Wonder Bread

What’s your favorite type of bread? Mine is definitely wheat. It’s just something that in recent years I have come to favor. And I love peanut butter. I will put peanut butter on just about anything: bread, English muffins, bagels, pretzels, crackers, pizza, ice cream…Okay, I’m kidding about the pizza and ice cream, but my point still stands. But I also remember when potato bread was a favorite of mine. Or even before that, I remember when we would eat “Wonder Bread.” Anyone ever have “Wonder Bread?” Anyone remember those commercials? Man those commercials when people would be joyously going about their day and the logo would descend upon them like balloons and they would go off cheerfully and make a sandwich or whatever they were doing. And what a name for a brand too, isn’t it? “Wonder Bread”, it stops you in your tracks to wonder what the wonder is all about!

Isn’t God a wonder? In the wilderness, as we’ve heard the last three weeks, God provided for the grumbling Israelites with the manna from heaven. What a God of wonder. He literally rained down bread from the sky to be the nourishment for his wayward, and whining people. In today’s Old Testament lesson we see another instance where God provided food for his servant seemingly out of nowhere, right? Elijah, the persecuted prophet of the LORD is sitting there doing what? Complaining to God of course. And what does God do? He sends the angel of the LORD down and the angel commands Elijah to arise and eat. Is what God provides enough for us however?

God definitely will provide for us, in the ways we need it, but all too often we look to satisfy our hunger our own way. See God has prepared for us a banquet, a table, and all these wonderful things and just like the Israelites we look at it and go, “Yeah what else?” It’s never enough for us is it? We’re constantly looking to fill our stomachs with the things that are of “right now.” It’s funny because when you really break it down, how are we any different than the young child who throws a temper tantrum in the store for something they HAVE to have, “right now!” In the grand scheme of things my brothers and sisters, we aren’t any different! We are the same exact way. We look around for anything and everything that can fill us up for a while, and disregard the one true thing that will never leave us hungering or thirsting for more.

What is it that you hunger for? What are you craving? I can tell you what I hunger for. I hunger for sin! My very being hungers to do what I do not want to do, as St. Paul says in Romans 7. It is truly maddening. What is it that this community hungers for, to get along on its own? (If youth are there) What is it you youth of the community hunger for? Acceptance in places you shouldn’t look for it? Oh brothers and sisters, we humans would rather go our own way. Sometimes you’ll hear people say, “Well if only God would give me a sign, then I would know and would follow.” Guess what Jesus tells people who supposedly were after signs from the chapter in which today’s Gospel comes from? He tells them, “You aren’t after signs. You’re here because I fed you! You’re following the next fad.” Just like the little kid and store analogy I used earlier. We want what is of today, or tomorrow, certainly not yesterday! We want it now! We stand there with the stubborn Israelites who practically said to God, “What have you done for us lately?” Then what does Jesus do? Jesus tells us what he’s done for us lately. And Him sharing this truth about Himself causes us grief in our sinful state. We stubbornly, just like those who have gone before, would rather reject the teachings of God than actually partake of them. Jesus goes on to talk about how He is the bread of life from heaven that lasts, eat him! What! Eat Jesus? This caused the Jewish leaders to grumble and complain. You can imagine the reaction, “What in the world is he talking about eat him?!” But what’s even more than that, not only are the Jewish leaders perplexed but also most of Jesus’ own disciples desert Him over this.

Do we not find ourselves grumbling at times over the teachings of Jesus? Isn’t it true that we sometimes desert or derail our walk because of tough teachings? In fact most of the time that is the case, “Well I just can’t accept that, so that’s it.” That’s it? Jesus is giving us an important truth about Himself and we don’t want it! We each go our own way. We want our walk to be simple, not complicated, and if we’re honest, we want it to be easy.

The 20^th century Lutheran martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote in his book, The Cost of Discipleship, that, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” We are being called into a life of service and down a narrow road, but a road that leads to life. And yet we still will disregard it from time to time. We are all looking to satisfy our hunger our own way, and not God’s way. When Bonhoeffer speaks of death he is telling us that we need to die to our own ways of self-nourishment. We think we can nourish ourselves, no problem, we do not need God. And what Bonhoeffer is sharing with us here is that Jesus tells us explicitly, “Die!” Die to the old ways in which you seek to provide and nourish for yourself. Why do we do this, brothers and sisters? We do this because we are sinful and selfish. The two go hand in hand really. Being sinful is all about being selfish, and we are certainly selfish. And when we are hungry, we definitely will become selfish. When you’re really hungry, don’t you notice that you almost become animalistic? We get really cranky and upset and look for the first thing that will satisfy us. Because of this we may snipe at loved ones and others because of our hunger. The problem is that we are the ones looking to satisfy our spiritual hunger in life as well. The problem is our sin that drives us to seek out ways to fulfill our hunger, because in this journey and search in life we are constantly seeking fulfillment and that break from hunger. What do you hunger for?

