“As
children of God, we are overcomers and more than conquerors and
God intends for each of us to experience the abundant life He has in
store for us.”
Or so says the pastor of Lakewood
Church, a non-denominational mega-church in Houston, Texas , which boasts a church
“sanctuary” that was once an NBA basketball arena. Their worship space seats nearly 17,000
people and cost more than 80 million dollars to buy and renovate. I’ve watched a bit of this pastor on cable TV,
and surfing the Lakewood Church website, there is quite a bit there I’d have no
quarrel with. Perfectly consistent with
what our Church teaches. So what is it
that draws nearly 45,000 worshippers to this Houston church every weekend, with
millions more watching on TV? What is
different about this man’s message that is so wildly popular, so wildly
successful?
It seems to me that the answer is
found in the quote – that “God intends for each of us to experience the abundant
life He has in store for us.” Now
Jesus does promise us abundance, but this pastor’s translation seems to
be: believe, and Jesus will make you
rich. Will make you a winner in
life. Trust in God and you will receive
abundance in material possessions.
You’ll achieve personal, financial and emotional success.
Reading, and praying and even struggling
with this week’s readings, the story of the Lakewood Church popped into my
head. For it seems to me that the 45,000
Lakewood parishioners (and millions more who watch on television) have quite a
bit in common with the 5,000 men (and thousands more women and children) we
read about last week, those whom Jesus miraculously fed, whom we see this week
chasing after Jesus in boats, searching for Him. Now like all Christians, the 45,000, like the
5,000 in the Gospel are seeking after Jesus Christ. The good folks at Lakewood claim faith in Our
Lord. So what’s the problem? I think the problem is this - it’s a Jesus
Christ from whom they get bread. A King
who feeds their physical hunger. And to
put it in today’s language, a Jesus Christ who qualms economic fears. A Lord
who promises a nicer house, a bigger car, a fatter savings account.
The first time I watched this pastor
on TV, I said to myself, “No. No, that’s
not it. Not it at all.” And it seems to me in today’s Gospel, Jesus outright
rejects that attitude. He says “you are
looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were
filled.”
But if that’s not the Christ I
believe in, it forced me to ask myself, “why do I believe? Why do I follow Christ? Do I believe because He gives me bread? Do I believe because he provides stuff, the
things, to which I am attached? Do I
believe in order to get?”
The answer Jesus gives us today is
this: look beyond what I can do for
you. Look to me. Come to me.
Be in relationship with me. Believe
in me, accept me and the gifts I freely give to you.
I am more than your provider, He
says. For the grumbling Israelites saw
God just so, and so did the Gospel crowd who were ready to haul the Lord away
to make Him king.
The answer lies in a relationship
with Jesus, in which He is the object of all my love. He
calls you and calls me to surrender. To surrender
to Him in faith, to make Him the center, of my entire life, my entire
being. A reordering of my life in which
all I live for is to love Him and become more like Him. More like the person I was meant to be, to be
transformed into the person I was created to be.
And what does that look like? It looks like bread. Jesus uses a metaphor, a visual if you will,
of bread to show us what He’s like and what it means to be like Him, to truly
follow Him. Now later in this chapter of
John, Jesus unmistakably speaks of the bread that He will give. Which is His own flesh and blood - true food
and true drink which He will give for the life of the world. And we’ll hear more about that over the next
three weeks as we delve further into the sixth Chapter of John.
But at this point I think He’s speaking
metaphorically, using the visual of bread, in this sense:
Bread is only good for anything if
it’s broken and shared. Given away. Consumed. It’s a visual that describes the very life
and love of the Holy Trinity – a relationship of complete self-giving. It foreshadows Our Lord’s death on the cross
– His act of total and complete self-giving.
And yes, it is a prelude to His gift of His Sacred Body and Precious
Blood at the Last Supper.
It’s a model for us to follow, if we
want to be authentic followers of the Lord.
We who are made in the image and likeness of God are called to the same
complete self-giving love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For if we are truly in relationship with Him,
if we are truly to imitate Him and be formed into the women and men we were
created to be, then we must also be bread - the bread of life.
Rather than focus on what we will
get out of our faith, we ourselves and as a Church community must be allow
ourselves to be blessed, broken and shared.
Given away. Consumed. Totally.
Leaving no room for self-seeking.
And this is called love. “Love one another as I have loved you” the
Lord commands us at the Last Supper.
Ironically, by completely giving
ourselves away, we find joy. I dare say
that in giving ourselves away it’s the only way we find joy. If we seek joy, if we search after
happiness, we’ll never find it. But if
we seek to love, we can’t help but experience joy. In love, He will satisfy all our hunger and
all our thirst. All that we long for in
life.
As we approach the altar to feed on
His Body and drink His blood, let us ask the Lord for the grace and strength to
be living bread – to give ourselves to be blessed, broken and shared –
bread to our families, our communities and the world around us.
And if we are living bread to
others, they will see in us the Spirit of the Lord, who will lead them to the
one table of His flesh and blood, and at the end of time lead us all to His
Father, who lives and reigns forever and ever.
Amen.
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