Pentecost 9B / Proper 13B
Grace Lutheran Church
Lakeland, FL
August 1, 2021
Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15
Psalm 78:23-29
Ephesians 4:1-16
John 6:24-35
Grace to you and peace from God and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
Take a breath, take a moment. Right now. What is it in your life that you are most hungry for.
We’re talking about Bread today. Bread. Do you have a favorite taste or memory of bread?
My husband, Earl, spoke of a slathery garlic bread that was a side dish for the neighborhood barbeque of ribs that his dad brought north to Indiana from his childhood home in Ruleville, Mississippi, a home he left with the proverbial knapsack over his shoulder at the ripe old age of 10, yes, 10, to head north to places of better opportunity than the deep rural south.
And I remember lefse – a Norwegian potato flatbread that my Great-Aunt Christine prepared on her woodstove on the family homestead, established as they came from Norway. Hot off the skillet, slathered with butter and brown sugar rolled up and bitten into – ahhh. Brought over from a distant land. Just thinking about it whets my appetite.
Bread – a staple of all lands near and far – the deep south of the United States and the land of the midnight sun, Norway. Nearly every culture and each land has a bread that is unique to their people. And, truth be told, our need for bread unites us as one people as much as does our hunger – for things seen and unseen.
The story is told of the end of the Second World War. Allied troops started turning their attention to the problem of the number of orphan children living on the streets of Europe. So they set up special camps where they could be cared for, and gathered as many of the children who had lost their families as they could find. The camps provided everything they needed: food, shelter, safety, medicine, play and entertainment.
But in spite of the excellent care they received, many of the children were so traumatized that they simply could not sleep at night. Then someone came up with the idea to give each child a loaf of bread, not to eat, but to sleep with. Holding their bread, the children were finally able to sleep. For those children, the bread was a sign – a sign that said, "I have eaten today, and will be able to eat again tomorrow."
Bread. A staple. Necessary for life. Bread. Hope.
When the people of God led by the prophet Moses escaped slavery in the land of Egypt, they entered into the wilderness and began their journeying that lasted for 40 years. And by the 15th day of the second month, they were getting pretty hungry. So hungry that they began their pattern of murmuring and grumbling and complaining and whining and even said that they wished that they were back in Egypt -- really it wasn’t all THAT bad. “We even had leeks and garlic and cucumbers and fish. Oh that it would be again.” Oh those days in Egypt… A short memory had those hungry people.
And God heard the cries of God’s people in the wilderness who were hungry. and told Moses that bread would be rained down from heaven each day – enough for that day. And not only that but there would be quail for them to eat each night. God’s provision for God’s people to sustain them as they wandered the journey being shaped into a community of the faithful.
Bread – not the nice basket of warm rolls that is set out as a pre-appetizer when we go out to dine, not the extra loaf taken out of the freezer when we prefer wheat bread for our lunch sandwich rather than the white bread that was open. No. Bread. The essential staple common to virtually every society and culture. Bread – a necessity in ancient times, those who heard Jesus’ words following the feeding of the thousands just days before. And bread, a necessity to us today.
To the thousands who had just been fed in a miraculous way, thousands who were not merely at risk for missing their lunch while following Jesus. No, these thousands were at the margins of society, the borders of the empire, at the brink of starvation every day because of the systemic issues that rewarded the “Haves” and dismissed the “Have-nots.”
These are the people whom Jesus fed. And these are the people who followed searching for Jesus. These are the people to whom Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Yes, you remember that God gave your ancestors food in the wilderness – every day, every morning, great is God’s faithfulness.” Manna, bread that would spoil if preserved and stored up. Bread that needed to be given anew each day. But Jesus went on to say that he was the TRUE bread that God GIVES from heaven.
And he was there in their midst. He was present among them. He, the bread of life. Jesus, incarnate of God. God with skin on. This one walked among them. Provided wine for the wedding – hundreds of gallons of the finest wine. Provided bread for thousands with 12 harvesting baskets left over. More than enough. Abundance. Abundance based in Jesus presence with them.
And my friends, Jesus is abundantly present with us now. Like those orphans who were given the loaf of bread to sleep with so that they knew that there would be food tomorrow – hope. Hope that does not disappoint. Hope because Jesus is present.
In a few moments we too will eat and drink in a miraculous meal. A meal we may receive as naively and unknowingly as those thousands received a meal from 5 barley loaves and 2 fish. Yet, we are fed nonetheless.
We, who are hungry and starving for hope and grace and generosity; we who live in a parched land – whatever the source of that parchedness is – we are beckoned to the table of the Lord and we come running because we are hungry – hungry for the very presence of Jesus in our lives – our lives individually and in our life together.
So, as you prepare to come to this Holy Table – please do this. Pause and reflect on what it is that you are hungry for. Really hungry for. Listen for a word from the Lord about this hunger – whether in the words of our hymns, the words of our liturgy or in the quiet spaces of your heart.As you come, bring with you a childlike hope of receiving that which will sustain you on your journey. Come knowing th
at Jesus is fully present and will meet your need, the deepest need of your parchedness.
As you receive bread and wine, body and blood, be aware -- taste and see that the Lord is good. Spend a moment savoring this Jesus who is God incarnate – this Jesus who graces us with his presence.
As you depart, go forth in hope, clutching that loaf as did those orphan children, knowing that all shall be well because of Jesus’ abundant presence with us as we go forward following him into the world around us, a world that needs him so.
Amen.
