Soul Food
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
Series IV, Cycle B
Soul Food
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 the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you." (vv. 25-27b)
When I started college, I carried 140 pounds on my 5-foot 7-inch frame. Somehow I avoided the dreaded "freshman fifteen" -- the additional fifteen pounds gained during the first year of collage. I was lucky and maintained my weight. Then I slipped and became a sophomore slob. I started developing love handles. I discovered I couldn't eat a full breakfast at 9:00 a.m. and turn around at noon and tackle the all-you-can-scarf lunch buffet. After adding fifteen pounds, I decided something had to be done. So, I changed my eating habits and graduated from college weighing about 145.
I maintained my weight for three years -- a direct correlation to my wedding date. Now you're probably thinking one of two things. But I did not gain weight because I let myself go after locking my wife into a lifetime deal, and I did not gain weight because my wife was a great cook. She only had one dish she knew how to make. No, the two biggest reasons were that now that I was married I stopped playing basketball with the gang and I started seminary a year later. I eventually peaked at 173 pounds. Fortunately, I have lost twenty pounds and maintained that weight over the past few years.
We struggle with keeping our weight within "normal" ranges in America. I do not have this on the authority of God or scientific research, but I think I know why based on personal experience. We like to eat -- and ministers are the worst. Anytime there is gathering of clergy, I see a lot of pudgy preachers, mountainous ministers, and fat friars. I heard it said among clergy friends that "fried chicken is the official food of the United Methodist Church" and that "the church pot luck is the unofficial third sacrament."
This is a nightmare for dieticians and insurance companies. Instead of encouraging us to eat less, it encourages us to eat more. And since more than thirty percent of Americans are twenty pounds or more overweight, we don't need any encouragement to feed ourselves. At least not our stomachs.
But Jesus reminds us that we have a need to feed. In John 6:24-35, a crowd follows Jesus across the sea, and Jesus doesn't mince words telling them why they followed. Not because they saw signs or thought he was special. No, Jesus knew they followed because they wanted a free lunch.
But more so than feeding their stomachs, Jesus wanted to feed their souls. Just like the grain group is on the base of our food pyramid, bread was the basic food of Jesus' day. Earthy. Accessible. So Jesus calls himself "bread." He essentially says, "I am the basic thing you need -- earthy and accessible. But I'm not stomach food. I'm soul food. The bread of life. The bread of heaven. The bread that will fill your soul forever."
As I look at our country, our county, and our community, I see people who are gluttons with Snickers, Big Macs, and The Insider pizza. At the same time, I see people who are starving for the Bread of Life.
In a September 3, 1998 Rolling Stone article, "Fast-Food Nation: The True Cost of America's Diet," author Eric Schlosser tells of the rise of fast-food giant McDonald's. He writes, "The impact of McDonald's on the nation's culture, economy, and diet is hard to overstate. Its corporate symbol -- the Golden Arches -- is now more widely recognized than the Christian cross."
This is a depressing thought. I still have mental images of television commercials as a kid of starving Ethiopians -- sunken eyes, rib cage exposed, and bloated bellies. If we know Ronald McDonald better than Jesus, then this unhealthy Ethiopian image is also true of the spiritual state of our nation. But the good news from John 6:27 is that Jesus offers himself as "the food that endures for eternal life" to all starving people
The problem is that too often, we just don't get it. Now, Big Macs and Snickers we understand, but metaphors can be too abstract; so we miss the point. The people Jesus addressed in John 6 didn't get it. He talked of the bread of life, and they wanted a concrete sign -- like when Moses gave food to their Hebrew ancestors in the wilderness. But Jesus reminded them that Moses didn't feed them. God had fed them, and food from God nourishes more than just the stomach. It feeds the souls of people lost in the wilderness. It goes past a rumbling tummy to the true emptiness in our lives.
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 the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you." (vv. 25-27b)
When I started college, I carried 140 pounds on my 5-foot 7-inch frame. Somehow I avoided the dreaded "freshman fifteen" -- the additional fifteen pounds gained during the first year of collage. I was lucky and maintained my weight. Then I slipped and became a sophomore slob. I started developing love handles. I discovered I couldn't eat a full breakfast at 9:00 a.m. and turn around at noon and tackle the all-you-can-scarf lunch buffet. After adding fifteen pounds, I decided something had to be done. So, I changed my eating habits and graduated from college weighing about 145.
I maintained my weight for three years -- a direct correlation to my wedding date. Now you're probably thinking one of two things. But I did not gain weight because I let myself go after locking my wife into a lifetime deal, and I did not gain weight because my wife was a great cook. She only had one dish she knew how to make. No, the two biggest reasons were that now that I was married I stopped playing basketball with the gang and I started seminary a year later. I eventually peaked at 173 pounds. Fortunately, I have lost twenty pounds and maintained that weight over the past few years.
We struggle with keeping our weight within "normal" ranges in America. I do not have this on the authority of God or scientific research, but I think I know why based on personal experience. We like to eat -- and ministers are the worst. Anytime there is gathering of clergy, I see a lot of pudgy preachers, mountainous ministers, and fat friars. I heard it said among clergy friends that "fried chicken is the official food of the United Methodist Church" and that "the church pot luck is the unofficial third sacrament."
This is a nightmare for dieticians and insurance companies. Instead of encouraging us to eat less, it encourages us to eat more. And since more than thirty percent of Americans are twenty pounds or more overweight, we don't need any encouragement to feed ourselves. At least not our stomachs.
But Jesus reminds us that we have a need to feed. In John 6:24-35, a crowd follows Jesus across the sea, and Jesus doesn't mince words telling them why they followed. Not because they saw signs or thought he was special. No, Jesus knew they followed because they wanted a free lunch.
But more so than feeding their stomachs, Jesus wanted to feed their souls. Just like the grain group is on the base of our food pyramid, bread was the basic food of Jesus' day. Earthy. Accessible. So Jesus calls himself "bread." He essentially says, "I am the basic thing you need -- earthy and accessible. But I'm not stomach food. I'm soul food. The bread of life. The bread of heaven. The bread that will fill your soul forever."
As I look at our country, our county, and our community, I see people who are gluttons with Snickers, Big Macs, and The Insider pizza. At the same time, I see people who are starving for the Bread of Life.
In a September 3, 1998 Rolling Stone article, "Fast-Food Nation: The True Cost of America's Diet," author Eric Schlosser tells of the rise of fast-food giant McDonald's. He writes, "The impact of McDonald's on the nation's culture, economy, and diet is hard to overstate. Its corporate symbol -- the Golden Arches -- is now more widely recognized than the Christian cross."
This is a depressing thought. I still have mental images of television commercials as a kid of starving Ethiopians -- sunken eyes, rib cage exposed, and bloated bellies. If we know Ronald McDonald better than Jesus, then this unhealthy Ethiopian image is also true of the spiritual state of our nation. But the good news from John 6:27 is that Jesus offers himself as "the food that endures for eternal life" to all starving people
The problem is that too often, we just don't get it. Now, Big Macs and Snickers we understand, but metaphors can be too abstract; so we miss the point. The people Jesus addressed in John 6 didn't get it. He talked of the bread of life, and they wanted a concrete sign -- like when Moses gave food to their Hebrew ancestors in the wilderness. But Jesus reminded them that Moses didn't feed them. God had fed them, and food from God nourishes more than just the stomach. It feeds the souls of people lost in the wilderness. It goes past a rumbling tummy to the true emptiness in our lives.
