The Food that Does Not Go Stale

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.