In the first reading we meet Elijah when he is in the pit of despair. He flees to the desert but there a terrible depression overtakes him. He asks God to take his life. But instead of doing so God sends an angel to him with food and water. Strengthened by these, the prophet arises and makes his way to the mountain of God. We should be aware that God did not solve Elijah's problem but gave him nourishment so that he could cope with whatever difficulties he faced in his mission. We often want God to solve our problems but he prefers to provide us with the nourishment that will help us to cope with life's problems. Am I using the nourishment God is providing right now?
This was all included with the tickets!
There was once a family that had fallen on hard times when the family business failed, and they lost everything. The neighbours were very sympathetic. The children were embarrassed when they had to move to a mobile home after they had to sell their house and business premises. Some of the neighbours came to the parents to offer their help, and to find out how best they might be able to help. The father told them that the one thing he wanted, more than anything in the world, was to be able to take his wife and kids and move off to America where nobody would know them, and try and start again. The neighbours worked on the fund-raising, and after a certain length of time they had sufficient money for tickets by boat from Cobh to New York. The family had never been away from home before, so they had no idea how to prepare for such a voyage. They bought bread and cheese and packed a few boxes with sandwiches. They gathered together in a single cabin in the boat, with no desire to mix with others, in case of finding themselves embarrassed or out of their depths. On the first, second, third, fourth and fifth days they ate sandwiches. From then on the sandwiches began to go bad. The cheese and the bread had blue-mold on them, and they began to smell. By now they were all in a bad way. They were sick, hungry and deeply discouraged. With a day or two to go before arriving in New York, one little lad begged his dad for a few pennies, so he could go up on the deck and buy a few sweets. The dad gave him the pennies and off he went. He didn't return and after about half an hour, the father was forced to go up on deck to look for him. When he came up on the deck, he was totally amazed by what he saw. There were long tables surrounded by people, and they were all eating a beautiful dinner. There in the midst of them was his son, with a plate of turkey, ham, potatoes, and vegetables in front of him, together with a large beaker of Coke. The father came up behind him and whispered, "Why did you do this? You know rightly, we cannot afford this." The young lad's eyes lit up as he replied: "Dad, we could have had this every day. This was all included with the tickets!" When we enter heaven and look around… Jesus could say "I never mentioned sandwiches once in the whole gospel. I often spoke of being invited to the feast…" Jack McArdle in 'And that’s the Gospel Truth'
The context of the gospel is the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes with which Jesus fed the multitude. We know that the crowds kept searching for him and following him. But Jesus had confronted the crowd about their real reason for following him; they wanted more bread not more of him! When Jesus spoke of himself as the 'bread of life' in last Sunday's gospel and this Sunday's as well, he meant it in the sense of food that sustains faith –his teachings. Only at the end of today's section of the gospel does he refer to this bread of life as the Eucharist. Jesus not only claimed that without his teachings they could not live, but without Him they could not live. He claimed to be the source of life itself. But the people began to complain just as the Israelites complained in the desert. How could this Jesus be the source of life? After all they knew his history, they knew his village and where he came from; he was ordinary just like them. How could he claim divine origin? But Jesus reminded them that knowing him was a gift and not an acquisition. "No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me. Whoever believes has eternal life."
"Shortly after Columbus discovered America, rumours spread that the new world contained a fountain of youth. A sixteenth century Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon fitted a ship and sailed to America to search for this legendary fountain but never found it. In the movie 'Cocoon' there is a group of senior citizens. These old people experienced a return to their youth when they bathed in a swimming pool used by aliens from another planet. Their exciting experience prompted them to accept an invitation from the aliens to go back with them to their planet. The senior citizens were told that once they reached the alien planet, they would live forever."
Mark Link in 'Sunday Homilies'
Giving up or going on!
One day a partially deaf boy came home from school with a note from his teacher. He handed it to his mother. She opened it and slowly read it. The note suggested that her son was too dull to learn. He was holding back the whole class. It would be better for everybody if he would withdraw from school. When the boy's mother finished reading the note, she felt awful. She also felt challenged. "My son, Tom, is not too dull to learn," she said to herself. "I'll teach him myself." When Tom died many years later, the entire nation honoured him in a remarkable way. At exactly 9:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, every home in the United States turned off its lights for one minute, as a tribute to the man who had invented those lights. Thomas Edison invented not only the electric light but also the movie projector and the record player. When he died, the boy who was 'too dull to learn' had over a thousand patents to his credit, thanks to his mother who never gave up!
Mark Link, in 'Journey'
Don’t take gifts……
"I will go with two small suitcases," said an emotional President A P J Abdul Kalam as he prepared to leave Rashtrapati Bhawan with a desire to see India as a developed nation by 2020. In possibly his last public function as the head of the state, Kalam had advice for the countrymen - "Don't take gifts that come with a purpose and build families with character and a good value system. On the 25th I will leave Rashtrapati Bhawan after having spent five glorious years there. What I have got are two small suitcases. I will go with two small suitcases," he said. The President went on to add that besides the two suitcases, he had a big reserve of books that he would be taking with him. "I will take the books with me. They are my own books," said Kalam. The 75-year-old Scientist-President, who turned philosophical and nostalgic in turns, recalled how his father had taught him not to accept any gifts. "Yesterday, a well-known person gave me a gift of two pens. I had to return them with unhappiness," he said, also quoting from the ancient Hindu code of law 'Manusmriti' that by accepting gifts the divine light in the person gets extinguished. "I am sharing this thought with all of you since no one should get carried away by any gift which comes with a purpose and through which one loses his personality greatly," he said…Times of India
One day at a time
God provides a mysterious food called manna for the Israelites during their time in the desert. However, they were told not to stockpile the manna, but to gather only what they needed for one day. Jesus told his disciples not to worry about tomorrow. He said, "When you pray to your heavenly Father, you are to say, 'Give us this day our daily bread.'" No matter how difficult life may be, for those who trust in God and who live one day at a time, the manna falls every day. Anonymous
Don't doubt God's Word
The night fell heavy in the heights of the mountains and the man could not see anything. All was black. Zero visibility, and the moon and the stars were covered by the clouds. As he was climbing only a few feet away from the top of the mountain, he slipped and fell in to the air, falling at great speed. He could only see black spots as he went down, and the terrible sensation of being sucked by gravity. He kept falling and in the moments of great fear all the good and bad episodes of his life came to his mind. He was thinking now about how close death was getting, when all of a sudden he felt the rope tied to his waist pull him very hard. His body was hanging in the air. Only the rope was holding him and in that moment of stillness he had no other choice but to scream: "Help me God". All of a sudden a deep voice coming from the sky answered, "What do you want me to do?" "Save me God". "Do you really think I can save you?" "Of course I believe You can." "Then cut the rope tied to your waist." There was a moment of silence and the man decided to hold on to the rope with all his strength. The rescue team tells the next day that a climber was found dead and frozen - his body hanging from a rope, his hands holding tight to it, only one foot away from the ground. Lesson from the story: And We? How attached are we to our rope? Will we let go??? Don't ever doubt about the Words of God. We should never say that He has forgotten us or abandoned us.
