Dietary Delights Delivered    A Sermon preached at First Presbyterian Church, Clarks Summit, PA on July 18, 2021 - Scripture Texts:  Joshua 5. 10-12; John 6. 35, 48-51

Forty-three years ago my bride and I traveled from the foothills of New Jersey’s Watchung Mountains through the Delaware Water Gap, across the Poconos and Endless Mountains heading for a little town along the Susquehanna River just west of the Catskills. We were on are way to what was called “a yoked field,” to serve two small churches. I was piloting a U-Haul.  Jan followed in the eight-year-old Chevy Nova.

            We arrived at our new manse, in our new town, in new county, in a new state by mid-afternoon.  A couple of re-tired farmers, some other men from both churches, and a few high school kids were waiting on the porch to help un-load the truck.  What had taken a few days to load from three locations in New Jersey was unloaded and placed in the appropriate rooms in no time at all.

            Dinnertime was approaching, and we had not given any thought to what our first meal in our new home might be.  To our surprise and delight, when Jan unpacked the cooler, she discovered the refrigerator had been stocked with the essentials…milk, eggs, butter, orange juice and the like.  When the cabinets were opened to put away the boxes and cans we’d moved from our seminary apartment, we found an assortment of goods collected by both of the Women’s Fellowship groups.

            One of the members of the Pulpit Nominating Committee stopped by with a plate of goodies and asked if we had plans for dinner.  She and her husband were taking their son to a favorite restaurant on his last night home before heading back to Cornell, would we like to join them? Half an hour later, having quickly cleaned up from our moving day grubbiness, we were seated in their car on the way to a lovely dinner.  When we slipped between the sheets later that night, we were grateful for all the ways God had provided for us as we arrived in a new place.

            Joshua and the Israelites crossed the Jordan and entered the Promised Land and set up their camp at Gilgal. Before they commenced the campaign to occupy the places God was giving them, they caught up on some religious practices that had not been possible or practical while on the move in the wilderness. The men and boys of the generation born in the tents in the wilderness had not been marked with the sign of God’s covenant with Abraham.  So the first thing God told Joshua to do after he had built a muddy memorial altar of stones from the river bottom, was to see to the circumcision of all the males.  Then they took some time off to heal.

            That first ancient rite set things in order for the people to engage in a second custom not possible during their wilderness wanderings.  Without grain to make the unleavened bread that had been part of the meal the night before the Exodus, the people had not been able to celebrate the Passover.  But now, as the fourteenth day of the first month and the first full moon of the year approached, it was time to do as Moses had commanded. 

            Following the instructions Joshua remembered having heard from the lips of Moses, the people prepared and celebrated their liberation by God from slavery in Egypt.  Passover coincides with the spring harvest, and so the fruit of the land to which God led them was ripe for picking.  So, with the grain from the fields they had not planted, they made unleavened bread. 

            Writing in the original Interpreter’s Bible, one scholar reflects on the significance of these first events in the Promised Land:  “It was a renewal of the old covenant—a fresh commitment of the people to Yahweh.  In obedience to the law of God their first act in the Promised Land was to seal their compact.  In much the same way as we regularly partake of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper as a perpetual memorial of Christ’s broken body and shed blood—broken and shed for us.”[i]

            With the resources of the land now at their disposal, God having provided food for them in a new way, the manna and quails which had been their source of sustenance was no longer necessary.  The bread of heaven which they found on the ground each morning for breakfast and the dinnertime delivery of exhausted quails ceased.  From that day forward, they would rely on the produce of the land “flowing with milk and honey.”  God was still providing for them, just in a new way.

            These almost, sort-of, maybe, post-pandemic days have put us in a position with some simi-larities to Joshua’s band of wilderness wanderers figuring out how to live in a new set of circum-stances.  The old has passed away. What was is no longer the same, and much as we would like to, there is no way to go back to the way things were.

            Like the Israelites of old, we have an opportunity, not only to follow Joshua’s lead and recommit ourselves to God, but also to embrace the possibilities that come with every new beginning. Careful not to settle in too quickly, or expect God to do all the delivery work, providing manna and quails we no longer need, it is ours to get on with the work we have been called to do: sharing the good news, caring for those who have need, teaching each other the ways of God and holding each other accountable to live them.

