“Buying Bread”

John 6:1-21

July 26, 2009

For quite a few years I have been consumed with gluttony. While I have been accused of grazing around the kitchen and fridge, I don’t believe I have qualified as an out-and-out glutton. It has been more of an intellectual exercise, reading about the battle waged against gluttony by early Christians, particularly monks and hermits who have recognized that eating too much food can seriously inhibit one’s spiritual growth and be the plate set by the devil for more serious failings.

One sixth-century bishop, lecturing novice monks in the monastery, declared bluntly, “The lust of the belly is the beginning of all sin.” It is the lust, the inappropriate desire, that is the problem, setting off gluttony from hunger, and the need for food from coveting it. What the wise ones of faith recognized is that one can justify all sorts of excesses in the name of a good meal. Indeed, the bishop points out how the only thing that matters to such people is the timing and quality of their next meal. “Perhaps the feet of Abraham when love was carrying them and running to the herd so that he might bring a calf to the angels were not as light as the feet of the glutton [who] rushes to whomever brings him food.” “Two eggs are more dear to the glutton than the New and Old Testaments.”

Now if you are feeling a little uncomfortable about that wonderful meal last night or the anticipating the great one this afternoon, rest assured that the issue is not with food. No human being can survive long without food, and we have long known that if we are going to help people live a more ethical and moral life, they have to be fed first. Malnutrition does not lead to spiritual insight. Moreover, everywhere you read the Bible is talking about food, and Jesus himself is accused of being a glutton. All the spiritual guides emphasize that food is necessary for health - it’s just the inordinate desire for food that creates problems, not only in one’s own spiritual life, but also in the community as a matter of justice and caring for others.

Jesus just can’t get away. He and his disciples take off in a boat to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, a not small lake, but the multitudes saw where he was going. He tried to hide in the hills, and since Passover was at hand, they sat down perhaps for an outdoor Seder. He looked up and there they were coming in droves. Jesus looked over to Philip and slyly asked - the only Gospel where this happens - “How are we to buy bread, so that they people may eat?” Philip did not give the correct answer, but it’s one you and I would most likely offer, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” I assume the disciples did not collectively have 200 denarii among them anyway.

Then Andrew piped up, not sure if it was a brainstorm or just idle talk - “a lad here has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they among so many?” “A drop in the bucket” translates Eugene Peterson. Clearly no danger of gluttony on top of this hill.

Jesus had a plan and he began like a good bureaucrat and community organizer, making everybody sit down. It was easier to serve them seated, and harder for there to be a mob rush on the supplies. Five thousand men, the account reads, and given the language then it may have been many more women and children - still an unthinkable number for ad hoc catering.

Jesus was going to have a Seder one way or another, so he performs the four traditional actions of Passover and of Communion - he takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it and gives it to be distributed. That’s all it says, “He distributed them to those who were seated; he did the same with the fish, as much as they wanted.” As much as they wanted, sounds on the edge of excess to me. And look at what was left behind - 12 basketsful of bread - where did they get all the baskets? Everybody must have eaten all the fish. That nothing may be lost was Jesus’ directive, so I assume they took the bread to the Food Bank afterwards. A lot of food consumed and left over, a situation brimming with gluttonous possibilities.

When you’ve had your fill of food, you tend to be impressed, and that bothered Jesus. He sensed they were about to take him by force and make him king - not an unusual tactic in ancient times. Jesus Christ Superstar he did not want to be, for as Daniel Harrell wrote, “If Jesus had given in to fame, he could have gotten around the cross.” So he headed for the hills once again and this time he got himself properly lost to the crowds.

He also was lost to his disciples who inexplicably and apparently without concern left without Jesus. They were rowing hard despite a strong headwind, but no one seemed to be saying, “We forgot Jesus!” Nobody ever says that. Then here comes Jesus under his power on the water, and that woke them up with a start.

Jesus can see their alarm, so he identifies himself, “It is I, do not be afraid.” That’s the way it is translated in the Revised Standard Version as well as most others. Actually, Jesus said to the disciples, “I Am,” which he would say a lot more in John - I Am the shepherd, the Door, the Vine. This sounds innocuous, but it is anything but. When Moses asked God in the burning bush by what name he should be called, God answered in precisely the same words as here, “I Am.” The disciples may have forgotten Jesus, but John hadn’t forgotten who Jesus was. Gladly they take him on board, and then in no time at all, that quick, immediately, the boat was on the shore where they were going. Helps to have I Am on board.

Funny that no one was mentioning food anymore. There was no lust of the belly here, but everyone was filled to their satisfaction. This feeding of the 5000 was a reversal of gluttony. We are given what we need and it is enough and it is at that point that we are living in the kingdom of heaven. You can’t control and make it last forever as human beings, you cannot walk on water whenever you want.

Most of the talk about gluttony and food today is self-righteous chatter about how one should live and eat correctly and healthfully. Sometimes the talk may even venture into a concern for social justice not too far removed from the old line we heard at the dinner table - “Eat all your food; there are poor children in (name a country) who are starving.” Jesus was tweaking Philip about buying bread as if that were a solution, and yes it could be. And for the time being that is one of our best solutions: to buy food for those we know are hungry.

Nevertheless, at this moment we are listening for the Gospel which insists that as we turn our desires and lusts towards the benefit of other people, the world changes and so do you and me. Our inadequacy enables us to receive grace and that grace for a little while is the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven, however, happens in the midst of people working and serving and loving and eating together, at those remarkable moments when everyone has enough and has eaten their fill.

Preached by Robert Kitchen

Knox-Metropolitan United Church

Regina, Saskatchewan