Food, Glorious Food!
Sermon
I recently spent a week in the Western Highlands of Scotland, where the scenery is breathtaking. I marvelled yet again at this God of love, who not only creates a functional world to abundantly support human life, but who also makes that world incredibly beautiful. It's as though God has created a vast playground for his children, for them to enjoy themselves. Sometimes that wonderful playground has been enhanced by human beings, at other times it has been nearly ruined by them. But when God and humans work together in this world, the results are stunning.
But there are other delights on holiday, too. When our family goes on holiday, one of the delights for all of us is food. When we go to a different area we like to try some of the specialty dishes. So in Scotland we had freshly caught and locally smoked fish and Scottish shortbread and we have been known to enjoy an excellent haggis.
Like the world God has created for us, food isn't simply functional. It is, of course, essential for life, but it can also give immense pleasure. And more than that, eating is a very sociable activity. Many people, when they're celebrating or when they simply want to meet up together, go out for a meal. The finest meal in the best hotel doesn't amount to much if it's eaten alone in a hotel room.
So food is much more than something functional which we take merely to keep us alive. It's also something which binds us together, something which we share as human beings, something which can give enormous pleasure and which tells us we belong.
One of the favourite Biblical images of life after death is that of a great feast, a banquet. Jesus told a story about a banquet given by God where the table groans under the weight of good food, and glasses overflow with good wine. But it isn't a meal taken in isolation, in a hotel room or at a table for one. The image is of a long table, with plenty of people thoroughly enjoying themselves and the food and thoroughly enjoying the social interactivity with each other. And it's open to anyone who chooses to drop in, because those for whom it was originally intended didn't want to eat that way.
In today's gospel reading, when the people came yet again searching for Jesus, he was well aware they were looking for more miracles. "Very truly," he said, "I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves." They were a people who relied on the harvest and who knew what it was to suffer from drought and therefore to go hungry, so they were unable to get past the fact that Jesus had actually produced for them food out of very little. They could only see the miracle and failed to see beyond that. They were unable to see any sign pointing them to God. All they wanted was more food, more bread, more miracles.
Jesus sighs over their lack of insight, their failure to go beyond the superficial, but he starts from where they are. They were dumbfounded by his miraculous abilities, especially the ability to produce food in a country which was relatively poor and where food was precious.
Jesus starts again from that point, building on the little awareness they have and pushing them always towards a deeper knowledge of God, the provider of all.
He goes on to say, "Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life" and they begin to get the idea that God might provide for them in a hitherto unsuspected way. Perhaps there's a way in which they can have all this bread for themselves, when Jesus isn't around. So they say to Jesus, "What must we do to perform the works of God?" But the answer is unexpected.
They don't have to do anything! God's gift of bread which never fails, which is always there, which lasts forever, is waiting for them. They only have to believe in Jesus. They don't have to change. They don't have to repent. They only have to believe. Although it has to be said that when people believe, repentance begins to happen and change begins to occur. But that's in God's hands, not something which the people need to initiate. And it's not the starting point. The starting point is belief.
And this is still the same today. In order to receive abundant gifts from the hands of God, we don't have to do anything. The only requirement is that we believe in Jesus. But real belief in Jesus isn't just a form of words which slip easily off the tongue, it's life-changing.
It's a belief that Jesus really is the Bread of Life, rather than a luxury trifle at the end of the meal. We can enjoy a luxury trifle when we feel like it, but we need bread every day. Bread gives us what we need to stay alive, and if we skip it we grow thin and emaciated and lose our energy.
But when Jesus describes himself as the Bread of Life, perhaps he's also suggesting that there's a strong communal aspect to Christianity. Although food can be enjoyed alone, and can certainly keep us alive if we eat it on our own, it loses huge dimensions of enjoyment that way, and becomes simply staple food. To really enjoy the benefit of the Bread of Life, we need to consume it together. We need to share our experiences, our worship, our Christianity.
After all, bread comes in many different shapes and sizes, made of different kinds of flour, and with or without yeast. There is bread to suit everybody, no matter what their tastes and what their dietary requirements, so we can all eat together.
That's all very well for us in the West, who never experience real hunger. But what about those in the East, who live at subsistence level? When they pray, "Give us this day our daily bread," and believe in Jesus as the Bread of Life, does it mean they'll never be physically hungry again?
Perhaps it ought to, if we were properly stewarding the world resources God has given us. But until that time, maybe belief in Jesus as the Bread of Life gives physically starving people the inner resources to cope with their subsistence lives. Maybe Christians in poor countries are spiritually well-fed and don't know what it is to starve.