            The manse we moved into up in Unadilla, New York had been rented after my predecessor left to become an Air Force Chaplain.  The renters planted a garden in the spring.  That summer, when my call became official, they were given proper notice to vacate in time for the church to do some renovations before we arrived.  By the time we pulled up with our U-Haul, the garden was overgrown with weeds. Busy with unpacking, jumping into the activity of two different Vacation Bible Schools, and getting to know our two new congregations, we didn’t have time to get out and weed that garden.

            We had already experienced our first frost by the last week of September when my family came to visit for my Installation as Pastor. As we walked out back to show off the spacious yard, we dis-covered that the weeds, killed by the frost, had wilted to the ground revealing stalks of Brussels Sprouts, rows of carrots and onions, which we were able to harvest.  Like the Israelites in their new home, we, in ours, had been blessed to receive from God’s bounty that which we had not planted or tended. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

            Of course, the following spring, with baby number one on the way, I had to put some effort into that garden behind the manse if we were to reap any rewards a second time.  With a borrowed rototiller and advice from an elder who was a prolific gardener, our patch of dirt grew to yield delights to be cleaned and eaten, or canned and frozen to be enjoyed in winter.

            In the Promised Land, the Israelites had to contribute some sweat equity to the harvest the next time around.  The vineyards and olive groves needed pruning and tending. The rest of the produce, the grains, the fruits and vegetables required work: preparing soil, planting seeds, pulling weeds, digging ditches and building aqueducts to provide water, carrying heavy vessels from the village well. That’s just the beginning. Later, the luscious fruit of field and vine required picking and the grain had to be harvested. But wait, there’s more:  grapes and olives must be pressed to make the wine and the oil, and the grain must be separated from its stalk and ground before it is mixed to make dough and baked. Only then can one give thanks for daily bread.

            With all the bounty of the “land flowing with milk and honey” at their disposal, and all the effort required to get itfrom field to table, the Israelites would face the temptation to forget that God was the source of it all, and worse, to take credit for putting food on the table. Remembering whom to thank and keeping it all in perspective takes some effort.

There is a scene in the 1965 movie Shenandoah where Jimmy Stewart, playing a farmer offers the blessing before Thanksgiving dinner: He prays:

Lord, we cleared this land, we plowed it, sowed it, and harvested.

We cooked the harvest. It wouldn’t be here if we hadn’t done it all ourselves.

We worked dog-bone hard for every crumb and morsel,

but we thank you just the same for this food we are about to eat. Amen.[ii]  

            Like their parents and grandparents who escaped slavery in Egypt and wandered in the wilder-ness led by Moses, those who followed Joshua across the Jordan into the promised land would have to learn to trust God as their provider.  The learning curve for the wilderness wanderers came in fits and starts as they rejoiced over and then forgot all God’s benefits to them.  The miraculous rescue when the sea parted for them and then overwhelmed Pharaoh’s army was forgotten as soon as their canteens and lunch boxes were empty. Yet the gifts kept coming in response to their complaints and the prayers of Moses: water from a rock; manna from heaven; quails raining down from the sky.

            Biblical scholar, Susan Hylen describes how the manna sent by God contributed to the educa-tion of the Hebrew people in the wilderness: “Manna had to be collected according to the instructions God gave (Exodus 16. 16-26), and therefore was a training ground for learning to trust God’s word.  Deuteronomy summarizes the story this way: “Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8. 2-3).  The memory of the manna story was not simply that God fed Israel, but that eating manna was akin to learning God’s wisdom and abiding by God’s law.”[iii]

            In the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus says he is the bread of life, and compares the benefit he brings to manna, the daily bread which sustained the Israelites in the wilderness.  The benefit of the manna was temporary.  Jesus on the other hand offers nourishment which will last for all eternity. “Whoever eats this bread will live forever!”

            Jesus was speaking to some folks who were trying to get their minds around how this ordinary guy from up the road, whose parents they knew, could claim to be from heaven, and offer bread that would eliminate hunger and thirst. One New Testament student sums up the difficulties of under-standing what Jesus is saying for his original audience, and for us now:

            “For his hearers in Capernaum, fresh from the experience of having their stomach filled, this must have seemed an enormous promise.  For the reader seeking to make sense of this claim today, the unavoidable context is that even among those who have moved from ‘seeing’ to ‘believing in Jesus, many experience the objective realities of hunger, thirst, frailty, and loss on a daily basis.”[iv]

            Those listening to Jesus that day brought up the story of Moses delivering manna to the hungry Hebrews in the wilderness.  Jesus points out that it was not Moses, but God who provided their nourish-ment, as long as they followed the instructions given about how much to collect. Trusting God’s word was the key.

