Pentecost 10 John 6

Nearly ninety years ago The Taggert Baking Co. created a new kind of bread at its Indianapolis company. It was bread that was light, fluffy, snow white, and pre-sliced. After being filled with wonder at seeing a hot air balloon festival, the company VP of marketing suggested putting balloon like dots on the packaging and calling it Wonder Bread.

Of course getting the bread to be light, fluffy and snow white destroyed most of the vitamins and minerals that were part and parcel of old fashioned bread. When this became known some years later it was remedied by adding those nutrients back into the dough chemically. They even added other vitamins like calcium, thus claiming to produce a healthier bread.

At first people were reluctant to buy this new sliced “white” bread. They were suspicious of something so perfect and easy to use. The company persisted though and other companies developed their brand of white bread. Over the decades since Wonder Bread came on the market, this kind of bread has become the bread of choice of most Americans.

Bread is the staff of life. Whenever you hear a news report of a food distribution after a disaster in a foreign country, it is nearly always bread that people are given. People can live a long while on bread as the main or sole element in their diets. Of course, this bread isn’t our fluffy white bread. It is the course natural bread of their country. I wonder how they would fair on Wonder Bread?

Jesus, talks in our gospel today about life giving bread…bread from heaven…true wonder bread. He tells the people that if they come to him for the bread He has, they will never be hungry again. This isn’t any bleached wheat, bland, conformist bread though. It is full bodied, naturally rich living bread. The bread is, of course, Jesus Himself.

Though this bread is being given out for free, it will cost Jesus His life, thus it is very precious bread. It also comes from a supplier who has unlimited reserves of this bread, so that people for over two thousand years have been able to eat their fill and still there is true Wonder Bread for others who come. And all who accept this bread enjoy the basic benefits of the bread. All who accept Jesus as their Savior have the promise that they will never die. They can rely on having a home in heaven to which they will go when their early bodies wear out.

But, Jesus is offering more than that with His Wonder Bread. Those who truly feast on Him receive “living bread”. They receive eternal life. Eternal life begins in this life. It is knowing and experiencing Jesus now. It is having an intimate relationship with God everyday and in all parts of their lives.

Now we should note that while there is just one Wonder Bread, Jesus Christ, people experience the benefit of Him to different degrees.

Those who choose the easy to take white fluffy totally processed bread of life get enough nutrition to get them to heaven someday. They absorb enough faith to be able to accept the grace of salvation from God and to believe in the promise of a heavenly life in the by and by. Those who choose this bread are loved by God just as much, but they miss out on the quality that comes with richer bread.

They may not know about or not wish to engage in the heartier bread of life because it takes more effort. They would have to attend church regularly, allow God’s Word to be yeast in their lives through worship, prayer and Bible study. They would have to chew on the substance of their lives, finding God’s hand in events and seeking God’s will. This just may not interest them or be a major priority for them. They don’t know what they are missing though.

One can, of course, find processed whole wheat bread. It has more too it, gives greater nutrition and satisfaction, but it is still rather uniform and light. Those who choose this bread of life get more out of their faith lives. They also put more in. They worship faithfully and engage in spiritual practices at time other than Sundays. They are likely to be active in serving in the church and it shows. Many people may be blessed through them.

Then there are the Christians who will settle for nothing other than full-bodied, all natural, whole grain bread. This is course bread with real substance. It takes some effort to chew, but when you’ve eaten it you know you’ve eaten the best bread of all.

On a faith level, these are the Christians who put Christ at the center of their lives. They desire Him as their living bread who is a part of everything they think and do. They know that full-bodied faith comes from working on it. They ponder hard questions about their beliefs, concern themselves with how they are living out their faith not just in service, but also in their relations with others.

People who eat this form of Jesus’ Wonder Bread are usually found in growing churches because they want more than just survival; they want life, challenge and growth. They seek the unity of faith that the writer of Ephesians highlights. They see the behaviors called for there, not as law that beats them down, but as guidelines for building people up and creating a community where all are nourished with living bread.

Eating Jesus’ richest bread together with other bread lovers, they are enabled to live authentically. They don’t have to put on a righteous persona, but can admit their weaknesses and faults because having living bread in you helps make you forgiving as God is forgiving. Thus, they don’t fear condemnation from God or others. They see themselves and others as beloved children of God who are continuing to grow, thanks to the bread from heaven.

They can express their feelings – even anger - openly and honestly because they accept themselves and feel accepted by others. They take responsibility for what they feel and speak the truth with grace and love, always aiming to improve relationships.

They find their work, even otherwise unfulfilling work, worthwhile, because it is no longer only about making a living for themselves, but is a means to do ministry, including giving to those in need.

They seek to be like Christ, expressing kindness, forgiveness, encouragement and healing, knowing that God is gentle, forgiving and nurturing to them. By the example they give of building up rather than tearing down relationships, they are seen as imitators of God and others emulate them.

God will love us no matter which kind of bread we choose to consume, but He encourages to seek the richest bread so that we may know what He intended real Wonder Bread to be like. As a reminder that Jesus gives us bread of substance in His body as well as through His spiritual presence with us, today we will use real bread in our Holy Communion celebration today. Eat and be filled with Christ. Amen