Anonymous
Every human being yearns for a full life, for a life that will not end. Jesus was offering the people the possibility of life that would last, he was offering them himself as the means to obtain this fullness of life but the people would not accept him. They wanted proof. "Show us right now that you have miraculous powers. Provide us with what we want right now." They just wanted bread! Today, Jesus is offering us a fuller life. The blessings that he is offering are not something that we have to wait for until we reach heaven. He is bread to be eaten now, not preserved in a freezer for the future. Jesus is all we need for a full life. If we have Jesus now there is no reason for us to be discouraged or to pray for death as Elijah did. Jesus invites us to get up and eat and continue on our journey. Have we tried Jesus? He never fails!
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From Fr. Tony Kadavil's Collection
#1: All about food, earthly and Heavenly: In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks about food. The two biggest sellers in any bookstore, according to Andy Rooney, are the cookbooks and the diet books. The cookbooks tell you how to prepare the food, and the diet books tell you how not to eat any of it. Orson Wells once said, “My doctor has advised me to give up those intimate little dinners for four, unless, of course, there are three other people eating with me.” Champion archer Rick McKinney confesses that he regularly eats chocolate chip cookies for breakfast. He refers to “the basic four food groups” as a Big Mac, fries, a shake and a lemon tart. A California scientist has computed that the average human being eats 16 times his or her own weight in an average year, while a horse eats only eight times its weight. This all seems to prove that if you want to lose weight, you should eat like a horse. (Sunshine Magazine). That’s a subject most of us know too much about. A recent survey found that 41% of men and 55% of women consider themselves overweight. In one way or another, many of us are obsessed with earthly food. Think what a difference it would make in our lives if we were equally obsessed with Heavenly Food, the Food that Christ gives us.
# 2: “I’ve got a piece of him.” William Barclay tells us that when Admiral Lord Nelson was buried in St Paul’s Cathedral, a party of his sailors carried his body high into the cathedral. His coffin was draped with a magnificent Union Jack. Later they carried his body to the graveside. One who saw the scene writes, “With reverence and with efficiency they lowered the body of the world’s greatest admiral into its tomb. Then as though answering to a sharp order from the quarter deck, they all seized the Union Jack with which the coffin had been covered and tore it to fragments, and each took his souvenir of the illustrious dead.” All their lives that little bit of colored cloth would speak to them of the admiral they had loved. “I’ve got a piece of him,” they said, “and I’ll never forget him.” In a sense, when we leave this Church this morning after receiving Jesus in Holy Communion, each of us will take Jesus with us and covey the spiritual nourishment he gives us to others as we come into contact with them. The “Eu” in Eucharist, as the Lord’s Supper is often called, means “good,” and “charis” is the root of our English word “caress.” The Lord’s Supper is the “good caress.” In this Sacrament God comes to us spiritually and physically and touches us and says, “I love you.” He alone touches and satisfies our deepest needs. He alone allows us to reach out and touch one another.
# 3: The Great Depression Bread-lines. In the depression years of the 1930’s millions of Americans were out of work and many thousands were hungry. In a number of cities, religious groups set up bread-lines to feed the hungry. One of these was the Franciscan monastery in Cincinnati, Ohio. Every evening, the Friars, Brothers and lay volunteers prepared and gave a nourishing sandwich of bread and meat to hundreds of hungry men and women. It was interesting to note the reactions of the recipients. Many accepted the well-prepared and well-wrapped food with a smile and a thank you. Others, with heads hanging, snatched the food package and shuffled off. Some tore the bag at once and started eating as they hurried away. Most of them ate every last crumb after a silent prayer and put the wrapping into a nearby container, though some would eat only the meat and discard the bread on the roadside. A few discontented ones just opened the package and then threw the entire contents away in protest. The way those hungry unfortunates reacted to that little lunch is a lot like the way his listeners received the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel.
17 Additional anecdotes:
1) McDonald’s, Burger King, Burger Chef, Arby’s, Subway, Pizza Hut:
Most Americans eat well. To have three square meals a day is not uncommon. Indeed, many eat five or six times a day, if coffee breaks, evening snacks and other times of eating are counted, in addition to breakfast, lunch, and supper. Drive through a town of any consequence and count the number of fast food places and restaurants that are found. At some corners of major roads or along a block or two of a busy thoroughfare you may find five to ten feeding establishments. It is not uncommon to find in close proximity McDonald’s, Burger King, Burger Chef, Arby’s, Subway, Pizza Hut, Domino’s, Dairy Queen, Long John Silver’s, Wendy’s, and Taco Bell as well as lesser-known or local look-a-like fast food establishments. Go into a major supermarket and count the variety of products that are similar. The only discernible difference often is in the trade name. Whole aisles will be filled with a vast array of cereals. Another aisle will be filled with competing brands of soft drinks: Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Royal Crown, 7 Up, and lesser known or store brands. Try to find in the same area a religious bookstore. Compare the size of the religious book and supply store with the supermarket. It does not appear that people are as eager to be fed spiritually as they are to be fed physically! In John 6, Jesus takes the preoccupation of the crowds with food and drink as an occasion to move from physical eating and drinking to the more important needs of the spirit. Nourishment is needed for spiritual life and growth.
2) A modern Good Samaritan:
A few years ago, the news media carried the story of a modern-day Good Samaritan who packed his car each day with dozens of homemade sandwiches and traveled to the inner city to distribute them to homeless and otherwise needy people. Eventually, those who benefited from his generosity became familiar with the Samaritan’s customary route and began to congregate on certain corners at a specific time each day to wait for their daily gift of food. Today’s Gospel describes such a scene where people who had been sumptuously fed on the previous day by Jesus came searching for him for another free meal.
3) This week nobody died:
The story is told of two old friends who bumped into one another on the street one day. One of them looked forlorn, almost on the verge of tears. His friend asked, “What has the world done to you, my old friend?” The sad fellow said, “Let me tell you. Three weeks ago, an uncle died and left me $40,000.” “That’s a lot of money.” “But, two weeks ago, a cousin I never even knew, died, and left me $85,000 free and clear.” “Sounds like you’ve been blessed….” “You don’t understand!” he interrupted. “Last week my great aunt passed away. I inherited almost a quarter of a million.” Now he was really confused. “Then, why do you look so glum?” “This week … nothing!” Gratitude is something that you only feel when a gift is truly appreciated. Today’s Gospel describes Jesus correcting the wrong attitude of his listeners who had gathered around him with wrong motive of getting another free lunch.
4) Cat to kill mice: Once there was a young Hindu hermit who lived as an ascetic in a forest. He owned nothing except a pair of loincloths. One morning, to his great disappointment, he found that mice had destroyed one of the loincloths. He brought a cat to kill the mice and then a cow to give milk to the cat. Later, as the cows multiplied, he hired a girl from the nearby village to look after the cows and to sell the extra milk in the village. Finally, his ever-growing material needs prompted him to end his religious life, marry the girl and settle down as a farmer in the village. This little story illustrates how easily the never-ceasing hunger for material things can take over our spiritual life. In today’s Gospel, Jesus promises to satisfy our spiritual hunger by offering His Body as our food.
5) “I always sing ‘Jesus Loves Me’ when I’m happy.”
