land around us without much reaction. I mean, of course Jesus is talking about a symbolic Eucharist…right?

Some church traditions claim (in support of a literal interpretation of Jesus’ words) that God transforms (transubstaniation) the bread and juice into the actual body and blood of Christ during the prayer of blessing (called the epiclesis).

In the Reformed tradition we hear these words against a lifetime of seeing: take, eat, this is my body (chopped up bread)…take drink, this is my blood of the new covenant (grape juice). For us, they have lost their offensiveness and we say, "pass me another Lady Finger." We understand it’s just religious ritual and symbolism. We unite with Christ spiritually.

But, Jesus didn’t launch these rhetorical bombshells so that they’d fizzle with time.

No, I think it’s clear that Jesus was stirring the pot on purpose. He wanted to say things that challenged people, even to the point of having to decide that they’d have to leave if they didn’t get it.

One thing is clear here: Jesus isn’t about people-pleasing. He’s not about glad-handing, and smoothing out the wrinkles so that everyone can go away happy.

He’s not even worried about them coming back again. He’s not about just saying and doing just about anything to pack the joint, to increase membership and tithing.

As a pastor I get it. I hope you all get it too.

Following Jesus means…sometimes you need to say the hard thing, or, “Eat my flesh and drink my blood, for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.”

Or hang around until you really understand what Jesus means!

Sometimes the truth is easy. And good. And, maybe even fun! Something everyone can stand and cheer about. But, there are those moments when the truth is hard. And, to some, offensive.

Speaking the truth might just mean that some won’t like you anymore, they’ll stop coming on Sundays. They’ll vote with their feet. You’ll see it happen with Jesus as well.

 And then you’ll see Him get nailed to a cross and left to die. Alone. Naked.

Because the teaching is important. Offering the grace of salvation must be done. It means spiritual life or physical death to those who hear. It has to be spiritual bread because humans will always try to control the physical bread.

Sandwiched between the two foods of paradise, the forbidden physical food of Genesis, and the spiritual food awarded to “over comers” in Revelation 2: 7, Jesus’ invitation to eat his flesh/blood as bread gives a key to our movement from fallen Adam to being an “over comer” in Christ. God ties everything together. 

To eat or not to eat was the question before Adam and is before us in this “do-over” offered by Jesus. This time God not only provides the food, God is the food and God gives power to choose it.  

This new food nourishes us in a way that invites us to a new level of intimacy with Jesus giving power to "do the works that I do." We become like Jesus spiritually through the “food” we eat. Amen.

“An Everything Bagel”  John 6: 35, 41-51     

Have you even played the “telephone game?” It’s started when someone whispers a string of words in the next person’s ear and then repeated over and over until the last person is asked to repeat, out loud, what was whispered in their ear.

What survives the telling generally has little in common with the initial phrase or content and usually is a function of the number of people told. This happens because each of naturally attaches pieces of ourselves to the words; as we hear, process, and translate personal significance and meaning to the words. We slant and spin them in other words.

I can’t overstate the fact that communication is very important in relationships; in marriage, in business partnerships, in sports, in school, and especially in churches with large numbers of people involved in information processing and transmission.

Communication requires trust, openness, and a willingness to listen if ideas and teaching must occur. Sometimes when the listeners hear something that challenges their beliefs or doesn’t make sense problems happen.

Let’s face it: humans aren’t the most rational or precise at times – look at our language:

You tell a man there are 400 billion stars, and he’ll believe you. But tell him a bench has wet paint, and he has to touch it. Why?

Why is ground meat stuff called hamburger when it’s made of beef? 

Why do you put suits in garment bags and put garments in suitcases? 

Why doesn’t  glue stick to the inside of the bottle? 

Why isn’t there mouse-flavored cat food? 

If man evolved from monkeys and apes, why do we still have monkeys and apes? 

When two airplanes almost collide, why do they call it a near miss instead of a near hit?

Why do banks charge you a nonsufficient funds fee on money they know you don’t have? 

If the black box flight recorder is never damaged during a plane crash, why isn’t the whole airplane made out of that stuff?

Listen to our Gospel lesson:

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”  

They were saying. “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”  

Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’

Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.”

“Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Finally the people are listening and being taught by Jesus. But suddenly what He is teaching gets caught in their ears! The words and claims don’t make sense. 

They are taken aback that this man whom they knew, this man whose parents were among them, is claiming to have been sent from Heaven. 

What’s more, Jesus is claiming to have seen, talked to, and received authority from Almighty God Himself!

He tells them that things are now going to be done differently – God used prophets and intermediaries in the past to meet their needs but now God is physically with them. He is the living manna, the living bread, present in the flesh.  

He is here to eliminate death; so that those who believe in Him, will live forever.

As humans we have two problems with what Jesus is saying, as did the Jews.

First, Jesus is deviating from expectations. He is beginning to teach things a different way from the way we think things work. And the Jews don’t understand. They work hard to understand their faith from a pyhysical and intellectual perspective and this total spiritual stuff is new.

They don’t want change, they want the security and safety of knowing they are in control and know what to do. They want their world neatly ordered, controlled, and easy to deal with.

How about us? When people live up or down to our expectations, we’re happy.  

When people deviate from our expectations we want to know why – so we look for a reason. “He’s having a bad day,” or “Well I guess we didn’t know her well enough,” or: “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph?”

Psychologists, marketers, politicians use a process called “fictionalization” to use this against us. Knowing our expectations, they often make things up that could be true or sounds like it could be possible (i.e. meets our expectation), in order to get us to go along or go against an idea, product, or political opponent.

That's right - if it sounds true then it is! It must be right?

The second thing, harkens back to what Jesus said in John 3: 12:

“If I have told you about things that happen on earth and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about things of heaven.” (HCSB)

The Jews knew God gave them physical manna (bread stuff) from heaven in the wilderness; Moses prayed for it and it magically appeared. They understood that.

But a careful word study shows the difference between the words manna (Greek word manna) and the word Jesus uses for bread (artos). They are different words with different meanings and uses.

The Jews couldn’t understand the concept of spiritual manna in the form of a physical person standing before them, even if He did miracles and other sights and signs as someone “who came from God.”

As funny as it sounds Jesus is telling them He is an “everything” bagel in a world that only knows flat bread. (An everthing bagel has everything you'd want in bagel (sesame seeds, poppy seeds, onions, and all) baked right in.)

They can’t understand it because it's never been done that way before, so they immediately begin to cut him down.

They can understand Him as a prophet – but they just can’t make the transition to the embodiment of God. They can’t comprehend the Heaven part because the Jews never got the earthly part. Neither do we!

The biggest barrier we have, because we live in a physical world, are the physical things that separate us from God. If we are off a little bit in our understandings of the needs of our everyday lives we put up blocks in our relationship with God.

This is seen in the biggest irony in our lives: The very thing the world values most – Gold, is simple paving material in heaven. The most sought after human recognition – fame, is nothing as we learn to reflect the Glory of God.

The Jews were hung up on doing for salvation, of eating manna provided by God, Jesus is changing it so that salvation is obtained by believing in the bread provided by God. A subtle different that caused much pain and suffering.

We are told countless times that there is nothing physically we can do to earn our way into heaven. Several verses before today’s scripture it actually says:

Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?”Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

Belief, faith, and being taught by God: Jesus is suggesting it is spiritual things that get us the manna that comes down from heaven that yields eternal life.

The rules are changing (and simplifying), life is changing, spiritual security is at hand. Reach out and grab a bite of God’s manna sent from heaven. Drink deep in the grace and glory of Jesus Christ. Amen.

“Seeking/Finding?”

John 6: 24-35    

Little Johnny and his family lived in the country, and rarely had houseguests. He was eager to help his mother after his father appeared with two dinner guests from the office.

When the dinner was nearly over, Little Johnny went to the kitchen and proudly carried in the first piece of apple pie, giving it to his father who passed it to a guest. Little Johnny came in with a second piece of pie and gave it to his father, who again gave it to a guest.

This was too much for Little Johnny, who said, "It's no use, Dad. The pieces are all the same size."

One night as his family was finishing dinner, a father noticed six green beans left on his daughter’s plate. Ordinarily this wouldn’t bother him, but this night he was irked and said to his eight-year-old, “Eat your green beans.”

