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John
6:24-35
Proper
13
August
2, 2009
For
the next couple of weeks the gospel readings will be about bread. Bread from Heaven. Bread of life. Bread that gives life to the world. John’s
gospel is the only gospel that has the bread discourse.
I found
it interesting that John often used words in such a way that they could
be taken in two ways: a physical, literal meaning and a metaphorical,
spiritual way. Like with
Nicodemus and being born again. Nicodemus
wondered “Now, how can I literally enter my mother’s womb
again?” Jesus intended more of a metaphorical “beginning again.” Or like the woman at the well. Jesus talked about drinking his living
water and never thirsting again. The
woman rolled her eyes, raised her eyebrows and may have thought, “Oh,
Really?”
Similarly,
the crowds reacted to Jesus telling about a bread from God that will
give life to the world: They
were perplexed, and yet interested in this bread. They remembered the
story of their ancestors receiving daily manna. Jesus
reminded them that it was God not Moses who gave (past tense) them bread
and now again God gives bread (present tense). What does he mean by this? Well, when John was putting together this gospel, he put this
story about bread from heaven just after the story of feeding Jesus feeding
the five thousand.
On one
level this story is about eating bread. Mahatma
Gandhi once said, “There are people in the world so hungry that
God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.” We need to remember that for many bread
is the only available staple food that satisfies physical hunger.
On another
level, this bread from heaven can satisfy our many and various hunger
pangs. There is a hunger that the “early bird special’ won’t
satisfy. When we look to God, the bread we receive
gives rich and sustaining nourishment.
While
in seminary, I was in a spiritual direction group – like a prayer
group. Our spiritual director was a priest and psychotherapist.
One of the women in the group had had leukemia four years previous. It
was now in remission. One day during my third year, Bonnie informed us
that the leukemia was back with a vengeance. After
an extensive search, the doctors finally found a donor who was
a fairly good match for a bone marrow transplant. It was not a 100% match
but it was the best they could do. Bonnie’s
transplant was at the cutting edge of medical treatment. At best
it was under a 50% chance of being successful. She was willing. She wanted
to see that grandbaby to be born in the spring.
Usually
once a week, either our group or a couple of us would take communion
to Bonnie at the hospital. We
would go up to her unit, walk through double doors, stand still
till the doors closed behind us then continue through the next set of
double doors. Then wash our hands before putting on
those awkward sterile gowns, ill fitting gloves, masks over our
noses and chins, through another closed door to Bonnie’s room. Each week we would improvise a table and have communion. Weeks
turned into months. When
Bonnie finally came back to campus, it wasn’t safe for her to be
in contact with large groups. Our small prayer group met with her
though, in our sterile masks on Sunday afternoons to break bread
around a makeshift table.
Each
time we met we would read the following about bread from God – the
bread of life that feeds the world. One of my professor’s wrote
a poem:
In the beginning was God,
In the beginning
The source of all that is,
In the beginning
God yearning, God moaning, God laboring, God giving birth,
God rejoicing.
And God loved what he had made. And God said, “It is good.”
And God , knowing that all is good is shared, Held the earth
tenderly in her arms.
God yearned for relationship.
God longed to share the good earth,
And humanity was born in the yearning of God - - We were born
to share the earth.
In the earth was the seed. In the seed was the grain, In the grain was the harvest, In
the harvest was the bread, In the bread was the power.
And God said, “All shall eat of the earth. All shall eat of the seed. All shall eat of the grain. All shall eat of the harvest. All shall eat of the Bread. All shall eat of the Power.
God said, “ You are my people. My friends, My sisters.
My brothers. All of you
shall eat . . .of the Bread and the power. All
shall eat.”
Then God, gathering up his courage in love, said, “Let
there be Bread.”
And God’s people, knelt on the earth, planted the seeds,
prayed for rain, sang for the grain, made the harvest, cracked the wheat,
pounded the barley, kneaded the dough, kindled the fire, the bread was
rising, the air was filled with the smell of fresh bread. And there was bread - - - and it was good.
We the people of God say today, “All shall eat of the
bread, and the power. We
say today, all shall have power and bread. Today
we say, let there be bread. Let
there be power. Let us eat
of the bread. And all will be filled - For the bread is rising.
By the power of God, the people are blessed. By the people of God, the bread is blessed. By
the bread of God, the power is blessed. By
the power of the bread, by the power of God the people are blessed. .
.the earth is blessed . . . .For the Bread is Rising.
We would read these verses, taking turns and then all saying together, with great joy and hope, “For the Bread is Rising.”
Joy
that Jesus has risen from the dead. Hope that our dear classmate would
rise from her bed, hope that the bread that is Christ would provide yeast
for our lives.
Hope
that we could be sustained in providing patient and loving kindness to
those we would meet that day. From
our times together with the bread and Bonnie, we realized that the bread
of life was/is rising continually in us.
The
bread is rising continually for us. Bread from heaven nourishes nurtures and feeds our souls. It empowers our interactions to do God’s
work. It has power to draw
us together to do God’s work.
When
our young men went to help with the work in Mississippi. . . the Bread
was rising . . .for both the Georgians and the Mississippians. Those
who went with Amigos for Christ and met our brothers and sisters in Nicaragua
. . .all were fed . . .the Bread was rising.
When
we listen with gentleness and patience to those older or younger than
we . . .The Bread is rising.
Any
time we are talking, listening or being present to another whether on
the street, the square or in St. Julian Hall . . . the Bread is rising.
God
will give bread, nourishment to us each day in order to be God’s
people for each other –
whether it is at work, home or at the lake.
“I
am the Bread of life, Whoever comes to me will never be hungry.”
Let
us come to the table now and eat some of this bread.
The
Rev Mary Wetzel
Grace
Calvary
August
2, 2009
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