Sunday, March 26, 2006

3 Lent, Year B

"THE BREAD OF LIFE"
II Chronicles 36: 14 – 23; Psalm 122; Ephesians 2: 4 – 10; John 6: 4 – 15
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Church of the Redeemer, Cairo, IL by Mrs. Deborah K. Tucker, Licensed Lay Worship Leader; Sunday, March 26th, 2006;


“Open our eyes to see your hand at work in the world around us. Deliver us from the presumption of coming to this table for solace only, and not for strength; for pardon only, and not for renewal…:

Eucharistic Prayer C, (though I must admit it isn’t my most favorite communion prayer), is where we pray these wonderful words….they’re found in your prayer books on page 372….

Can we hear them again?....”deliver us from the presumption of coming to this table for solace only, and not for strength, for pardon only, and not for renewal…”

Ever since the “new” prayer book came into use, almost 30 years ago now, Holy Communion, Holy Eucharist, or the Mass (as it’s variously known) has become the principle service for most Episcopal Churches on Sundays and Holy Days….Those of you who’ve been Anglicans for awhile can perhaps remember the “good old days” when Morning Prayer was the usual Sunday morning service, and when it was rare (maybe four times a year or so) when there would be Holy Communion.

Receiving the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of Holy Communion can become a commonplace thing, you know, something “one” does on Sunday morning….That is especially true if we do it regularly, week by week.

So these powerful words are designed to dig into our hearts a little….What can it mean, “deliver us from coming to this (the Communion) table for solace only, and not for strength?” What is the intent of asking God to pardon us for coming to Communion for solace only, and not for renewal?

This sermon will offer some reflections to those questions, as we look at John’s recounting of Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000, in our Gospel reading for today.

Before we get to some of those reflections, let’s take a minute to look at John’s account….We need to look at not only the actual report of the feeding of the crowd near the shores of the Sea of Galilee, but we need to look further along into Chapter Six of John’s Gospel to see what connections John makes for us to this miracle of Jesus.

First, though, we should recall that all four Gospel writers report this miraculous multiplication of the five loaves and two fish. In fact, Matthew and Mark also report another feeding of a large crowd, that one composed of 4,000.

John’s account differs in some ways, but they are relatively minor. So, if you’ll take your insert for today, let’s look at some of the specifics that John records for us, which are unique to John, and then we’ll look at the conversation with Jesus that followed the feeding itself…

John is the only one to mention the boy who has the five loaves and two fish. A side note is worthy of mention here: in Biblical times, barley was the grain of choice for poor people, so it’s possible that the boy who carried his lunch that day was from the lower classes. Barley was pretty common stuff, for the common people.

Notice then that Jesus tests His disciples, asking Philip, “where are we going to buy bread for these people to eat?” Philip answers with a completely practical response, “six months’ wages wouldn’t be enough for each of them to even get a little.”

Notice also that Jesus gives the bread and the fish directly to the people….In the other accounts, Jesus gives the bread and the fish to the disciples, who, in turn, give it to the people…..

Then, before we move into the conversation that ensued with those who witnessed this miracle, note that John tells us that Jesus withdrew from the crowd, because He knew that they were going to seize Him by force and make Him king.

Following this miracle, Jesus withdraws further up the mountain, while the disciples get into a boat to cross the Sea of Galilee. During the night, Jesus comes walking to them on the sea, an event that is also reported in the same sequence in Matthew and in Mark.

Now, John tells us that the crowds follow Jesus, and a conversation begins about the miraculous feeding…Jesus tells the crowd that He knows that they have come, not because they saw a sign, but because they had had their fill of the loaves and the fish. So, He says to them, “labor for the food that endures to eternal life.” (John 6: 27)

Still, the crowd doesn’t seem to get it….they bring up the Manna that their ancestors had eaten in the desert during the 40 years of wandering…..Again, Jesus tries to get them to see the larger picture, reminding them that it wasn’t Moses who gave them the manna, but Jesus’ Father, who is in heaven.

