For about the last ten years the Mars candy company has been running television ads that came to my mind when I was preparing this sermon.  There is a whole series of ads, like this one, which shows a couple of guys in the midst of moving – lugging what appears to be a very heavy refrigerator, while they complain to a third companion, saying, “Ben – you going to help, or what?”  As the camera pans to find “Ben”, what you see is a nasty looking gremlin, sitting in a chair, laughing and throwing things at the other two guys.  This prompts a response from them, “You know, Ben, you’re a right pain when you’re hungry!” as one of them tosses a Snickers bar to the gremlin.

It’s a funny ad, meant to make us smile, but it’s the tag line that catches my attention…

You’re not you when you’re hungry!  You see, I think they have a point, especially for us this morning.   You’re not you when you are hungry.  You’re probably not going to turn into a gremlin or even into your parents or your next door neighbors or your kids.  But if you are hungry – not just for candy, but for that which truly satisfies and sustains life –

you are not going to be “you” if you are that kind of hungry.

So we begin this morning with Jesus’ first “Hello, I Am” statement… when he says,

“I am the bread of life”.  At this point in the story, Jesus has been gathering disciples and teaching crowds and performing miracles.  Just a few chapters earlier, Jesus fed 5000 people with just a couple of fish and a few loaves of bread, and he walked on water to meet his astonished disciples.  Now we find him confronted by a frustrated, hungry mob… and Jesus suggests they look for the hungers beneath their bellies.

It’s not like there’s anything wrong, or “unspiritual” about our need for food.  We all get hungry, we all need to eat.  But Jesus tells us – don’t stop there, because we also all have hungers beneath our bellies, a whole host of hungers that are as life-threatening as the lack of food.  We hunger for meaning, a sense of purpose for our lives.  We hunger for acceptance, to be known and appreciated just as we are.  We hunger for  connection with others, for intimacy, for love.  We hunger for work and play, rest and recreation, for wonder and awe, creativity and joy.  We hunger, especially now, for  health and wholeness, for peace.  And none of these hungers is going to be satisfied apart from God’s grace.  None of these hungers will be satisfied apart from God’s grace.

When Jesus identifies himself as the bread of life, he invites us to trust God’s goodness, and to recognize God’s power to satisfy our deepest hungers. Theologian Lauren Winner puts it this way when she writes:

            In calling himself ‘the bread of life’ – and not, say, crème caramel or caviar – Jesus is identifying with basic food, with sustenance, with the food that, for centuries afterward, would figure in the protest efforts of poor and marginalized people.  No one holds caviar riots; people riot for bread.  So to speak of God as bread is to speak of God’s most elemental provision for us.

To speak of God as bread is to recognize that you are not you – you are not the most true and authentic you, when you are hungry for God in your life.  Jesus lays it out pretty plainly.  He doesn’t just tell us “believe in me”, or “learn from me”.  He doesn’t even stop at telling us to “follow me”.  Jesus takes it one step further when he says “consume me”, take me into yourself, feast on me as you can only feast on God.

“Hello, I Am… the manifestation of God’s love in human form,” Jesus says.  “Hello, I Am… the channel of God’s redeeming grace,” Jesus says, “and I want to become a part of you, to live in you this day and every day, whether you are safe at home or out in the big wild world.”

In these extraordinary days of the coronavirus pandemic, in these days of sheltering in place, of foregoing everything from birthday parties and memorial services to classrooms and shops and offices, it is especially important to pay attention to our hunger for God in each of our lives.  Whether we are home alone and lonely, or sheltering in place with the whole fam-damily; whether we are “Zoomed -out”  or taking the time off, this is a time of great hunger and a time for mutual solace, what the poet David Whyte calls…the ability to deepen and broaden the context, so that no matter our suffering, we have a field of meaning and generosity for others. 

How will we do that?  How will we broaden our current context, to create that field of meaning and generosity?  We can only do it by paying attention to our hunger for God, and asking God to satisfy our hungry hearts.  We will only do it by consuming Jesus – taking him into ourselves day after day after day, through prayer, through meditation, through Scripture or song, through art or journaling, through silence or sacred space, beauty or wonder or awe, or whatever works best for you! 

Jesus wants to be so much more than a creed, a good example, a teacher for us.    Jesus wants us to live with him, not just to worship him.  “Hello”, Jesus says, “I am YOUR food, your sustenance, I am YOUR bread for life!”  Taste and see – God is good!  Amen.