The couple had been married for 40 years.  They had both celebrated their 65th birthday.  After the celebration with family and friends, as they walked up the sidewalk hand-in-hand, a fairy appeared and said that because they had been such a loving couple all these years, she would grant them each one wish.

As a faithful, loving spouse, the wife wished for a romantic cruise around the world vacation together.  The fairy waved her wand and poof!  The wife had the tickets in her hand.

Next, it was the husband’s turn, and the fairy assured him he could have any wish he wanted; all he had to do was ask for his heart’s desire.  He paused for a moment, and then said, “Well, honestly, I’d like to have a woman 30 years younger than me.”

The fairy waved her wand and poof!  He was 95!

Fellows, be careful when you wish for something and be precise with your intentions.  Proper grammar can help.

It is supposedly a true story that during the Spanish Civil War a severely wounded soldier was brought back to the field hospital.  There was a good chance for his recovery, except that he would not eat.  The nurses and nuns tried everything, but he refused all food.  One of his buddies realized that his friend was homesick, so he offered to go to the wounded man’s home and bring his father back to the field hospital.  He reached the man’s home and explained the situation.  The man’s father got ready to go while the man’s mother wrapped up a loaf of bread for her son.  The patient was happy to see his father, but he still refused to eat until his father said, “Son, here is some bread your mother baked.”  The boy’s eyes grew wide.  “Oh, bread made by my mother.  Break me off a piece.”  He was soon on the road to recovery.

In a very real sense that is a story about you and me.  We have been wounded in the battle of life, by sins of commission and omission, by our forgetfulness of God, by giving allegiance to idols and powers and principalities of this world, and by the troubles and trials and pains of everyday life.  We sometimes lose our taste for food that will strengthen our souls.  Then we hear the words of Jesus in today’s gospel, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven…whoever eats this bread will live forever.”  The father in the story said to his son, “Here is some bread your mother made.”  Jesus says to each one of us, “I am the bread your Father made.”

The bread partaken in the Holy Eucharist is bread from our heavenly home.  It gives us life, spiritual nourishment, spiritual healing, spiritual health, and spiritual strength.  It is the bread that heals wounds, most of them self-inflicted; some the result of the randomness of creation.  It is the bread the Father drops along the path that leads us toward home and safety. 

There is nothing magic about the mother’s bread in the soldier’s story.  Unless, of course, you believe that love is magic, which, of course, it really is.  The young man had watched his mother bake bread back home.  He knew that love was the main ingredient when his mother baked for her family.  Just so, we who struggle to follow the path Jesus has hacked out for us, know that love is the main ingredient that went into the very idea of the Holy Eucharist, into bringing his heavenly bread right here this very hour.  The Holy Eucharist means many things and does many things.  I would want to suggest that one of the things the Holy Eucharist does is provide heavenly bread as medicine for the sick soul, as nourishment for the wounded spirit, and as light and strength for the weary mind.

John’s Gospel said that some of the follower chose not to follow anymore.  Some defected.  Most of those in that group are fair-weather followers.  As long as the status quo is maintained, as long as following costs nothing, such folk will tag along at a distance.  As long as all is romance, glamour, and socially acceptable such folk are in the crowd.  It is difficult to hear and even more difficult to accept that those who follow Jesus just to get and not to give will certainly fall away and defect.

Perhaps some of the followers fell away through deterioration.  Some follow as long as their personal needs are being met, just as some remain loyal to a church as long as their needs are being addressed.  I would simply say that life lived for self will ultimately take away our ideals, our enthusiasm, our dreams, and our loyalties.  When people come to Jesus or to the church in order to get something, faith begins to deteriorate.  When numbers decrease the leadership is tempted to lose focus on the number one priority of providing opportunities for members to invest themselves for Jesus’ sake and for the Gospel.  We are tempted to get into the entertainment business.  Let’s do chancel dramas and have liturgical dances.  Let’s turn off the organ and plug in guitars and amplifiers.  Let’s throw out the ancient remnant of the past we call our liturgy and let each person do his or her own thing.  Let’s have dialogues and discussions instead of sermons and let’s stop this awful confession business.  Now, there is nothing wrong with chancel dramas, liturgical dance, guitars and amplifiers, and there is nothing wrong with dialogue and discussion.   Doing that every week will turn church into something like an Amway Convention.

Some of the disciples dealt with the hard sayings of Jesus with determination.  Peter is the one who got it right today.  Peter said, “Lord, to whom can we go?  You have the words of eternal life.”  Please note one thing here.  Peter’s loyalty was based on a personal relationship with Jesus.  In the final analysis, Christianity and our personal relationship with Jesus as Lord and Savior, is not a philosophy we accept.  It is not a theory to which we give our allegiance.  It is not something we intellectually and logically put together.  It is always a personal response to Jesus the Christ, who simply says, “Follow me.”

That is what brings us to days like today.  That is what we are called to share with others.  It is that allegiance, that personal love that Jesus has demonstrated for each one of us that will not let us go away.

We must have this living bread or we will perish.  That is what I invite you to wish for, no matter what your age.  Amen.