In one of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books there is a story told by a doctor. It is about a five-year-old girl named Mary who had suffered a stroke that left half of her body paralyzed. Even more tragically, she had been hospitalized for treatment of a brain tumor, and had recently lost her father and mother. She was being examined in an MRI machine. The imaging sequence at that time required the patient to remain perfectly still for about five minutes–a demanding task for a five-year-old. About two minutes into the first sequence, the doctor and the technician noticed on the video monitor that Mary’s mouth was moving. They even heard a muted voice over the intercom. They halted the exam and gently reminded Mary not to talk. She smiled and promised not to talk. They repeated the sequence with the same result. Her lips were still moving. The technologist, a bit gruffly, said, “Mary, you were talking again, and that causes blurry pictures.” Mary’s smile remained as she replied, “I wasn’t talking. I was singing. You said no talking.” “What were you singing?” someone asked. “Jesus Loves Me,” came the barely audible reply. “I always sing ‘Jesus Loves Me’ when I’m happy.” Everyone in the room was speechless. “Happy? How could this little girl be happy?” The technologist and the doctor had to leave the room to regain their composure as tears began to fall. [James C Brown, MD: E-zine: Chicken Soup for the Soul http://www.soupserver.com/.] Mary was happy because she knew Jesus loved her. Today’s Gospel tells us how Jesus promised to remain with us through the Heavenly Bread of the Holy Eucharist to demonstrate his love for us.
6) “… that God was alive and that His light would shine again in my life:”
Corrie ten Boom, the Dutch woman who spent months in prison and in the Ravensbruck concentration camp for hiding Jews during the Second World War, had that kind of Faith. Those awful days in prison were a strain on her Faith. Once she was in solitary confinement. She prayed, “God, how much longer do I have to take this? If You’re alive, if You really care, will You please show me a sign that You are alive and that You hear my prayers?” That night Corrie lay down on her cot feeling totally abandoned and alone. She fell asleep crying and wondering why God wouldn’t answer her prayers. The next morning when Corrie woke up a beam of light was shining down through a crack in the ceiling on a few blades of green grass. A miracle in the middle of that concrete cell! “I knew without any doubt,” Corrie told us, “that God was alive and that His light would shine again in my life in a beautiful and wonderful way, even though the possibility seemed impossible.” That morning Corrie’s faith in God and her commitment to allow Him to control her life were renewed. Friends, that is Faith. Life is a marathon. Faith has to do with both having a great race and an even greater finish. In today’s Gospel, Jesus challenges his listeners to have such a trusting faith in his promise of Heavenly Bread on earth. [Robert A. Schuller, Getting Through the Going Through Stage, (New York: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1986).]
7) Jesus in tortilla:
Many years ago, a Mrs. Maria Rubio of Lake Arthur, New Mexico, was rolling out tortillas for lunch when she saw something that took her breath away. Looking back at her from a flat tortilla was the face of Jesus! The skillet had burned a perfect representation of a slender, bearded face onto the surface of the bread. Now I am not certain how Mrs. Rubio knew that this was Jesus, but she convinced a reluctant priest to bless the piece of bread, then she built a shrine around it. Mrs. Rubio quit her job so she could devote all her time to tending the tortilla shrine. Friends, neighbors, even strangers stopped by to look at it, or to pray in front of it. Mrs. Rubio, who also prays nightly in front of the tortilla, has said, “I do not know why this has happened to me, but God has come into my life through this tortilla.” [Bob Greene, American Beat (New York: Atheneum, 1983), pp. 34-36.] In today’s Gospel, Jesus gave us the assurance that he would give us himself as the Heavenly Bread, our spiritual food.
8) Idolizing without trusting:
Actor Tony Randall, famous for his role as Felix in The Odd Couple, once had an experience that surely was the inspiration for a current credit card commercial. Randall was in a jewelry store in New York City. The store’s owner recognized him and became very excited. He declared that Randall was his all-time favorite actor. What a treat it would be for his wife, the man said, if she could talk to the Tony Randall. Randall graciously agreed. So, the man called his wife, and Randall had a short, pleasant conversation with her as she gushed on and on about how wonderful he was. Finally, Randall came to the point of his visit to the jewelry store. There was a gold necklace in the window that had caught his eye. He’d like to buy it. Would the store accept a personal check? The store owner hesitated, then asked, “Do you have any identification?” Recognition only goes so far. The store owner was ready to idolize Tony Randall; he wasn’t ready to trust him. You see where this is leading, don’t you? Is it possible for people to come in this House today and worship Jesus–but still not trust him with their lives?
9) Hunger in the world:
According to statistics from Oxfam, 2,500 people will die of hunger during the typical one-hour Church worship service. Two-thirds of them will be children. A third of the children in the world are very underweight for their age. About one-fifth of the people in the world are so malnourished that they cannot engage in productive activity. The problem is not a lack of food. Enough food is produced to provide an adequate diet for everyone. A part of the problem is a matter of distribution. The food is not equally available to those who are hungry. A part of the problem also is a lack of will and a sense of priority to feed the hungry. In today’s Gospel Jesus teaches us about spiritual hunger and our need for him, as Heavenly Food, to satisfy our spiritual hunger for God.
10) Food Pyramids.
New standards for diet were proposed recently. A new food pyramid was developed as a guide for healthy eating. It includes a base of bread, cereals, rice and pasta. The next level up the pyramid is vegetables and fruit. A still smaller next level is milk, yogurt, cheese, meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and nuts. The smallest group at the top is fats, oils and sweets. We can propose a food pyramid for those who want a healthy spiritual life. You may want to develop your own, but it might include a base of feeding on the word of God by study and meditation on the Scriptures. Upon that base one is nourished by Christian fellowship. It should include servings of regular worship. To that a daily use of prayer and devotions could be added. On top of those elements should be time for Christian service to meet the needs of others.
11) “That’s Joe Lewis, the World Heavyweight Champion!”
There is a story about a rather arrogant young ruffian who frequented a certain bar. One night a black man stopped in to use the telephone. The young man noticing him began to flip off smart comments at the black man. The comments got sharper and sharper. Since the black man paid no mind, the young man then began to get physically abusive. The black man simply smiled and walked out. As the young man walked back to the bar in a very cocky fashion the bartender asked him if he had recognized the black man. The young man said: “No! Why?” “Well I just thought you might have. That’s Joe Lewis, the World Heavyweight Champion!” I don’t know whether the young man fainted or not. But don’t we judge too much by externals, like those Jews listening to Jesus did as described in today’s Gospel?
12) Scrooge and St. Thomas Becket seeking bread of everlasting life:
Scrooge learned this lesson in the nick of time. We all remember Ebenezer Scrooge, the famous protagonist of Charles Dickens’s masterpiece, A Christmas Carol. Scrooge had a very clear goal in life: making money. And as the richest man in the city, he achieved his goal. He made a very good living, but he had a miserable life. The human heart is made for greater things than wealth, prosperity, and pleasure. It is made to love God and love one’s neighbor, and that’s where true, everlasting happiness comes from. As soon as Scrooge started to put his wealth at the service of Christian love, he remembered how to smile. Scrooge is a fictional character, but the history of the Church boasts of a few saints who truly made that same discovery. St. Thomas Becket is one of them. He lived in England in the 1200s. He was best-friends with King Henry II; they both were selfish, self-indulgent, and power-hungry. They drank together, debauched together, and plotted together. Then King Henry got the idea of appointing Becket to be the Archbishop of Canterbury. Henry thought that having his best friend occupy the highest Church position in the land would give him a chance to control the Church and squeeze money out of it. But when Thomas Becket was ordained, God’s grace touched his heart, and he began to see the folly of living just for earthly goals. He sold his considerable property and gave the money to the poor, stopped his loose living, and dedicated himself to serving Christ and the Church with all his energy and talent. The King wasn’t pleased and ended up having his former best friend murdered during Mass in the Cathedral. Becket traded in temporary earthly glory for a martyr’s eternal crown – and you can rest assured that he has no regrets. (E- Priest).
