Sermons

Eat the True Bread (Not the Packing Peanuts)

Give us this day our daily bread. Amen. 

One of the most important things to know about me is that I have a 50-pound blue heeler/hound mix named Lincoln. Lincoln is a devoted dog. Like me, he has a lot of personality. Like me, he is a very clear communicator. He tells me when he wants to go on a walk or when it’s time for breakfast. And he also has a propensity for eating things that are not real food. 

You see, about a year ago, in consultation with the vet, we put him onto senior dog food. It must be less satisfying because ever since then, he has become a bit unpredictable about what he might eat. I came home one day last year to find that he had devoured half a large box of packing peanuts. Now, ingesting styrofoam packing peanuts for dogs is quite dangerous. But eating the kind made of cornstarch is not a big deal at all. So you can imagine my apprehension as I filled a glass with water and submerged two of the packing peanuts in it. Instantly they deflated, melting away into almost nothing. These were the biodegradable packing peanuts (made of cornstarch) and I thanked God that Lincoln was safe, even as I gave him a stern talking to about eating weird things while I was away.

And as much as I was frustrated with my dog, I know that I have often snacked on packing peanuts when I should have been pursuing the real food. In fact, I think all of us in this room have done the same. But if you are thinking, Caitlin, I am quite sure that I would remember eating packing peanuts, let me backup and explain.

Today we hear in the Gospel of John the final week of what is called the Bread Discourse. We have spent the last five weeks in this particular chapter of the Gospel of John, with Jesus expounding on being the bread of life. The creators of the Revised Common Lectionary (which is where our readings come from) thought this series of readings was worthy of significant attention.

And this week we hear from his disciples their reaction to what Jesus has been saying throughout the chapter. Some disciples say, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?”  And then, several verses later, we learn that “many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.” When offered the true bread of heaven, the true food, they chose the packing peanuts. 

Throughout this chapter of John, Jesus has fed his followers with bread and fish. He has walked on water. The disciples have asked Jesus to give them the bread (which comes down from heaven) always. He has explained to the crowds that his flesh is true food and his blood is true drink. To put it lightly, these folks have been through a lot. 

They have seen and heard so much, and yet, because this teaching of Jesus is so unpalatable, so unappetizing, they abandon him. We see here that Peter was not the first to turn his back on Jesus. And one of the disciples who stays, Judas, will be the one to finally hand him over to the authorities. If this one who stayed eventually turned away, perhaps there is hope that some who left at this point in the story eventually returned. 

Jesus offers true bread, true nourishment, the bread of heaven. He is offering the way of life and peace. But the way of Jesus is also the way of the cross. The bread of heaven doesn’t always go down easy. And so some disciples choose to turn against this teaching and follow their own desires and wills instead of accepting the nourishment they have been offered. They chose the packing peanuts. 

And I would and do stand in judgment of these folks. After all, they were there in the thick of it! They saw the signs, Jesus turning water into wine at Cana, walking on the water, feeding the thousands. How could they not have faith?

But I also know that more than likely, this would be me. I would be one of these folks. Because even now, I admit that I turn to the packing peanuts time and again. When offered the hearty spiritual nourishment that I need for a long journey alongside Jesus, I often instead choose the spiritual malnourishmet that I use for a journey alone.

And so, what can that look like? If Jesus is offering us true food, true bread, what is the alternative? Well, I can see many ways that malnourishing spiritual food shows up in our world: self-aggrandizement, greed, and selfishness, to name a few. But in Washington DC in 2024, I think one of the packing peanuts that we turn to again and again is that of power. And when I say power, I don’t mean grassroots power, or people power, or power-with, which is based on mutuality and coalition building. 

In Washington we tend to be most concerned with power-over, with knowing where we stand in the pecking order of the capital city. When I first moved to Washington in 2011, I applied for over 200 jobs just to get my foot in the door. And I would go to these dreadful networking events and people would look at me like I was nothing. I was a 24-year-old from Oklahoma who attended a state university in my hometown. Unlike many other jobseekers, I came in without any Capitol Hill internships because my family couldn’t afford to pay my rent in DC for a summer while I worked for free. I had no high profile strings to pull or connections in the presidential administration. 

When I came to St. Mark’s as a young job-seeker, one of the first things I loved about being here is that no one’s first question was, “so, what do you do?” In fact, I sang beside people in the choir for years before I had any inkling of what they did professionally. That What-do-you-do? question is clearly designed to place someone in the power rankings of Washington. But here I was much more likely to be asked, “What brought you to St. Mark’s?” or “Would you like to sign up for Maundy Thursday dinner?”

I finally started feeling at home in Washington when someone offered me this piece of advice: Don’t make contacts, make friends. Because friendship doesn’t concern itself with power-over, or pecking order or who you know. Friendship is about love, mutual care, and sharing.

In following Jesus, we are offered the way of true food, of mutuality, and companionship. Because after all, a companion is someone you break bread with and Jesus tells us that he is the bread of life. 

In a moment we will share that true food together. We become more than companions. We will become one body in Christ. In so doing, we receive strength to continue walking along the Way.