Dunbar United Church of Christ - August 2, 2009

After Jesus healed a few people and performed some exorcisms, he became famous. Everyone wanted to see him. He was like Eric Clapton, or Michael Jackson. Look at the crowds they attract. Some people have charisma. Martin Luther King had this. In 1963 more than 250,000 people came to the Lincoln Memorial to see and hear him. Jesus had charisma. He spoke powerfully, he healed people, he did exorcisms. He was like a magic show or a carnival. Jesus was so entertaining!
He taught his disciples to pray: “Give us our daily bread.” He talked about bread a lot, but he didn’t mean the bread we eat. He meant spiritual bread -- the “daily bread” he talked about was doing the will of God. He said: “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.”
Jesus fed this food to thousands of people. But most of them didn’t like it. And that hasn’t changed. God gives us this food every day -- spiritual bread -- and we usually complain that it’s too hard, or expensive. What is the “food” of God -- the “will of God?” That we love and take care of one another -- even our enemies. This was Jesus’ main teaching. “Forget,” he said, “the material stuff -- the money and what it buys you, but seek the other bread -- doing the will of God.” The bread of Jesus is that we take care of each other -- that we get on our knees and serve other people -- that we wash their feet.
I keep talking about the health care debate because it shows so much who we are, and how far we are from God. Sick people are big business in the United States. But only sick people with money. Hospitals and drug companies need sick people -- and the more there are, the bigger the profits. Insurance companies need people to be afraid that they will one day get sick one day. The more frightened we are that we’ll one day be sick or injured, the more we’ll pay insurance companies for peace of mind of knowing that they’ll pay our enormous bills. Our health care businesses profit from our illness and fear. This is not God’s will -- not the bread God wants us to eat. The bread of this world, of profiting from people’s misfortunes, is poison.
Jesus said he is the “bread of life.” The bread of life is to do God’s will -- heal the sick, feed the hungry, house the homeless, make peace with our enemies. Not because it makes us rich -- but because it’s God’s will. When we desire this -- when we do this -- we show our belief in Jesus.