August 1, 2021 – Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

How do we receive Jesus as the ‘living bread’?  By coming together and being present to each other.

Let us bow our heads in prayer.  Gracious God, we give you thanks for the gift of your presence in this time and place, and within each one of us, both gathered here and in the many places we are gathered in our homes. Help us now to open our minds, our hearts, our whole lives, to receive the gift of your living Word for us this day; and may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.  Amen.

Both last Sunday and this Sunday, Jesus is referred to in the Gospels as ‘the bread of life.’  It does have a nice kind of poetic, metaphoric sense to it, doesn’t it?  But what does it really mean for us, other than in the general sense that Jesus provides for us.  Well I’m going to start with the First Reading actually - from 2 Samuel – the Bathsheba, David, Uriah, story.  And just a little recap from last week – David is nicely settled now as king of the unified Israel and Judah kingdom.  And one afternoon he sees a beautiful woman bathing on a rooftop.  He uses his royal power to bring her to his house and he commits adultery with her.  Bathsheba is married to Uriah, an officer in David’s army, and she becomes pregnant after David has intercourse with her.  David tries, unsuccessfully, to make it appear as though Uriah is the father, and when that fails, he instructs his General to set up Uriah in the battlefield and draw back so that Uriah is killed. 

In today’s reading, David brings the widow Bathsheba to his house and he takes her as his wife.  And the writer of 2 Samuel says this, “But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord, and the Lord sent Nathan to David.”  Now Nathan is a prophet and he speaks God’s word to David.  He uses a parable, in a sense, to set up David for the punchline, and it then exposes David’s treachery.  Now even in that ancient patriarchal society, David’s actions are judged as inexcusably bad.  And sadly, on a human level, there probably wouldn’t have been too much concern for Bathsheba.  David does look after her but Bathsheba is viewed as a precious possession of Uriah whom David stole and effectively murdered her husband, Uriah.  So listen to God’s word of judgement spoken by Nathan.  These are God’s words – “I anointed you king over Israel.  I rescued you from the hand of Saul.  I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah.  And if that had been too little, I would have added as much more.”  Notice how in everything and every way in which David has succeeded in his life or triumphed – those things have been given to him by the Lord.  Then Nathan pronounces God’s judgement against David: “Why have you despised the word of the Lord to do what is evil in his sight.  You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.  Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house for you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.”  Note the charge, “You have despised the word of the Lord.”, and in the concluding climax – “You have despised me.”, as in God.  You see Bathsheba and Uriah are also God’s children – God’s loving possession – and David’s actions are not just criminally and morally wrong – they are a direct offense to God.  And David finally, at the end of today’s reading, realizes this.  “David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’”  This is the ultimate One to sin against.  I’m not sure that we, in our contemporary society, often see Him that way but there is no one more serious to sin against than God.

Now in today’s Collect Prayer we try to bring to light our inability to live in this world as God intends.  And after affirming that Jesus Christ fed the hungry with the bread of his life and word of his kingdom, we pray these words, “Renew your people with your heavenly grace and in all our weakness sustain us by your true and living bread.”  This reference to ‘God’s bread’ – the ‘living bread’ – is what we need to sustain us in our lives – to live as God created us to live.  So there’s that sense that without that living bread, we are not able to live as God intends.  Just look at our present world – the ongoing legacy of residential schools, the climate crisis, global poverty … and the list goes on.  We are clearly in need – desperately so, of life-sustaining nourishment, of God’s living bread, to sustain us on a better path.

Jesus alludes to this in today’s Gospel Reading which follows after the miracle of the ‘feeding of the five thousand’.  Jesus says to the crowds who are running after him, he says, “You are looking for me not because you saw signs (which would reveal who he is) 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.”  Jesus says “yes” – material bread is good, but don’t just strive for that.  Work of the food that endures for eternal life which he will give.  And ultimately he concludes the passage with Jesus saying these words, “I am the bread of life.  Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”  So it’s no surprise that we end up praying in today’s Prayer Over the Gifts (which we’ll use in a few minutes), “Feed us continually with that bread which satisfies all hunger.

So how does it happen?  How do we get fed by this bread?  We do it by living our lives together as the Body of Christ – which makes sense if he defines us as Christ’s Body - when we gather collectively in Jesus’ name.  So obviously one clear way in which this happens is to be fed the living bread by receiving Holy Communion which we’ll do this morning.  But that is a representation of a much fuller shared life and ministry together.

Today’s 2nd Reading from the Letter to the Ephesians speaks directly to God’s intention for us to live differently together – and the ‘together’ part is essential.  The author of Ephesians identifies this ‘different life’ at the very beginning of today’s passage.  He writes, “I beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.”  You and I have been called by God to live life for and with God, and each other, just as King David was called three thousand years ago.  We are to live together, as the author says, “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.”  The passage then continues to describe the inner workings of this human family called to God in Jesus Christ.  And it concludes with this marvellous statement about how it all works in the Body of Christ – how it all kind of hangs together.  He writes, “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 knit 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.”  

This is to be the reality – the picture – the purpose for every Christian congregation including, of course, All Saints.  We are called by God to live and function together as a family.  But we have some real issues – some significant challenges in living out that reality.  Let me illustrate with an analogy.  One classic image, at least traditionally, of a healthy family is the sharing of a meal together.  And I think the most classic example is “Sunday Dinner”, and together with extended family – lots of people.  Traditionally it’s coordinated by Mom (or by Mom and Dad) but the expectation is that everybody shows up to that Sunday dinner every week, unless prevented from doing so, of course.  But why?  Because they want to live and share their lives together as a family.  But in my analogy – imagine over time that members start drifting off from that Sunday dinner – only appearing occasionally.  Everyone is supposed to show up – to contribute in some way – to offer their gifts and ability to enhance the experience.  But over time, people only come if they’re specifically asked to do something or to bring something.  Otherwise, they’re often absent.  When asked, they gladly offer their ability, but otherwise their presence is seen as ‘optional’.  And then, soon, the mom in our story (Jesus Christ) struggles to have an authentic family gathering for mutual nourishment for all the members of the family.  And the many loving functions that the family could offer in their neighbourhood are no longer possible, because the family isn’t ‘gathered’ enough.  They aren’t present enough to each other, or committed to living together the life to which they have been called.

Jesus is the ‘living bread’ who sustains us in and through each other – together!  The commitment to that oneness – to being together and involved together – comes first.  It is out of ‘being present’ and discovering both your gifts and the family’s needs, that requests come for you and me to take up specific roles and to do various functions.  So in our Sunday dinner analogy – I don’t come to the family gathering because I’ve been asked to bring potato salad.  I come because it’s the family to which God has called me to be present.  And if I happen to make a ‘mean’ potato salad – sure occasionally I might be asked to offer it.

This is where the ‘rubber hits the road’ between Christ and the Church of the Scriptures, and the Christian community that the Spirit is forming us – here and now – to become.  We have to live it out fully – our commitment to Jesus Christ and to each other.  We have to be the family of All Saints – to be present to one another together.

Amen.