- Sermon - Mickey Anders

"The Bread of Life"
By Dr. Mickey Anders
South Elkhorn Christian Church
Lexington, Kentucky
August 9, 2009

Text: John 6:35, 41-51

This is the third installment of five weeks in which we focus on Chapter 6 of John's gospel. Two weeks ago, we heard the actual miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fish. Last week, we learned that we have to understand the metaphors to understand John. Jesus wanted the people to think about spiritual nourishment and not just physical nourishment. He told them that they needed to believe in "him whom God has sent", namely himself. In this week's reading, Jesus emphasizes that he alone is the Bread of Life. This text is a continuation of the Bread of Life metaphor.

So today I want to do something different and share a number of bread metaphors as we look at all things bread! We have about thirty loaves of various kinds of bread here, plus all the ingredients for making bread. The bread machines have almost completed their cooking cycle so that our room is filled with the smell of fresh bread!

Let's begin with a wonderful Celtic Prayer about bread:
Be gentle when you touch bread.
Let it not lie uncared for, unwanted.
So often bread is taken for granted.
There is so much beauty in bread;
beauty of sun and soil,
beauty of patient toil,
winds and rains have caressed it,
Christ often blessed it.
Be gentle when you touch bread.

Bread is a universal food. If we look at the various cultures and countries of the world, I think we could safely say that bread is the most universal of all food, in whatever manner it is baked: as a loaf, a biscuit, a muffin, a bagel, a croissant or as a pita. Everyone eats bread.

But we may not be in a position to really understand the meaning of Jesus' statement that he is the Bread of Life because, for us, bread is almost an extra item on our plate. However, that has not been the case with most cultures. An Armenian Christian once said that Westerners do not understand what Jesus was saying when he said, "I am the Bread of Life" because in the Middle East bread is the heart of every meal. Someone has estimated that for most cultures bread provides 50% of the calories that sustain them. Bread is a staple. Bread is the life-giving substance that every culture cherishes.

It is obvious that Jesus used bread as a metaphor or figure of speech for what God means to us: life, strength, sustenance. When Jesus claimed to be the Bread of Life, he is claiming to personify the revelation of God.

Now I want you to join me in the kitchen as we pursue the metaphors. Let's make some bread. I have on this table all the ingredients we need to make bread. The simplest breads are made from flour, water, yeast, and salt.

First, we must have flour. Flour is a powder made of cereal grains. It is the defining ingredient of bread. We most often use wheat flour, but it can also be made from corn and other grains.

This flour connects with our church history because Higby Mill, Bowman Mill, and Parkers Mill are ancient landmarks in community. The main purpose of those mills was to make flour.

Jesus talked about wheat on several occasions. He said, "Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." On another occasion he said to Simon, "Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat..." This flour symbolizes our lives. We are the ones who are sifted and tested. We are the ones who must die to ourselves in order to produce much fruit. When we fall to the ground and are buried, but that is not the end of us. We will rise in a different form and live forever in the presence of God.

Next, we need salt. Made primarily of sodium chloride, salt is essential for animal life. Salt flavor is one of the basic tastes, an important preservative and a popular food seasoning. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot."

Water is essential to our cooking of bread. John baptized Jesus in water as the first public act of his ministry. Jesus said, "For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward." Jesus and the disciples often took boats on the water. Jesus walked on the water. He once said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Pilot called for water at the trial of Jesus, washed his hands in it and proclaimed, "I am innocent of this man's blood."

Now, if you have ever made bread, you know that there is one very essential ingredient without which there would be no bread. And that ingredient is yeast. Yeast is used in baking as a leavening agent, where it converts the fermentable sugars present in the dough into carbon dioxide. This causes the dough to expand or rise as the carbon dioxide forms pockets or bubbles. When the dough is baked it "sets" and the pockets remain, giving the baked product a soft and spongy texture.

Unleavened bread is featured in the story of the Exodus because the people did not have time for the bread to rise. But most bread uses yeast to make the bread rise.

Many people don't use the packets of yeast from the grocery store, but make their own often called "sourdough starter." It is a batter of flour and water, filled with living yeast and bacteria. If properly cared for, sourdough starter can last for centuries. Some people view it as a pet that must be fed. Periodically, half the starter is thrown away and a half-cup of flour and a half-cup of water are added to the mix, and returned to the refrigerator.

The yeast or sourdough starter can symbolize the Holy Spirit in our lives. The Spirit is that mysterious presence that makes our lives fuller and richer. The Spirit helps us rise to our full potential. And just like sourdough starter, the Spirit in our lives must be nurtured and fed by our private devotions and prayer.

The dough must be kneaded. Kneading is a process used to mix together the ingredients and add strength to the bread. The aim of this is to remove any large air pockets which have formed in the dough, create an even texture in the bread and redistribute the nutrients for the yeast, thus allowing fermentation to continue. If the dough is not kneaded enough, it will not be able to hold the tiny pockets of air created by the leaven, and will collapse, leaving a heavy and dense loaf.

Kneading can symbolize the shaping and remaking of our lives by God. Jeremiah used the imagery of the potter and the clay. We get a similar image here of God's hands intimately involved in our lives, remaking, shaping and transforming us. Without God's transforming work, our lives will be flat and heavy as well.