Let's hope we Christians in the West aren't suffering from spiritual anorexia, because we're trying to exist on a luxury trifle.
But there are other delights on holiday, too. When our family goes on holiday, one of the delights for all of us is food. When we go to a different area we like to try some of the specialty dishes. So in Scotland we had freshly caught and locally smoked fish and Scottish shortbread and we have been known to enjoy an excellent haggis.
Like the world God has created for us, food isn't simply functional. It is, of course, essential for life, but it can also give immense pleasure. And more than that, eating is a very sociable activity. Many people, when they're celebrating or when they simply want to meet up together, go out for a meal. The finest meal in the best hotel doesn't amount to much if it's eaten alone in a hotel room.
So food is much more than something functional which we take merely to keep us alive. It's also something which binds us together, something which we share as human beings, something which can give enormous pleasure and which tells us we belong.
One of the favourite Biblical images of life after death is that of a great feast, a banquet. Jesus told a story about a banquet given by God where the table groans under the weight of good food, and glasses overflow with good wine. But it isn't a meal taken in isolation, in a hotel room or at a table for one. The image is of a long table, with plenty of people thoroughly enjoying themselves and the food and thoroughly enjoying the social interactivity with each other. And it's open to anyone who chooses to drop in, because those for whom it was originally intended didn't want to eat that way.
In today's gospel reading, when the people came yet again searching for Jesus, he was well aware they were looking for more miracles. "Very truly," he said, "I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves." They were a people who relied on the harvest and who knew what it was to suffer from drought and therefore to go hungry, so they were unable to get past the fact that Jesus had actually produced for them food out of very little. They could only see the miracle and failed to see beyond that. They were unable to see any sign pointing them to God. All they wanted was more food, more bread, more miracles.
Jesus sighs over their lack of insight, their failure to go beyond the superficial, but he starts from where they are. They were dumbfounded by his miraculous abilities, especially the ability to produce food in a country which was relatively poor and where food was precious.
Jesus starts again from that point, building on the little awareness they have and pushing them always towards a deeper knowledge of God, the provider of all.
He goes on to say, "Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life" and they begin to get the idea that God might provide for them in a hitherto unsuspected way. Perhaps there's a way in which they can have all this bread for themselves, when Jesus isn't around. So they say to Jesus, "What must we do to perform the works of God?" But the answer is unexpected.
They don't have to do anything! God's gift of bread which never fails, which is always there, which lasts forever, is waiting for them. They only have to believe in Jesus. They don't have to change. They don't have to repent. They only have to believe. Although it has to be said that when people believe, repentance begins to happen and change begins to occur. But that's in God's hands, not something which the people need to initiate. And it's not the starting point. The starting point is belief.
And this is still the same today. In order to receive abundant gifts from the hands of God, we don't have to do anything. The only requirement is that we believe in Jesus. But real belief in Jesus isn't just a form of words which slip easily off the tongue, it's life-changing.
It's a belief that Jesus really is the Bread of Life, rather than a luxury trifle at the end of the meal. We can enjoy a luxury trifle when we feel like it, but we need bread every day. Bread gives us what we need to stay alive, and if we skip it we grow thin and emaciated and lose our energy.
But when Jesus describes himself as the Bread of Life, perhaps he's also suggesting that there's a strong communal aspect to Christianity. Although food can be enjoyed alone, and can certainly keep us alive if we eat it on our own, it loses huge dimensions of enjoyment that way, and becomes simply staple food. To really enjoy the benefit of the Bread of Life, we need to consume it together. We need to share our experiences, our worship, our Christianity.
After all, bread comes in many different shapes and sizes, made of different kinds of flour, and with or without yeast. There is bread to suit everybody, no matter what their tastes and what their dietary requirements, so we can all eat together.
That's all very well for us in the West, who never experience real hunger. But what about those in the East, who live at subsistence level? When they pray, "Give us this day our daily bread," and believe in Jesus as the Bread of Life, does it mean they'll never be physically hungry again?
Perhaps it ought to, if we were properly stewarding the world resources God has given us. But until that time, maybe belief in Jesus as the Bread of Life gives physically starving people the inner resources to cope with their subsistence lives. Maybe Christians in poor countries are spiritually well-fed and don't know what it is to starve.
Let's hope we Christians in the West aren't suffering from spiritual anorexia, because we're trying to exist on a luxury trifle.
