BREAD FOR THE JOURNEY
John 6:35, 41-51
Several years ago, when I was living in St Petersburg, Florida, my daughter Alice and I were trying to decide were we wanted to go for lunch after church one Sunday. We talked about a couple of options and then Alice said, "I want to go to the Piccadilly."
Now for you Yankees, who have never heard of a Piccadilly, it is a cafeteria. When I was growing up in Texas, cafeterias were the place to eat and to be seen. They are a big part of the culture. So when Alice said she wanted to go to the Piccadilly, it just warmed my heart. I have so many fond memories of eating Sunday lunch at the Piccadilly cafeteria with my family in Waco, Texas.
When Alice and I arrived at the Piccadilly, we found ourselves in the midst of a church group that was also having lunch there. This really sent me on a nostalgia trip. As a child, I loved going through the line at the cafeteria and choosing my food and it was always a special treat when my brother, sister and I were allowed to choose a dessert when we got to the end of the line.
After we finished eating, another favorite activity was when my brother and I would take our trays to the conveyor belt and watch them disappear into the kitchen. Our Piccadilly cafeteria was in a very small mall. Back in those days in Texas, we had "blue laws" which didn't allow stores to be open on Sundays. If the line at the cafeteria was long, we, the kids, were allowed to walk around the mall and look at the displays in the store window.
Well, I thoroughly enjoyed my lunch that Sunday at the Piccadilly as I reminisced over some fond childhood memories. I am sure many of us have fond memories of food and family. There are favorite family recipes handed down from generation to generation, certain foods that we eat during the holidays or at family reunions. Food is an important part of life--not just for nourishment of the body and mind but also for sustenance of the heart and soul.
The gospel text I read is part of the "I Am" statements from the gospel of John. In these statements, Jesus refers to himself as the "Bread of Life," the "Light of the World," the "Gate," the "Good Shepherd," the "Way," the "Vine," and the "Resurrection and the Life."
The "I Am" statements bring us face-to-face with Christ, with the one who declared himself to be the bread of life. For the people of the New Testament, bread was the most important part of the meal. When we go to a restaurant we generally focus on what kind of entree we are going to order, and the basket of bread on the table is usually secondary. But in Jesus' day, meat was the side dish, and bread represented the major portion of the meal. So when Jesus says that he is the bred of life, he is saying that he is the most important part of life.
In New Testament times, everyone had access to bread. Poorer people used barley to make bread while the wealthier used wheat, but most everyone had the means to make or buy bread. By using this metaphor, "bread of life," Jesus is saying that he is available to everyone.
Bread was the means of fellowship. In that culture, when you broke bread with someone, you were friends for life. Jesus likewise offers a friendship with us that will never end. Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, means the "house of bread."
Bread also symbolizes God's presence. The Temple in Jerusalem was continually filled with bread. This bread was a symbol of God and a reminder to the people that every time they ate bread, they should think of God. Interestingly, if a person would see a scrap of bread on the road, he would pick it up and put it on a tree branch for the birds to eat. Bread was never to be trampled under foot in the common dust because it carries with it an element of mystery and sacredness.
Throughout the public ministry of Jesus, many opinions arose about his identity. In the seven "I Am" sayings of Jesus, the focus is not on what others think of him; instead the emphasis is upon who Jesus declares himself to be.
The pronoun "I" tells us that the statement comes from within and is very personal. The word "am" relates concrete information in the present tense. Jesus did not say, "I was" or "I might be," but "I Am" right here, right now. These metaphors of Jesus as the Messiah are rich in meaning and are very comforting and yet there is more to them than what meets the eye.
When Jesus said, "I Am" he takes two verbs and puts them together recalling Exodus 3:14 where we read, "And God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.'" Every time Jesus uses one of the "I AM" metaphors, he is emphatically stating that he is Yahweh, the great "I AM" of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel.
These phrases are much more than just figures of speech. They are claims of deity that landed Jesus in trouble when he uttered them. After saying, "I am the bread of life," many of his followers left him. After claiming, "I am the light of the world," the Pharisees mocked him. When he stated, "I am the good shepherd," the crowds denounced Jesus. And after shouting, "I am the resurrection and the life," the case against Jesus was clinched and the chief priests began the process that led to his execution.
"Bread for the Journey" is the title of the sermon for today. I feel that the "I Am" statements reflect a journey for Jesus. A journey that clarified his role as Messiah to his followers and the world.
All of us are on a journey. We never know were life will take us. As Christians, we anticipate a journey that will never be finished! Jesus must have had something like that in mind when he said, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." Jesus intended to lift the listeners from their earth bound existence to recognize that the hunger of life can be filled by a different kind of bread.
