Organic and Eternal - John 6:24-35 (Sermon from 8/2/15)

A friend of mine, Rhonda, shared a story about a visit with her mother this summer.  Rhonda decided that it was time to “help” her mother clean out the pantry.  A big part of the pantry work was going through and discarding all of the “out-of-date” food.  As she began throwing away some of the food, her mom protested, “Those don’t go bad!  They have preservatives!”

“Yes, they do, Mama!”                                                                        

“No, they don’t!”

“Yes they do!”

I used not to think anything of expiration dates on foods, if it looked okay and tasted okay, then it must be okay.  Of course as picky of an eater as I used to be, the only real food that I ate that had expiration dates posted on it was peanut butter, and still, in my house, a jar of peanut butter doesn’t last long enough to worry about an expiration date—a 48 ounce jar is gone in a week or two.  Working at Good Shepherd Kitchen has caused me to look at some more closely.  Why?  Well, if something is a few days, and some products, maybe even a month or so, past the date, it might be okay.  However, when it is 2006 and someone donates cans of soup that expired in 1998, I don’t think you have to think too long about where that can needs to go.  I mean if you buy a new can of soup and the expiration date is three to four years out, think about how old a can that expired eight years prior would be.  And while there is a great deal of debate, and studies have been conducted on canned food over 100 years old, the truth of the matter is that those foods that we collect in food drives, or buy for ourselves, that are considered non-perishible are not truly eternal, they will at some point, go bad, regardless of how many preservatives are in them or what processes are used to try and make them endure.

Several years ago, while Davey was running Cross Country in high school, we started using more and more organic products at home.  I know that there are some folks that are very strong on “organic” foods.  I also know that there are some folks that scoff at the idea that there is any difference in the quality.  From our family’s experience, some things do not taste any different.  However, some things, such as my coffee and, according to Anita, Davey, and Joshua, the bananas, have a much better taste.  Regardless of whether there is a difference in the quality, I cannot think that it is a bad thing to ingest less chemicals as we enjoy our favorite foods.  I’m not a fanatic about it, but given the opportunity I will lean toward the organic foods.

As I read about the debate between organic versus what we would now call regularly processed foods—whether they are fresh vegetables or boxed, canned, or frozen, prepared meals, there were two differences that really stood out.  The first, most obvious observation, is that organic foods tend to be the most pure of the foods.  They haven’t been tainted with chemicals in an effort to either make them have a longer shelf life or make them look nicer in the produce section of the store (such as the wax coating on some fruits in places).  The second, less obvious, is connected.  Because of the lack of the chemical additives and/or other preservatives, organic foods tend to go bad at a quicker rate than foods that are not.

As our Scripture passage opens this morning, Jesus would seem to offer an argument against organic foods, “Do not work for food that perishes, but for the food that endures….”  Organic versus processed…take a verse (or part of a verse) out of its context and you have the final answer on the argument.  However, let’s consider the context—both in time and the Scriptures.  Plain and simple, pretty much any food that folks were eating in Jesus’ day was organic…no chemical fertilizers, not man-made preservatives, pure and simple straight from the ground to the table….

In the context of Scripture, Jesus had just fed the multitudes on the hillside.  The people had eaten their fill of organic fish and bread and there were leftovers…all from a group of over 5,000 that appeared to have nothing.  Afterwards, Jesus and the disciples set sail across the Sea of Galilee for some peace and quiet.  The people, after realizing that Jesus and His companions were gone, set out looking for them, and found Him on the other side of the sea.  They begin crowding around Jesus…hungry for more of what they had experienced the day before.  Jesus confronts them.  He said, “You just came looking for me because when your bellies were growling last evening, you experienced a miracle and found your physical hunger satisfied.  You made the effort to follow me across the water just to have more fish sandwiches so that your stomachs are content again.  You need to stop focusing all your energy and effort on that kind of food, and expend your energy on what will never expire.”

