Goose Chase
May 24, 2015Are Sundays Dying?
June 21, 20157
Jun.
2015
The Bread of Life
“The Bread of Life”
Click here to watch the sermon.
There is a story told of one day when several children were in line at a church potluck picnic. At the head of the main table was a large tray of bread slices. An elder posted a sign on the bread tray, “Take only one. God is watching.” Further along, at the other end of the table, was a large pile of cookies. One child whispered to another, “Take all you want. God is watching the bread.”
Too often we think about scarcity when it comes to religion. Denominations are losing members. Finances are tight. Or we fear that God closely guards God’s things. That the good stuff is only available for some people. Christians can be like Pharisees and put up signs about what not to do. This is even true in the Lord’s Supper where doctrine and politics have been used to restrict who can partake. Yet if we learn anything from today’s lessons it’s that the bread of life is given for all. That is why Jesus says in John 6, “I am the bread of life, and whoever comes to me shall never go hungry.” Let us pray. Gracious and loving God, our hearts are restless, longing for a sense of peace, place and purpose. Through your word and spirit, helps us to find them in you. Amen.
Bread has played a prominent role in our faith tradition. Manna from heaven fed weary people. In the great prayer we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” In the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus broke bread and gave it to his disciples to eat in remembrance of him.
Yet if you go to churches around the world, many fence their communion tables. Only if you believe something very particular about the bread and cup are you allowed to partake. Several of you have shared experiences of being turned away from communion at particularly sensitive times in your faith journey and the damage that exclusion has done to one’s faith.
Even in the Presbyterian Church there is a debate about who can eat at the table. Does one have to be a member or of a certain age? Does one have to go through special training or affirm a specific creed? What if one has doubts?
All are legitimate questions. We offer instructions here for children in how to partake in communion each October and February. We have guidance in our bulletin. The Book of Order suggests that baptized Christians are invited, and yet that access to the table is not a right for the worthy but a privilege for all who seek grace, including those with questions.
At Bradley Hills, we honor the sacred moment of communion by including everyone. Our feeling is that if participating in the experience of the Lord’s Supper can help you feel closer to God, more a part of the community, take in the presence of the Lord in this place or have a positive experience on your faith journey, you have a place here.
Mark 8 shows us how God is a God of abundance and inclusion. After Jesus performed some of his healing miracles, a great crowd followed him to see more of what he could do. Jesus showed compassion, for many had been standing a long time and were hungry, and he wanted to help.
The disciples wondered how they were all going to be fed. Jesus took the bread, after giving thanks to God for it he broke it and gave it to his disciples to distribute it. You’ll notice the communion order right here in his actions. Jesus always finds ways for there to be enough. Because Jesus is the bread of life, he can fulfill our needs.
Yet the Pharisees weren’t satisfied. They wanted to test Jesus. They asked for evidence. For a sign. Jesus said, “This generation will receive no sign.” This is a great statement because usually when someone says “this generation” they are referring to younger people, like teenagers. Here 30 year old Jesus is referring to religious leaders, likely a generation older than he is. He suggests there are enough signs, like his feeding of the 4000, already.
When Jesus and the disciples went out into a boat, Jesus warned “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees.” Jesus uses the metaphor of yeast amidst talking about bread. Yeast has mostly a negative connotation in the Bible. Yeast was often a metaphor for sinful or bad behaviors in the Old Testament despite humanity’s best efforts. Someone told me recently about a condition called auto brewery syndrome where some patients, having taken long courses of antibiotics, have the bacteria in their stomach reduced to the point that they can have an abundance yeast which can start fermenting the carbs in the stomach, creating a literal home brewery. Several unfortunate Texas men last September kept showing up a church drunk even though they hadn’t had anything to drink until they figured it out. As someone who has had some long courses of antibiotics over the years I am sensitive to this news.
Plus, Paul argued to the Corinthians and Galatians that a little yeast can ruin the whole batch.
Yeast is also a symbol for a lack of time in the Jewish tradition. What is perhaps the most prominent culinary characteristic we know about the Jewish Passover Seder? Perhaps it’s that Jews only eat unleavened bread during Passover? That is because during the Exodus from Egypt, which Passover commemorates, the Israelites were in a rush to leave. It takes time for yeast to leaven bread. They did not have time to wait for their bread to rise. So Deuteronomy and Numbers prescribe eating unleavened bread as a result.