13) St. Margaret of Scotland Takes Matters into Her Own Hands:
We know that the true purpose of this life – to learn to love God and love our neighbors – the mature Christian is actually more energetic than anyone at building up the world around him. One marvelous example of this comes from the life of St. Margaret of Scotland. •She was born around the year 1045 in Hungary, the daughter of the King of England and a niece of St. Stephen, King of Hungary. •Those were difficult years for the English royal family. •England had been invaded by the Danes, which explains why she was born in Hungary – the family had fled there in exile. •After they returned to England, their country was invaded by the Normans, and they had to flee again. •This time a storm at sea wrecked their ship on the coast of Scotland. •The family was saved with the help of Malcolm III, King of Scotland. •Margaret and Malcolm soon fell in love and were married. As soon as Margaret was Queen, she used her authority and privileges not for selfish ends, but for the good of her people. •When she came to the throne, there was no legal system available to the poor, no courts where they could go to settle their disputes or redress their wrongs. •So St. Margaret, desiring to be a worthy Christian Queen, went out herself, and, sitting on the very rock where she had first rested and recovered upon her arrival in Scotland, she let her poor subjects gather round and explain their grievances. •She herself judged and settled the disputes. •Gradually, she convinced the King to appoint official judges and to establish courts throughout Scotland, where the poor and disenfranchised could get equal justice with the rich and powerful. Her desire for food that endures – God’s eternal mercy – didn’t inhibit her from helping gather food that perishes – earthly justice – it actually spurred her on. [This Illustration was adapted from “Catechism Stories” by Rev. F. H. Drinkwater]E- Priest.
14) Led by the Horse:
One of the truly great masterpieces of fiction was the satirical story of Don Quixote, by the Spanish writer Cervantes. In it we read how the absurdly chivalrous hero, followed by his squire Sancho Panza, set out to find adventure, to perform deeds of bravery and win the admiration of all. He had such an open mind on his quest that he decided to go wherever his horse Rosinante would lead him. But the horse, having found itself given free rein, naturally returned to the place it knew best, its own stable. Too often perhaps we humans find ourselves going the same way, doing the same thing, returning to the same sinful habits again and again, sometimes also drifting aimlessly, sometimes lured on by the novelty of sensationalism, sometimes a prey to the enticements of others, or carried away by the latest fashion in religion. St. Paul, in today’s second reading, advises the Ephesians to satisfy their spiritual hunger by turning away from their former evil ways and leading lives of love, kindness, compassion and forgiveness. (John Walsh, in A Time to Speak; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
15) “Sir, I’m building a cathedral for God.”
Three laborers were dragging massive stones. The first was asked by a reporter what he was doing. The reply was terse, “I’m dragging a big stone, and it’s breaking my back.” He put the same query to the second fellow. His reply was, “I’m helping to build a wall, and I need your help right now.” The journalist politely declined. He moved on to ask the third man. He replied with a smile: “Sir, I’m building a cathedral for God.” As Catholics, we have to examine our attitude to work. Are we working for the food which lasts and which gives eternal life as today’s Gospel suggests? Or are we part of the problem? Are we giving a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay? (Fr. James Gilhooley).
16) St. Ignatius in search of living bread:
St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, asked himself this question as he lay in a convent recuperating from a war injury. Ignatius was a Spanish soldier living a wild and even immoral life. Then his leg had been crushed by a cannon ball. In those day, the 16th century, people would often die from infection after a wound like this, but Ignatius survived. He was bedridden in the convent for months. When he was able to read, he wanted to read the stories of legendary heroes and adventurous knights. He always loved those and used to read them avidly. But the good sisters didn’t have any of those sort of books in the convent. All they had was a life of Christ and the lives of the saints. That is all Ignatius could read. After a while he became enthralled. He wondered if he could ever be a hero in the Church like St. Francis or St. Dominic or any of the saints. But, he writes, he would often go back to thinking about the books of adventure he used to read. He liked thinking about them. For a little while, anyway. But he noticed that even the pleasure he felt when he remembered those books was fleeting. He then thought about how he felt when he reflected on the books the sisters provided. This pleasure was not fleeting. Ignatius eventually used this as the basis of his spiritual exercise on the discernment of spirits. Basically, he was seeking that which could give lasting happiness and found it in Jesus Christ. “The problem with you folks,” Jesus says in the Gospel reading, “is that you are looking for bread that will perish. Instead, I can give you bread that is for all eternity.” (Fr. Joseph Pellegrino).
17) Are You Hungry?
There’s a story found in C. S. Lewis’ Series, Chronicles of Narnia. In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the fifth volume of that series, Lucy, Edmund, their cousin Eustace, and some of the colorful creatures of Narnia, come upon a crystal clear pool of water with what appears to be a golden statue of a man at the bottom. Only, they discover that it is a magical pool that turns everything into gold that touches the water. It appears that the statue at the bottom of the pool is a man who either didn’t know about the pool’s magic powers, or he was so consumed with accumulating gold that he ignored its dangers. Even though the characters of the story are awed at the magic of the pool, they recognize that such a place is far more dangerous than it is beneficial, and so they swear themselves to secrecy and wipe their memories clean of that place. You see, when you waste your energies seeking to fulfill the hunger for things that perish, what you’ll find all too often is that you’ll still be dissatisfied, and your dissatisfaction will usually put you deeper into the hole you’re digging for yourself. In our consumer-driven world, in which many people literally work themselves to death accumulating a never-fully-satisfying abundance of things, Jesus’ words challenge our society’s misguided substitutes for “life.” (Steve Wilkins Are You Hungry?).
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Sermons.com:
Once upon a time there was a young woman
who had become very scrupulous about the Eucharist. She was afraid that the priest was careless about distributing Communion and permitted tiny bits of the host to fall on the floor around the altar rail. After Mass was over and the priest had gone back to the Rectory, she would sneak up to the altar and collect what she thought might be parts of the hosts in which Jesus was still present. She would pick them up with a little spoon she always carried in her purse and then place them in a little plastic bag. However, after she had collected many of these little bits of Jesus, she did not know what to do with them. So she brought them home and created a little altar in her room where she could pray to Jesus. Her parents thought it was nice that she had the little altar with a votive light burning in front of Jesus.
Finally, one morning the priest caught her collecting bits of the Eucharist from the floor. Greatly embarrassed, she tried to explain what she was doing. The priest who understood how young people can become obsessive, took the plastic bag from her and promised that he would wash it out in the special sacristy think. But, Martha, he said, Jesus comes to us in the Eucharist to be with us because he loves us, not to drive us crazy with fears. If he was worried about such things he would have consecrated jelly beans at the last super.