Then the dough must be set aside for a while so that the fermentation process started by the yeast will cause the dough to rise. The Bible often talks about the sabbath principle in which we are to rest. It's one of the Ten Commandments, "Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy." When the bread rests, it rises. I love that metaphor that we too must rest to rise!

Finally, the bread must be baked in the oven. I suppose this imagery can be positive and negative. John the Baptist said, "I will baptize you with water, but the one coming after me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." Fire can represent warmth. Baking the bread transforms it into the wonderfully delicious substance it is. But baking in the oven can also represent the testing of life. We say, "If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen." We are proven by fire. And Jesus often said that we are in danger of being cast into the fire of judgment. Without the baking, bread will not be produced.

Notice that we can no longer identify the flour, salt, water and other ingredients that went into the making of bread. The baking has transformed the dough into a new product called bread. I love that passage from Romans 12 that says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds...."

At the end of the process we get bread in one of its many forms. There are countless types of bread, many of which we have on display here: Bagels, baguettes, biscuits, black bread, breadsticks, cornbread, crackers, croissant, croutons, English muffins, French bread, Indian bread, Italian bread, Jewish rye bread, Portuguese sweet bread, flatbread, loaf, matza, monkey bread, nut bread, olive bread, onion bread, pita, pretzel, pumpernickel, roll, sourdough bread, spoon bread, tortilla, white bread, whole wheat bread, and whole grain bread.

Augustine once made an analogy with bread. He pointed out that the bread is made from many grains, but it becomes one. He said we receive the Holy Spirit as the fire that bakes us. Through the one bread, we are continually brought together as the Body of Christ. The Church is made up of many people who become one in Jesus.

There is a Jewish tradition regarding bread. On Rosh Hashanah, there is a ceremony called tashlich. Jews traditionally go to the ocean or a stream or river to pray and throw bread crumbs into the water. Symbolically, the fish devour their sins. Someone has suggested that we use white bread for ordinary sins; multigrain bread for complex sins, pretzels for twisted sins, and stoned wheat for sins of substance abuse. And for telling bad jokes we should repent using corn bread.

Bread is also a sign of hope, the hope of tomorrow. During the bombing raids of World War II, thousands of children were orphaned and left to starve. The fortunate ones were rescued and placed in refugee camps where they received food and good care. But many of these children who had lost so much could not sleep at night. They feared waking up to find themselves once again homeless and without food. Nothing seemed to reassure them. Finally, someone hit upon the idea of giving each child a piece of bread to hold at bedtime. Holding their bread, these children could finally sleep in peace. All through the night the bread reminded them, "Today I ate, and I will eat again tomorrow." (Sleeping with Bread: Holding What Gives You Life by Dennis Linn, Sheila Linn and Matthew Linn)

The pretzel is a bread with a special shape. Some say it started when a young monk in the early 600s in Italy was preparing a special Lenten bread of water, flour and salt. To remind his brother monks that Lent was a time of prayer, he rolled the bread dough in strips and then shaped each strip in the form of crossed arms, mimicking the then popular prayer position of folding one's arms over each other on the chest. The bread was then baked as a soft bread, just like the big soft pretzels one can find today. They became a symbol of good luck, long life and prosperity. Interestingly, they were also a common food given to the poor and hungry. Not only were pretzels easy to give to someone in need, but also they were both a substantial food to satisfy the hunger and a spiritual reminder of God knowing a person's needs and answering our prayers.

Bread plays a prominent role in the children's fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel. The children who are banished to the forest first find their way back home using a trail of white pebbles. The second time they are abandoned, they leave a trail of bread crumbs, which are subsequently eaten by animals and the children are lost in the woods when they find the gingerbread house.

Jesus left a path of bread crumbs for us to follow. On one occasion he called it the narrow way that leads to salvation, as opposed to the broad way that leads to destruction. In John 14, Jesus claims to be the way, the truth and the life. Jesus as the Bread of life leaves a trail of bread crumbs to show us how to find God.

When Jesus said, "I am the bread of life," what kind of bread do you think he had in mind? The bread that we are most familiar with is the common, sliced white bread from the grocery store. It is really a rather tasteless product, but it is perfect for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. When toasted, it makes a good bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich. Perhaps we like it because its bland taste does not compete with other flavors.

Do you think Jesus is like white bread? Or do you think Jesus is like one of these delicious multi-grain loaves? I think Jesus is bread which is textured, multifaceted and complex in flavor. Jesus is not simple, plain white bread, but bold and flavorful whole wheat bread that adds so much to life.

Finally, we must say that bread is meant to be shared. One person can't eat a whole loaf. Like our faith, it is best when shared with others. Today, we share this bread with you. As you leave the service, we will have slices of these various kinds of bread available to you. Please taste and remember that Jesus is the Bread of Life.

Prayer
"Help me, O God, to live the recipe of good deeds before I give the recipe.
Give me the kneading strength of your Spirit to work your words into the doughy recesses of my life.
Help me to let it rest awhile in my heart so that it can rise.
Help me not to fear the oven of life, so that it can bake through and through.
And grant that in the baking, the world would be able to roll down its window and savor the aroma of freshly baked bread, your bread of life."
(From Windows of the Soul, by Ken Gire, p. 190. Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI. 1996. Quoted in The Ultimate Soul Food, ibid.)