First Sunday after Trinity
6th June 2010: 9:00am & 11:45am
Preacher: The Revd Nigel Gibson
Readings: 1
Kings 17:17-end, Galatians
1:11-end, Luke
7:11-17
In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
Amen.
Last Thursday night in this holy place, a good number
of faithful people came together to celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi – the
Day of Thanksgiving for the Institution of the Holy Eucharist.
The Gospel reading for the service was taken from
This wonderful “I
am” statement of Jesus has traditionally been interpreted in an exclusively
spiritual sense, as if Jesus were talking solely about the Eucharist. For
Christians, of course, the bread of the Eucharist no ordinary bread, but very
special bread indeed!
Yet the word ‘bread’ has a much wider application
than the traditional one. One has only to turn the pages of the Gospels to see
the various kinds of bread Jesus offered to people, so satisfying their many
needs. Here are just a few examples……
To the people who followed him into the desert and
who were literally starving, Jesus offered ordinary bread and so satisfied
their physical hunger.
To the leper whose body was falling apart, he
offered the only bread that mattered to him – the bread of physical healing.
To Mary Magdalene, the public sinner, he offered
the bread of human kindness and so satisfied her hunger for love and
acceptance.
To the rejects and down-and-outs, by mixing with
them and sharing their bread, Jesus offered the bread of friendship and
companionship and so satisfied their hunger for self-worth.
With Zacchaeus, the rich
tax collector who had robbed the bread from the tables of the poor, Jesus began
by inviting himself to his table. Then, having awakened within him a hunger for
a better life, he got him to share his ill-gotten gains with the poor.
To the thief who died at his side he offered the
bread of reconciliation with God, so bringing peace to his troubled soul.
To Mary and Martha who had just buried their
brother Lazarus, and to the widow of Nain who, as we heard in today’s Gospel,
was burying her only son, he offered the bread of compassion and sympathy, and
showed them that even in death we are not beyond the reach of God’s help and
comfort.
We can see then that Jesus shared himself with
others in many different ways and under many different forms before offering
himself to them as food and drink at the Last Supper.
But surprisingly there were some who refused his
offer of bread. Here again are some examples……
There was a rich young man to whom he offered the
bread of discipleship, but who refused it because he was not willing to part
with his riches.
There was Pilate to whom he offered the bread of
truth, but who had no appetite for it because it meant putting his position and
security at risk.
There were people of his beloved
Then there were the Scribes and Pharisees to whom
he offered not once, but several times, the bread of conversion, but they
refused to eat even a crumb of it.
And what about ourselves – where are we in all this? Sadly for many
Christians today, the bread of life has become somewhat stale. Rather than eat
of the bread of life all the time, some have fallen to temptation and lost
their way. And all of know how easy it is in this ‘age of distraction’ to lose
the right focus and succumb to temptation.
None of us can escape the powerful forces which
exist all around us, telling us to do this or to do that, and all the time
tempting us away from the bread of life.
For example, the media, in all its forms, produces words and images that
bear so many promises: this product, that investment, yet another attractively
packaged creation with its promise of instant gratification. But all of us know
these advertising lines are really overblown in their promises. It has been my
experience that homes stuffed with consumer products are often homes filled
with people who deep-down are sad, discontented and very lonely. We just can’t
fill that inner hunger of the heart by an incessant drive for more and more
materialism.
Living in the light of our faith we learn by
experience what truly satisfies and what still leaves an inner hunger. The true
bread for our souls is not found in ‘things’. Even the most impressive
stockpile of consumer goods doesn’t nourish that
spiritual centre of our lives which marks us out as people made in God’s image.
‘our hearts are restless until they rest in
God’ is a truth that still holds good for every one of
us all these years on.
To everyone, rich and poor, Jesus offers the only
bread that will ultimately satisfy the hunger which God has placed in our
hearts, namely the bread of eternal life. And make no mistake: this is not some
fast food, some temporary snack, but food that endures for ever!
Who then would not want to be associated with this
man Jesus, who alone can satisfy the longings and hungers of our hearts? And
once we have been nourished and sustained by him, he sends us out into the
world to nourish those in our reach.
Whenever and wherever we celebrate the
Eucharist we break the bread and share the wine of this holy meal. Here the
great mystery of Christ’s flesh and blood becomes apparent again to the eyes of
our faith. Hopefully we will have prepared ourselves by prayer and confession
to receive these sacred gifts.
And do remember that the Eucharist is
more than a quick moment out of each week set apart as holy. It is a holy
flame, meant to illuminate every corner of our daily lives with the light of
Christ. What we do ‘this’ day is our
model for how to live life ‘every’
day.
So, every time you to partake of
Christ's flesh and blood remember exactly what it is you are receiving… very
rich nourishment for your soul and spiritual health. And then go beyond this celebration and
recognize the real presence of Christ in your life.
See the flesh of Christ in the poor;
seek justice with them. See the flesh of Christ also in the rich; pray that
their wealth does not destroy them. And see the flesh of Christ when you gaze
into a mirror; look at yourself, like what you see, and say to yourself that
this too is the flesh God has made.
Amen.