Our lesson ends with the disciples and Jesus in the boat and they have only one loaf of bread and so the disciples wonder how they are all going to be fed? Jesus suggests a little faith. They have forgotten that he has just multiplied loaves and fish to ensure that all have enough. In that way, Jesus acts as yeast. He makes something, the loaf, much bigger.
In ancient times, when yeast was a basis for baking, some from one batch would be saved and be used to help the next batch along. If it was harmed or tainted it would infect or hurt the next batch. Bad attitudes and behavior can spread and hurt communities. The negative view of the Pharisees could infect the disciples’ views.
Yet yeast can also be good. It can help good things rise. Such as in Matthew 13 when Jesus says the kingdom of God rises like the leaven in dough. The bread of life makes our most spiritual selves grow. That is why it’s so important that all of us, especially those people or times when we have doubts, feel welcomed at the Lord’s Table.
Mark 8 starts as a passage of scarcity. There is not enough compassion. Not enough bread. Not enough time. Not enough proof. Not enough faith.
That is the story of our lives too. Not enough compassion on our violent streets. Not enough justice and too many hungry. Not enough time in our hectic lives. Not enough evidence of grace in our world. Not enough faith.
If all we have is what we bring, the loaves and the fishes that our hands carry, then we are going to be disappointed.
If we are willing to give what we have up to God and rely on the bread of life, there is more than enough. There is enough compassion and justice and time and grace and faith in the bread of life. That is why in Mark 8, what starts as scarcity, through Christ, becomes plenty. There is enough for all. Jesus provides relationship with God, abundant life here and eternal life to come. Whoever comes to him will never be hungry.
We hear this lesson and may think of the feeding of the 5000 too. Our lesson is related to the famous feeding of the 5000 as well. The stories of the feeding of the 5000 and the feeding of the 4000 occur throughout the Gospels. It is important to note that in today’s lesson, Jesus specifically asks how many baskets full of bread were collected. In the feeding of the 5000, the disciples say 12 baskets. Numbers in the Bible are often symbolic. The 12 baskets meant enough to feed the 12 tribes of Israel.
In the feeding of the 4000, there are 7 baskets full collected. In Biblical terms, 7 is greater than 12 here. Because 7 is the number of completeness. Of the whole. As in the 7 days of creation. 7 baskets meant enough to feed to gentiles too. It meant abundance. It meant enough to feed everyone. It meant an inexhaustible supply. All were included.
There is enough of the bread of life for everyone. None are turned away. All are fed. This is why in our communion order I suggest we say “the gifts of God given for all.” Then we affirm “for all.”
Of course we need it to be real within the life of our community. It doesn’t work well if all the groups of our church are simply here on Sunday and then parallel work the rest of the week. We honor our diversity when the various parts of our body of Christ collaborate and learn from each other across lines of age, race, gender, generation etc. The gifts of God should be shared by all too. By all.
During the Medieval Ages there was a period when bakers began cheating the public at such a rate that public outcry reached the ears of several kings. As bread was a daily staple of medieval life, the bakers knew that they could charge a lot of money for minimal portions of their products, until they got caught and the kings levied laws against the bakers. Some statues were quite harsh. Some of the punishments for the cheating bakers were violent. A baker caught selling less than an even dozen could be strictly and harshly punished. It wasn’t that hard to accidentally cheat a customer, given that making a loaf of bread with exacting attributes is difficult by hand without modern day tools. So bakers began giving more than what the statute outlined to make sure they went over and never under. As a result bakers began adding an extra loaf to be certain their count would be correct or even over the amount decreed by law. So the term “A Baker’s Dozen,” meaning more than required, came into being.
In the bread of life there is more than meets the eye, more than is required, more than we can imagine. That is the yeast of grace. For in Jesus what may seem small, can fill us with the spirit.
After worship today we have our all church potluck picnic. Wonderful food that Pat and Lou Kallas have coordinated and we all have provided. Each week Pat and Lou have led us in a bread ministry here in gleaning bread from a local bakery to come and be sold here to benefit the Anacostia Children’s Center.
Today we will gather at this table and then after worship in community to break bread together. Thanks to Pat and Lou there will be more than enough at the picnic table, just like at the Lord’s Table. So have faith. For our host, with the yeast of grace, rose for us. When we partake of the bread of life, we rise with him. So let us come to him, that we may never go hungry. Amen.