“I’m full to the top,” she said.“You won’t explode,” he responded.“Yes, I will explode!” she said. “Risk it!” he said. “It will be OK.” “Dad, I can’t eat another bite.”

The father knew the dessert, pumpkin pie squares, was his daughter’s favorite. So he asked, “How would you like a double helping of pumpkin pie squares with two dollops of whipped cream on top?” “That sounds great!” she said as she pushed back her plate.

“How can you have room for a double helping of pumpkin pie squares with two dollops of whipped cream and not have room for six measly green beans?”

She stood up and pointed to her belly, saying, “This is my vegetable stomach. This is my meat stomach. They are both full. Here is my dessert stomach. It is empty. I am ready for dessert!”

What we eat reveals what we hunger for. Jesus knew humanity has a physical hunger and a spiritual hunger. WE are more than just physical beings.

The people of his day didn’t understand the difference: part of the problem with Judaism was that they often confused spiritual well being with physical comfort and security. Listen to our scriptures for this day:

So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.”

Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?”

Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it was written. ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

The Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it was 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.”

They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (NRSV)

The world looks for Jesus only in the places where they want him – but Jesus goes where he wants and associates with who he wants. Jesus challenges human wisdom, human expectations, human plans and schemes.

 Jesus is not in the places we put him, the theology we conjure to allow human beliefs to be true.

Jesus is found in the Boy Scouts, “Chick-Fil-A,” and even in some churches, much to the chagrin of our secular society and some city mayors who claim otherwise.

In searching for and developing physical food we have lost our true focus: We have lost our desire to feed our spiritual hunger – we think everything we do and want is okay with God and seek physical food. We forget the covenant with God that provides the spiritual food we so desperately need.

How are you finding food for your spiritual hunger? Most of the world seeks it this way:

Ken Mansfield, the U. S. manager for Apple Records (the Beatles’ label), tells about the wonderful times with the Beatles in the 1960’s and 70’s before they broke up. Everybody had plenty of money, drugs, and a glorious lifestyle.

But things went downhill after the Beatles broke-up.

Ken was recently led to Jesus through a girlfriend. Before committing his life to Christ, he says Billboard magazine was his Bible; record charts, his God; and philosophy like John Lennon’s “Imagine” his ideology.

“The Holy Grail was a Grammy, and the best table at the Brown Derby was the Promised Land, and Caviar manna from heaven,” Mansfield says.

After his commitment to Christ, he realized how hollow the way of the Beatles had been compared to the way of Christ.

“They, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are the authors of the map I needed for my journey,” he wrote.

 “I needed a chart, a journal with clear directions, a log to refer to — a guidebook wherein their commands could speak and feed my wandering spirit.

I needed a book so powerful that its very words could burn a living message into the absolute heart of my heart. I needed the irrefutable, holy Word of God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of the very seas I was lost upon!”

As we prepare to commune with Christ let us ponder the meaning of the promises we find in Him: forgiveness of sins, clarity of purpose, restoration of relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the eternal life we are given as a manifestation of this grace.

They come to us through the spiritual blessings we receive through the mystical symbolism of Christ’s presence in the body and blood, shed for each of us on the cross. Amen.

WE ARE GONE ALREADY TO PLACES WE'VE NEVER BEEN.

There is a lot going on this week. From the heated nonsense of the presidential prelude (can't we just get the campaigns started already?) to the evilness of Chick Fil A.

The best joke I heard this week was:

Democrat: "Why did the chicken cross the road?" Answer: He was pro-LGBT, and didn't want to condone using the Bible as a weapon.

Rebulican: "Why did the chicken cross the road?" Answer: To get to the Chick Fil A store! They are nice people and the Milkshakes are divine!

3 reasons to support CHICK FIL A

1) Support freedom of speech.
2) Support freedom of speech.
3) Their values are Christian values (the Bible ordains marriage between a man and a woman)!

Our society continues to spiral into a fictious land of smears, jeers, and cheers.

I've decided the one question I'd like to ask Sen. Harry Reid is "How long has it been since you beat your wife?"

I don't care about Mitt Romney's taxes - he's earned his money - as I hear it there is a significant number of  White House staffers who haven't paid their taxes either!

Next week back to the sermon format I'm more comfortable with.