I feel there are some things inherent in a journey. Most journeys begin with a destination or purpose and along the way we run into obstacles that can bring danger or unexpected joy. During the journey, no matter what happens, it is up to us to catch some of the vision, the hope, the faith and the enthusiasm, which will make our journey through life complete and fulfilling.
We need to recognize the "I Am" statements as reflecting a journey for Jesus. When Jesus says, "I am the bread of life," we need to understand that is quite a provocative statement when it comes to measuring the worth of a journey.
But how do we measure the worth of a journey? Is it by its length in measure of time in moments, days or years? Or is it by its destination of where it takes you? Or some other way?
Life can be perceived as a continuous series of journeys big and small, short and long, all culminating in one grand journey to eternity. What is in your journey? Prayer time, a good night's sleep, trips to the grocery store, school, church, work, they may be short in time and small in most any way you might try to measure them. But the state of mind and emotion on these little journeys can add worth to the journey, or take worth away from the journey. These little journeys affect all the other journeys. In all of these trips the worth is not in the length of time or distance. The worth is in the quality of life that enables us to nurture ourselves and others that we encounter on the journey.
As I contemplate the symbol of Jesus as the bread of life I remember two instances for me that bring this symbol to life.
In a church I previously served, the younger children did not regularly participate in communion with the congregation. I wondered what they were learning and remembering about communion from this distant experience. On a communion Sunday, I took the opportunity during the "time with children" to talk about communion. We discussed the elements that were on the communion table and when I asked the children what they knew about communion, Katie Vanderwolfe, who was about seven years old, began to speak. She said that the bread and juice were symbols of the body and blood of Christ. Then she began to recite the words of institution "...on the night of his arrest, Jesus took the bread...." After she finished, I was astonished and delighted and many of the adults in the congregation were visibly moved by the experience. It was a profound moment in the life of that church.
One summer when I was in seminary, I went to visit my folks in Texas. On Sunday, my mom and I went to church. My home church had gone through a lot of changes. In the late 70's, this downtown church merged with a struggling suburban church and the two churches struggles for years to develop a cohesive and fulfilling identity and ministry. In the early 80's, a long-term pastorate of 26 years ended, followed by two years of an interim minister. At this point the church had called a permanent minister and an associate pastor. It was also growing in membership so we ended up sitting in the back of church that Sunday.
It was also communion Sunday. During communion, I noticed my mom was crying. I thought she was just being sentimental about my visit home. Then I noticed that some of the women sitting around us were crying. After the service, my mom told me that was the first time in the 150-year history of my home church that a woman had presided and celebrated the sacrament of communion. It was a moment in the life of my home church that I was honored to be part of and that obviously was a meaningful spiritual experience for the church.
What I learned from those two experiences is to have faith in God and you will discover that the worth of the journey is not measured by its length by buy its quality.
I would like to close today by telling a story by Shel Silverstein from his book, The Giving Tree. It involves a tree and a little boy. The tree gives the little boy her apples to pick and her branches to climb. The boy and the tree love each other and are happy in their life together. As the boy grows older, however, his interest in the tree becomes less. The tree is very lonely until one day the boy returns as a young man. The tree offers her apples and branches, but the boy claims that he is too old to climb and play. He is more interested in money.
The tree has no money, but she does have apples and suggests the boy pick the apples and sell them then he will be happy. The boy does this and the tree is happy. But then the boy stays away an even longer time and the tree is sad.
Years later the boy returns. The tree is overwhelmed with joy as she invited the boy to swing from her branches. But the boy is too busy to play. What he really wants is his own family and a house to keep him warm. Can the tree give him a house? No, but the boy can cut her branches and build a house with them, suggests the tree; then he will be happy. The boy does this and the tree is happy.
Many years pass before the boy, now middle-aged returns. The tree, overjoyed, invites the boy to play. But now the boy is too old to play. All he wants is a boat, which will take him far away. The tree invites the boy to cut down her trunk and make a boat so he can be happy. The boy does this, and the tree is happy--but not really, for now only a stump remains.
When, years later, the boy returns, he is a hunched-over old man. The tree apologizes for having nothing to offer any longer, no more apples to eat or branches to climb, only an old stump. But the old man says his teeth are too weak for apples, and he is too old to climb. All he needs is a quiet place to sit and rest for he is very tired.
"Well," says the tree, straightening herself up as much as she can, "an old stump is good for sitting and resting. Come, boy sit down, sit down and rest." And the boy does. The tree is very happy.
Life is a continuous series of journeys. Through all of them, ultimately, our aim is to nurture faith in ourselves, faith in each other, faith in God. All these journeys lead us to the grand final journey into eternity. Let our prayer be, "Lord, give us bread for the journey!" Amen.
August 24 , 2008
Mary Alice Lyman
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