BREAD OF LIFE
A
lot of conversations I have with people are about their unhappiness.
Sometimes they just want someone to listen to their woes, and I confess
finding myself wanting the same thing: like this past week, for
example; I could list a tale of woe that would make our move to the
Ozarks sound heart-wrenching. The moving company delayed
everything by about 24 hours, so we had to drive to Eureka Springs a
day late, barely making it in time for the formal closing; the mortgage
company forgot to include a charge on the closing statement so we had
to go back the next morning and re-sign the new document – and pay more
money; the moving men got lost coming to Holiday Island from Rogers
which meant the unloading of the truck didn’t start until mid-morning;
and we got caught in an electronic wilderness when the satellite TV guy
undid the telephone and internet connections installed by a competitor,
so for a while nothing worked. I could go on, and on, and on…
But here’s another side: We met pleasant and welcoming people all along the way; our Realtor ____ was
in frequent communication with us and making sure everything was ready
on this end; we had two superb guys unloading the truck who were
gracious and friendly, even when we asked them to move a heavy futon to
a different room after they had already dragged it into house.
They kept up a cheerful banter all through the almost ten-hour labor,
and we discovered one is a single father of three small children,
trying to provide safety and security for them every day while
commuting from his home in Southwestern Missouri (and we dare to
complain?). He even said he hoped to visit our church but
wondered whether small children would be welcome (I assured him they
would).
So, there is the contrast that we can see mirrored in the Old Testament
story from Exodus this morning, and Jesus’ ministry. The whining
over daily bread, the grumbling over rough conditions, and the shaking
of fists at God who has delivered them – does any of this sound like
us? At times, yes.
Christians are supposed to have a different response to adversity,
unfairness and even bad behavior. We’re not Pollyanna, rather we
are people who can put things in proper perspective, even things that
would appear appalling to others: like suffering and loss. Oh,
and we don’t do it with a dismissive statement like, “Well, God must
have something else in mind” when things go awry. That kind of
twaddle often masks real despair or resentment, and is not at all what
Jesus teaches in the Gospel lesson today.
What does Jesus teach? Listen to his words again: “…it is my
Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God
is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the
world." And, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will
never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."
In modern language I think this could be rendered: The person who
aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever (The Message).
That is truly THE MESSAGE of the Gospel. Jesus doesn’t promise
first class seating, or wealth or freedom from suffering, anxiety,
aging or other afflictions. Instead he promises what he offers, a
relationship that sees us through them, a relationship that often puts
us in contact with other people who are welcoming and gracious even
when we are not, a relationship that in a faith community like this one
puts you in touch with people you can call on when things really look
grim, and you know they will pray for you, come to be with you, and see
things through with you.
Now, if we can figure out how to get this message out to the world,
people will come to Christ who never have before. Like the man
unloading my furniture who wanted nothing more than safety and security
for his three children whom he obviously loves dearly, who is seeking a
community where he can find peace and acceptance instead of what he
lives with back home, like the woman whom I recently visited who was
certain she had done something really wrong because nothing was working
out for her in her single, solitary and lonely life, like the family
who left the church for a period of time because they thought they were
unhappy with things, only to discover that without a faith community in
their life they were really unhappy – these are the contemporaries of
those folks at Capernaum. They wanted something better, would
have accepted almost anything, and what they are offered puzzles many
of them, but some are ready to lay down their life of whining and
complaining and follow Jesus. They will never look back.
Any demands on our busy lives can become cause for complaint.
They can also be opportunities for grace. The next time you hear
yourself listing all you woes to a likely diminishing circle of friends
who may be tired of hearing them, think instead of listing them before
Jesus. Write him a letter, put them in a list, type them into a
computer file. Then listen to his response. You will find
they all tend to evaporate and are replaced with items of goodness and
grace. For that, my friends, is God’s desire and that is Christ’s
promise and blessing – nothing but the bread of life for now and
evermore.
A closing story: ____ is a gifted artist who lives outside of
Boonville, Missouri. She came there a number of years ago, a
young widow with 3 children. Her home is an old antebellum house
that was tied to a farm. Her studio is unique, housed in what
were once slave quarters for the farm. Most such habitations have
been burned or pulled down after the Civil War, a removal of what is a
blighted chapter of our history. But____ has
worked and spent considerable sums to keep those buildings because she
wants to remember, and others to see, what they were like, and what
life for those slaves must have been. Her painting she creates is her
way of redeeming it, and her knowledge of their plight and their
abiding faith in the midst of it she understands as a sign of
grace. Others say to her, "Why don’t you get permission to tear
down those old buildings and build yourself a nice studio?" But,
no. ____ is
not about to complain of it. Instead she sees a vision of
redemption through her understanding of Jesus and her faith – the bread
of life in the midst of a memory of adversity and suffering. She says,
“I’m supposed to be here, preserving what I can of their story while
living out my own”. May Jesus, the bread of life, enable us to
live in that spirit.
Amen.
The Rev. Ben Helmer
St. James’ Episcopal Church
Eureka Springs. AR
August 2, 2009
8.09