Food that Does Not Perish

John 6: 24-35

August 2, 2015

After Jesus fed 5000 people,

they tried to make him king.

So he hid himself somewhere

but some of the people that were there

have come to find him again.

These are not the hungry or the sick,

These are more the curious.

The ones who come by afterwards

Broken Bread, Walter Rane

that go backstage after the show

like autograph hunters.

They’ve come to get a little more from Jesus.

Jesus actually seems a little skeptical

about their motivations for following him.

Jesus accuses them of  just looking for more bread

they like what they ate.

They want one more sign, one more

miracle, one more piece of bread

then they will know, then they will be satisfied.

they even ask Jesus how they can do the trick themselves.

But Jesus tells them not to waste their time

looking for that perishable food,

He says , don’t’ keep trying to find the food that

just goes stale in the end.

Jesus knew about them,

just as he knows about us.

We spend a lot of our time focusing

on perishable things.

Like this crowd, most of us have

looked for something some time in our lives

and not quite known what it is.

Many of us have grasped on to the

next thing or the simplest thing, thinking that was the answer.

Most of humanity has felt this at one time or another.

And in this world of quick fixes

and instant gratification

and the world tries to offer up satisfaction

in endless temporary and perishable ways.

It’s easy thing to point to obvious things like addictions

like drugs or alcohol, or even food or sex.

Those are certainly ways that we get

temporary satisfaction, but in the end

we keep on having to go back for more.

Those are the easy ones to point out.

but how much time do we spend on

The temporary things, the car, the house,

even the church building or

the perfect worship experience.

Just to realize those don’t fully satisfy?

And we also turn to other things,

possessions, money, work,

our own accomplishments, career advancement,

perfection, experiences, and emotional highs

those are things that we spend a lot of time on

that just don’t last forever.

  

Advertisers maybe know best about that

need to fill the space in us and they try to do it

with whatever they’re trying to sell.

The  product, the car or drink or snack or  

not just a good product it’s an emotion,

a feeling, a memory it will fulfill your needs.

 At least for now.

My least favorite commercial on TV today,

is the Kroger’s commercial, have you seen this?

A woman comes in the store with her child,

and the produce lady – or the actress that plays

a produce lady –  says, “Hi, Ashley”

“Ashley’s one of our favorites.”

and Ashley goes around the store where

everyone treats her personally ,

everyone knows her name, everyone has a smile

and a witty retort or statement for her.

And the manager type person says,

“At Kroger, we’re family.”

And she helps Ashley in line

and says , “goodbye Ashley.”

First, I hate this commercial, because it lies.

That is far from my experience at Kroger,

or any grocery store I’ve ever been to.

Depending on what’s going on at

church or at home, I can go to Kroger’s

three times a week one person there might recognize me.

The same person is hardly ever working when I go.

I consider myself lucky when the cashier

even says hello to me before they start ringing me up.

  

And I’ve worked in a large grocery store

as a checker when I was in college.         

I didn’t even know the names

of most of the other employees.

It’s a giant place with hundreds of employees.

But it also bothers me because

why are people looking for that kind of spiritual/emotional

fulfillment at their big box super market chain?

I have to look at this commercial

and say that the advertisers must know something

They know that people are looking for this.

That feeling of family outside family.
The community of sharing and loving,

and helping and forgiving that we talk

about here people are looking for it.

But it’s easy to look for it

in houses and cars and quick encounter

with grocery store employees.

It’s easier for us to look to temporary things

and get little fixes than it is for us to seek out.

get the real bread that never goes bad.

I would even say that if we only look to

other people, even family, we will feel unsatisfied in the end.

We keep seeking the food that perishes.

The crowd asks Jesus where they can find

that food that doesn’t perish

and Jesus tells them.

Jesus says “believe in the one who sent me.

Believe that he is the one.”

Jesus says that the thing that fills that space is God.

Now I don’t believe in magic, even when it comes to God.

I don’t believe that just saying you believe

or that you accept Jesus Christ as your lord

and savior just instantly changes your life.

I don’t even believe becoming part of a Christian church

There are plenty of Christian churches that

have about as much love as Kroger’s.

And all faith communities are

made up of humans and can disappoint.

I don’t believe that just wearing a cross

or saying the prayers, or reading the bible,

or worshiping God is like waving some magic wand.

Those things can help us find true bread,

but if we keep them out there,

they will just perish with everything else.

 But the true bread that Jesus told us about

can be found through faith.
Faith in the one who provides all the bread.

And faith is not just belief in a list of things, faith is trust.

It’s trust, that the creator of everything

the one that is the source of our lives

and all that is, is on our side, is for us, is with us.

Trust that the one who created the mountains

and the trees and the oceans,

also knows how many hairs are on your head.

Trust that God creates abundance, wants us all to

thrive and flourish and love and share with others.

Trusting in that truth, shown to us by Jesus.

That is the bread we’re all looking for.

Joining with other people that try to live

into that truth and share that truth with each other

and the outside world, that’s where

we will find satisfaction, not at Kroger’s.

And how we know as Christians we

find that truth through

the community that gathers around the table.

The place that shares Christ’s body and blood,

broken and given for us.

That is where we find the bread of life

the true bread, the food that never perishes,

the food that endures for eternal life.