Now, the crowd begins to see the larger picture, asking Jesus to “give them this bread always.” (Verse 34)

Over the next 16 verses, Jesus will tell those gathered around Him that “He is the bread of life,” the “bread that came down from heaven.” Finally, in verse 52, He will tell them that “the bread that He will give is His flesh.”

Naturally, those first century Jews are mystified by Jesus’ words….So, they ask themselves, “how can this man give us his flesh to eat?, to which Jesus responds, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you.”

Perhaps we shouldn’t be too hard on Jesus’ audience. After all, any contact with blood made a Jew ritually unclean, and the idea of cannibalism was as repugnant to them as it is to us.

But we have the advantage that 2,000 years of Christian thought and teaching, which can shed light on these words….So, when we hear Jesus saying, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you,” we immediately make the connection to the Holy Communion….

Recall the Words of Institution from the Communion service…The Celebrant, taking up the bread, says, “take, eat, this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Then, taking up the cup of wine, he says, “drink this, all of you, this is my blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.”
Now these words are Jesus’ own, and they come from His Last Supper on Maundy Thursday night.

We’ve become so accustomed to them that they might just roll into our ears, and out of our minds.

So, our Eucharistic Prayer C asks God to “open our eyes to see your hand at work in the world around us.” It asks God to “deliver us from the presumption of coming to the Communion Table for solace only, and not for strength, for pardon only, and not for renewal.”

These words embody thoughts that ask God to make it “all about Him”, and not “all about us.” They ask God to ponder what it is that God is doing in the work of Jesus Christ, and not what we can get out of God’s gifts.

It’s worth saying that last sentence again: we are being challenged to ponder what God is doing in the work of Jesus Christ, and not what we can get out of God’s gifts…..That brings us back to John’s report, read today….

Notice that the crowds are intent on making Jesus a king…..Perhaps they figured that, if Jesus could feed this many people so easily, that would make for some good economics….Maybe they figured that, if Jesus could feed this small army of people, perhaps He could also raise an army and drive the Romans out….John doesn’t tell us, and we can only speculate, using our own life’s experiences as a guide.

But it’s clear that the crowd was willing to use Jesus for their own purposes, to subvert God’s workings in Jesus Christ to suit their own ends. In that sense, they were doing what the ancient Israelites did when God gave them the manna in the desert: they hoarded it, taking more than they were told by God to take….the result was that the extra that they had stuffed into their pockets turned rotten.

Given the age in which we live, with its unbridled individualism, seeking after the easy answers and the immediately available thrills, we, too, can be tempted to seek in Holy Eucharist just what meets our own needs, and, at that, only those that are the most comfortable and easily fulfilled.

But, like Philip, we can be expected to be challenged and tested in our faith walk….The bottom line for Philip’s test was to see if he was willing to trust the Lord to provide in the situation at hand. We, too, are asked to trust God to provide as we present our concerns and cares before Him in faith. We know from the Biblical accounts, that trusting in the Lord and following in His footsteps did not lead to a life of ease and comfort for the disciples. On the contrary, the road ahead for all of the disciples as they became Apostles was difficult, hard, and long. For most, it ended in a martyr’s death. But at the end of the road, the crown of glory awaited them all. We should expect testing, challenges, and hardships as we follow the Lord. But, we will never be abandoned along the way, for God will provide.

God is willing to use the common stuff of life, like the barley loaves of 2,000 years ago, for his purposes….God takes simple bread and wine, common stuff of life, and transforms it into the agents of a marvelous and mysterious dining experience with God himself in Christ.

God Himself is the provider, as Jesus is in today’s reading, directly feeding those in need. It’s no mistake that John tells us that Jesus gave the bread and the fish directly to the crowd. For us, the Holy Communion to which we come has its origins in the Lord Himself.

So, we pray that God will open our eyes to see His hand at work in the world around us, and in our own lives….We pray for the gift of His Holy Spirit to quicken our hearts, that we may not come to the Holy Table for our own comfort only, but for strength for the spiritual journey. And, we ask God to grant us pardon for our offenses, and renewal of spirit so as to walk in His ways, that we may be made one body, one spirit with the Lord, and that we may worthily serve the world in His name.

AMEN.