Bread in the Kingdom of God; ICCM; March 4, 2018; Pastor Rebecca Ellenson
(This sermon draws heavily on the book The Greatest Prayer by John Dominic Crossan)
We pray to Our Father for daily bread in the Kingdom of God. In the days of Jesus, Ceasar was the ruler of the empire and thought to be a God. Fathers were typically the heads of households, and as such, were responsible to provide for all in thier care. The Householder had a good name, a reputation of honor, when all those within the household, the children, the servants, the animals were well cared for and justly treated.
About 700 years before Christ, Hesiod, a Greek pessimist, proposed in his writing called Works and Days, that humanity had descended through five great ages, sinking to his own time, the Iron Age. He said, “I wish that I were not any part of the fifth generation. It has no place for the righteous and the good but instead gives praise to violence and the doer of evil.”
About 150 years before Christ, Aemelius Sura, a Roman optimist, believed that four races had held world power, first the Assyrians, then the Medes, the Persians, and the Macedonians. Finally power passed to the Romans, the high point, ‘the empire of the world,’ as he called it.
The Old Testament book of Daniel comes from that same time. Daniel was a realist who saw history as badly broken, in need of serious repair. He agreed with Sura about the four great kingdoms that led to his own time. But he suggested a very different fifth kingdom would surpass them all. Not the kingdom of Rome, but the kingdom of God.
“The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall this kingdom be left to another people. It shall crush all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.” 2:44
He wrote in dramatic images, portraying the other kingdoms as beasts, rising like monstrous animals from the sea. But the Kingdom of God he pictured as being led by a human being, literally a Son of Man, from the heavenly order of things, a transcendental human one, entrusted with the kingdom by God.
“To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed.” 7: 14
Worldly powers, rise and fall, are ruled by violence-war, and wealth, and control. People in Jesus day expected an anointed kinglike figure to come to power, as in the days of Saul and David and Solomon, only better.
Kingdom is a word with baggage for some. Mexico and the United States of America both threw off the rule of a foreign king. The language is old and masculine and sometimes people get stuck on those obstacles, proposing that we speak of the people of God, the community of faith, the kinship of God, or the household of God. But, retaining the image of Kingdom in this prayer can emphasize for us that God’s rule explicitly opposes all other earthly powers. It can be a radical vision of transformation emphasizing our communal identity under God’s reign. The intended image is not so much that of God as Ruler on a Heavenly Throne but a vision of how this world would be with God actually ruling here, not presidents and prime ministers and army generals. The kingdom of God is the earth where the Holy One of justice and righteousness actually set the annual budget for our global economy. The word economy, by the way, comes from the Greek words, Oikos, “household” and Nomos “law.”
The Kingdom of God, John Dominic Crossan proposes, is like the Great Divine Cleanup of the World, establishing peace.
“They shall beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore; but they shall sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid.” Isaiah 2: 4
Next, God’s Great Cleanup establishes a worldwide banquet. There will be
“a feast for peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. …Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces and the disgrace of God’s people will be taken away from all the earth.” Isaiah 25: 6
Finally, God’s Great cleanup establishes worldwide equality. The texts that we hear in the season of Advent, the ones that describe the longing for a Messiah to usher in this new reign of God, are filled with visions of radical justice and righteousness. Not justice as punishment- but distributive justice, where each and every one has their needs met.
“With righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth” Isaiah 11: 4
Jesus’ own words about the Kingdom of God being near, at hand, and different from what the people expected included these:
The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, Look, here it is! …for in fact the kingdom of God is among you. Luke 17:20-21
The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God has come near! Mark :1 14
If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here. John 18: 36
The Jewish people expected a divine intervention, a new ruler on a throne. But Jesus said that the kingdom of God is here, only insofar as we accept it, enter it, live it and establish it. Jesus didn’t let himself be put on a throne. He didn’t just intervene with healings and restorations… he sent his followers to participate in making those things happen. God’s great cleanup cannot begin, continue or conclude without our divinely empowered participation and collaboration.