Are You Hungry?
There's a story found in the Chronicles of Narnia. In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the fifth volume of that series, Mary, Edmund, their cousin Eustice, and some of the colorful creatures of Narnia, come upon a crystal clear pool of water with what appears to be a golden statue of a man at the bottom. Only, they discover that it is a magical pool that turns everything into gold that touches the water. It appears that the statue at the bottom of the pool is a man who either didn't know about the pool's magic powers, or he was so consumed with accumulating gold that he ignored its dangers. Even though the characters of the story are awed at the magic of the pool, they recognize that such a place is far more dangerous than it is beneficial, and so they swear themselves to secrecy and wipe their memories clean of that place.
You see, when you waste your energies seeking to fulfill the hunger for things that perish, what you'll find all too often is that you'll still be dissatisfied, and your dissatisfaction will usually put you deeper into the hole you're digging for yourself. Whatever piece of the pie that you're hungering for - whether it's a bigger slice of acceptance or riches or gratification of your urges - you're going to find yourself hungry for more and more and more, until you're so out of control that you can't back-peddle fast enough. In our consumer-driven world, in which many people literally work themselves to death accumulating a never-fully-satisfying abundance of things, Jesus' words challenge our society's misguided substitutes for "life."
Steve Wilkins, Are You Hungry?
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Sometime this week you will make a trip to the grocery store to get a loaf of bread. It will be readily available on the shelf. There will be quite a variety to choose from. You will pay little attention to the price, not realizing that the packaging that the bread is wrapped in actually costs more than the wheat that is in the bread. All in all, you will think it a very uneventful trip, but you will be wrong.
It is quite difficult for many of us to understand the importance of bread unless we turn on the TV and watch what is going on in so many parts of the world today. When there is no staff of life there is suffering and famine. A simple loaf of bread: Something, which we do not give a second thought, but in certain parts of the world it means life itself.
It is only as we comprehend that situation that we can really begin to understand the importance of bread not only now but also in the time of Jesus. Just think for a moment how so many significant theological events in the Bible revolve around the subject of bread. The most important event in the Old Testament of course, was the Exodus event--the trip from Egypt to the Promised Land. But what caused the Hebrews to be in Egypt in the first place? It was for want of bread you will recall. The wheat crop had failed due to draught, and the Hebrews had migrated to the land of the Pharaoh because there was a surplus in storage there. It was bread, or the lack of it, that initiated this whole chain of events...
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Southeast Asia is hot. The economies of its countries are sizzling, especially Viet Nam and Indonesia, with the highest growth rates of almost anywhere on the planet. Investors and tourists from all over the world are flooding both countries. Of course, Bali, Indonesia, is where everyone wants to go. But if I could go anywhere in Southeast Asia, it would be the island of Sumatra.
Why Sumatra? Because this island is the archipelago of 17,000 islands known as "Indonesia" is where the "manna" of that country is grown. The best coffee in the world comes from Sumatra. It is called Kopi Luwak coffee. Kopi Luwak is one of the most unique coffees in the world, and very hard to find. Only a couple of thousand pounds of this coffee comes up on the world market each year. And almost all of it comes from the island of Sumatra.
This coffee bean has an interesting story and one that echoes with our Psalm today...
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Thinking Metaphorically
In a sermon on the "I Am" sayings of Jesus, I once mentioned the Simon and Garfunkel song which had the line, "Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you. What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson? Joltin' Joe has left and gone away." Originally part of the soundtrack for the film The Graduate, the song "Mrs. Robinson" has become one of the 1960s' best-known, iconic ballads.
But in a 60 Minutes interview a few years back Paul Simon mentioned that some time after the song was released, he received a letter from Joe DiMaggio in which DiMaggio expressed his befuddlement at what in the world that song could mean. DiMaggio wrote, "What do you mean 'Where have I gone?' I haven't gone anywhere! I'm still around--I'm selling Mr. Coffee." Then Mr. Simon smiled wryly at Mike Wallace and remarked, "Obviously Mr. DiMaggio is not accustomed to thinking of himself as a metaphor!"
But then, who is? Most, if not all, of us see ourselves as real people with literal, descriptive identities. For instance, I am a pastor, a husband, a father, a committee member, a volunteer, a son--these are all straightforward descriptions of who I am in relation to the people around me in life. Like most people, I cannot readily conceive of myself as a symbol for something, as a kind of metaphor that represents something beyond myself.
Indeed, if someone came up to you at a party and said, "You are my shelter from the storms of life," well, you'd be taken aback. Then again, if you met someone who constantly spouted self-referential metaphors, you'd have to wonder about him or her. We expect people to denote themselves by saying things like, "I am a plumber" or "I'm a stay-at-home Dad." But our eyes would widen if someone said, "I am the oil that lubes my company's machine" or "I am the antibody that shields my family from the virus of secularism."
This is not a terribly typical mode of discourse. Yet Jesus, with some frequency, did refer to himself in a metaphorical mode, starting with John 6:35 when Jesus said, "I am the Bread of life."
Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations
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Our Help Comes from Above
Looking out at my backyard during the fall, I noticed the leaves falling while the tree branches remained stretching heavenward--not only did they remain that way after the leaves were gone, but when the snows came and the often brutal winds of Chicago seemed to bend them into submission. But in the spring the trees seemed to speak to me saying, "Notice that we kept our branches lifted towards where our help comes from." To me it seemed that they praised God with or without leaves, as if they knew that keeping their branches up was a means of patient waiting faith, and it was in the spring when the buds appeared on their branches that those trees seemed to say to me, "We told you. We told you that our help comes from above."
So not only does this text tell us that God provides through Jesus not what we want but what we need and that God's promise can sustain us through all times, but, finally, the text tells us God's presence through Jesus allows us room to grow in grace.’
Ozzie E. Smith, Jr., What Do You Want?
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12. Spiritual Awareness
This condition of spiritual awareness is clearly defined by Jesus in the words of our text. It is a state of soul devoutly and eagerly to be aspired to, in contrast to what Lord Cecil of Britain once referred to as "believing in God in a commonplace sort of way." And, it becomes the gift and possession of any persons who are utterly dissatisfied with themselves, and who decide to fulfill those important requisites that make them completely satisfied in Christ.
Donald MacLeod, Know The Way, Keep The Truth, Win The Life, CSS Publishin
1) Clothed in Human Flesh
Next to the Bible, my favorite book is Harper Lee's award-winning novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird." I love both the book and the movie. The main character, the one who tells the story, is a little girl named Jean Louise Finch, who goes by the name of Scout. Her father, Atticus Finch, is the town's lawyer and a man of deep principles and integrity. I always wanted to grow up and be like Atticus Finch.
One day, Scout came home from school and told her father about some problems she was having with the teacher and several other students. In an effort to help her get along better with others, Atticus gave her this advice:
"First of all, if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
That's exactly what Jesus did. Clothed in human flesh, Jesus felt pain as we feel pain. He suffered as we suffer. He even experienced death. Jesus climbed into our skin and walked around in it.
Billy D. Strayhorn, Beyond Skin Deep
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2) Our Christian Landmarks
During World War II allied armies marched into Germany on their way to Berlin. Retreating German soldiers switched road signs and destroyed landmarks in an effort to confuse their enemy. And, to an extent, it worked, for many a G.I. followed a false marker only to end up in the wrong place. That just goes to show the need for landmarks, the importance of reliable signposts by which to steer.
