I can only hope that the result, which follows, is at once cohesive, coherent, and faithful. I drew on many resources and writers, including "Sermon Illustrations," Mark Tranvik and Ginger Barfield of "Working Preacher," D. Mark Davis of "Left Behind and Loving It," Kathryn Matthews Huey, and "Girardian Reflections on the Lectionary."
Ephesians 4:1-16
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a
life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and
gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every
effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one
body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling,
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all
and through all and in all.
But each of us was given grace according to the measure of
Christ's gift. Therefore it is said, "When he ascended on high he made
captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people." (When it says,
"He ascended", what does it mean but that he had also descended into
the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same one who ascended far
above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) The gifts he gave
were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors
and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the
body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of
Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by
every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful
scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him
who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knitted together
by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly,
promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love.
John 6:24-35
So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples
were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking
for Jesus.
When they found him on the other side of the lake, they
said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" Jesus answered them,
"Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw
signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food
that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of
Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal."
Then they said to him, "What must we do to perform the works of God?"
Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him
whom he has sent." So they said to him, "What sign are you going to
give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you
performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written,
'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Then Jesus said to them,
"Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from
heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the
bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the
world." They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always."
Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever
comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be
thirsty."
This is the Word of the Lord.
It didn’t take long, did it?
That next morning, after the Feeding of the Five Thousand, everybody
woke up, and though they’d eaten of the bread and fishes until they thought
they would pop, soon enough they had felt their stomachs grumble, and started
looking for Jesus and his disciples. It didn’t take long for everyone to
realize that they were looking for people who weren’t there, hop in their
boats, and set sail for Capernaum.
This sensation they had all shared – the feeling that, for
once, there was enough to eat, that from now on, to quote Scarlett O’Hara,
they’d “never be hungry again,” was intoxicating, compelling. They needed to
know more about this rabbi, to find out where he came from and why he was here,
and perhaps – just perhaps – in the midst of finding out all they could about
him, Jesus would feed them again.
But of course the Feeding of the Five Thousand had never
been about having a full belly, but about who Jesus really is. Certainly, the
crowd knew that to some degree, because they had been on the cusp of forcing
Jesus to become their king. But as they climb out of their boats and try to
start a conversation, Jesus begins the arduous task of setting their sights
higher, of bringing their minds out of their stomachs and into the
now-and-coming Kingdom of God.
They ask about when he got there – and while Jesus’ answer
appears convoluted and enigmatic, it speaks to the heart of the matter – they
aren’t there for signs but for food. Make no mistake, Jesus is all about providing
them with bread, but the food they’d had yesterday was not the food they
needed.
That crowd who sought out Jesus thought they needed bread
for a day, when what they needed was bread for eternity. Jesus’ purpose in
providing that food was not to fill their bellies, but to demonstrate the
nature of who he really was: the Bread of Life, the bread which comes down from
heaven and gives life to the world.
I find a strange kind of comfort, knowing that the crowd
that day was so much like me – and, if we’re honest, so much like all of us.
Think of it: how much of our attention, efforts, time and treasure is spent
seeking and maintaining the things we want,
rather than the things we need? And
how often do we confuse those two things – not just materially, but spiritually?
Certainly, the church at Ephesus had some things confused.
Since it was a matter of record in Jewish culture that contact with a Gentile
made a person ceremonially unclean, in an effort to maintain purity, the Jewish
Christians made it a point to separate themselves from the Greek Christians.
When the Apostle Paul got word of this, he wrote from his
prison cell to set the record straight: what the church at Ephesus needed was
not to be “clean,” but to be united.
And that is a message we need to hear today.
We used to know this, I think. Once, long ago, perhaps only
for a moment, we knew God’s dream for us. I think it was that night of the
Passover Seder, just before the garden and the betrayal and the arrest, when
the Rabbi, arms outstretched and face turned heavenward, spoke with his Father,
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who
will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one,
Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that
the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory
that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one — I
in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the
world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved
me.”
One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all…
We knew it, but we forgot. Somewhere along the way, we lost
track of the one-ness of this Body, the truth of our unity in Christ. At some
point, the struggle to comprehend what it means to say “Jesus is Lord,” to
understand what it means to have faith, to walk with the Living God, to discern
the nature of baptism and of God as Parent became an argument, an insistence
that the only possible way to do and think and interpret and live was my way!
And let’s face it, Christianity is easier that way, isn’t
it? The unity that Jesus prayed for may be what we need, but it’s hard work.
It’s far easier to strive for doctrinal purity, theological perfection,
spiritual supremacy, to convince ourselves that we are right and everyone who
doesn’t see the clear logic of our position is either stupid or an agent of the
devil. It’s easier to define our denomination as the one out of over thirty
thousand Protestant denominations that has it all right.
Make no mistake, though, each one of those thirty thousand
denominations thinks the same thing about themselves.
We think it, we argue about it, we ignore and exclude one
another… and all the time, we – and the world around us – starves for the Bread
of Life.
Just like the crowd who had been fed with the loaves and
fishes, who tried to make Jesus their earthly king one day, and who went in
search of Jesus in order to be fed again the next day, we Christians have
become experts at missing the point, at setting our sights too low. Our
efforts, our energy, our focus and intentions were never meant to be wasted on
being right, but to be invested in being one.
The story is told about a day in 1917 when the Russian
Orthodox Church was holding convocation, and the bishops were locked in a loud
and contentious argument. A few doors down, another meeting was going on –
Bolsheviks plotting the overthrow of the Czar, and the beginnings of Communism.
While their world was crumbling around them, the bishops
were fighting over how long the candles they used in worship were to be… 18 or
22 inches long.
One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of
all…
We who call ourselves by the name of Christ think we need a
spotless spiritual walk, when what we need is one another. We are called,
individually and corporately, in ways that – when used correctly – promote a
unity which serves to demonstrate the nature of who the risen Christ really is.
The mark of spiritual maturity – of being grown-ups in the faith – is not in
having all the answers, but in being comfortable enough with one another to
live in the questions.
Please understand that the point of unity in the Body of
Christ is not simply to have a singular voice to affect social or political
change in the world. It is not simply to offer a united front in efforts to
bring the Good News to unreached people, any more than the sign of the Feeding
of the Five Thousand was about feeding five thousand people.
Rather, the unity of the Body of Christ and the Feeding of
the Five Thousand have a similar purpose – a demonstration of the nature of
Jesus Christ. When we do that – remember who we are and the purpose to which we
are called, and act as a unified Body of Christ, growing together into maturity,
all of those other things will, as a part of the overall process rather than as
the focus, be addressed!
May we remember who we are, and may we nourish ourselves,
one another, and the whole world with Jesus, the Bread of Life.
Let us pray…
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