Trinity 10 (Pentecost 11) John 6.35,41-51
It’s the last minutes of the RugbyWorld Cup, Wales are one point behind the mighty South African team. The Millennium Stadium was on its’ feeta few moments before when Wales scored a try. Now there is silence as they wait to see if the try will beconverted, to all but seal the victory.
There isn’t a sound coming from theWelsh supporters, and the Springboks are wondering how so many people can be ofone mind. It is almost as if theyare quiet because they are going to ‘will’ the ball between the posts when itis kicked.
The kicker runs up and the ball isstruck, up..up..up..people wait to guess which way it might go, it looks good,down…down…down…the ball is still 20 yards from the posts as the crowd are ontheir feet again.
The try is converted, and the pointstake Wales ahead in the dying moments of the game. Then, as the visiting team kick the ball back to play, thechorus starts….
“Bread of Heaven, Bread of Heaven – feed me‘til I want no more, want no more! Feed me ‘til I want nomore!”
The final whistle is almost drownedout by the singing, and as the players leave the pitch an almighty cheer risesto heaven, fireworks explode, Katherine Jenkins comes back on to sing herversion of my favourite song….and then with a start I am woken up by Ann,telling me that the kids have drawn all over the walls again with crayon, andthe dog has done something awful on the lawn.
Bread of Heaven, Bread of Heaven – feed me‘til I want no more
I regularly hear the hymn “Guideme O thou Great Redeemer” as the last hymn and it got me thinking aboutthe sermon this week, because the last few weeks in the Gospel readings breadhas been somewhat of a theme.
Jesus has been changing what people think of him. The people have been understanding moreand more about his mission and purpose on Earth.
A fortnight ago, we heard about the‘multitude’ following Jesus, and the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 tookplace. The people were fed, bothphysically and spiritually, and Jesus left to avoid being made king. Last week, we heard Jesus say “I amthe bread of life”, and the people were thinking he was like a newMoses, bringing manna to the people.
This week however, in our reading,Jesus says “Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that Iwill give for the life of the world is my flesh”
Jesus is telling us ‘weare what we eat’.
The story of Jesus isn’t about miracles,feeding the multitude or healing people, it’s much more important thanthat.
The people are all cheering forJESUS, they are all singing the song, they know the words, but do they reallyunderstand what the words mean?
It’s a bit like the MillenniumStadium and the rest of Wales singing….
Bread of Heaven, Bread of Heaven – feed me‘til I want no more.
At the beginning of his life onearth he is described at the ‘word made flesh (the word was made flesh and dwelt among us)’ in John’s Gospel.
Moving forward to the end of theearthly life of Jesus, he breaks the bread and says “this is my body”
We are fed by WORD and SACRAMENT…
Bread of Heaven, Bread of Heaven – feed me‘til I want no more
So today – we will be fed. Fed by the word (through thereadings and our reflections on them) then we will be fed by the bodyof Christ (through the HolySacrament later as we come to the altar).
A two-course meal?
Moving to the Letter to theEphesians, Paul is continuing to implore the people to not be foolish orself-serving. Last week he gave alist of things we shouldn’t be doing. This week, he continues by adding the instruction do not get drunk with wine and carry on singing psalms, hymns andspiritual songs.
But, it’s so difficult to do theright thing.
Someone once said that;
Christianity helps us face the music even when wedon't like the tune.
It’s a challenge that we find difficult and is withus every day – but it hasn’t gone unnoticed….
Rabbi Lionel Blue, once wrote;
The real evidence for Jesus and Christianity isin how Jesus (and the Christianity based on him) manifest themselves in thelives of practicing Christians.
The real evidence for Christianityis found in the everyday lives of people like you and me, who try, andsometimes fail to live a life of love.
At morning prayer on the 14thAugust, we remembered Maximillian Kolbe, who died aged 47 on that day in 1941.
Kolbe was a Franciscan friar whoprovided shelter to refugees from Poland, including 2,000 jews, whom he hidfrom persecution in his Friary.
He was arrested by the Gestapo andimprisioned in PAWIAK PRISON and then in May 1941, he was transferred toAuschwitz as prisoner number 16670.
At the end of July 1941, threeprisoners disappeared from the camp, prompting the commander to pick ten men tobe killed, by starvation, when one prisoner cried out, Kolbe took his place,after two weeks, he didn’t die by starvation, as the other nine did. He was killed by lethal injection.
When he was later about to be made aSaint by the Catholic Church, there was a controversy, because he was martyred,not for the faith, but because of racial intolerance, and his act of humankindness.
The suggestion was that he would bea Martyr of Charity. However Pope John Paul II decided tocanonize him and overrule the commission which he himself had established.
He then made one of the mostimportant statements of his office. He said that the Systematic hatredof whole categories of humanity is in itself an act of hatred.
The whole Nazi regime was inherentlyan act of religious hatred.
Kolbe has quotes for us today, whenwe think about the Bread of Life wereceive at the altar, he says;
"Goddwells in our midst, in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar."
And,when we think about the word made flesh, and how there isthat conflict to ‘do the right thing’,he says;
"No onein the world can change Truth. What we can do and and should do is to seektruth and to serve it when we have found it. The real conflict is the innerconflict. Beyond armies of occupation and the hetacombs of extermination camps,there are two irreconcilable enemies in the depth of every soul: good and evil,sin and love. And what use are the victories on the battlefield if we areourselves are defeated in our innermost personal selves?"
Kolbeunderstood that we need to be fed by the wordand sacrament, and be sent out in tothe world to do the word of GOD. That doesn’t stop us caring in certain places, or in certain ways, it isfor all our lives for all we do and for all we say.
Next time I’m down at the MilenniumStadium for the Autumn internationals and the people start singing, Breadof Heaven, Bread of Heaven – feed me ‘til I want no more, my prayerwill be that they will be FED, and we will be FED TOO, so that we can all bethe people God wants us to be, and live a life of love.
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