Invincible

Grace Episcopal Church, Madison NJ
August 16, 2009

Year B: The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 15
1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14
Psalm 111
(Ephesians 5:15-20)
John 6:51-58

Invincible

Each Sunday over the past few weeks we’ve slowly been making our way through the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John. In his account of the Last Supper, the Evangelist John doesn’t include the institution of the Eucharist. There’s no mention of Jesus saying, “This is my body. This is my blood. Do this in memory of me.” John describes the foot washing instead. But, in a way the fourth gospel makes up for that omission in this long section which is a rich and deep meditation on Jesus as the Bread of Life.

Two weeks ago we heard Jesus tell the crowds that they should focus not so much on the bread that fills their stomachs but rather seek the bread that comes down from heaven. Last week we heard Jesus boldly proclaim, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Jesus scandalized many who heard those words. They were scandalized when Jesus reminded them that their ancestors who ate the manna in the desert all died eventually but then insists that those who believe in him - those who eat the bread of life - will live forever.

And then today we hear very powerful and vivid Eucharistic language when Jesus says “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

You can imagine how the first readers and hearers of those words were confused and scandalized. Jesus is the living bread that comes down from heaven? And those who eat this living bread – eat this flesh – will live forever? How can this be?

They still had a lot to learn about the cheap bread of the world and the costly bread Jesus offers to the world.

We still have a lot to learn about the cheap bread of the world and the costly bread that Jesus offers to the world. Today I’d like to tell you what I learned about cheap bread and costly bread during our recent mission trip to Camden.

There is so much to tell you about the trip. Going into this experience I knew that we would be in one of the very poorest and most dangerous cities in the country. But having facts in my head really didn’t prepare me for the reality of actually being there – seeing block after block of desolation. Having facts in my head didn’t prepare me for smelling the reek of the sewage treatment plant that blankets an entire city neighborhood – invading and coating the homes of all who live there.

Having facts in my head also didn’t prepare me for the hopeful signs that I saw. At shelters and drop-in centers and food banks and day care centers we met people who have committed their lives to helping people in Camden. And at those places we met Camden residents who were good, decent people trying to survive against some awfully tough odds.

Back when Camden was thriving as a prosperous industrial city, Walt Whitman referred to it as the “city invincible.” The “city invincible.” That’s still Camden’s motto. Today there is a sad irony to that description. During our time there we saw a city not quite defeated, but all too vulnerable – vulnerable to a changed economy, vulnerable to a lack of compassion, vulnerable to poor decisions, vulnerable to a lack of leadership.

Like so many places in our nation, Camden cries out for leaders with – if not the wisdom of Solomon – at least honest leaders with genuine concern for the least among us.

Even with the fragile signs of hope sprouting here and there in the city, overall I found the experience to be nearly overwhelming. The need is so great, the damage so severe. Where will we find the strength and power to heal this broken place?

One day we did a little exercise to give us a small sense of what it’s like to be poor in Camden. We were told the federal government’s food assistance program provides 87 cents per person per meal. All of us on the mission trip were broken into “families” of four with each member of the family having three dollars to buy food for a day. We could have unlimited water, salt and a small amount of butter. Otherwise, for one day we could eat only whatever our twelve dollars was able to buy.

We walked a few blocks to one of the three supermarkets in a city with something like 80,000 people. As soon as we walked in a number of us noticed the smell the meat department although it was not near the front of the store. If the meat hadn’t already spoiled, it wasn’t far from it.

But, for us that didn’t really matter because our meager budget ruled out buying meat anyway. Now some groups did better than others – some managed to buy eggs and some fresh fruit with their limited funds.

My family was not so clever. We purchased a box of pop tarts, peanut butter and jelly, a loaf of cheap store-brand white bread, a box of off-brand macaroni and cheese…and we treated ourselves to a bag of mini chips ahoy cookies.

That’s all we would be eating the next day.

Now, I’ll admit, I hadn’t had a pop tart in a long time – and the next morning my pop tart was pretty tasty. It filled my stomach and I guess the sugar gave me a burst of energy. So I began the day feeling pretty satisfied and hopeful that this diet wouldn’t be so difficult.

That day I was working over in Philadelphia at a place called Manna, appropriately enough. It is a large industrial kitchen and food preparation center that provides meals for people suffering from AIDS, cancer and other serious illnesses. When I first got there I did feel a few pangs of hunger, but I thought the sight of all this industrially-produced food would keep me from getting too hungry.

As it turns out, Manna provides what looked like and especially smelled like incredibly delicious meals. My group estimated that we helped to prepare about fifteen hundred meals that day. As we prepared tray after tray the slices of pork smelled delicious. Apples with cinnamon – delicious. Peaches – delicious. Even the vegetables – delicious.

By our lunch break I had long since burned through my pop tarts. I was out of energy. For lunch I had a peanut and butter sandwich on cheap white bread, a handful of mini chips ahoy, and a bottle of water. The bread was soft and springy and easy to eat. I finished my lunch in about 9 seconds.

All that cheap bread filled me up but I knew it wouldn’t last. The cheap bread wouldn’t give me the strength and power that was needed.

No surprise, that evening my stomach was growling when I sat down for my dinner – a box of macaroni and cheese split four ways and a handful of mini chips ahoy for dessert. I tried to fill up with even more cheap bread.

I ended the day really looking forward to the end of this exercise and the next day’s breakfast. The cheap bread just wasn’t enough.

And what’s true for our bodies is also true for our souls. The cheap bread is never enough.

The first readers and hearers of the Gospel of John lived in difficult times. The problems and challenges they faced must have often seemed overwhelming. Everyday life was difficult enough. Placing faith in Jesus and trying to live according to his teaching meant putting everything on the line, including life itself.

Oh, just like today there was plenty of cheap bread around. There was the cheap bread of caring only about yourself and not your neighbor. There was the cheap bread of despising people who were different. There was the cheap bread of focusing solely on acquiring material possessions.

Just like today that kind of cheap bread gives a rush – but it doesn’t last and it’s not enough. And it’s certainly not the right kind of bread if we want to follow Jesus.

To live the Christian life the first hearers of the gospel needed the costly bread.

To live the Christian life we need the costly bread – the bread that comes at the great cost of God living and dying and rising again among us.

In the Body of Christ – in this costly bread – we get the strength and power we need to be fully alive – to live not just for ourselves but for our brothers and sisters – especially the poorest and most vulnerable. We get the strength and power we need to live for all the Camdens of the world – even the Camdens right here in Madison.

When we eat this costly bread we become the Body of Christ in the world.
So once again today we gather at the table and eat this costly bread. And then we will go out and be the Body of Christ in the world

Even if we live in difficult times and our problems seem overwhelming, we can have confidence because Jesus has promised that we who eat this costly bread will have the strength we need – and more than that - we will live forever.

We who eat this costly bread are a people invincible.

Amen.