Religious Junk Food
By
Litton
J. Logan
August
6, 2006
Scriptures:
John
6:22--35 (NRSV)
22 The
next day the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea saw that there
had been only one boat there. They also saw that Jesus had not got into the boat
with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23 Then
some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread
after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that
neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats
and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
25
When they found
him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come
here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Very
truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but
because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27Do
not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal
life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father
has set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we
do to perform the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This
is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30 So
they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see
it and believe you? What work are you performing? 31 Our ancestors
ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from
heaven to eat.’” 32 Then Jesus said to them, “Very
truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it
is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For
the bread of God is that whichcomes down from heaven and gives life to the
world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread
always.”
35 Jesus
said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever
John
6:22--35 (The Message New Testament)
The next day the
crowd that was left behind realized that there had been only one boat, and that
Jesus had not gotten into it with his disciples. They had seen them go off
without him. By now boats from Tiberias had pulled up near where they had eaten
the bread blessed by the Master. So when the crowd realized he was gone and
wasn’t coming back, they piled into the Tiberias boats and headed for
Capernaum, looking for Jesus.
When
they found him back across the sea, they said, “Rabbi, when did you get
here?”
Jesus
answered, “You’ve come looking for me not because
you saw God in my actions but because I fed you, filled your stomachs—and for
free.
The Bread of Life
“Don’t waste your energy striving for perishable food like that.
Work for the food that sticks with you, food that nourishes your lasting life,
food the Son of Man provides. He and what he does are guaranteed by God the
Father to last.”
To
that they said, “Well, what do we do then to get in on God’s works?”
Jesus
said, “Throw your lot in with the One that God has
sent. That kind of a commitment gets you in on God’s works.”
They
waffled: “Why don’t you give us a clue about who you are, just a hint of
what’s going on? When we see what’s up, we’ll commit ourselves. Show us
what you can do. Moses fed our ancestors with bread in the desert. It says so in
the Scriptures: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
Jesus
responded, “The real significance of that Scripture is
not that Moses gave you bread from heaven but that my Father is right now
offering you bread from heaven, the real bread. The Bread of God came down out
of heaven and is giving life to the world.”
They
jumped at that: “Master, give us this bread, now and forever!”
Jesus
said, “I am the Bread of Life. The person who aligns
with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever. I have told you this
explicitly because even though you have seen me in action, you don’t really
believe me. Every person the Father gives me eventually comes running to me. And
once that person is with me, I hold on and don’t let go. I came down from
heaven not to follow my own whim but to accomplish the will of the One who sent
me.
Sermon:
We have all seen the TV commercials and programs concerning world hunger.
I am talking about those horrible pictures of the emaciated bodies of
adults and children. I have tried to empathize with that hunger, but I have
nothing in my experience to draw upon. I have been hungry before, but I have
never been starving and desperate unto death for food.
In
our country today, physical hunger and deprivation is generally not a major
problem. In fact, we have just the
opposite problem—too much food. Obesity
is one of our major health problems. Television,
radio, newspapers, magazines, and our social conventions all stimulate and
encourage us to eat almost constantly. The foods we are generally encouraged to
eat are easy and fast-to-obtain, high-calorie, low nutrition, foods—commonly
called junk food. These foods are tailor made for our
fast-paced-don’t-have-time-to-cook-so-get-take-out life styles.
In
an Associated Press article on August 1, 2006 the AP Medical writer points out
that most of us who are obese are convinced that we have good eating habits and
regularly participate in vigorous exercise.
The writer points out there seem to be some denial going on among many
obese in this county.[i]
It is to the denial of good eating habits and the lack of an
understanding of vigorous exercise as an analogy to our spiritual lives that I
would like speak this morning.
We
are a nation that is over fed; but mentally, physically, and spiritually
undernourished. We are a nation
with more educational institutions per capita than any other first-world nation;
however, our educational statistics are less than stellar.
We have one of the highest numbers of Christian churches per capita of
any first-world nation. Over fifty percent of Americans consider themselves
adherents of one of the major religions of the world, which espouses high moral
standards. Yet, our crime rates and vice related industry statistics per capita
would not reflect that we are a Christian or a spiritually adept nation by a
long shot.
I
think we are a nation whose people are spiritually and morally undernourished.
To date, the most prominent and prevalent means of addressing our
spiritual and moral malnourishment is found in shallow consumer oriented, fast
food, religion.
As
I said last Sunday, I sometimes watch the religion channel on TV--mostly I am
looking for gospel music shows. I have also been known to listen to one of the
religious radio stations on occasions. I am amazed at the shallowness and antiquatedness
of much of what I see and hear. I
shutter when I hear people say, “All you need to do is just…”, and then
give some puerile, catchy religious alliteration as an answer for the moral,
spiritual, psychological, and social problems of our day. My friends being a
disciple of Jesus Christ is simple, but it is not simplistic.
Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is a life long undertaking of
preparation, study, and vigorous exercise of spiritual discernment.
I
believe that much of religion in America to day it is well intended and it seems
to work for some people. However,
if George Barna, the religious author and pollster, is right, we have many
people in this country calling themselves spiritual but not many who are
grounded in sound, life changing biblical principles.
In short, we are very interested in the spiritual, but we try not to let
it change our lives.
Let
me also share this with you from George Barna:
…
“American Christians are biblically illiterate. Although most of them contend
that the Bible contains truth and is worth knowing, and most of them argue that
they know all of the relevant truths and principles, our research shows
otherwise. And the trend line is frightening: the younger a person is, the less
they understand about the Christian faith.” Barna mentioned several studies
done throughout the year that explored beliefs related to the existence and
nature of God, the holiness and authority of Jesus Christ, the need for and
means of salvation, the key teachings of Jesus, the role of a community of
faith, and other foundational elements of Christianity. “By and large, people
parrot what their parents taught them. Sadly, with fewer and fewer parents
teaching their kids much of anything related to matters of faith, young
people’s belief system is the product of the mass media.” (Barna Reviews Top
Religious Trends of 2005, www.barna.org,
Barna Group, Ltd. of Ventura, California,
December 20, 2005)
As
a pastor, I have attended people, who are having to come to grips with their
mortality and life fears, with shallow, cliché religion.
I have sat with the adherents of pop religion in life crisis when their
religion has failed them.
In
some of my less charitable moments, I have wanted to ask where is your
TV-evangelist-self-help guru that you’ve sent so much money to now.
Where now is you condemnation of the local church and the minister as
being out of touch and inadequate? Where is your glitz and glamour religious
community now? They don’t want to know you because by being human you have
betrayed the illusion.
Why
are you blaming the Devil for your misery?
Such arrogance, such arrogance, as to think that you are so special and
so important to the grand scheme of things that supernatural forces are plotting
to undermine and over-throw your faith. No,
dummy, you go caught out by your own choices, naïve and as uninformed as they
may be, your choices none-the-less. Your
low nutritional, childish religion could not sustain you up the steep grades or
in the valley of the shadow of uncertainty, doubt, sin, and death.
No,
I’ve never said such things, because I know all to well the despair from
eating religious junk food. Religious
junk food, as I know, is good for quick starts out of the gate, but it will not
sustain the spirit over long and arduous courses.
Speaking
of religious perspectives, reminds me of the two Mississippi, Christian good-ole
boys, who lost all commonsense in their religion:
♦
Good-ole boy Fred and Luke were fishing in a slough on
the side of a road in Mississippi. They were both devotedly religious men and
members of the Extra Full Gospel, Four Squared to the Tenth Power, Immediate and
Soon to Be Church of What’s Happening Now--reformed school of thought of
course.
Being good and devote men of the “Soon to Be Church
of What’s Happening Now” they made a sign saying "The End is Near! Turn
your around now before it's too late!" to show each passing car as they sat
fishing.
The first driver that passed by didn't appreciate the
sign and shouted, "Crazy, religious nuts!" followed shortly by a huge
splash.
Fred turned to Luke with a deep, pious concern written
on his face and said. "Do you think we should just put up a sign that says:
'Bridge Out'?"
♦
Please,
now, hold in your mind’s eye the imagines of those poor emaciated bodies and
vacant eyes of the desperately hungry we’ve seen on TV.
Now, tilt those imagines a little and see the emaciated souls and
hopeless eyes of the spiritually impoverished of this nation and this world.
Souls that have eaten well on the Twinkies, Little Debbie’s snack
cakes, and McDonald burgers of pop-religion. Now, I can identify with this
image. This is also an imagine that Jesus might have seen as he looks out over
the eager crowd that has sought him out with his discerning spiritual eyes.
In
our scriptures today, Jesus addresses a group of people who have been victimized
by the junk food religion of their day. People
who have been ostracized, marginalized, and discounted because they failed to
conform to the religious illusions of their day
Yet, true to human nature these people come looking for drive-through,
fast-food answers even as Jesus tries to feed them solid, divine knowledge, and
spiritual food.
A little deeper look at our scriptures and its talk of
food will reveal that in rabbinic tradition manna or heavenly bread is
frequently associated with Moses, the great lawgiver, and the Israelite’s
wilderness wandering. Manna becomes a metaphor for the divine, life giving
wisdom of God made known in the Torah or Law.
A metaphor Jesus will employ to describe himself and his teachings. Jesus
says, if you will, that he and his teachings are soul food.
Jesus unbraids the crowd that has sought him for their
materialistic motivations. Many in
the crowd were most likely just looking for a sensational, free meal, a feel
good experience, or a good controversy. Jesus
chides them for heir lack of spiritual perception and depth.
