First sermon in a strange new land

Since the pattern seems to be that internship sermons get posted on blogs, I decided to throw mine out there. I didn't particularly like how it turned out, but I don't know why. It got a lot of positive feedback from the congregation though, with one man almost in tears. Oh well, maybe you can figure out why I didn't like it that much:

I love the characters in John’s Gospel. Typically in the Bible we come across people that really hit our situation and our place in life, and I have to say that in general, I identify quite closely to the people we meet in John. I’m speaking specifically in this reading about the Jews. While they are plural, in this part of John’s Gospel they are lumped together to act as one “person”.
There is something common to a lot of the people that we meet in John, they come off as absolute fools. Let me give you a few examples: Nicodemus, upon hearing that we must be “born again” or “born from above”, begins to wonder about how he is going to crawl back into his mother’s womb; or the disciples, when they are suggesting that Jesus eat food**, and he replies, “I have food to eat that you do not know about”, they say to one another, “No one brought him any food, right?” It is indicative of people who for one reason or another, just don’t seem to catch on.
In this particular reading, we see a similar situation develop. After all, if we can prove who Jesus’ father and mother are, then there is no way that he came down from heaven. Oh, my, you silly, silly fools. This shows a different misunderstanding which resonates with me, and maybe you can see if it touches you in the same way. You see once I get something stuck in my head, and I get it figured out, and I convince myself that it’s true there’s no way you’re getting rid of that, no way you’re gonna change my mind. I’ll give you an example – “When you’re getting ready to cook an oven bake pizza, what is the first step? (Check with congregation) Of course after removing the wrapper. The first step is to pre-heat the oven. Everybody knows that, but do you know what I do? I start the oven, and immediately stick the pizza in. Of course it’s not following the instructions, but for some reason, I have it stuck in my head that the proper way to cook that pizza is to not wait for the oven to warm up.
Anne Wilson Schaef calls that an addiction. From her book, “When Society Becomes an Addict”, she writes, “An addiction is anything that we are not willing to give up”. An addiction is anything that we are not willing to give up. It’s easy to talk about addiction when addressing things such as drug or alcohol abuse, when talking of lust, and talking of pride. These things which are either something we stand and point a finger at, or something that we lie about to ourselves and others. But addiction is so much more than the wrong that we see in others, and the behavior which we clearly recognize as wrong.
Jesus speaks of the tradition, of the manna in the wilderness. To draw that fresh in your minds, the Israelites were complaining to Moses that the Lord had led them out to this desolate landscape to let them die. The Lord responds by blanketing the ground with bread so that the Israelites may know that God is with them. This tradition is a staple which the Jews can refer to when they fear that God has abandoned them.
Jesus completely breaks down their addiction to their tradition. Do you remember that time when bread came down from heaven? When your ancestors hunger was quenched by God? Well, what happened to your ancestors? They all died! This beautiful story which reminded the people that there was hope when everything seemed tragically lost, now has lost all its punch, because the end result is that the people died…the same thing they feared before they even had bread to eat.
Imagine the things that keep you comfortable. Like your job**, or your house, or your family. These things, we have come to be thankful for because God has given them to us. But these very things, our blessings which we confess in the offertory prayer as gifts, are the same things that get in our way, and become our addictions. For the Jews, it was their tradition, their stories of God’s action with them, and maybe for us, our tradition might have that same effect.
Things just aren’t the same way they used to be. Look around, if you haven’t seen things changing then you haven’t been paying attention. But I’ll be darned if I ever let that oven get warm before I put that pizza in there.
I joke about the pizza, but I couldn’t be more serious about addictions. There’s a test to see if you are addicted to something. Try doing something different. Do your morning routine without a cup of coffee, or sit in a different seat in the sanctuary. Talk with people you don’t usually sit with. Eventually, you will find something within you that does not like being changed. That’s an addiction.
What the Gospel speaks of today is the freedom from those addictions. What I gather from Jesus’ words is that I have no idea what bread is! Everything that I’ve been given, my car, the opportunity to stand up here and preach, my dumb little oven-bake pizzas, everything I see as bread, I see it as necessary for me to do what I need to do in the world. And Jesus calls, saying, “you’ve been thankful for all those things, but let me teach you what real bread is”.
This revelation that Jesus is not only bread but the only bread we’ll ever need works itself as both Law and Gospel. First, Jesus says “that bread that you’ve been eating, that you’ve been holding onto, it’s gonna die, and as a result, you’re going to die. But this bread, my body, my flesh, this bread from heaven I am giving you, because I care too much to see you die.” You see, we may be thankful for the things we have piled up in our houses, but Jesus is the true gift we have received from heaven.
When we come to the table this morning, remember the things we have that God has given us, recall our jobs, our wealth, our freedom, remember all these things and then hear the words of Jesus, that all these gifts mean so very little. Then come and receive the true bread, for this is God’s gift, this is God revealed to us most fully, God’s grace of eternal life that will no longer die. This bread, the true presence of Christ, will give you eternal life. Amen.