The Good News!

Welcome! I am the Rev. Ken Saunders. I serve as the rector of St. James Episcopal Church in Greeneville, Tennessee (since May 2018). These sermons here were delivered in the context of worship at the various places I have served.

[NOTE: Sermons (or Homilies) are commentaries that follow the scripture lessons, and are specifically designed to be heard. They are "written for the ear" and may contain sentence fragments and be difficult to read. They are NOT intended to be academic papers.]

Sunday, August 16, 2009

RCL Year B (Proper 15) - August 16, 2009

The Rev'd Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Episocpal Church
Cleveland, NC

RCL Year B (Proper 15) - August 16, 2009


I once knew an Italian man that lived in our small neighborhood back in Delaware. This man owned the local restaurant on main street and freshly baked all of the bread that he served. The small restaurant was always full of the wonderful aroma of freshly baked bread… You know the smell… It seemed absolutely heavenly! He would even make those little Italian “bread knots” which are tied pieces of dough painted with mixture of garlic butter and herbs. I can see him behind the counter now, adding just the right amount of ingredients, mixing it up, kneading the dough… All of the things that he made were just perfect and extremely delicious…

We were frequent visitors in that small restaurant, we often went there several times a month and sometimes, several times per week. Once we left Delaware, Kelly and I caught ourselves comparing other restaurants to that tiny little hole in the wall we found in Delaware with the wonderful fresh baked bread.

We continuously notice ourselves looking for that perfect bread. Even thinking of that little restaurant today makes me extremely hungry. We had found other breads in our travels, but we are still hungry for that fresh baked bread by that Italian man in that little restaurant in Delaware.

Now, I know that bread has been around for a very long time… But, it is hard to imagine that they had bread that good 2000 years ago. We have to remember that bread was THE staple food it was a major part of every meal, it was made from scratch and it was a big part of everyday life. Bread required a lot of work to prepare.

The “good” bread (often called ‘clean’ bread) was mostly eaten by the rich, and it was was made with sifted flours which were milled at night. It took over three hours just to prepare. Then it was baked in an outdoor oven.

As good as this bread must have been, this wouldn’t have been the bread that Jesus was talking about in today’s Gospel lesson. The bread that Jesus was speaking of wasn’t the “good” bread – eaten by the rich… nor was it the modern fresh baked bread made by that wonderful little restaurant in Delaware, it isn’t even the bread of our ancestors which was the “manna” provided by God to the Israelites who were roaming around in the wilderness. But – it is the bread of everlasting life!

So – what is this bread of everlasting life?

And why are we all now so very, very hungry for it??!?

The crowd that Jesus was teaching was completely full! – or were they? This passage occurs just after Jesus had just fed them all – over 5000 people with just 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, then the disciples filled up the 12 baskets with the leftover scraps.

Now, it’s the very next day and the Jews are still following him around waiting for more signs. He tells them that they are working for the wrong bread. They are working for bread that causes death, when they should be working for bread that gives eternal life. Then Jesus tells them that they they must eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man in order to have everlasting life.

Jesus once again turns the understanding of Jewish law on its head. The Jews had strict laws about how blood was to be handled. Blood was the life-force of the Hebrew people and therefore had an essential role in sacrifices which were fundamental in Hebrew society. Drinking it would have been completely repulsive and an abomination against God and God’s law. Ritual purity of the food had to be kept!

The clean animals were prepared so that all of the blood was drained a certain way. So – if they had all these rules governed animals… Eating the flesh of a human was completely unheard of… And yet, now they are being told by Jesus to eat his flesh and drink his blood.

People back then – and even for people today, found this is very hard to listen to and even harder to understand. “Eating Flesh? and Drinking Blood?” Yuck! We just don’t get it!

Like the Jews we are still looking for “real” bread instead of focusing on what Jesus wants us to learn. And this is a far cry from the restaurant containing all of that wonderful baked bread. But we should understand that there is much, much more to eating flesh and drinking blood…

This play on words today helps us understand the true humanity of Jesus – Because Jesus was fully human, complete with a body of flesh that could be broken and blood that could be spilled… Yet, at the same time it explains the divinity of Jesus – Unlike the manna that came down from heaven in the wilderness, He now is the bread that has come down from heaven, and offers all those who eat of it - eternal life.

