It’s a bad few weeks for those on the Atkins Diet. Because in these past weeks, and for a few more, Jesus is going to be talking to us about bread. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried one of those low carb, no-bread-or-pasta diets like the Atkins Diet. But if you have, you know how ubiquitous bread really is. And even more so for us here in New York, where there are bakeries and cupcake shops everywhere. Fairway has its aromatic bread counter right in the heart of the store. You can’t avoid it. And then here in New York too, we have so many kinds of bread, there are bagels and bialys, naan, pita, croissants, brioche, muffins, tortillas, challah, babka, marble rye… You can even find my personal favorite, good ole homestyle cornbread, if you know where to look.
Bread is everywhere here in New York. And not just here. For everyone everywhere, bread plays some part in the culinary culture. Bread is a constant across countries and cuisines. Bread is ubiquitous. Bread is banal. And that banality is a part of the point that Jesus is making in today’s gospel from John.
We’re still in the middle of the ‘new Exodus’ metaphor that we spoke about a few weeks ago. Jesus is speaking to the people using images and words and ideas that they were familiar with, that we are familiar with, from the story of the redemption of Israel out of slavery in Egypt and the preservation of the people of Israel during their desert sojourn.
Jesus says to the people. “I am…” and there’s that phrase again, ego eimi, ‘I am’ in Greek, the very name of God, revealed to Moses on Sinai. “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” The crowd Jesus is speaking to know about bread coming from heaven because they know their history and their Scripture. The bread that came down from heaven was the manna that God provided to feed the Israelites in the wilderness during the Exodus.
Leaving aside the ‘bread’ part of Jesus’s declaration for a moment, the people seize upon the fact that he has claimed to be ‘from heaven.’ They say, ‘Isn’t this Jesus, Mary and Joseph’s son. He’s not from heaven, he’s from Nazareth. This is the same ‘Joshua from the Block’ that we’ve always known, isn’t it?’ Just as the dietary staple he evokes, to the people, Jesus is as plain and ordinary, just as banal as brown bread.
But not only is Jesus from the Father, as was that manna in the wilderness, he is even more. For those who ate the manna from heaven died, but the bread Jesus is offering is living bread, bread that does more than alleviate hunger. Jesus is offering living bread that brings with it eternal life.
‘Living bread’ is a bit of an oxymoron here. In the community that Jesus was addressing, how bread was made, where it comes from, would have been part of almost everyone’s daily experience. They didn’t have Magnolia Bakery or Fairway’s bread counter in Galilee. Everyone knew that bread is far from living. It is made of wheat that is cut down, ‘killed’ as it were, then pulverized by a laborious process of grinding it down. Mixed with other ingredients it is baked, on hot stones as the angel does for Elijah in our first reading this morning, or baked in a scorchingly hot oven. Nothing lives through that process. Piping hot bread from the oven may be delicious, and it may provide us with the food we need to go on living, but it is not itself ‘living bread.’
But Jesus is not ordinary bread, is he? And the life he is offering is not the ordinary earthly life of survival that the Israelites were blessed with in the desert. Jesus is a new bread, a living bread, he is offering his own life, his own flesh, and through that fragrant offering and sacrifice (as our second reading from Ephesians calls it), we are being offered eternal life.
Someone as unexceptional as Mary and Joe’s kid from up the block. Something as banal as bread. Offered to the likes of you and me. Nobody special, nothing out of the ordinary…
And yet quite extraordinary when we reflect upon it.
Extraordinary that we – sinners most of us, flawed, fallible human flesh – should be sealed with the Holy Spirit of God in baptism and marked for the day of redemption. Just home folks like you and me should be called children of God the Father and drawn to his son, Jesus, fed upon with his very flesh and promised that we will be raised up by the Son of God on the last day.
Not so banal at all, is it?
Friends, I declare to you this morning, such is the love that God bears for you, such is the banquet that your God has prepared for you, such is your destiny: to be loved and fed by the living bread, and to raised by him on the last day.
The Scripture scholars say many things about the Gospel of John, but most of them agree, that the essential message of John is this: The Eternal Word that is God was made flesh and dwelt among us. And that flesh becomes for us living bread that like the manna from heaven, is bread from heaven for us, which saves us and preserves us unto eternal life.
So, come to the table of the Lord, and feed upon the God who loves you, who offers his flesh as food for you. Bring your tattered yet still loving hearts, bring your doubts straining towards belief, bring your hunger for consolation and your concern for those who are hungry, and be fed by the God who loves you.
For the God who created us, the God we worship has come down from heaven, and joined us in the flesh as Jesus, our brother. And the Son of God himself has offered himself as sacrifice and sustenance for us. He has given himself to us as bread, and the bread that he gives for the life of the world is his flesh. So come, eat of his flesh, drink of his blood, taste and see that the Lord is good -- and happy, so happy are we who are called by God to the feast of living bread. +Amen.
© The Rev. Mark R. Collins
1 comment:
I am delighted that my picture is of use, but could we possibly have a credit : "image permission of Replica Ltd www.replica.co.uk"
Many thanks and keep up the good work.
Andrew Senior
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