10th Sunday after Pentecost                           John: 35,41-51                           August 9, 2009

Let me begin with a Japanese story about a stonecutter named Tasuku.
According to the story, Tasuku was a poor man who cut blocks of stone from the foot of a mountain.
One day he saw a well-dressed prince parade by.
Tasuku envied the prince and wished he could have that kind of wealth.
According to the story, the Great Spirit heard Tasuku and he was made a prince.
Tasuku was very happy with his new position in life.
The silk clothes were wonderful and his powerful armies fed his newfound ego.
Life as a prince was grand until one day he saw the sun wilt the flowers in his garden.
Because of this he wished he such power as the sun, and his wish was granted.
He became the sun, with power to parch fields and humble people with thirst.

Tasuku was happy to be the sun until a cloud covered him and obscured his powerful heat.
With that, he had another wish, and the Spirit complied. Thereafter Tasuku was a cloud with power to ravage the land with floods and storms.

Tasuku was happy until he saw that the mountain remained in spite of his storms.
So Tasuku demanded to be the mountain and the Spirit obeyed.
Tasuku became the mountain and was more powerful than the prince, sun, or the cloud.
He was happy until he felt a chisel chipping at his feet.
It was a stonecutter working away—cutting blocks to sell to make his daily living.

I like this story, because it seems to illustrate how many of us tend to work and strive for that which we think will satisfy our cravings.
We are constantly seeking something—we work, we play, we build, we drink, we join clubs and organizations or we party, hoping to find in these activities some form of peace, some form of inner quite, some form of satisfaction or contentment, yet, despite all they do, we continue to hunger and thirst.

As the fable points out, Tasuku never found what he was looking for; he was never fully content and happy—even though all his wishes were granted.

Jesus said: "Very truly, I tell you…do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life—which the Son of Man will give you." (6:27)

Today's readings remind us that we all hunger and our hungers are many, in fact to be human is to have not one hunger but a hundred hungers and endless cravings.
What do I mean by this?

We hunger for a feeling of importance and acceptance.
Nobody wants to be a nobody.
We all want to matter, if only to one person.

We hunger for relationships.
Without them we are at the mercy of every wind that blows—like a lone tree on a hilltop.

We hunger for faith.
We hunger for a set of positive beliefs to guide us. Otherwise we are like a crew on a ship adrift on the high seas without charts or compass or a port of destination.

For hope.
To give up hope is like going on a spiritual hunger strike.

We hunger of course for love.
If this hunger were fully satisfied, most of our other hungers would subside.

Lastly there is one further hunger, a deeper one, one that underlies all our other hungers, including that of love…it is the hunger for the bread of life…in other words we hunger for God.

To experience this hunger is a blessing, not a misfortune. It keeps the little streams of your life moving forward toward the sea, and saves it from flowing into a stagnant swamp.
We are talking about the hunger of the heart and of the spirit.
Only God can satisfy this hunger.

Jesus said: "Very truly, I tell you…you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life—which the Son of Man will give you." (6:26)

In the Book of Exodus we are reminded of how the people of Israel suffered from the inability to find what they were longing for.
We are told that while they were being led out of slavery in Egypt they demanded water at Marah, and water that was once bitter was made sweet and pure.
They demanded bread and meat in the wilderness, complaining to Moses and Aaron that God had brought them out of the security of slavery in Egypt only to kill them with hunger…and what happened?
God provided manna and quail, enough each day for that day.

And what happens?
The people still complained.
They were never satisfied.
They were never content.

You have to wonder, what were they looking for?
What would have made them happy?
In each case, the people prayed and God answered.
They complained and God responded.
You have to wonder, what would have set their souls at rest?
In today's Gospel we are reminded of how after the feeding of the 5000 the crowd wanted to crown Jesus king.
They had never experienced anything like this before. They were in a near frenzy.
Jesus sensing this -- took his disciples across the lake to Capernaum, and even still the crowds followed.
Jesus knew what they were after.
They wanted more miracles.
They wanted more bread.
They were following him—not because they believed he was the Christ—the Messiah---but because they felt he could do things for them no else could do: heal their bodies, feed their bellies and enliven their weddings when the wine ran out.

