The Food that Never Goes Stale

 John 6: 24-35

August  4, 2024

Breaking of the Bread
Arcabas

 

After Jesus fed 5000 people,

they tried to make him king.

So he hid himself away.

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, who go backstage

after the show to see if they can get an autograph.

They’ve come to get a little more from Jesus.

They say: “oh Rabbi, fancy meeting you here!”

When they were just hunting him down looking for him.

 

Jesus does seem a little skeptical

about their motivations for following him.

 

He knows they want one more sign,

one more miracle, one more magic trick,

then they say, 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 kind of perishable food,

He says, don’t’ keep trying to find the food that

just goes stale in the end.

 

Jesus knew about them,

just like 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 all spend on

the temporary things?

The car, the house, the career, the secure retirement plan,

even the church building or the perfect worship experience.

Just to realize those don’t fully satisfy either?

 

But we keep turning to things looking to fill that void:

possessions, money, work, hobbies,

our own accomplishments, perfection, experiences,

travel, emotional highs,

those are things that we spend a lot of time on

temporary things that just don’t last forever.

These are not my experiences of any of these places or products.

I have eaten both Olive Garden food and Hershey bars,

Faith in the one who provides all the bread.

 

Advertisers maybe know best about that void,

and our need to fill it, and they tell us that whatever

they have to sell will do the trick.

 

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 are all around us.

Subaru: “Share the Love”

Olive Garden’s: was “When you’re here, your family.”

Then the pandemic happened and we couldn’t be there,

so now it’s “the Comfort You Crave”

Hershey’s Chocolate is “Heartwarming the World”

And, my all-time favorite, “At Kroger, We’re Family”

and not felt comfort or heartwarming,

mostly my experience is regret followed by a sense of self-loathing.

And I once left a Krogers, so upset at the callousness

which the check-out person had treated me, 

that I was considering returning all the groceries that I just bought in protest.

So maybe it is, just 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, temporary feeling.  

 

But those advertisers know what people long for.

They are trying to sell community, friendship, psudeo-family,

comfort, 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 a car ride, 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, even family, that can dissapoint 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 saying “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 coming to worship is like waving some magic wand.

Those are the things can help us find true bread,

but 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.

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 how our faith lives

and thrives and grows.

And that’s where that hunger will be satisfied.

 

Go to table.

 

Around this table, every Sunday, we share the bread of life

Christ’s body and blood given for us.

In this bread is forgiveness, salvation, and community,

 

Like Martin Luther said in the Small Catechism:

“It’s not just the eating and drinking that do this.

But it’s the words with it “Given and shed for you”

when we have faith in that, we let ourselves be filled.

 

Understanding that Jesus gave his life for us,

and shares it with us.

When we trust that, we share

the food of life that does not go stale

and the cup of salvation that does not disappoint.