Only the physical body of an animal, in this case, the human being of Jesus Christ, has flesh and blood… and it is the physical incarnate life and death of Jesus that is our life-giving food… and then Jesus give up his life, his human existence, for the life of the whole world… Jesus offers forgiveness of our sins and new life… His life for our life… Only God can do that!

His flesh is to be broken and blood is to be spilled… and we are to be nourished with this awesome gift of Jesus’ self…

Little did the Jews know what Jesus was preparing himself for. Jesus was preparing himself to suffer death, death on a cross, and offer himself as a whole, complete and sufficient sacrifice for the whole world.

So, what are we to do now? How can we get this life-giving bread?

At a meal with his disciples in the upper room the night before he was taken to the cross, Jesus took bread, and after he had given thanks to God, he broke it and gave it to his disciples and said “Take, eat, this is my body that is broken for you, eat this in remembrance of me.”

And after they ate he took the cup of wine, after he said the blessing, he gave it to his disciples saying, “Drink this all of you, this is my blood of the new covenant that is poured out for you, drink this in remembrance of me.”


We all need this food that Jesus is offering… it’s not just merely some optional gift that we all can ignore, because apart from the life that Jesus offers us… we are all dead. We come to the table in this Church week in and week out in order to share a meal of the body and blood of Jesus. We call it a Sacrament (a principal sacrament) because it is to us, the most prophetic, of the outward and visible signs of the inward and spiritual grace that we receive from Jesus.

Taken, broken, poured out and given to us freely…

Not because we did anything in this world to deserve it, but because God loves us unconditionally – so unconditionally that God gave us his only Son so that we could believe, be forgiven of our sins and have a chance to be reconciled to God.

We are all hungry… Not for the fresh baked bread of this world from some bakery in Delaware, and not for the manna that our ancestors ate in the wilderness, but for the bread of everlasting life that only Jesus can offer us.

I encourage you to come forward to the table this morning and feed on that spiritual food of the most precious body and blood of God’s Son, our savior, Jesus Christ. and be filled with life… but not just life, life everlasting…

Sunday, August 2, 2009

RCL Year B (Proper 13) - August 2, 2009

Kaytlynn Saunders (Age 16)
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC

RCL Year B (Proper 13) - August 2, 2009 [Youth Sunday]

Make us peacemakers, O Lord, that we may be called children of God and joint-heirs with Christ. May we never suffer calamities, never fear temptation. When the struggle is over, may we rest in the peace of God, the peace of utter tranquility, through our Lord, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

Being the youngest of three children, I have often found myself in situations where I wasn't allowed to do something that my brothers were allowed to do. I wasn't supposed to use big kid scissors, or ride my bike without training wheels. I had to wait until I was big enough, or I had enough experience riding that bike without falling over.

But like all children, I was always thinking of ways to make myself seem older, taller, or smarter. Once, when I was 3, I even talked Kyle into taking off those training wheels. I had it in my mind that if I could show mommy and daddy that I could ride a bike, they would let me do what my big brothers got to do. Need less to say, that didn't go so well. I ended up head over heals over the handlebars and face-planted into the concrete.

Even though I got in trouble for doing all of these things, I knew that my parents still loved me. They taught me that I should be patient and wait for what is to come, instead of just rushing ahead and getting hurt.

In the Gospel reading today, Jesus' followers seemed about as patient as I was. They were looking for the material things in their life that showed them that Jesus was the son of God.

They were so focused on the bread that filled their stomachs, that they ignored the true reason why Jesus was there... to teach them, and to show them that God is always there like a mother or father to love them – unconditionally.

When they found Jesus on the other side of the sea, Jesus tried to explain to them why they had come looking for him. Like any impatient child the people asked question after question. Even after Jesus had tried explain it all to them, they still needed proof. They needed something that they could see and understand from experience.

Just like me, trying to understand why I couldn't do the things that my brothers did. It was Jesus that helped them understand. Jesus explained to them that God was the one that gave their ancestors manna from heaven, not Moses. And it is God who gives them the true bread now, that bread being one that sustains life... Jesus... who God delivers to the world for all of us.

After the people had heard what Jesus said they believed him and asked for that bread always. Jesus says to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

If we are patient and believe that Jesus will feed our minds, bodies, and souls, with the bread of life, then we can open our eyes to many things.

We have an opportunity today to come receive the bread of life in communion. Jesus gave us this gift so that we would never be hungry... And so we wouldn't be concerned with what we should do to make ourselves seem something that we are not. He gave us this bread so we could be more focused on getting others to the feast so they will not be hungry.