Sermon for August 1, 2021 Pentecost 10 B House of Prayer Lutheran Church

John 6:24-35; Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15 Rev. Karl-John N. Stone

When I was in college, there was this sandwich shop in town--Hogan Brothers--and they made the sandwich to end all sandwiches. It was always a special treat to make the trek off campus, leave the cafeteria behind, and eat at Hogan Brothers. The bread, the meat, the cheese, the toppings, the dressing. THE BEST.

My cousin was actually a classmate of mine at St. Olaf, and she still lives in that area. So when I visited her a few years ago, she suggested we go to Hogan Brothers. I got really excited. We walked in and the place still had the same familiar look and feel. I placed my order and sat down at a table to wait for my sandwich. When it arrived, I unwrapped the wrapper, took a bite and said…..“What is this?” This was not the Hogan Brothers of my memory. It just didn’t taste the same. Had the sandwich changed? Had my tastes changed? I don’t know. I was hungry, though, so I ate the sandwich, but I wasn’t really satisfied.

Maybe I was in a similar mindset as those Israelites wandering in the desert that we heard about in our first reading from Exodus. They complained to the Lord, “Why did you take us out of Egypt, where we could eat our fill from the tasty fleshpots, and bring us out into this wilderness to starve?” Well, their memory of Egypt didn’t exactly square with reality, because they had been slaves in Egypt where they had cried out to the Lord in their misery and oppression to be free. And now that the Lord had liberated them from Egypt and was leading them to the Promised Land they have short memories, they are afraid, and they are unwilling to trust God. Or, more to the point, they want God on their terms. They want God to give them the Hogan Brothers sandwich of their memory--oh, I mean the tasty stewed meats which in their faulty memories were always plentiful and delicious back in the good old days in Egypt.

God hears their complaining, and does provide for them--but on God’s terms. God gives them just enough to fill their needs each day by providing--not the tasty fleshpots of Egypt--but light and flaky manna in the dewey grass each morning. When they saw the manna they all said “What is it?” because they’d never seen any food like it before. Moses told them, “This is the bread the Lord has given you to eat.” And that’s how “manna” got it’s name, because it literally means “What is it?” It wasn’t exactly what they wanted, and it didn’t replace the feasts of their memories (which probably weren’t quite what they remembered, either). But the manna, the bread from heaven, did provide them with life--as long as they were willing to follow God in faith.

So, jumping over to our gospel for today, can you really blame the people by the Sea of Galilee? They were not so different from me at Hogan Brothers, or the Israelites in the wilderness. Like anyone, they didn’t want to go hungry, and they wanted their hunger satisfied. And if you had met a guy like Jesus who could multiply enough loaves and fishes to feed 5,000 people then I think you just might try to keep him around for a while, and ask him to do it again. Especially if, like most of the people who lived in Galilee, you frequently didn’t know where your next meal would come from.

Also, they knew the old stories about their ancestors. They knew that the Lord provided manna in the wilderness. Was it too much to ask Jesus to do the same, especially since he was asking them to believe in him? A little fresh manna every day would be enough proof to justify their belief, right?

Like most of us, they want God on their terms. But once again, like for all of us, God provides for them on God’s terms. As Jesus talks with the people of Galilee, I don’t think he is criticizing hungry people for wanting to be fed, because it’s hard to concentrate on anything (including God) if you are distracted by hunger. But Jesus is trying to help them--and us--grow in our understanding that “one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. (Deuteronomy 8:3)”

Being fed in body (as the crowd had been with the loaves and fishes), gives you the freedom to turn your heart to God and be fed in spirit and faith. And this is what Jesus is after. He wants us to know by faith that, even though we are broken people and we live in a broken world, his constant presence is with us to bless us with comfort and strength; forgiveness and renewal; life for today and for eternity. Jesus wants to care for us, to provide for us, so that we will be equipped by the Holy Spirit to continue Christ’s ministry by caring for others and being good stewards of God’s creation.

And to feed us in spirit and faith, God sent Jesus into this world to fulfill the spiritual hunger that is at the core of every human being. Since we and our world are both broken and blessed, Jesus blesses and breaks the bread from heaven, so you can come to his table, eat and be satisfied, and trust that Jesus himself is with you. “I am the bread of life,” Jesus said. “Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Then as you depart from Christ’s table, know that Jesus came from heaven to give life not to you alone, but to the whole world. When you leave this place, you now carry within yourself the bread of life from heaven. So take a look at the world around you; where do you see the need for life and renewal? God sends each of us to bring life to the world by sharing the love of Christ each in our own small way. Amen.