These people had seen marvelous things; they have heard truths that go to
the deepest aspects of the human soul, and, yet, for many of them it was simply
a free meal and an emotional experience.
Jesus tells the people to
expend their efforts--work for--what will last forever. The things and cares of
this world are short-lived but the spiritual food and the life that Jesus offers
is eternal. Jesus is
encouraging people to strive for the knowledge of God that ennobles them and
equips them to build God’s kingdom on earth.
I have known so many people
who were seemingly quite happy and content with their simple minded,
pop-religious notions of personal salvation.
My friends, God’s gift of salvation to any individual is to the end of
bringing God’s kingdom on earth. To build God’s kingdom on earth for all
people requires intelligent, scripturally and spiritually educated adults not
religious adolescents.
The people in our scriptures today understood
that Jesus was speaking metaphorically when he talked of the Bread of Life. They
would have also understood that Jesus was telling them that God had a
requirement of them. In addition,
to their credit, I believe they would have gladly done whatever Jesus had told
them to do. However, Jesus
indicates that there is no drive-through, fast-food answers. What
God required of them was that they put their faith in the One sent by God to
show them a purer relationship to God and to one another through the hard,
life-long work of love and to stop all their wrangling over shallow, legalized,
works righteousness. Religion, then
and now, must stop terrorizing people with images of a wrathful, vengeful God
who’s gonna get’m if they do such and such or don’t do such and such.” Christianity must portray God’s work in Jesus the Christ in
a mature and real-world manner.
♦
This
business of God is going to get you stuff reminds me of the story about
a drunk man who smelled of stale booze, who sat down on a subway seat next to a
priest.
The
man's tie was stained; his face was smeared with red lipstick, and a half empty
bottle of gin was sticking out of his torn coat pocket. He opened his newspaper
and began to read. After a few minutes, the man turned to the priest and asked
'Say Father, what causes arthritis?' The priest replies 'My son, it's caused by
loose living, fornication, too much alcohol, and contempt for your fellow man'
'Well I'll be,' the drunk muttered, returning to his newspaper.
The
priest thinking about what he had said nudged the drunk and apologized. 'I'm
sorry to come on so strong, my son. How long have you had arthritis?'
'I
don't have it, Father. I was just reading here that the Pope does.'
¿
To move beyond assumption
and innuendo, let us carry our metaphor to its fruition: We are to abandon the
junk food of religious legalism, shallow religious sensationalism, and the
designer religions of the prideful and come to live our lives as Jesus did.
Jesus’ life and ministry is characterized by diligently preparing
himself to proclaim and to live God’s will.
He was a person of deep scriptural understanding.
Jesus was a devoted person of prayer, meditation, spiritual reflection,
and services to others. He was a
man of pure and honest worship of God. He does not participate in the exploitive
religion of his day. He does not participate in the demeaning and marginalizing
behaviors of the rich and powerful. He
does not buy into the so-called immoral behaviors of the disenfranchised, the
marginalized, and the hopeless. He
stands as a man of compassion that gives no quarter to immorality, false piety,
and indifference. Jesus rigorously and regularly exercised his faith in prayer,
study, and service.
The
question then is will we eat religious food that is nothing more than empty
self-serving religious calories or, will we be kingdom builders, who can discern
the truths of God for our lives and the life of the world as spiritually and
religiously mature disciples of Christ? Will
we be people, who take the time to prepare balanced and wholesome spiritual food
for our minds and souls and that of our children and grandchildren?
I have had people tell me that they have read such and such in the bible
and it doesn’t make sense to them. They
want me to interpret the scriptures for them. As flattering as this may be, let
me make a suggestion; buy your family a good one-volume bible commentary—I can
recommend several. Buy your family a set of bible dictionaries—I can recommend
several. Read scripture and the
reference material, spend time thinking about both; praying and meditating on
what you’ve read. If it still doesn’t make sense, come talk to me or some
other theologically educated person. Notice
I said theologically educated person, not some charismatic
college-drama-student-drop-out, turned self-styled preacher. Rarely, if you
honestly seek God’s truth in scripture through diligent research, prayer, and
reflection, will the scriptures fail to reveal their truths.
My
friends there is a religious world out there that is starving for wholesome,
spiritual food and a sound and healthy faith in God’s Christ.
It is our duty and privilege to feed that world.
♦
Like
the old fellow, who was driving down the freeway, his car phone rang. Answering,
he heard his wife's voice urgently warning him, "Herman, I just heard on
the news that there's a car going the wrong way on Highway 401. Please be
careful!"
”Darling,"
said Herman, "It's not just one car. It's hundreds of them.”
♦
I
believe there are hundreds, thousands, millions of religious people, who are
heading down the right road the wrong way looking for a fast food, easy answer
religion.