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Sermon Archive

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

August 2, 2009

Pastor Richard Allen

As the health care debate heats up in this country, all that we seem to be able to agree on is that something has to be done to improve our current system and to provide care for the millions who have either inadequate coverage or none at all.  I don’t have an answer, but I ran across a clipping from an article I saw some years ago, noting that part of the earliest appeal of Christianity was the compassion Christians had for the sick. 

 Here’s what Rodney Stark noted in an article in the magazine Christianity Today entitled, “The Early Church’s Health Plan:”  “A little-known fact is that Christians in the ancient world had longer life expectancies than did their pagan neighbors. In fact, many pagans were attracted to the Christian faith because the church produced tangible (not only "spiritual") blessings for its adherents. These benefits included: Health services. When two great plagues swept the empire in 165 and 251, mortality rates climbed higher than 30 percent. Pagans tried to avoid all contact with the afflicted, often casting the still living into the gutters. Christians nursed the sick, even though some believers died doing so. We now know that elementary nursing - simply giving victims food and water without any drugs - reduces mortality in epidemics by as much as two-thirds. Consequently, Christians were more likely than pagans to recover.”  (Rodney Stark, "The Early Church's Health Plan," Christianity Today, June 15, 1998, 54, quoted in Leonard Sweet’s Homiletics, June 13, 1999.)

 Again, I’m not jumping into the health care debate.  I merely note that followers of Christ have historically been infected with a sense of compassion akin to the compassion of Christ.  In today’s gospel lesson, Jesus refers to himself as “the bread of life.”  The gospel of John was written, we believe, not long before the first of those plagues described by Rodney Stark.  In its earliest days the church clearly understood that not only are we fed by Christ, “the bread of life,” but we are also called to share that bread with our neighbors. 

 I suppose I’m also noticing that for us in the church today to affirm that Jesus is the bread of life is to make a confession about what this Jesus means for us, and what following him means for our relationship with each other and with the world around us.

 First, when Jesus says “I am the bread of life,” it’s a deeply “loaded” affirmation.  Coming as it does, in the gospel of John, maybe it’s more of John’s affirmation about Jesus than Jesus’ literal affirmation about himself.  Either way, it’s not a literal truth but a theological truth being affirmed here. 

 Notice that John helps us understand this metaphor about Jesus as the “bread of life” by reminding us and other non-Jewish readers of his gospel that God had provided bread of life for the community of the faithful before. “Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness,” John tells us that some of the crowd said to Jesus. (John 6:31, New Revised Standard Version)  It’s his way of reminding us Gentiles of the true theological freight of the metaphor, “I am the bread of life.” 

 For one thing, “manna” was a reminder of God’s abiding love and abundant grace.  We don’t know exactly what manna was, but it wasn’t exactly bread.  The Hebrews didn’t know what it was, either, so they called it “manna,” which literally means “what is this?”  Whatever it was, they believed, it was a gift from a God who sustained them in a hostile land.  Manna was therefore the reminder that God’s grace was sure, even when the way ahead seemed unclear, frightening, or bleak. 

 Also, because the Jews understood that God’s name was a form of the verb “to be,” whenever Jesus says in the gospel of John, “I am,” his listeners, and John’s readers, clearly understood the point, Jesus and God are one.  And here, when he says, “I am the bread of life,” readers can’t help but hear the affirmation:  just as God gave manna in the wilderness to the people who were lost and hungry, so God gives us Jesus, food for us who are lost and hungry.

 This affirmation is carries a bit of liturgical freight.  John is the most sacramental of the four gospels, and when Jesus says “I am the bread of life,” it’s clear to me that we’re being told that the bread we share at the Lord’s Table is the food that heals, sustains, and transforms us.  Though we often receive the bread of the sacrament with the words, “The body of Christ,” or “The bread of heaven,” we might as easily say, “The bread of life.”  God gives bread, for the nourishment of our bodies and our souls.  That’s a core belief.  That’s what John is telling his church and us, too. Jesus’ words to the crowd are also to us, “I am the bread of life.”

 And notice that this bread is for us to share, too. Christians from that first generation, with Christ, until now, have shared this holy meal with each other as a way of affirming that Christ loves us all, and calls us to love each other as well.  Paul is calling the Ephesians to that very place, inviting them to “lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:1-3, NRSV)  Our sharing at the table reminds us of the reason we are to love each other:  Christ has given himself for us – his body being broken for us like the bread that we break before eating.  And Christ then calls us, the church, to become the next ‘incarnation,’ if you will, of his love.  Our body, and our bodies, too, given for others, as his is given for us.

 Jesus is the bread of life for us, and we are to be the bread of life for each other.  And that begins in our worship and especially in our meal together.

 This sermon has been a bit “teachy,” so let me close with a story that makes the point that our sharing the meals, affirming Christ as the bread of life, it’s also important to affirm and care for each other.  Pastor Larm Phillips tells his story; “Last week I took my children to a restaurant. My 6-year-old son asked if he could say grace. As we bowed our heads, he said, "God is good. God is great. Thank you for the food, and I would even thank you more if Mom gets us ice cream for dessert. And liberty and justice for all! Amen!"

Along with the laughter from the other customers nearby, I heard a woman remark, "That's what's wrong with this country. Kids today don't even know how to pray. Asking God for ice cream! Why, I never!"
 

Hearing this, my son burst into tears and asked me, "Did I do it wrong? Is God mad at me?"
 

As I held him and assured him that he had done a terrific job, and God was certainly not mad at him, an elderly gentleman approached the table. He winked at my son and said, "I happen to know that God thought that was a great prayer."

"Really?" my son asked. "Cross my heart." Then, in a theatrical whisper, he added (indicating the woman whose remark had started this whole thing), "Too bad she never asks God for ice cream. A little ice cream is good for the soul sometimes."

Naturally, I bought my kids ice cream at the end of the meal. My son stared at his for a moment and then did something I will remember the rest of my life. He picked up his sundae and without a word, walked over and placed it in front of the woman. With a big smile, he told her, "Here, this is for you. Ice cream is good for the soul sometimes, and my soul is good already."  (Rev. Larry Phillips, quoted in Leonard Sweet, Homiletics, April 12, 1998.)

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.”  We who are hungry, come to the table, and are filled.  And we who are filled at the table go into the world, to share the abundance of our blessing.  We share the bread of life.  We share the love of Christ, and doing so we serve Christ as we feed our neighbors, who are as hungry as we are.

 Amen.

Mamaroneck United Methodist, August 2, 2009.

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