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More Than Just Bread

Vicar Todd Liefer
August 16, 2009

As you read the sermon title, I hope you're not too disappointed. But I know better. I bet you're probably thinking, "[sigh], Another sermon about BREAD? Vicar, seriously? We've been talking about bread for the past two Sundays! This makes number three. Aren't there like 3,000 other topics we could be talking about today?"

Well, before you get too upset with me, let me just say one thing: You're right! Bread is kind of a boring topic. Bread is one of those everyday, ordinary kinds of foods for us. Lots of restaurants don't even charge for it...they just bring it out to the table. And the kids don't exactly go crazy when Mom goes to the store and brings home a loaf of split-top wheat.

And you know, today it's probably worse than you thought. We're not even talking about interesting kinds of bread...like sourdough, or French bread, rye, garlic bread, or pumpernickel. No, no. Today, we're just talking about plain, boring bread. Nothing special. Actually, this sermon is probably going to be worse than you thought because today we're talking about the plainest, most boring kind of bread imaginable. Unleavened bread.

Now don't be deceived. It might have a fancy name, but "unleavened bread" is just a fancy way of saying that this particular kind of bread has no yeast. So it's really just bread, minus a key ingredient. And last week, during the children's message, we all saw what happens to bread when you don't put yeast in. It basically turns into a cracker. So "unleavened bread" really just refers to bread that's flat, dry, crumbly, not exactly something you'd want to sink your teeth into. And that's today’s topic! Plain, boring, yeast-less bread.

Some of you, though, might remember that unleavened bread has a rich history in the Christian faith. This was the kind of bread that God had the Israelites make in Egypt the night before the Exodus. Suddenly, one night, God came to the Israelites and said that he was delivering them out of slavery. But before he did, they were to share a meal – the Passover meal. They had to make bread, but there wasn't enough time to let the bread rise, so they scratched yeast from the recipe. Hence, they made unleavened bread. And this Passover meal, with this kind of bread, was a meal the Israelites celebrated every year to remember how the Lord delivered them from Egypt.

But the history doesn't stop there. You might remember that unleavened bread is the kind of bread we use in the Lord's Supper. This is directly connected to the Jewish Passover meal. When Jesus was at the "Last Supper" the night before he was betrayed, he was at a Passover meal; they were at the annual feast that celebrated the Exodus from Egypt. When Jesus "broke bread," he broke unleavened bread. So that's why we still use unleavened bread today.

So that is today's topic. This small wafer. But let me tell you, in and of itself, there is nothing special about this bread. There's no yeast. No taste. It's dry. It's crumbly. This is probably the blandest kind of bread—probably the blandest kind of food—you could think of.

Yet, listen to what Jesus says in our Gospel reading today. He says, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." You know, it's hard to read a verse like that and NOT think of Holy Communion. And that's really what John's writing about here. Jesus is teaching about the Lord's Supper. Next he says, "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him."

Well, when you hear those words, you might be thinking, "This sounds great. Bread that came down from heaven. The body of Christ. Eternal life. Being raised to life on the last day." All good things!

But then again, you might look at this small wafer and think, "Really? The body of Christ? Really? Eternal life? Really? Raised again on the last day? All of this from a wafer? This is pretty plain. It's pretty ordinary. Why would God pick something so plain, so ordinary to work through? Come on, it's just bread!"

There are times when something like this is a little frustrating. Because we know how BIG our God is. He could work through anything he wanted. He could work through earthquakes, lightning bolts, floods, fires, an army of angels or blasts of trumpets. But yet he works through this. A wafer. A thin slice of unleavened bread. Now really, isn't our God bigger than something as small as this?

Now if you think this is a hard teaching, you're not alone. That's what the disciples think in our Gospel reading. When Jesus teaches about the bread of life, and the disciples say, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" You have to understand, though, the disciples had their own context. They had a hard time believing that they would actually be eating the body and blood of Jesus. But today, in our own context, I think we struggle even more so with that this is all we get. God comes to us in bread. Just bread. Not in a storm, not in a strong wind, not in fire, rain, or hail, but in bread. Just bread.