Let me tell you another story.
Once upon a time there was a man who had grown weary of his ordinary life.
So one day he decided to leave his hometown, his wife, and children, his ancestral village to search of the perfect Magical City where all would be new and different and rewarding.
On his journey away from his hometown he found himself in a deep forest.
As darkness descended upon the day he decided to settle down for the night.

He had a little snack and prepared to go to sleep.
The man took off his shoes and carefully pointed them in the direction toward which he was going.
However, unknown to him, while he was asleep, a gnome came out during the night and turned his shoes around.
When the man awoke at dawn he carefully stepped into his shoes and continued on to what he thought was the Magical City.

After a few days, he came to his Magical City.
But wait a minute…it was not as large as he had imagined it would be.
In fact, it looked awfully familiar.
He wandered about until he found a familiar street, knocked on a familiar looking door, met a familiar family and there he lived happily ever after.

Ok, maybe our happy wanderer wasn't the brightest fellow, but there is a sense in which Jesus is trying to turn our shoes around.
That's what he's doing with the crowd on the other side of the lake.

Remember, how the crowd had just eaten the original shore lunch for 5000?
Their stomachs were filled—but they were not satisfied. They were looking for something more.
They wanted a more spiritual meal, something not as ordinary as the fish and bread.
Like the man in search of a Magical City, this crowd was looking for a Magical Master—a Miracle Worker—
a Messiah who would satisfy their every need.

Many are still looking for some teacher or guru—no matter how misguided—who will offer them some sort of meaning to their lives.

Jesus is that Messiah –but he refuses to be a Magical Master or Mystical Guru—Jesus has come to be our Messiah, our Savior and in order for us to see and understand---he makes it his mission and ministry to turn our shoes around.

He tells them and he tells us today to stop looking for the Magical City, for Magical Masters or Mystery Religions.
He tells them that the real wonder bread is right in front of them; in the one they call Rabbi.
And today's reading reminds us that there has always been a temptation to make religion something magical and mysterious, some thing more that the ordinary.
This temptation has also carried over into the notion that the church as we know it should be some Magical city on the hill, a spiritual oasis at place free from stress and the messiness of life.
We forget that the Body of Christ is made up of sinful and hungering people searching for that, which will fill them.
And sometimes we forget and fail to see that Jesus is the bread of life, that Jesus is the one to follow, not the institution or the traditions.
And in order for us to follow it often involves Jesus turning our shoes around and inviting us to receive the only bread that will fulfill our hungers and inviting us to pay attention to what is under our noses, to embrace with gratitude the ordinary and the mundane.

Jesus is not the one who brings us magical grace from heaven; he is the one who unveils the grace that exists in our very lives.
Jesus is the one reminding us that there is more to life than miracles and magical cities.
There is more to life than gorging our every hunger, especially when we end up feeling hungrier than when we began.
Jesus is the one encouraging us to notice and appreciate the ordinary mysteries that surround us, for those who love us, appreciate us, look up to us and desire to walk with us.

The good news is this: Jesus is continually attempting to turn our shoes around and bring us back home.
Jesus is turning us homeward because that is where God is—in the everyday, common, the mundane and even the messy things of life.

Jesus is continually attempting to turn our shoes around and bring us back home—because that is where our hungers are satisfied and we are given meaning to our lives.
Let us pray: Heavenly Father, it is a happy day when we can admit that we are poor and vulnerable, weak, wounded and in need of nourishment.
For it is in our emptiness that we are fulfilled.
It is in our confusion that we are guided.
It is in our weakness that we are strengthened.
It is in our sinfulness that we are forgiven.
It is in our hunger that we are fed.
Lord, we turn to you for that food which endures to eternal life, which you alone can give us, and which you alone can satisfy all our hungers and all our longings, and which will sustain us as journey through this life, which at times can become as bare as a desert, until we reach at last the Promised Land…the wedding feast that has no end. Amen

Pastor Stephen Blenkush

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