Leftovers

“Leftovers” was preached at Community Presbyterian Church of Malverne, NY on Sunday, August 23, 2015. This sermon was not one of my better ones, but I am posting it as a reference for comparison of my own growth. I am still learning, and I strive for improvement. Inspirations were on two scriptural passages, memories, and other sermons.

—————————————

Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18

1 Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God. 2 And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Long ago your ancestors—Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor—lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods.

14 “Now therefore revere the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; 17 for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight. He protected us along all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed; 18 and the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”

—————————————

John 6:56-69

56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” 59 He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” 61 But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. 65 And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”

66 Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 67 So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

—————————————

Leftovers are great. Yes, I’m talking about food. Leftovers. The stuff you didn’t eat. The stuff you were unable to eat. The stuff that now waits in your fridge wanting to be eaten. You can eat leftovers cold or you can add a little heat to them. You can take them to work with you or you can send it off with your children for a school lunch. You can eat what you had for dinner last night as a breakfast or lunch. You can have it as a snack or you can even have it for dinner that next night. The meal is already prepared. Yes, leftovers are great!

Or should, I say, leftovers are usually great. Except for when you have too many leftovers. I mean, when Tupperware fills you fridge with leftover food. And for the next couple of meals, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, all you have is leftovers.

I remember one year, I was either in late middle school or early high school, and my family prepared a huge thanksgiving meal. While my family usually had thanksgiving with all our relatives, this was our first year with just my immediate family, and we may have prepared too much food. We had stuffing and green beans and potatoes and desserts and jello galore. It filled our entire kitchen! And the turkey! The turkey was a magnificent beast. My family indulged and we ate and ate and ate. But no matter how much we ate, we were going to have plenty of leftovers.

So the next day, my family has thanksgiving again. Complete with the stuffing and green beans and potatoes and deserts and jello. And yes, there was still that magnificent beast of a turkey. Now cleanly sliced into many, many – hundreds! – of pieces. The day after that, my family had thanksgiving again. The day after that, again. And again, and again, and again…. And again. I was thankful for the first thanksgiving my family had that year, and I knew I was very blessed to have this much food, but those leftovers became redundant and bland.

We tried to change the leftovers into something we would like. Especially the turkey. We made turkey burritos and turkey omelets for breakfast. We made turkey sandwiches. We made turkey noodle soup, turkey chili, Creamed turkey on toast; turkey this and turkey that! Turkey! Turkey! Turkey! We experimented with what we had and tried to make something new. We tried to change the leftovers into something that we would like, and we tried to change the leftovers into something that would best suit us. And after a week or two, when the leftovers became old and when we were tired of them, we finally threw them out believing the leftovers no longer served our needs or our wants. See, leftovers are usually great. Until we think we longer that we need or want them.

In both of our readings today, I see the characters responding as if they have only been given the “leftovers” – leftovers they believe they no longer need or want. They believe the big, hearty meal has already happened, and while they enjoyed the meal when it was given to them, they now are responding with tired and confused responses. They’re not happy with the leftovers. In fact, they’re so unhappy with the leftovers that they forgot the meal was freely given to them in the first place. That is, until one of the characters, Joshua in the Old Testament reading and Jesus in the Gospel reading remind them of why they were given the meal – a meal of salvation and grace – in the first place. To which each of their respective followers respond in a humbling manner.

In Joshua, we are at the point in the story where the Israelites have found peace and well-being. At this point, they have been living in their promised land for many years. They have been freed from their captors in Egypt. They were nourished with food and drink in the desert. God has given them the law and has shown them great miracles. God even defeated the Israelites’ enemies and laid a conquest to the land. The Israelites have been delivered! And they believe that they have been given their grand meal. And they were thankful at first! They celebrated and they praised God! They rejoiced loudly and wholeheartedly! They revered the Lord! They served the Lord! They loved the Lord! But along the way, the celebrations became sparser. The rejoicing quieted down. They praising stopped all together. They became complacent. And tired. And bored. They forgot about their time in Eygpt and their time in the desert. They forgot it was God who defeated their enemies. They forgot it was their God who laid a conquest. They forgot about the law and the land. They forgot that it was God who have delivered them to their promised land. They forgot about why they celebrated and the reasons they rejoiced and who they praised. They forgot.