And, you know, sometimes that makes God look pretty small to us. I'll bet there are times when you're thinking, "I have real problems in my life. And this is supposed to help? Is this all God can do for me?" Maybe you're thinking, "I lost my job." Or, "My hours have been cut down to nothing." Or, "My mom's sick." Or, "My life is in shambles." And this is supposed to help? I'll bet there are times when you wonder, "Is God really able to help me? I mean, really? Is God really big enough to see me through whatever I have going on? Or if he IS big enough, does he really even care? Because this just doesn’t seem to cut it."

To us, this may not seem like a big deal. It's just bread. Nothing extraordinary. Nothing exciting here. Sure God promises to be here, but really all we see is just bread.

Well, today, when you say "it's just bread"...let me say just one thing, "Exactly." It's just bread. Because that is how our God works.

You see this—this wafer—is a lot like the story of God's son. Jesus came into the world as a real nobody. Nobody special. Nobody extraordinary. He was an infant in a stable. A carpenter. Some guy in Palestine who hung around fisherman, prostitutes, tax collectors, widows, orphans, and children. In the eyes of the world, this guy was a nobody. And eventually he was convicted of a crime, beaten, tortured, nailed to a few pieces of wood, and hung there until he died. That's how God works. God’s son, nailed to a few pieces of wood, dead. Somebody who lived the life, and died the death, of a real nobody.

But, of course, God didn't leave him in the tomb. God showed the world that his Son was no ordinary person. He was unique, he was special, he was God's Son. So God raised him from the dead, showed that He IS a somebody. Somebody with power over death. Somebody with power to give all those who believe in him eternal life. And not just that. Somebody with power to see you through whatever you have going on in your life. Is God big enough to handle your problems? Is God great enough or caring enough to see you through to the end? The cross, the empty tomb declare to us: YES. He is big enough. He is powerful enough. And he will take care of you...forever.

So you see, this wafer is a lot like the story of Christ. A wafer that looks like nothing, but is used for something – something extraordinary. A man who looked like a nobody, who turned out to be a somebody.

And, you see, this—this wafer—is a lot like your story. Before Christ claimed you as his own, you were a nobody. You were nobody special. Nothing about you that made you unique, or special, or worthy...at least in God's eyes. You were a nobody. The plainest of the plain. And then God took you, he claimed you for his own, and through the waters of baptism, he turned you—a nobody—into a SOMEBODY! Somebody special. Somebody unique. Somebody who God loves. That’s how God works.

What an incredible God we have that he would take something as ordinary as unleavened bread and use it to show that he is with you. And what an incredible God we have that he would take someone as ordinary as you and claim you for his own and USE YOU in his world.

Today, you may look at your life and think, you know, my life is just kind of ordinary. Kind of like this wafer. I'm just a mom, just a dad, just a youth, just a college student, just an older adult, just a teacher, just a musician, just a doctor, just a police officer, just a writer, just this or just that.

Well today, let me tell you just one more thing. You're wrong! Because of Christ, you are a somebody. Somebody who God loves. Somebody who God forgives. Somebody who God comes to in bread and wine. Somebody who God is using for great things. Somebody who may be raising up a child in the faith. Somebody God is using to bring Christ to a friend. Somebody God is using to spread his love to other people. Because of God's Word working in your life, because of Jesus Christ working in your life, you are a somebody.

So is this just bread? Yeah. Just bread. But it's more than that. Because once God's Word is joined with this bread, this is the body of Christ. This wafer is a somebody! In this bread, God comes to you, he shows you that he loves you, he promises you eternal life, and he reminds you that he is with you until the Last Day. What an amazing God we have that you get all of that through a small piece of bread. That's how our God works. He chooses the least of the least. The smallest of the small. The real nobodies. And through Christ, he turns them around and uses them for great, extraordinary things.

Bread of Life. Bread for Life. Bread that shows you how much God loves you, and, just like this wafer, how God has turned you into a real SOMEBODY. Clearly, we can taste and see...this is more than just bread.