1 Corinthians 1:26-29; John 6:35-43
Back in the 40’s, a highly popular advertising jingle for Chiquita Bananas ended with the line: “Bananas like the climate of the very, very tropical equator, so you should never put bananas in the refrigerator. No. No. No. No.”
People in this country were told that the only reason the word “refrigerator” was mentioned in the jingle was that it rhymed with “Equator”. People were reminded that bananas came all the way from Central America, yet the truth was never revealed that bananas can be kept into the refrigerator, yes, yes, yes, yes, and indeed last longer if they are cold.
Well, such a truth didn’t matter in the forties when refrigerators were tiny, and most women went grocery shopping almost daily. What mattered then was that people loved the Chiquita jingle, sang it everywhere, and bought lots of bananas.
The jingle became so popular, recordings of it appeared in jukeboxes — and the U.S. government borrowed the tune for a song about conserving water during World War II.
However, what had seemed to be the perfect commercial began costing the company sales in the fifties when the suburbs boomed, refrigerators doubled in size, and shopping became a once-a-week event. Shoppers now would buy a dozen apples or a dozen oranges but only three bananas because they “knew” that bananas should never go in the fridge.
The company tried in vain for years to counter the jingle’s message but finally gave up. The moral of the story? Once people had a certain image in their mind, they did not give it up very easily.
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You don’t have to be a Chiquita Banana to experience something like that — have you ever noticed how difficult may have been for you to escape your reputation, to change the way people may have seen you at some point in your lives?
Once people have an image of you in their minds, it is very difficult to change their perception. But you are not alone, for this is what happened to Jesus the moment he said, “I am the bread of life.”
Jesus lived in a small town, in a small country — people knew his mother and father, they knew him as the son of the carpenter, carpenter “Junior.” Perhaps he had built a piece of furniture for them or replaced a handle on one of their favorite tools. For most of his adult life he worked in a carpenter’s shop.
Try to imagine then how people responded when he suddenly, at age 30, left his home and his father’s shop and began to proclaim east and west that he was the One prophesied by the prophets, “the bread from heaven,” and things like that. “Come on, Jesus, give us a break. Who do you think you are?”
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Last Sunday we talked about the scribes’ grumbling after Jesus fed the multitude by the Lake of Tiberias. “Granted, Jesus,” they told him, “You managed to feed a bunch of people, but it was just a snack, whereas Moses fed our entire nation in the wilderness, and without bread or fish from any kid, and he did it three times a day and for forty years!”
The grumbling got more heated when Jesus threw out a very upsetting punch line: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” His own neighbors were in disbelief — “Who does he think he is? Has he forgotten he is Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose mother and father we know?”
Are we any different? I doubt it.
We easily put people in a box, we assign them to a category, we know where they came from, we know who their parents are, we know where they went to school, we can tell by their accent or by their appearance about their background and we make certain assumptions — and because we make those assumptions, we treat them in a certain way.
Maybe, if we are a high school teacher, we subtly overlook them in class; if we are a police officer, perhaps we are a little more aggressive when we pull them over to the curb; if we are the boss in the workplace, perhaps we are negatively biased when one of your workers applies for a better job.
Even preachers – even a preacher may not take you so seriously because you don’t attend church regularly or are too needy or seldom volunteer. Oh, none of this is intentional of course; we may not even be conscious of it — it simply saves our brains the time and energy of sorting out people individually, so we sort them out by category.
“I know who you are. You are Mary and Joseph’s son. You’re from Nazareth. That’s farming country, isn’t it? People are a little slow there. “Well, maybe we can find a job for you that’s not too taxing mentally.” Do you think such things do not happen today? Then you are naïve, for that’s the way the human brain works – mine for sure!
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Our Gospel “incident” today teaches us a very practical lesson — we ought to be careful when we scan, when we appraise, when we profile, when we judge someone’s potential, for anytime we write anyone off without giving them a fair shot, we may be mistaken.
“Bread from heaven? Come on, Jesus! Who do you think you are? We know where you came from. You’re Mary and Joseph’s son.” We ought to be especially careful when we place people in a box because they belong to a particular group –people with long-hair, with short-hair, with gray-hair, ethnic minorities, yuppies, weird people, same denomination, different denomination, red necks, blue collars, churchgoers, online believers, agnostics, woke, liberals, conservatives, you name it!
There are so many factors that determine a person’s success in life, like intelligence, talent, determination, desire — external characteristics are a tiny portion of the equation. And here it comes to mind the popular saying, “Don’t judge the book by its cover.” Do you know how many teachers, plumbers, judges, ministers, and Olympic stars were “supposed” or “expected” never to make it?
Noah Lyles, for instance — he has struggled with asthma all his life, yet last Monday he won the gold in the men’s 100 meters, the very first gold for the US in 20 years (Carl Lewis won it in 2004). Three days later, Lyles ran the 200 meters, but this time he had to settle for the bronze – he was so sick with Covid, doctors came to his rescue when he collapsed after the finish lane.
Any idea how many gifts and joy folks right here are showering upon us day after day? Or could, if we just saw them as worthy as we ourselves and encourage them to do try?
The apostle Paul had to address this “reputation” conflict in his own Corinthian congregation when some church fellows, the so called “spirituals,” saw themselves as far superior to the rest, the so called “physicals.”
Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world; things counted as nothing at all and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.
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We do people a great disservice and we limit what others might offer to us when we prejudge them by their gender or their color or their accent or any other surface characteristic.
What counts is a person’s heart, and here is where Jesus can help us all, for he teaches us that it makes no difference where we come from or how we look or talk or who our parents are – for we are all children of God.
I’ll never forget a youth leader who once told us, “Each of us can be both a carpenter and a chunk of heavenly bread.”
Friends, we all have more potential than we can ever exhaust, and there is One who can guide and nurture our lives as we keep pressing forward in our spiritual journey.
Here deep in my heart, I know that if the carpenter from the tiny Nazareth is with me, the man who spent most of his adult life in a carpenter’s shop, the man who was laughed at because they knew his father and mother, the man who now reigns with the Father in glory — if that man is going with me, then I can hold on for a great adventure.
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There will always be times when we find it hard to believe that folks we dislike can ever make it –that’s just how we see them. But could our perception be changed? I believe it could.
Remember that bumper sticker so popular a few years ago, WWJD, “What Would Jesus Do”? It helped us more than once whenever we did not know which way to go, how to deal with a difficult decision – “What Would Jesus Do” in this, or in that situation?
Well, whenever we wonder about welcoming and liking someone who does not seem likable, I read WWJD as “Who Would Jesus Dislike”?
A shocking question, won’t you agree, for we have learned from early age that Jesus would never dislike anyone who came to him just because they are the son or the daughter of Tony and Susy and help dad the carpenter or mom the hairdresser who rent a cheap condo in tiny, insignificant Buckeystown . . .
“I am the bread of heaven,” Jesus reminds us, and for that reason I can nurture in you a new heart, a new way of seeing people, so that can see them as a priceless diamond hidden in a dull chunk of coal.