August 8, 2012
Psalm 127, John 6:35, 41-51
Receiving
the Bread that Satisfies
I don’t know whether you all heard about the
flood we had this week. There was a
break in the supply line to the toilet in the women’s restroom in the
Educational building. I was away when
all this happen. Donna started hearing
water. When she went to investigate
there was water coming through the ceiling on the Office level, into my office
and the office of Pastor Shealy. Donna
literally had to hold an umbrella over my computer while the kids here for the
“Robotic Challenge Camp” grabbed all the components and moved them to higher
ground.
Let me just say, that a flood in the offices
was about the last thing we needed around here.
It was a full week. With Maryln Thompson being admitted to the hospital;
Gene Copenhaver deciding that four days after back surgery he would drive to VA
for a family reunion; reeling from farewells to the Werner family and Summers
family; trying to get the LCM Newsletters out to incoming students; AND all
three of my own children moving. It was
a full week. And then, the water pipe
breaks and one day is spent cleaning up water, the next putting offices back
together.
But God is good – all the time. All the time – God is good. And that goodness revealed itself in the
Psalm appointed for daily reading during these hectic days. It is Psalm 127. Which is what ought to be printed on our
bulletin. But you just sang it, so it
ought to be familiar to you.
Look at it again, with me:
1Unless the Lord builds the house, their labor
is in vain who build it.
Unless
the Lord watches over the city, In vain the sentinel keeps vigil.
(That is very comforting, picturesque. But it is the next verse which exposes God’s
goodness:)
2It is vain to rise so early and go to bed so late;
Vain, too, to eat the bread of toil (the
NRSV calls it “anxious toil”);
for you, Lord, give sleep to your beloved.
There is an alternative interpretation for
the Hebrew contained in that last line which makes the point more pointedly. The line could also read, "For God
provides for his beloved during sleep." God provides for his beloved during sleep!!! If these words are not a justification for
late mornings and afternoon naps, what is?
"It is vain to rise so early and go to
bed so late; eating the bread of anxious toil." Words I needed to hear, during this week in
which so many things were happening and so many more are looming just around
the corner. "It is vain that you
rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil." Why didn’t God just come right out and tell us
that all of our efforts and all of that dedication to hard work would get us
absolutely nowhere. Benjamin Franklin is
the promoter of “the early bird gets the worm.”
God is a fan of early bed times AND late morning risers.
The bread of anxious toil. I have eaten more than my share from that
loaf. I image that many of you have
too. And if we are what we eat, then I
guess we can also figure out what a constant diet of this anxious food will
produce. How differently our lives would
be, if instead of eating from the loaf of anxious toil we were to allow
ourselves eat the bread which Jesus gives us.
Jesus brings to us, not a loaf of anxious toil, but the Bread of
Life.
Perhaps you have realized that we are in the
midst of five consecutive Sundays for which portions of John, chapter 6, serve
as the Gospel lesson. Do you remember
the initial story which began this chapter?
It is the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 with only a few loaves and
fish. Those events lie behind Jesus’
continuing to ask the disciples why it is that they are following him. Is it because they ate their fill of the
loaves and the fish or is it because they seek this bread of life? Jesus challenges them with the basic question
of whether they are striving to be in the right place at the right time so as
to receive their little piece of the pie, or whether their following him means
that they are truly open to receiving the Bread of Life.
Psalm 127:2 notwithstanding, receiving is
difficult. It really is a lot more difficult
than earning. Earning involves deciding
what you want and coming up with a plan to get it. A leads to B, which leads to C, and so forth. Earning we can control; we can earn
through our anxious toil. Receiving
- well that is a different matter.
Receiving means acknowledging a need and then waiting to see if there
will be a response. Receiving involves
trust; it means that we must have hope; and, it brings with it the necessity of
faith. These skills are not as easy to
develop as are competency, dedication and good work habits. Receiving is difficult.
The leaders of the religious establishment
were unwilling to receive - they wanted a much cleaner means of obtaining. John records that they began to complain
about (Jesus) because he said, "I am the bread that came down from
heaven." They wanted to put him
in his place by locating him in the pecking order of laborers. They ask, "Is not this Jesus, the son
of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?" It is as if they are saying, 'He couldn't
have worked hard enough or long enough to have climbed the ladder this
far. If he wants to claim to speak the
Word of God then he had better go through the appropriate steps. He must earn the right to be God's
spokesperson.' It is inconceivable
to them that Jesus might have merely received God's Word.
Receiving is difficult. Receiving means that we let go of our
illusions of self-sufficiency.
Receiving means that we trust another - even more than we trust
ourselves. Receiving means that we come
with our hands empty and open. Receiving
means that we go early to bed and are late to rise, allowing God to provide
for his beloved during sleep.
Obviously, I am having a little fun with this
image from Psalm 127. But as I spent the
week wrestling with its meaning and at the same time trying to understand
Jesus’ admission that he is the Bread of Life, I wondered how different
life would be if we were to trust God more and depend less upon our own
capabilities. What would my ministry
look like, if rather than eating the bread of anxious toil I were to
enjoy a few more morsels of the Bread of Life?
I am convinced that Jesus wants us to eat,
leisurely, from this gracious loaf. I am
convinced that God wants us to relax, to enjoy ourselves, our lives, our
loves. I am convinced of these things -
and yet I live my life as if it is my job to save to the world. I don’t want to live my life that way. And I don’t want you to leave this building
today thinking that God wants you to live your life that way, either. That is the way that too many generations
have lived their lives. Our ancestors
ate of that loaf and look where it got them - they are all dead. Jesus has invited us to come and eat from a
different loaf.
Hear, again Jesus’ promise:
“I am the bread of life...This is the bread
that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 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.”
Stop eating from that bread of anxious
toil. Allow God to build your house and
allow God to guard your city. Take your
rest and allow God to provide for you during your sleep.
Amen.
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