Here locally, landmarks like the courthouse, the river, the college, or the bridge are important in helping us find our bearings. Why, if some villain came in one night and removed our signposts, the next day would become a bewildering jumble of uncertainties, and we'd all be lost.
The text is about landmarks. It refers to the Jewish custom of setting boundary stones to mark out property. Just as we do today, so our Hebrew forefathers did then. Wells, fords, buildings, and stone sentinels were their guides. Hence the strict law: "Remove not the ancient landmark which your fathers have set."
We live in a day of rapid change, and this law is being grossly ignored. Our history is being bulldozed to clear the way for development. Some professors are twisting the guideposts in the minds and hearts of our students. Traditions are forgotten, manners ignored. The result is a kind of chaos -- social confusion and rootless individualism. We live in a society that's lost its bearings and is adrift on a sea of change.
The Lord's Table is a landmark. For nearly 2,000 years Christians have been gathering to eat this meal. And, for all, it can be the means of getting one's bearings.
Stephen M. Crotts, Sermons for Sundays after Pentecost, CSS Publishing
3) A Reminder of Our True Home
The influence that food can have on us appears in a Chinese story originally told by Linda Fang. She presented this story at the Smithsonian Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, D.C., March 19, 1988.
At the foot of a great mountain in China lived a father and his three sons. They were a simple and loving family. The father noticed that travelers came from afar eager to climb the dangerous mountain. But not one of them ever returned! The three sons heard stories about the mountain, how it was made all of gold and silver at the top. Despite their father's warnings, they could not resist venturing up the mountain.
Along the way, under a tree, sat a beggar, but the sons did not speak to him or give him anything. They ignored him. One by one, the sons disappeared up the mountain, the first to a house of rich food, the second to a house of fine wine, the third to a house of gambling. Each became a slave to his desire and forgot his home. Meanwhile, their father became heartsick. He missed them terribly. "Danger aside," he said, "I must find my sons."
Once he scaled the mountain, the father found that indeed the rocks were gold, the streams silver. But he hardly noticed. He only wanted to reach his sons, to help them remember the life of love they once knew. On the way down, having failed to find them, the father noticed the beggar under the tree and asked for his advice.
"The mountain will give your sons back," said the beggar, "only if you bring something from home to cause them to remember the love of their family."
The father raced home, brought back a bowl full of rice, and gave the beggar some as a thank-you for his wisdom. He then found his sons, one at a time, and carefully placed a grain of rice on the tongue of each of them. At that moment, the sons recognized their foolhardiness. Their real life was now apparent to them. They returned home with their father, and as one loving family lived happily ever after.
Today we gather in this church to receive a reminder of home, a taste of food that will help us remember who we are. I mean the bread of life, our Father's gift to us. This is the food of God's kingdom, and reminds us that this kingdom is our true home.
Charles Hoffacker, Food from Home
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4) Missing the Point
The German theologian Helmut Thielicke told of a hungry man passing a store with a sign in the window, "We Sell Bread." He entered the store, put some money on the counter, and said, "I would like to buy some bread." The women behind the counter replied, "We don’t sell bread." "The sign in the window says that you do," the hungry man said. The woman explained, "We make signs here like the one in the window that says ‘We Sell Bread.’" But, as Thielicke concludes, a hungry man can’t eat signs.
Life sometimes fools us too. Bread isn’t always found where it seems to be. Today’s Gospel lesson picks up where we left off last week in John 6. Like the crowds looking for something else or that man looking in the wrong store, we often miss the point when God offers us enduring life in Jesus.
Michael J. Heggen, The Bread of Life
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5) Spirit and Life
Years ago, Harry Emerson Fosdick, then at the height of his influence as minister of the Riverside Church, New York City, was making a tour of Palestine and other countries of the Near and Middle East. He was invited to give an address at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, where the student body comprised citizens of many countries and representatives from sixteen different religions. What could one say that would be relevant or of interest to so mixed and varied a group? This is how Fosdick began: "I do not ask anyone here to change his religion; but I do ask all of you to face up to this question: What is your religion doing to your character?"
This was a call to consider one of the great issues of human belief: religion and life, Christianity and character, word and spirit. Emerson once said, "What you are speaks so loudly I cannot hear a word you say." Jesus' discourse in this whole sixth chapter of the Gospel of John had two foci - spirit and life. "The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." By this he meant that those who appropriated his spirit, i.e., fed upon him as the bread of life, would find, thereby, a fulfillment and satisfaction no other means could give.
Donald Macleod, Know the Way, Keep the Truth, Win the Life, CSS Publishing Company
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6) A More Wholesome Grain
Turkey Red Wheat. The hard wheat from which a high quality flour is made has an interesting history. Mennonites lived in the Ukraine, a part of nineteenth century Russia. Because of their opposition to war arising from their Christian faith, they decided to emigrate when Russia introduced military conscription. As families packed to leave, they selected the best of their Turkey red seed grain and filled a trunk to take with them.
When the Mennonite refugees migrated to the prairie provinces of Canada and the plains states of the United States, they brought the seed with them and found the prairie land receptive. From these trunks of wheat have come the hard flour that is preferred for many purposes over the soft wheat which was the only kind available earlier. This wheat made the prairies a breadbasket that has shipped wheat and flour all over the world.
William E. Keeney, Preaching the Parables, CSS Publishing Company
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7) Human Knowledge
Listen to this statistic: Knowledge is exploding at such a rate--more than 2000 pages a minute--that even Einstein couldn't keep up. In fact, if you read 24 hours a day, from age 21 to 70, and retained all you read, you would be one and a half million years behind when you finished (Campus Life)
8) Homily from Father James Gilhooley
A great chief was planning a mammoth banquet. He invited everyone in the phone book. This was to be the party of the season and then some. All the best people would be there - even Tarzan and Jane. The invitation spelled it out loud and clear. The chief would supply all the meats, salads, and an overflowing dessert cart. But each guest had to bring a bottle of wine. It was your standard BYOB affair. Each couple's wine would be poured into a huge vat and so there would be plenty for all.
One enterprising couple decided they would save a few dollars and bring but a bottle of colored water. No one would know they were El Cheapos. Party day arrived. All the guests put on their party clothes. One man wore a T-shirt that read: "Life is brief. Eat dessert first." They came to a giant tent and poured their wine into the vat. The time came for the first toast - to the chief of course. The Baccarat crystals were filled. Everyone raised a glass to drink deeply. Disbelief registered on the face of all. They sipped again, but they were right the first time. Each couple had had the same brainstorm. They had reasoned their bottle of colored water would be lost in the giant vat. Yes, everyone had brought a bottle of water. They got back exactly what they had brought - a glass of water.
Fehren cleverly applies his story to those people who cry out in something approaching pain, "I don't go to Mass because I get nothing out of it." They are a nickel a dozen at the college where I was chaplain. In turn, I am sure the students were simply articulating what they heard at home from Mom and Dad from a very early age.