As they began debating the issue with Jesus, they asked Him if he was going to do something greater than Moses.  They said, “Moses gave us manna, bread from heaven, in the desert as proof that what he was doing was God-directed.  What are you going to do?”  Now if you do not remember manna, Moses and the Israelites were wandering through the wilderness after being freed from slavery to the Egyptians.  They began grumbling about being hungry, and so God began sending them manna.  The people would awake in the mornings and find a light bread-like substance on the ground, and they would gather as much as they needed, and would eat their fill of it through the day—but God warned them, other than on the sixth day, not to gather more than what they needed.  Why?  Because this God-given bread was truly organic—there were no preservatives in it whatsoever.  Any that was left from the day before, the next morning had rotted to the point that it was filled with maggots.  Only gathering what they needed for the day and not hoarding manna for the next day, was a practice of the people learning to trust that God would provide.  So the people were saying to Jesus, “Moses gave us the manna…how are you going to top that?”

Jesus’s response?  “First of all,” he said, “it wasn’t Moses who gave your ancestors the manna.  God gave it.  Moses just told you what to do with it, not from his own knowledge, but based on instructions from God.  Secondly, God used that bread to temporarily keep their lives going while they wandered the wilderness…but God is now giving bread that will offer eternal life to the world.”

Those gathered begin clamoring for the bread that Jesus is talking about, “Sir, we are hungry, we are dying of hunger.  Give us some of that bread that will satisfy our hunger and give us life.”

Jesus responds to their pleas, “I am the bread of life.  Those who come to me, those who heed my words, those who follow me, will never hunger and will never thirst, they will be full, they will be satisfied.”  In the verses that follow today’s reading, we find Jesus pointing out that it is only through following him, through partaking in His flesh and blood, that true life, eternal life, may be found.  He points out that even those who ate of the manna that God gave eventually tasted death.

How does this scene by the Sea of Galilee speak to us today?  My brothers and sisters, the truth is we are all hungering and thirsting.  We are all needing something to fulfill the hunger and thirst in our lives—the void of emptiness within us. 

Some of us seek to satisfy that void literally with bread and drink.  We feast on Golden Corral’s yeast rolls, Krispy Kreme hot fresh glazed donuts, or organic whole grain bread from the Company Shops Co-op.  We fill our bellies with buckets of deep fried or trays of free-range baked chicken.  We fill good satisfying the hunger with power kale salads or vegan plates of food.  We drink eight glasses of water, gallons of southern sweet tea, or even a glass of doctor-ordered wine with our dinner.  Yet the void is not filled.

Some of us seek fulfillment with relationships.  We play the field, we rack up one-night stands.  We refuse to commit.  We date, we get married, and we have children.  We devote all our time to family.  We socialize, we network, we mingle, and we are social butterflies.  Yet in every one of these relationships, something fails…the void is still there.

Some of us seek to satisfy that hunger with wealth and possessions.  We just know that if we have more money in our bank accounts, the right car, the perfect house, live in the right neighborhoods, and go on the right vacations—that we will be satisfied…and yet the hunger for more still drives us.

Some of us seek to find satisfaction with our jobs and careers.  We know that if we are hired for our dream job…get that promotion…close that deal…reach that goal…that we will be satisfied…but we still thirst…

I could go on and on and on with the numerous ways we seek to satisfy the hungering and thirsting of our souls…and are still left with that void aching for more within us. 

Some of those ways are like the manufactured goods full of preservatives and chemicals.  They are quick and easy attempts at satisfying our hunger and thirst.  Yet while they may seem good for a while, eventually they will leave us hungry, and if we are honest about it, we know that some of them are not good for us.

Some of those ways are organic, they are pure, they are God-given manna, and they are even like the bread and fish Jesus provided on the hillside….  There is nothing wrong with them.  They come from God.  Yet they do not give us compete and lasting satisfaction.

It is only when we come to Christ.  It is only when we completely surrender our lives to Him.  It is only when we seek complete satisfaction in the One who is truly Organic, who is truly Pure, that we will find fulfillment that is not temporary and does not perish, but is Eternal.  We choose to partake of Christ, to find ourselves joined to Him through our Baptism, and to be filled with His Presence and Grace through the bread and the cup, His Body and His Blood—we find that we are filled with a Love that will never leave nor desert us, that we have a home not made with human hands, but eternal in the heavens, and as our wills become one with His Will that we find that we have all that we truly need.  We find that in serving Him wherever we find ourselves, whether as a stay-at-home parent, a retiree, a teacher, a businessman, a student, a machinist, a cook, a custodian, a secretary, or a production-line worker, that we lose a desire to climb higher and higher, but are completely satisfied and fulfilled in what we do.  For when we surrender our lives and ground our complete identity in Christ, and Christ alone, we will truly find that we will not hunger and will not thirst any more.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.