Jesus & the Crust of Life
The bible verse for this week’s sermon can be found at https://bible.oremus.org/?ql=511852638
Delfina Cocciardi
I’m out of practice when it comes to social gatherings and most days I would actually prefer to sit at home in my sweatpants while no one talks to me. So if I WERE to even entertain attending a Super Bowl party, I admit it would be entirely for the snacks and to live out my middle school hip hop karaoke fantasy, but mostly the snacks. Especially because…Super Bowl snacks are my kinda of snacks - breaded and fried meat nuggets, carbohydrates galore, with a side of some kind of creamy dip with the highest possible fat content. ::chef’s kiss:: I am a simple woman with a simple palette and I am not ashamed.
This is who I am - unpolished, messy, human. Just like many others sitting at the edge of the lake, hoping to encounter this mysterious Rabbi that people have said so much about.
There were likely as many reasons for showing up as there were people.
Maybe they showed up that day looking to
Hear something inspiring
To be reminded of things that are deeply true
Maybe they came
For the familiar and calming music of the waves
that gives them a rhythm to follow when things feel out of sync
Or simply to find a moment’s peace.
Maybe they’re here because of
The way they feel at home and safe among this particular crowd of people
To not feel so alone
Maybe they’re here simply
For the food
To be warmed by the goodness of full bellies.
Maybe they’re not even quite sure why they showed up. But Jesus, who knows the heart of each one, names it out loud. Maybe that makes us flinch because others have used our truths to humiliate and harm us. But that’s not what Jesus is about. Jesus gives voice to the things under the surface not to shame them or call them out, but to build on it. To take what’s already there, the raw humanity of the moment, and point to the expansive goodness that is also unfolding within it.
The people came for different reasons, maybe some mix of their own humanity and the divine longing within them. Whatever they came looking for, Jesus meets them there and points them toward the good stuff.
Jesus meets them at the very basic level of bread - the unpolished, messy, base level of life. Jesus speaks to this ordinary element of daily life, something that was a routine and common and rather unremarkable staple of existence.We’re not talking about the artisanal loaves of pastry chefs, but that ordinary crust that just gets a person through the day. We’re at the PB&J or a plain piece of toast level.
Because sometimes that’s all we’ve got,
and sometimes barely even that,
and some days even that escapes us.
Sometimes all we can see is bread that’s bread
and that’s the only need we can think about or pursue,
just whatever gets us through to the next day.
When you’re in survival mode, it’s hard to see anything beyond the basics,
to consider the hows and the why and what fors or any grand meaning.
We have life, technically,
but it doesn’t always feel like the kind of life we really yearn for.
Jesus knew this, but so did Caesar. The Roman Empire saw the same hunger and used bread and circus as a way to keep the cycle going with the illusion of short-lived relief. Grand spectacles of entertainment and loaves of bread tossed into the crowd like t-shirt cannons to keep the people happy enough to keep going, but not quite strong enough to break free. Treating the symptoms of hunger in body and soul, but not the root cause.
But what the empire uses for captivity and control,
God uses for liberation and wholeness.
Jesus has Good News even for (and perhaps especially for)
those who are stuck in survival mode.
Jesus says, “I know you’re used to being manipulated with basic needs or told that’s all you can ever hope for.” Jesus says, “you’ve been convinced that the way out is through just getting by or shallow distractions….
…but I have come to give you a taste of God who is more than just another diversion. This Good News is a deep dive into profound goodness that lasts. This Gospel is not something to whisk us away from reality, but so deeply intertwined with it, that we experience it even in the basic and common elements of daily life.”
This kind of life that Jesus is inviting them to experience is more than mere survival, it is one where God’s goodness extends to our taste and touch as well as our hearts that we would know the beauty and bounty of what life can truly be, what life within Godself already is.
This bread…
this simple, common, unpolished, everyday food..,
can nourish our bodies
can taste sweet and good to our senses
and remind us
that this experience of delight, goodness, and fullness
also invites us
to notice the taste of something sacred, eternal, and profound.
Jesus knows and declares that a good meal doesn’t just satisfy our stomachs
but also reflects and connects us to a kind of life which feels hearty and delicious.
Jesus announces that the richness and joy we taste and experience at a table
is part of God’s own blessing of abundant life.
Jesus ties us together, pointing to the kind of life that God promises
as something we experience not just in our minds,
or even in our souls, but also through our bodies.
So tonight and every time you pull up a chair,
may you notice
with each morsel and flavor,
God’s own goodness and grace.
Taste and see that God is here.
Taste and see that God is good.
Taste and see that God abounds.