            Once again, Susan Hylen helps us understand that the bread Jesus talks about, like the manna God sent, is about more than just filling the belly. She writes: “Those who did not gather the manna as instructed saw the extra manna rot, or they found that none was available to gather on the Sabbath (Exodus 16:20-27). Living by manna meant living by God’s word.”[v]

            Following up on this, Hylen adds: “The bread Jesus provides is similar…Since the opening verses, John has been associating Jesus with God’s word or wisdom, and the manna metaphor continues that important idea and extends it in a new way.  Jesus the word is life-giving in the same ways that the manna was. He communicates God’s will and through that word, cultivates a relationship of trust between human and divine.”[vi]

Tomorrow morning, this place will be all about building trust between some little humans and God. The joyful noise of Vacation Bible School will fill this space.  This year’s theme is “Come to the Table.”  Our young ones will spend each morning exposed in a variety of ways to five stories from the Gospels of Luke and John.  According to the instructional materials given to activity leaders, “These stories show Jesus eating with unexpected people, providing food for a crowd, demonstrating humility, and extending welcome and forgiveness. … Come to the Table invites children to see that God lives and welcomes all people and challenges them to share that same love and hospitality in their everyday lives.”[vii]

            The memory verse for the week is the first verse of this morning’s reading from the Gospel of John:

Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life.

Whoever comes to me will never be hungry,

and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. [viii]

            On the way to trusting that promise, the children will be introduced to the seven species of agricultural gifts the people of Israel depended upon: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates. Each day they will learn about the staple foods many in our world depend on today: rice, wheat, corn, cassava, and fish.

Hopefully, the discussion of the various staple foods will lead to some understanding of the promise contained in the memory verse.  According to a Wikipedia site devoted to Ancient Israelite Cuisine, bread “provided from 50 to 70 percent of an ordinary person’s daily calories.”[ix] A Baptist Pastor named David Hull is our instructor on the difference between bread in those days and the bread we put on our tables:

            “Today we use utensils to move food from a plate into our mouths.  Bread is often served at meals, but it is seen as a ‘starter’ or a ‘side.’  Many who are watching their diets forgo the bread.  Therefore, when we hear that Jesus is the ‘bread of life,’ we can too easily think in terms of a metaphor for something that is as optional as a dinner roll,” explains Pastor Hull.

            “The way Jesus and his contemporaries ate was radically different from the way most Wester-ners eat,” he continues.  “No utensils were used.  A person ate with his or her hands. Bread was usually used to dip into the food and bring the food from the dish to the mouth.” 

            Pastor Hull goes on to say:  “the Western mind-set allows us to think of bread as an extra that we can take or leave; but Jesus was operating with an image that was essential to the process of eating.  In fact, the bread used for dipping was actually the means by which someone partook of a meal.  Bread, then, was not an extra to be chosen or omitted; it was how persons accessed the food that was placed before them.”[x] 

            Bread is how you access the main course.  And the main course, as described in the Gospel of John, is life.  Jesus, the Bread of Life, leads us to the main course, to life, to God.  Jesus, the Bread of life is the gift of God for the people of God. Feast on this bread which John tells us is the Word of God. Be nourished by it; feed neighbors far and near in gratitude for the

[i] Joseph R. Sizoo, The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 2., (Nashville, Abingdon Press, 1953), p. 575
[ii] Shendoah, 1965, film clip on YouTube, “Table Grace in Movie Shenandoah
[iii] Susan Hylen, “Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost,” workingpreacher.com, August 9, 2015), p. 1 of print out
[iv] Deidre King Hainsworth, Feasting on the Gospels, John, Vol. 1, Chapters 1-9, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2014), p. 192 
[v] ibid., Hylen, p. 2 of print out 
[vi] ibid.
[vii] Come to the Table, Create & Discover Art & Science Leader Guide, (Elgin, IL, Brethren Press, 2020), p. 2
[viii] John 6. 35
[ix] Wikepedia, Ancient Israelite Cuisine, p. 4 of print out
[x] David W. Hull, Feasting on the Gospels, John, Vol. 1, Chapters 1-9, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2014) , p. 197