When our children were quite young we added a line to our table grace. We say, Come Lord Jesus, Be our Guest, and let these gifts, to us be blest. Jesus Christ who is our bread, may all the world be clothed and fed. It reminds us each day that we pray for daily bread in God’s kingdom. May all the world be clothed and fed. How does that happen? By divine intervention? Like manna in the wilderness? Or through our collaboration, as children of God, as heirs with Christ in the household of God, responsible for just and righteous distribution?
Bread for the hungry has been a big part of my faith journey. When I was 16 years old I helped start a chapter of Bread for the World in my home congregation. I learned about world hunger, social justice, and wrote letters in support of hunger alleviation legislation. In college I was part of a similar group. When I became a pastor, I preached for years about the distributive justice of God’s kingdom, the vision of transformation where each and all have enough. Then I went from preaching to serving the for and hungry directly. Our Daily Bread in the Kingdom of God is at the center of my Christian faith.
Bread was a big deal in the life of Jesus, in the gospels, and in the early church. Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it—over and over, again. On the hillside with thousands of people, (did you know that there are six versions of that story in the New Testament!?) Mark assumes that Jesus could have solved the hunger problem there with a manna-like miracle. But that’s not exactly what he did, is it? He multiplied the actual food already there, already present and available. There is more than enough food already present on our earth when it passes through the hands of divine justice, when it is taken, blessed, broken, and given out; when food is seen as God’s consecrated gift. Bread in the Kingdom of God is about the equitable distribution of our earth for all. May all the world be clothed and fed.
After his baptism, when Jesus was in the wilderness, one of the temptations he refused was to turn stones into bread—remember? He quoted Deuteronomy 8:3 which says about the manna in the wilderness, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” When we dig into the word of God we find that justice and righteousness is all about God’s people having a fair share of God’s food from God’s earth.
And what about Luke’s story about that first Easter evening, when two disciples were walking to Emmaus. One of their names was Cleopas, and in the pattern of the times, the unnamed disciple was most likely his wife. Jesus joined them, but they didn’t recognize him until later when, looking back they said,
“Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road and opening to us the scriptures?”
Even with that burning, they didn’t fully recognize him, until later, after they urged him to stay and he was at the table with them. He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. And then their eyes were opened so they knew him.
Just like we call this greatest prayer the Lord’s Prayer, we call the central activity of our worship, the Lord’s Supper. Household meals were common in Jesus’ time, but often those of higher status ate different food. The early church each Sunday for a shared meal- a kind of potluck- where all got enough to eat and drink, and all ate the same food. The bread was blessed and broken, the meal was shared, and after supper the cup was passed to each and all. For the followers of Christ it was a memorial meal of the values of the kingdom, it was an affirmation of their inheritance as children of God, and it was the presence of Christ among them. Paul scolded the church in Corinth when they abused that meal.
“When you come together, it is not really to eat the Lord’s supper. For when the time comes to eat, each of you goes ahead with your own supper, and one goes hungry and another becomes drunk. What! Do you not have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you show contempt for the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? 1 Cor 11: 20-21
When we pray in God’s kingdom, Give us this day our daily bread, those words carry all the meals Jesus shared in his life, before his death, and after his resurrection. It contains the multiplication of the loaves on the hillside, the Emmaus meal, the lakeside meal of fish and bread, and the eucharistic meal.
Here in Mexico we are presented with so many needs that it can be overwhelming to respond in faith. Yesterday, many of us gathered here for the fundraising breakfast for the medical brigada. Our host congregation took food, blessed it, broke it and gave it. And it will be multiplied—the people of Villa Union will get dental, medical and vision care. There is a meal and a fashion show next week, where we will take bread, bless it, break it and eat it. And it will be multiplied—a girl will get the medicine she needs.
When we are invited to share what we think of as our time, our money our talents with our brothers and sisters in the household of God who are in need, it’s good to remember who gives US OUR daily bread. Us is not me and my little circle. Ours is not ours to keep but ours to give.
Come Lord Jesus, be our guest and let these gifts to us be blest. Jesus Christ who is our bread, may all the world be clothed and fed. Amen.