Luckily, even in our own vain attempt to satisfy our hunger, there is One who can, who does, and who will satisfy our hunger. Turn your eyes on Jesus, because that is where your true nourishment comes. Jesus is the very Bread of Life. He says so Himself and He says quite emphatically, “The one who eats from me will not hunger, and the one who believes in me will never thirst.” Never hunger, and as the Greek states never at any time thirst. Just try and envision that for a second. What a beautiful vision that hunger and thirst would cease. And this is a promise, brothers and sisters. The one who believes in Jesus has eternal life and will never, ever, at any time hunger or thirst. Spiritually it is satisfied in the here and now, and physically it is a promise in the hope that is to come. Jesus is our life’s journeys nourishment and strength.

What we see here St. John’s is that Jesus goes out and he gets us. He is the one who comes to us and feeds us. We’ve been hearing about Moses and we’ve been hearing about Elijah lately, well, how does Jesus compare to them? With Moses we see one whom God sent to deliver the people from bondage. And with the angel of the LORD who came to Elijah we once again see one whom was sent, and this time to provide nourishment for a dejected soul. God had to send these figures because of the difficulty in which the journey entails. In the same way, brothers and sisters, Jesus is sent to deliver us and to provide for us, and our dejected souls. By this rite God has claimed us as His own through Jesus Christ, His only Son. In Holy Baptism we are marked with the cross of Christ for how long? Forever! The promises of God are not dependent upon the activity of humanity, thank goodness for that! All throughout the ages we haven’t been able to keep up with God’s Law. But God sent Jesus and forgives us before we sin, and is there to receive us in forgiveness even after we have sinned. He nourishes us and gives us new life in this way.

And in just a few minutes we will come to this Table to truly receive Jesus’ body and blood as He bids us to do. Jesus talking about eating His flesh and drinking His blood for salvation is a foreshadowing of this Holy Meal. In FAITH we eat of Jesus’ body and blood and are saved. By faith, by faith, by faith. Not of our own selves, not of any other “food” we could whip up ourselves. No brothers and sisters, Jesus is our satisfaction from hunger and thirst. In that Old Testament lesson we see Elijah being told once again by the angel of the LORD to “Arise and eat.” But this time, the angel of the LORD gives a reason. He tells Elijah to “Arise and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” So again in just a few minutes when you come to this, the Lord’s Supper, arise and eat for the journey is too much for you. The journey is too much for you to go at it alone. When life has you down and seemingly out that is not the time to steer further from God, no it is the time to fall face down at the foot of the cross and cling to it. Jesus comes to us in this communion to provide us the strength we need for this journey we call life, because it is too much for us. The hurt the pain, the anguish, the uncertainty, the instability, it all adds up and when we are drained we come here. We come here to be fed in Word and in Sacrament by Jesus.

To all of you feeling that drain, it cannot be discredited because it is real. But there is One who died on the cross and rose from the grave in order to overcome that drain, and His name is Jesus the Christ. There is no reason to go down the darkened path alone because Jesus is there beside you. And He gives you this community, this family, of faith to make that journey with you. My younger brothers and sisters who are the next generation of this great community of faith, tell the forces of the world that you are not for sale. That St. John’s Youth is here to stay and they have an identity. It may not be a conventional identity as far as the world is concerned, but no matter, in your baptism you have an identity with Jesus Himself. On that no power of the world, I don’t care what it is, can stand. Feed upon Jesus in faith and be nourished along the way of your journey.

This journey does not at all end in death. No, this journey continues on beyond that. And let me be clear in this, as I know this is a favorite teaching point of Pr. Priest, the journey does not end in heaven either! This journey continues on and on in everlasting life which is physical. Jesus said that whosoever the Father draws to Him He will raise that one up on the last day. In the new earth and new creation we will walk with the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Just as Jesus rose, those of us who feed on the living bread will rise as well.

I guess you could say that the power in all this is that Jesus is our “Wonder Bread.” He is the best brand of bread that could possibly be out there. Through Him we are provided with life to the fullest now and especially in life everlasting. It’s a taste that goes beyond even my love for peanut butter. Jesus is the “wonder bread” that comes down out of heaven. Take that bread and share it with others in this neighborhood and beyond. There’s plenty to go around! Amen.