The story line indicates very nicely, thank you, that such people get nothing out of the Liturgy precisely because they bring nothing to it. They approach the church with empty spirits and holes in their minds. They come as empty vessels. Given those givens, what did they really expect to get from the Eucharistic celebration? All they bring with them is a bottle of colored water. Some come with a bottle with a hole both at the top and the bottom. Can you think of any other slice of life where we get something when we bring nothing?
Dolores Schirh writes: "'Eat my body. Drink my blood.' is not just another metaphor...When Jesus said, 'I am the vine,' He didn't tell us to eat twigs. When He told us, 'I am the light of the world,' He didn't tell us to eat light bulbs. But when He said, 'I am the bread of life,' He said, 'Eat this bread.'"
Thus we come to the Eucharistic celebration because the Teacher invites us. We come to participate in a divinely free banquet. We certainly do want to be raised up on that famous last day that today's John 6:44 promises. Each of us wants to say with Gerard Manly Hopkins: "In a flash, at a trumpet crash, I am at all at once what Christ is...and this Jack...is immortal diamond." And it is later than anyone of us dare think.
Check out what He does not promise. Christ does not say the celebrant will behave like a vaudeville comedian. He has never been quoted as saying the music will be of Mozart quality. Nor does He promise the Liturgy will be something choreographed by Barishnykov and the church structure will be designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Even the flowers may be faux.
If one is getting the body and blood of the most provocative person in recorded history, are we really coming up with a bad hand? And, if we feel we are, are we not saying something about our own empty selves? Each weekend everyone of us is invited to attend a banquet. And, unlike the one thrown by the African chief, we do not even have to bring the wine nor even a bottle of colored water. Relax and party!
The emperor Napoleon was asked what the greatest day in his life was. It was expected he would mention one of his great victories. But he answered the day of his First Communion.
And, while you party, reflect on the words of St Francis de Sales. "Only two kinds of people need frequent Communion - the not so good that they might become better and the good that they might stay that way."
Clarissa Dickson Wright is a British celebrity chef She and Jennifer Paterson, are best known as the Two Fat Ladies on the British television cooking show of that name. They preached the joys of cooking that accurately, if irreverently, described them both. The show was heavy on humor as well as calories. Avoiding popular low-fat diets, the two fat ladies sought to reclaim traditional home-cooking. They themselves were the best advertisements for their recipes, which usually featured heavy doses of butter and cream. The two fat ladies are part of a growing trend to forget food deprivation and just say yes to bacon. Dietitians now argue that fat-free foods are high in sugar and calories - which explains why people on low-fat or no-fat diets get fat. Gwen Shamblin's The Weigh Down Diet, which advises using spirituality to avoid overeating, has already sold more than 1.2 million copies to overweight Christians. The bottom line is that people are scrambling like crazy to find the diet that is right for them. But there is another diet not many people talk about, presented in today’s gospel: the "Bread of Life Diet." It's spiritually high-carb, but offers full nutritional value. Jesus says, "I am the bread of life," and promises that people on his program “will never hunger or thirst again!” These are extravagant claims, like the kind you might find on soy milk or fat-burners. But Jesus can deliver on what he promises.
10) He died arguing with them that the canisters were empty.
John Krakauer wrote a book entitled Into Thin Air, the story of an expedition to Mount Everest during the spring of 1996 which resulted in a great loss of life. One of the most unfortunate stories was about a young man named Andy Harris, who was one of the expedition leaders. He had stayed at the peak past the deadline that the leaders themselves had set, and as he was coming down, he was in dire need of oxygen. He radioed his problem to the base camp telling them what he needed and told them that he had come upon a cache of oxygen canisters left by some of the other climbers, but they were all empty. The problem was they were not empty - they were absolutely full, but because his brain was already so starved for oxygen and he wasn't thinking clearly, he died arguing with them that the canisters were empty when in reality they were full. The problem was that the lack of what he needed so disoriented his thinking that, even though he was literally surrounded by what he needed, he never took advantage of it. The very life that he needed he held in his hand. He just didn't take it. What oxygen is to the body the bread of life is to the soul. Without that bread, you will never satisfy your real spiritual hunger which is why every day we need to feed daily on the bread of the word of God.
11) Pastor’s bread of life:
President Woodrow Wilson’s father was a preacher who eked out a meager living. One day, when he was riding his horse, he stopped to chat with a member of his parish. “That’s a handsome looking animal you have there,” said the latter admiringly. “But why is that your horse is so big and strong and you are so thin?” “Perhaps,” replied Wilson, “it is because I feed the horse and the congregation feeds me.”
12) “I am going to be a preacher:”
After his return from church one Sunday a small boy said, "You know what, Mommy? I'm going to be a preacher when I grow up." "That's fine," said his mother, "but what made you decide to be a preacher?" "Well," said the boy thoughtfully. "Since I have to go to church every Sunday anyway, I think it would be more fun to stand up and yell than to sit still and listen."
Before we read the text for this morning I am going to ask you to do something a little different. I want you to listen to the reading not with a heart of faith but with a skeptical mind. If it helps, imagine that you do not know that Jesus is anything else but a teacher. You are a first century person who has just been introduced to him. [Read John 6:35, 41-51]
Pretty incredible isn't it? For someone to make such claims. What if, later today, you were introduced to someone and that someone said, "Hi, I am the bread that has come down from heaven." You would look at your friend who just introduced you to this person and you would say, "I'm sorry, what did he just say?" Anyone who seriously made such claims would easily be labeled a kook, a nut, certifiable.
C.S. Lewis, in his book "Mere Christianity," makes the following statement about Jesus: "A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg -- or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us."
Throughout the book Lewis argues for the truthfulness and importance of the Christian faith. But before we go any further, let me recommend this: If you have a friend who has doubts about the Christian faith, go get this book "Mere Christianity" and give it to them. If they are honest in their doubts it will overcome many of them. In the book you will find the following idea put forth: Jesus was either a liar, lunatic, legend, or Lord...
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There is an old, old story about a cantankerous, crabby old man. His neighbors avoided him. His four boys moved away from home as soon as they could. You get the picture. His poor wife stood by him, but it was not easy.
One night he went to bed and just slipped away.
His four boys were called in. What should they do? "He was hard to live around," one of them said, "and no one could get along with him, but he was our pa. We owe him a decent burial, out in the meadow beyond the field."
So they went out to the barn and found some boards and made a casket. They put the box on their shoulders and carried it out past the barn. As they passed through the gate, one of the boys bumped into the post and this caused them to drop the box. The casket broke open and the cantankerous, crabby old man sat straight up.
He was alive! He had only been in a very deep . . . sleep!
Well, life got back to normal. He lived two more years, just as ornery and mean, cantankerous and crabby as ever. The boys could go back to their homes, but his poor wife had to stay and put up with him.
Then one night he went to bed and just slipped away . . . this time for good.
His four boys were called in. What should they do now? "Well," said one of them, "he was hard to live around, and no one could get along with him, but he was our pa. We owe him a decent burial, out in the meadow beyond the field."
So they went out to the barn and found some boards and made a casket and put the old man in it. They put the box on their shoulders and started out of the house. And as they did, their mother--the old man's wife--said sternly, "Boys, when you get out by the barn . . . BE CAREFUL GOING THROUGH THAT GATE."
That cantankerous old man should have read our lesson for the day: "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Follow God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."
