St George's Sermon Blog

John 6:51-58 You are what you eat.   I think most of us have heard this line at some point before.   Usually it used to try to spur people into making more ethical or responsible food choices.   If we are what we eat, then it matters what food we choose.   Perhaps it encourages us to choose healthier options, to eat less or no meat, to buy local or organic, to avoid chemicals, additives or GMO’s.    It helps us to think more deeply about what we put in our bodies and how we are feeding ourselves. For the first time perhaps in human history the majority of Americans struggle with food not because of its scarcity but because of its abundance and the sheer mass quantity of food options available to us at all times, much of which does not really nourish our bodies.   If we are what we eat, then are we letting ourselves get too filled up with junk? Today in our gospel lesson however, Jesus offers us new food.   “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.   Whoever eats of this

  John 6:35, 41-51 Today is the third week in our five weeks series of readings on Jesus the Bread of Life.   On the first week we heard the story of Jesus feeding the great crowd of 5000 with only 5 loaves and 2 fish.   Then last week we got to overhear Jesus’ conversation with a small crowd of people who followed him after the miracle where he tells them that he is the true bread who has come down from heaven to feed a hungry world.   Last week’s story was filled with misunderstandings and the crowd’s earnest attempts to understand who Jesus is and what he is talking about.     Today we hear the crowd’s reaction to Jesus’ teaching.   And it is not good.   They have heard what Jesus has to say and they just don’t buy it.   After all, it doesn’t make any sense.   Here is Jesus, a man that they know, whose parents they know, who they have watched grow up, suddenly claiming that he is the bread of life come down from heaven.   What?   It’s preposterous.   Perhaps they are willing t