Wonder White or Bread of Life
Rev Barbara Porizky
05/06/07
John
6:51-58
I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh."
The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us
his flesh to eat?"
So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the
flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who
eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at
the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who
eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living
Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live
because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the
fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever."
This he said in the synagogue, as he taught at Caper'na-um.
My son Josh is sixteen years old. He
is 5 foot, 9 inches tall. He weighs
135 pounds. He is still growing.
He is a healthy young man. He
has a healthy passion for sports. And
he has a healthy appetite. Sort of.
I listen to parents of other teenage sons describe the eating habits of their
sons.
These other parents exclaim, “My son eats everything!
Red, brown, yellow or green—doesn’t matter what color it is.
My son eats it! And plenty of
it!”
My son Josh, on the other hand, does NOT eat everything.
My son Josh does not eat vegetables.
He doesn’t eat carrots, cauliflower or corn—unless it is creamed
corn. He doesn’t eat tomatoes.
He does squeeze ketchup onto various foods.
But, contrary to what the late President Ronald Reagon once declared,
ketchup is NOT a vegetable.
Josh most especially resists green vegetables.
That means no peas, no green beans, no cabbage, no broccoli and no
zucchini have knowingly found their way into Josh’s stomach in the past
sixteen years.
God forbid that an innocent piece of lettuce should appear on Josh’s
dinner plate. Horror of horrors!
By Josh’s reaction, you would think that toxic green slime had just
dropped from planet Jupiter onto his plate.
Moreover, Josh eats only white bread.
He eats only plain, white bread. He
eats only plain, boring white bread.
Josh’s no-vegetable and only-white-bread menu is not a battle I choose
to fight.
Occasionally, however, I try to “sneak” in those foods which Josh
swears he cannot eat.
You mothers know exactly what I’m talking about!
We “sneak” steamed vegetables into innocuous-looking pasta.
Some of us even “sneak” scrambled eggs into macaroni and cheese.
So, I have tried to “sneak” non-white bread into Josh’s school
lunches.
One day, when Josh was in second grade, I packed him a wonderful lunch,
including a peanut butter and fluff sandwich on wheat bread.
That day Josh’s lunch box came back with all his lunch eaten…except
the peanut butter and fluff sandwich on wheat bread.
One day, five years later, when Josh was in seventh grade, I again packed
him a wonderful lunch, including a peanut butter and fluff sandwich on wheat
bread.
That day Josh’s lunch pack came back with all his lunch eaten…except
the peanut butter and fluff sandwich on wheat bread.
And Josh pleaded, “Mom, please don’t make me any more sandwiches on
icky brown bread.”
A year ago, Josh started high school.
One day this past April, I once again packed him a wonderful lunch
including a peanut butter and fluff sandwich on whole wheat bread.”
Now that he is in high school, Josh uses only “disposable” brown
paper bags for lunch. And that day
Josh announced, “Mom, I threw out the peanut butter and fluff sandwich.
The bread you used looked like it had squished bugs in it.
Mom, please just use Wonder White bread.
OK? Just Wonder White.”
*
* * * *
Wonder White bread.
The most popular and most eaten bread in
Wonder White bread. It’s a processed creation of soft texture,
predictable color and a flavor so bland it defies description.
Wonder White bread. It’s
the perfect platform for peanut butter and jelly.
When toasted, it’s the perfect holding device for bacon, lettuce and
tomato.
Wonder White bread. It’s
perfectly soft so we don’t have to work hard to chew it.
Wonder White bread. It’s
cheap. And it’s predictable.
The image of Wonder White bread fits well into our gospel message this
morning…if only because it is the diametric opposite of the bread of life.
In our gospel passage this morning Jesus explains to the people:
I AM THE LIVING BREAD THAT CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN….THE BREAD THAT I WILL
GIVE FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD IS MY FLESH.
Jesus declares: I AM THE
BREAD OF LIFE.
His listeners are horrified because they are stuck on the literal meaning
of his words. What Jesus has just
said is tantamount to cannibalism. Their
reaction is: “Eyuuuu!
This man wants to give us his flesh to eat?
How disgusting is that?”
But Jesus often speaks in metaphors (e.g., I AM THE GATEKEEPER, I AM THE
GOOD SHEPHERD, I AM THE VINE AND YOU ARE THE BRANCHES).