Do you imagine that bitter, cantankerous people have no idea that their attitude is an offense against God?...
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Our Christian Landmarks
During World War II allied armies marched into Germany on their way to Berlin. Retreating German soldiers switched road signs and destroyed landmarks in an effort to confuse their enemy. And, to an extent, it worked, for many a G.I. followed a false marker only to end up in the wrong place. That just goes to show the need for landmarks, the importance of reliable signposts by which to steer.
Here locally, landmarks like the courthouse, the river, the college, or the bridge are important in helping us find our bearings. Why, if some villain came in one night and removed our signposts, the next day would become a bewildering jumble of uncertainties, and we'd all be lost.
The text is about landmarks. It refers to the Jewish custom of setting boundary stones to mark out property. Just as we do today, so our Hebrew forefathers did then. Wells, fords, buildings, and stone sentinels were their guides. Hence the strict law: "Remove not the ancient landmark which your fathers have set."
We live in a day of rapid change, and this law is being grossly ignored. Our history is being bulldozed to clear the way for development. Some professors are twisting the guideposts in the minds and hearts of our students. Traditions are forgotten, manners ignored. The result is a kind of chaos -- social confusion and rootless individualism. We live in a society that's lost its bearings and is adrift on a sea of change.
The Lord's Table is a landmark. For nearly 2,000 years Christians have been gathering to eat this meal. And, for all, it can be the means of getting one's bearings.
Stephen M. Crotts, Sermons for Sundays after Pentecost, CSS Publishing
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A Reminder of Our True Home
The influence that food can have on us appears in a Chinese story originally told by Linda Fang. She presented this story at the Smithsonian Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, D.C., March 19, 1988.
At the foot of a great mountain in China lived a father and his three sons. They were a simple and loving family. The father noticed that travelers came from afar eager to climb the dangerous mountain. But not one of them ever returned! The three sons heard stories about the mountain, how it was made all of gold and silver at the top. Despite their father's warnings, they could not resist venturing up the mountain.
Along the way, under a tree, sat a beggar, but the sons did not speak to him or give him anything. They ignored him. One by one, the sons disappeared up the mountain, the first to a house of rich food, the second to a house of fine wine, the third to a house of gambling. Each became a slave to his desire and forgot his home. Meanwhile, their father became heartsick. He missed them terribly. "Danger aside," he said, "I must find my sons."
Once he scaled the mountain, the father found that indeed the rocks were gold, the streams silver. But he hardly noticed. He only wanted to reach his sons, to help them remember the life of love they once knew. On the way down, having failed to find them, the father noticed the beggar under the tree and asked for his advice.
"The mountain will give your sons back," said the beggar, "only if you bring something from home to cause them to remember the love of their family."
The father raced home, brought back a bowl full of rice, and gave the beggar some as a thank-you for his wisdom. He then found his sons, one at a time, and carefully placed a grain of rice on the tongue of each of them. At that moment, the sons recognized their foolhardiness. Their real life was now apparent to them. They returned home with their father, and as one loving family lived happily ever after.
Today we gather in this church to receive a reminder of home, a taste of food that will help us remember who we are. I mean the bread of life, our Father's gift to us. This is the food of God's kingdom, and reminds us that this kingdom is our true home.
Charles Hoffacker, Food from Home
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Missing the Point
The German theologian Helmut Thielicke told of a hungry man passing a store with a sign in the window, "We Sell Bread." He entered the store, put some money on the counter, and said, "I would like to buy some bread." The women behind the counter replied, "We don't sell bread." "The sign in the window says that you do," the hungry man said. The woman explained, "We make signs here like the one in the window that says 'We Sell Bread.'" But, as Thielicke concludes, a hungry man can't eat signs.
Life sometimes fools us too. Bread isn't always found where it seems to be. Today's Gospel lesson picks up where we left off last week in John 6. Like the crowds looking for something else or that man looking in the wrong store, we often miss the point when God offers us enduring life in Jesus.
Michael J. Heggen, The Bread of Life
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Spirit and Life
Years ago, Harry Emerson Fosdick, then at the height of his influence as minister of the Riverside Church, New York City, was making a tour of Palestine and other countries of the Near and Middle East. He was invited to give an address at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, where the student body comprised citizens of many countries and representatives from sixteen different religions. What could one say that would be relevant or of interest to so mixed and varied a group? This is how Fosdick began: "I do not ask anyone here to change his religion; but I do ask all of you to face up to this question: What is your religion doing to your character?"
This was a call to consider one of the great issues of human belief: religion and life, Christianity and character, word and spirit. Emerson once said, "What you are speaks so loudly I cannot hear a word you say." Jesus' discourse in this whole sixth chapter of the Gospel of John had two foci - spirit and life. "The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." By this he meant that those who appropriated his spirit, i.e., fed upon him as the bread of life, would find, thereby, a fulfillment and satisfaction no other means could give.
Donald Macleod, Know the Way, Keep the Truth, Win the Life, CSS Publishing Company
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A More Wholesome Grain
Turkey Red Wheat. The hard wheat from which a high quality flour is made has an interesting history. Mennonites lived in the Ukraine, a part of nineteenth century Russia. Because of their opposition to war arising from their Christian faith, they decided to emigrate when Russia introduced military conscription. As families packed to leave, they selected the best of their Turkey red seed grain and filled a trunk to take with them.
When the Mennonite refugees migrated to the prairie provinces of Canada and the plains states of the United States, they brought the seed with them and found the prairie land receptive. From these trunks of wheat have come the hard flour that is preferred for many purposes over the soft wheat which was the only kind available earlier. This wheat made the prairies a breadbasket that has shipped wheat and flour all over the world.
William E. Keeney, Preaching the Parables, CSS Publishing Company
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Human Knowledge
Listen to this statistic: Knowledge is exploding at such a rate--more than 2000 pages a minute--that even Einstein couldn't keep up. In fact, if you read 24 hours a day, from age 21 to 70, and retained all you read, you would be one and a half million years behind when you finished (Campus Life)
An amazing statistic. Now tell me when do you suppose this information was compiled? It will alarm you that these statistics do not take into account the Internet. They do not even take into account the personal computer. And, why not? It is because the statistics are from 1979.
It is crucial that we learn not the glut of information that is screaming down towards us on the information super highway, but that we learn something that will sustain us for the days to come. The Prophets from of old proclaimed: They will all be taught by God. Are we listening?
Brett Blair, www.Sermons.com
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A Piece of Him
At the time of the Napoleonic Wars, the famous British Admiral Horatio Nelson was due to be buried in St. Paul's Cathedral. His sailors lifted his casket over their shoulders and majestically carried his body into the cathedral. Draping his coffin was a magnificent Union Jack. After the service, the sailors once more carried his body high in the air, this time to the graveside. With reverence and with efficiency they lowered the body of the world's greatest admiral into its tomb. Then, as though answering to a sharp order from the quarterdeck, they all seized the Union Jack with which the coffin had been covered and viciously tore it to shreds, each taking his souvenir of the illustrious dead. A swath of colored clothe as a memento. It would forever remind them of the admiral they had loved. "I've got a piece of him," one sailor remarked, "and I'll never forget him."
In like manner you now can have a piece of Christ - living bread - physically, spiritually, personally. Reaching out to receive him in faith is all that's required.
