Nothing lasts forever

Proper 13B (Pentecost 9), 2009 Text: John 6:22-35 Title: “Bread that Lasts Forever” +INI+ Nothing lasts forever. Least of all food. Anyone who’s ever cleaned out a refrigerator can attest to this fact. Sooner or later the mold always wins. No matter how tightly the container is sealed, no matter how many preservatives are included, sooner or later everything spoils, rots, goes bad. Even the venerable Twinkie, which, according to urban legend can survive a nuclear holocaust, only has a shelf life of 25 days. So our food comes with expiration dates to keep us from eating anything that might be contaminated. So it’s always a good idea to check the date before eating something, or donating it to the food pantry, to make sure that it’s still good, still safe to eat. In ancient times food preservation was a major concern. These were the days before refrigerators and iceboxes, before modern canning and bottling techniques, before Ziploc and Tupperware, and before Louis Pasteur had discovered bacteria. Sure, they had ways of delaying food from spoiling. Meat could be salted and dried. Grapes could be made into raisins or wine. Grain was dried and stored in barns. But sooner or later the mold always won. The maggots took over. The food went bad. Our Old Testament lesson reminds us of the manna that the Lord provided for His people in the wilderness. He sent them food from heaven to sustain them in their journey to the Promised Land. Following today’s lesson, the Lord gives additional instructions about this heavenly food. Each morning, the family was to gather just enough food for one day. If any was left until the next morning, it would be full of mold and maggots. The exception was for the Sabbath. On Friday morning you could gather enough for two days, so that you didn’t have to work on Saturday, the Sabbath. So the manna lasted one or two days. That was it. You couldn’t fill your cupboards with it. You couldn’t freeze it to make it last. Only one or two days and it was gone.

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In this way, the people learned to trust in the Lord for all things. Every day they were reminded that the Lord cared for them and provided for them. It wasn’t about their gathering and storing and hording, it wasn’t a competition to see who could gather the most, but the focus was on Lord’s sending them food every day. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” We pray that the Lord would give us our bread for today. We’re often tempted to pray for more, to pray for tomorrow’s bread, too, or maybe even a week or a month or a year’s worth of bread. Wouldn’t it be great to have enough food stored up for years, and never have to worry about having enough to eat? But the bread of this world quickly spoils and goes bad. The mold and the maggots come. And we need the Lord to provide us with bread each and every day. Jesus provided bread to the five thousand that day in Galilee. Folks were so astonished by this miracle that they tried to make Jesus their king. They wanted a king who could provide for all their earthly needs, most of all who could feed them. But that wasn’t the kind of king Jesus came to be, and so He moved on to another town. But the people wouldn’t leave Jesus alone. They wanted more bread. They wanted more signs and miracles, so they tracked Jesus down. Jesus tries to draw the people beyond the bread, past the food of this life that quickly spoils. Jesus said, “Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.” Jesus says this to us, too. We are so occupied with the things of this world, that we neglect the eternal things. If not food, we are into cars and toys and houses and possessions, so much so that we loose sight of what is really important. These things are not evil, but they do not last, so don’t get too attached to them. Don’t work and labor and spend all your energy going after them. Cars rust, toys break, houses fall apart. Just like bread, they don’t keep. The people are confused when Jesus says, “Don’t work for bread.” Don’t spend all your energy trying to get things that don’t last. The people ask the logical next question, “Well, then what should we work for? What should we do? How does God want us to spend our time and energy?” Jesus replies, “This is the work of God, that we believe in him whom he has sent.” What should you be doing? How should you be spending your time and your energy? What should you be working for? Jesus tells you. Not in just getting bread, but in getting Jesus. Believing in Him, trusting in Him, loving Him, seeking Him. Jesus is the true bread from heaven. He comes to give life to the world, eternal life.

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The bread that you eat here on earth will not sustain you for long. The bread will perish, and so will you. You have an expiration date, too. It may be 80, 90, or even 100 year or more, but sooner or later, we all expire. Sooner or later the mold always wins. Sooner or later your body will be laid in the ground, and your body will return to the dust from which it was made. Not so with Jesus. Jesus is the only one who has defeated the mold. Jesus has triumphed over the maggots, over decay, over death itself. When Jesus died, His body did not return to dust. On that first Easter morning, the women expected to find a body that was rotting and decaying. They brought spices to slow the process. But Jesus was not there. He was not among the dead and dying things of this world, the things that spoil and rot and mold. Jesus had risen triumphant from the grave. He rose with a new, glorified, heavenly body. Christ, being risen from the dead now dies no more. Death has no more dominion over him. Jesus said to the crowd that day, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” Jesus is the bread of life, the bread that does not die, the bread that does not spoil, rot or mold. Jesus is the bread that gives life, eternal life. Jesus has conquered death, and we all now share in His victory. We are now about to receive Jesus, the bread of life, here in His holy Supper. Here the Lord gives you the bread of life, the bread that lasts, the bread that will never spoil. Jesus gives you His body, His flesh, that has triumphed over the grave through His death and resurrection. Because you eat this bread, you too will live forever. You will laid in the grave, but death will not have the last word. The mold will not live forever. O death where is your victory? Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. The people came to Jesus that day in Galilee looking for bread, bread that would spoil and perish. Jesus gave them something better. He gave them Himself, the true bread from heaven, the bread that gives eternal life. You have come here this morning looking for Jesus. No matter what you came to him to find, He has something better for you. He gives you Himself, His own body, the bread of life, given for you for the forgiveness of sins.

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