There is so much that is taken for granted by us. We do so, on a regular basis.
Sometimes we take our families for granted. It is easy for spouses to feel neglected, especially during the child rearing stages. Children often times take for granted the love, support and protection of their parents.
Parents sometimes take their children for granted.
We take the weather for granted. Right about now, we are complaining about not enough rain. But then we also complain if we get too much rain, or if it is too hot or too cold, get too much snow, or if we do not see any.
Something’s – we just live with – day in day out…and after a while we assume that they will always be there. We take them for granted. Water, electricity, warmth, the roof over our heads…
Many times we overlook and take our freedoms for granted. Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and freedom of religion…trust me, when I say, other people living around the world – do not necessarily take their freedoms for granted. But we sure do!
We even take our food for granted. Can you even imagine – that 1 in 10 adults in our world has no clue whatsoever – where their next meal will come from?
Or, how many millions of children will go to bed tonight – hungry? Children and hunger pangs is a very real statistic.
For Christians, especially older Christians, the tendency is to take our faith, for granted.
We have grown up with our “lives of faith” – it is simply to be expected. It has been with us for so long.
It is known that God is often times taken for granted…and not thought of until a need arises or perhaps as a last resort.
Do not take God or your faith for granted! Or, anything else for that matter!
In all things, for all things, give thanks.
Well for weeks now, we have heard from John’s Gospel about bread.
Did you know that the John is the only Gospel writer that does not record the last supper and the breaking of the bread?
But he does have this extended dialogue or discourse on bread that encompasses an entire chapter of his gospel?
Bread is the most widely eaten food, and one of the oldest prepared foods, dating back to the Neolithic or to what – many of us would call – the Stone Age era.
We are talking at least, about 12,000 years ago.
We know that the first bread produced was a flat bread made by mixing grain meal with water and baking the dough on heated rocks.
This flat bread formed a staple in the diet of many early civilizations, and is still commonly made from various grains in many parts of our world today.
The Egyptians learned to make yeast bread around 2600 years Before the Common Era – with the ancient Greeks learning from them – and then later teaching the method to the Romans.
Today, we even take bread and grains for granted…and bakeries, I might add.
During Jesus’ time, bread was already a staple, something that people could not do without.
For people of the Jewish faith, bread was laden with symbolic and theological meaning that made it not just vital for physical needs, but an intimate part of their faith identity.
What Jesus was attempting to say, is that while bread was the basic food staple of the world, that he would become the spiritual staple of the world.
The people did not appreciate his words.
We take our planet for granted, our rivers and streams for granted, our families, our friends, our health, our jobs, our food, our homes, our churches, our faith, the air that we breathe and sometimes even our lives. We take God for granted too!
There is so much to be thankful for…it is on-going and overwhelming.
Be grateful.
The “bread of life” that we receive on a weekly basis is here to encourage us. It is to strengthen us and to spiritually satisfy us. Do not take this bread for granted.
It seems so ordinary and yet it is so much more than what it appears….
This is the bread of life, the bread of love, the bread of justice, the bread of compassion, the bread of forgiveness and mercy—and all of it leads to eternal life!
Amen.