That his, until Joshua in his very old age called them all together, and reminded them of the God that brought their ancestors to this place. In verses 14 and 15, Joshua declares, “Now therefore revere the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua remembers it was God who brought them their deliverance. He prophesies to all the people – to the elders and to the judges, to the leaders and officers – to all the people of Israel. Who was it that saved you?! The gods of Amorites that you now worship or the one true God of the Israelites?  Serve who you want – do what you want with your leftovers – but remember who served you first, remember who provided the great big meal of deliverance. Choose now.

And the Israelites do. They were reminded and they were humbled. They chose once again to worship and to revere their Lord their God. They saw that their leftovers were still once as good and as gracious as they had always been.

And then in the Gospel reading, we have a similar situation. Jesus has been preaching and performing miracles throughout the countryside. By this point, he has accumulated quite the mass of followers. This story actually directly follows the feeding of the five thousand. And the people loved it! They saw the miracle. They loved being fed fish and bread; this was an actual physical meal they could enjoy. They were being nourished; they we given gifts of food and drink. But when Jesus then declares himself as the “Bread of Life” and states, “Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty,” Jesus’ followers become hesitant. Sure, they love when Jesus can perform a miracle, but they become resistant to him when they learn that Jesus himself is the miracle. Some Jewish leaders start to complain. They have a problem with Jesus as the bread. Jesus counters with a familiar story from their Jewish tradition (God providing manna for Moses’ and his followers in the desert), reminding them if God could provide a physical, nourishing bread, God could also provide a spiritual one. But it doesn’t go over well. They forgot this story. This forgot Jesus has had just fed them moments before. They forgot that they have seen the miracles and have heard the teachings. They forgot they loved the man they followed. They, like the Israelites, forgot. And so they leave. This message was “too difficult” to accept. They now longer want what Jesus has to give. They no believe they no longer need or want the meal. Going back to their fields and their homes leaving Jesus alone with his original twelve. And so Jesus’ poses the twelve this question in verse 67: “Do you also wish to go away?”

And again, we see a humbling response from the disciples: “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” They know that Jesus is the incarnate God, and even though his teachings are difficult to accept, they know they must try because his words are words of eternal life. There is no one else they would follow. They want the miracles and the teachings. They want the bread of life. They want to eat the flesh and drink the blood (even though they have no idea what that means yet). They want the leftovers.

And so, that is what Jesus gives them. The disciples remain loyal followers. There were bumps here and there; denials and betrayals, doubts and questions; but every time, the disciples come back for more of the meal. It’s the irresistible grace that draws them in…

And that brings the message to us. As Christians, we become comfortable with our salvation.  See, we love and praise God when something really amazing happens. And we lament and depend on God when something terrible happens. Both of those we see as the hearty meal. We love when we can physically see what God has provided for us. But we too often are like the Israelites and the crowds who followed Jesus. When nothing good nor bad is happening, when everyday normal life is happening, are we truly praising or lamenting… or are we just forgetting?

The Christian message isn’t that something neither great nor terrible needs to happen for us to praise or lament. Christ calls us to know that we should always worship and revere God in our everyday lives through our everyday thoughts and actions. Before the meal, during the meal, and after the meal. Always. We are reminded and we are humbled. Jesus is the meal. “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.” These words are the leftovers. We may not always want them; we may not always think we need them. But they are there. Stored inside of the grace that God has given to us. Easy. Convenient. Accessible. The leftovers that remind us why leftovers are so great in the first place.

Jesus is the ingredients. Jesus is the meal. Jesus is the leftovers that never spoil. And through him, we will forever be spiritually nourished.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

—————————————

 “Nourishing God, Thank for your Holy Word. Thank you for opening our hearts and our minds. We have seen the way you provide for your people. We have indulged in your hearty meal of grace and salvation. Forgive us when we forget that you are our God. Forgive when we overlook the gifts you have freely given to us. Remind us that you are always there and that you call us to always people your people. Give to us the leftovers we will ever enjoy. We glorify you this day and all of our days. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”

—————————————