John 6: 24-35
August 1, 2021
After Jesus fed 5000 people,
they tried to make him king.
So he hid himself somewhere
but some of the people that
were there
have come to find him again.
These are not the hungry or the sick,
These are more the curious.
These are the ones who have
come by afterwards that go
backstage
after the show to see if they
can get an autograph.
They’ve come to get a little
more from Jesus.
Jesus actually seems a little skeptical
about their motivations for
following him.
Jesus accuses them of just
looking for more food,
they like what they ate and
they want more.
They want one more sign, one more
miracle, one more piece of
bread
then they will know, then
they will be satisfied.
they even ask Jesus how they
can do the trick themselves.
But Jesus tells them not to waste their time
looking for that perishable
food,
He says , don’t’ keep trying
to find the food that
just goes stale in the end.
Jesus knew about them,
just as he knows about us.
We spend a lot of our time
focusing
on perishable things.
Like this crowd, most of us have
looked for something some
time in our lives
and not quite known what it
is.
Many of us have grasped on to
the
next thing or the simplest
thing, thinking that was the answer.
Most of humanity has felt
this at one time or another.
And in this world of quick fixes
and instant gratification
and the world tries to offer
up satisfaction
in endless temporary and
perishable ways.
It’s easy thing to point to obvious things like
addictions
like drugs or alcohol, or
even food or sex.
Those are certainly ways that
we get
temporary satisfaction, but
in the end
we keep on having to go back
for more.
Those are the easy ones to
point out.
But how much time do we spend on
The temporary things?
the car, the house, even the
church building or
the perfect worship
experience.
Just to realize those don’t
fully satisfy either?
And we also turn to other things,
possessions, money, work,
our own accomplishments, career
advancement,
perfection, experiences, and
emotional highs
those are things that we spend
a lot of time on
that just don’t last forever.
We try to fill our void with
temporary things.
Advertisers maybe know best about that
void, and they tell us that
whatever
they have to sell will fill
it.
The phone, or the car, or the drink is
not just a good product it’s
an emotion,
a feeling, a memory it will
fulfill your deep needs.
At least for now.
Fulfillment through products.
The ad slogans for fulfillment are all around us.
Olive Garden “When you’re
here, your family.”
Hershey’s Chocolate is
“Heartwarming the World”
And, my all-time favorite,
“At Kroger, We’re Family”
These are not my experience of any of these
places or products.
I have eaten both Olive Garden food and Hershey bars alone
followed by a sense of regret
and self-loathing.
And I once left Kroger’s, so upset at the callousness
which the check-out person
has treated me
that I was considering returning
all the groceries
I’ve bought in protest.
So maybe it is like family.
But even if the waitresses or the store clerks are pleasant
and welcoming, even if the
chocolate is delicious
and somehow brings people
closer together
it’s a fleeting encounter.
But those advertisers know what people long for.
They are trying to sell
community, friendship, psudeo-family
deep and lasting joy and a
sense of inner peace.
Advertisers know that they only have the
bread that perishes,
But
they know that people are searching for something
they
know that many people feel a void
they
can’t put their finger on,
they
want something that lasts longer than
chicken
parmesan, or chocolate bars, or groceries.
And they know people will go to look to fill
that void in lots of
different places and things.
Because it’s easier for us to
try and
find the permanent in the
temporary.
I would even say that if we
only look to
other people we will feel
unsatisfied in the end.
It’s easier to keep going
back for the food that perishes.
The crowd asks Jesus where they can find
that food that doesn’t perish
and Jesus tells them.
Jesus says “believe in the one who sent me.
Believe that he is the one.”
Jesus says that the one thing
that fills that space is God.
The crowd asks Jesus where they can find
that food that doesn’t perish
and Jesus tells them.
Jesus says “I am the Bread of Life.
Whoever comes to me will
never be hungry”
Jesus is the food that never
perishes.
Jesus shows us the way to
God.
Now I don’t believe in magic, even when it comes to
God.
I don’t believe that just
saying you believe
or that you accept Jesus
Christ as your lord
and savior just instantly
changes your life.
I don’t even believe becoming
part of a Christian church
automatically fills that
hole.
There are plenty of Christian churches that
have about as much love as
Kroger’s.
And all faith communities are
made up of humans and can
disappoint.
I don’t believe that just wearing a cross
or saying the prayers, or
reading the bible,
or worshipping God is like
waving some magic wand.
Those things can help us find
true bread,
and if we keep them at arm’s
length, and
never let them touch our
spirit or get into
our hearts, they will just
perish with everything else.
But the true bread that Jesus told us about
can be found through faith.
Faith in the one who provides all the bread.
And faith is not just belief
in a list of doctrine, faith is trust.
It’s trust, that the creator
of everything
the one that is the source of
our lives
and all that is, is on our
side, is for us, is with us.
It’s trust that the one who created the mountains
and the trees and the oceans,
also knows how many hairs are
on your head.
Trust that God creates abundance,
wants us all to
thrive and flourish and love
and share with each other.
Trusting in that truth, shown to us by Jesus.
That is the bread we’re all
looking for.
Joining with other people
that try to live
into that truth and share
that truth with each other
and the outside world, that’s
where
we will find satisfaction,
not at Kroger’s.
And we find that truth together, through the
the community that gathers
around the table.
The place that shares Christ’s
body and blood,
broken and given for us.
That is where we find the
bread of life
the true bread, the food that
never perishes,
the food that endures for
eternal life.
No comments:
Post a Comment