Jesus has been using metaphors when speaking to the people ever since he
first opened his mouth in public ministry.
The people don’t “get” what Jesus means about his being the bread
of life. Or rather, they don’t
WANT to “get” it. If the people
“get” it—if they understand what Jesus means—“Ooooh!
That’s what Jesus means!—then they may have to change their
life and their life style.
And they don’t want to change.
Dear people: Guess what!
Some of us don’t want to “get” it either.
Some of us don’t want to understand what Jesus means by saying “I am
the bread of life” because we don’t want to change our life or life style
either.
What could Jesus possibly mean by saying “I am the bread of life”
that would be so radical for us?
Let’s start by looking at the ingredient list for Wonder White bread.
Wonder White bread contains (and these are the ingredients that are
pronounceable):
Bleached white flour
Water
Corn syrup
Yeast
Soybean oil
Salt
Dough conditioners
The nutrition list also includes another 22 additives and preservatives which are not so pronounceable. Frankly if I read aloud these ingredients, you may never want to eat processed white bread again! Some of these other ingredients are:
Ferrous sulfate
Thiamine mononitrate
Amonium chloride
Amonium sulfate
Calcium sulfate
Calcium dioxide
Calcium carbonate
Dicalcium phosphate
Tricalcium phosphate
Mono and diglycerides
The list includes another twelve ingredients that I can’t put my mouth
around.
Wonder White bread. It’s
cheap and it’s predictable.
But what about “the bread of life”?
What might its ingredients include?
In the country of
Flour
Barley
Malt
Yeast
Sunflower seeds
Polenta
Flax seed
Sea salt
Cracked wheat
Millet
Soy grits
Water
Oats Buckwheat Sesame seeds
Lorna, a dear friend of mine who is of Austrian descent, explains:
“In
Ah, so this might describe the bread of life.
Unlike Wonder White, the sunflower seed bread is NOT cheap.
Its ingredients are costly and sometimes difficult to find.
Moreover, much time, work and effort are required to mix, to knead and to
bake the dough.
Nor is sunflower seed bread predictable.
Every loaf of this bread is different.
Even every bite of this bread is different.
Such is the bread of life. It
is bread of substance.
And it is no coincidence that, when Jesus speaks these words—the living
bread--to the people, he uses the Hebrew word “lechem.”
Lechem. L-e-c-h-e-m. Lechem.
You say it: Lechem.
In Hebrew, “lechem” means more than bread.
It means “food.” It means
“substance.”
It means, when we take Jesus Christ—the bread of life—into our lives,
WE LIVE LIVES OF SUBSTANCE.
Lives of substance.
Dear people of God: When we
eat the bread of life, it means we cut out television time so we can carve out
prayer time.
It means we sleep one hour less on Sunday mornings so we can drive and
bring a church member—who cannot drive--to worship.
It means we decrease our vacation fund so we can increase our church
contribution and support the church that supports us.
The bread of life is not cheap or predictable.
The bread of life is costly and substantial.
Rachel Naomi Remen is a medical doctor, and she is also the author of the
book Kitchen Table Wisdom.
Rachel tells this story of when she was six years old:
I visited my grandfather once and spent the night in his house. I slept in an upstairs bedroom.
About
Lifting up the bread, my grandfather called out, “Lechem.” Then he raised his right hand and cried out, “Le chiam” [which, in Hebrew, means “to life”].
Again, he lifted up the bread and said, “Lechem.”
Likewise, he raised his right hand and said, “Le chiam.”
My grandfather repeated this ritual six times. Then he placed the dark, thick loaf on a plate. With a knife he cut a generous slice. Finally he bit into the bread. He savored the flavor and texture with each chew.
Quietly I padded into the kitchen. His gentle gaze met my questioning eyes. “Grandpapa, why do you do this?” I asked.
My grandfather swallowed and answered in a voice that trembled, “My
child, when I was your age, I was in a concentration camp where we had no bread
and where we had no hope for life. Now,
I have bread. Now, I have life.
I never want to forget. This
bread is life.”
Here is Wonder White. This is
bread: Cheap but predictable.
Here is the bread of life. This too is bread:
Costly but substantial.
Dear people of God: Wonder White or the bread of life? Which one will you eat?
St.
Andrew Presbyterian Church, Groton,
Web Site: WWW.SAPC-CT.ORG
Office Email: OFFICE@SAPC-CT.ORG
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