Cries of the heart: the cry of spiritual hunger (Jewell)

Everybody's asking why he couldn't adjust
Adjust to what, a dream that bust ?

They took a clean-cut kid
And they made a killer out of him
That's what they did.

They said what's up is down, they said what isn't is
They put ideas in his head that he thought were his.

They took a clean-cut kid
But they made a killer out of him
That's what they did.

He was on the baseball team, he was in the marching band
When he was ten years old he had a watermelon stand.

He was a clean-cut kid
And they made a killer out of him
That's what they did.

They said "Congratulation, you got what it takes"
They sent him back into the rat race without any brakes.

They took a clean-cut kid
But they made a killer out of him
That's what they did.

Bob Dylan’s song illustrates the problem we run into when we live our lives on the surface—when we live our lives according to the conditioning and treatment we receive at the hands of a competitive, success driven society, when we live our lives without the spiritual nourishment Jesus both embodied and talked about. Some might say oh come on, not many resort to actually killing people—but I say, there are many ways the rat race turns people into killers---physically, financially, emotionally, and of course spiritually—we kill our spiritual lives when the consumerist culture is given too much importance.

Our scripture this morning is from John and it contains two very important lines that are often underappreciated. These lines made me think of the difference between Rabbi Jesus and the popular Jesus of the church. The popular church Jesus is worshipped—but Rabbi Jesus must be listened to—carefully listened to. Rabbi Jesus demands true faith—he demands we trust him enough to really follow him into the unknown. This morning the good Rabbi shares a lesson with us that is remarkably consistent with his overall message.

 Last week we heard about the feeding of the five thousand. Our passage today follows that famous piece…in verse 24 some people set off to look for Jesus. In verse 25 they find him and they say, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus’ response contains something he wants us all to hear---we know that because it begins with “Very truly”—that is our cue to listen closely—he is about to lay it on us. Jesus says to all of us, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life.” Remember these are the people that had just stuffed themselves full of fish and bread. But he is not just talking to them—he is speaking to all of us--this is a teaching that is timeless because this passage stands for all selfish accumulation or acquisition. The people want Jesus because he has just fed them and they want to acquire more, they want more, more more. They are dominated by this drive—and Jesus wants them to see it. Think of all the teachings of Jesus that hit on this theme of accumulation and acquisition. There is the “parable of the rich fool” in which the man who has been storing up goods in his barn—or in modern lingo, “building a nest egg”, is told, “You fool, this very night your life will be demanded of you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself? This is how it will be for everyone who stores up goods for themselves but is not rich toward God.”  And there is the story of the rich young man who, because of his refusal to get rid of his accumulated goods, cannot experience eternal life.  Jesus says it is next to impossible for a rich man to enter the Kingdom. He tells us you cannot worship God and money. In the Sermon on the Mount he says, “Do not store up treasures on earth where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but rather, store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume. Where your treasure is there your heart will also be.” Some of these teachings are harsh and all of them are asking us to see our own acquisitiveness—our own need to get—get the great grades, get the right college, get the great paycheck, get the right partner, get the right friends, get, get, get. The rat race has always been rough and it seems to be getting worse—there are several new books out about our overloaded and underprepared youth. Where there is competitiveness there will be selfish acquisition and accumulation. It is clear that a big part of Jesus’ message involved trying to get us to see how our societies and our individual psychologies are based on a need to acquire and accumulate. Why does he keep beating the same drum? Because the very act of seeing this process is what begins to free us from it.

  Today Rabbi Jesus tells us not to work for the food that perishes but to work for the food that endures for eternal life.  He contrasts the two kinds of food—material—and eternal. Everything material perishes—our money, our bodies, everything. He first shows us our problem—our drive to get stuff that perishes anyway—and then he tells us of the eternal food.  Showing us the problem is obviously very important for Rabbi Jesus. Probably because he also knows that this competitive drive to acquire gives us problems socially, everything from individual crime to unjust systems. Until we understand how our own drive to acquire and accumulate creates corrupt systems we will keep perpetuating and creating the social crimes and corrupt systems we often work against. Without self-understanding we are caught in a self-defeating cycle.  We might try to build a better world but the internal drive will always overcome the external work—that is why Rabbi Jesus worked to change hearts and attitudes—he knew they were the primary problem.

Faith or trust in Jesus the teacher, the one who embodied the Truth, the one who was and through the church is, the embodied food from Heaven, is how the we can do the work of God. We must trust really pay attention to the teachings. He is trying to get us to see ourselves more clearly. When we see ourselves clearly enough we see our way through to God—the food that endures to eternal life. Amen.