There is a sign on the door that once read, “All You Can Eat.”
It simply meant you’re not likely to go away hungry.

The traditional buffet lures many into its dining room for patronage. Italian, Chinese, Mexican. Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner. Of course, along with the type of food and the time of the event, there is the unspoken principal of quantity. How much one eats is really not something we wish to discuss but it cannot be overlooked when one goes up a second, my goodness, a third, or even when they dare to go a fourth time around. The buffet sign is not shining as bright these days. Perhaps it is because buffets are getting pinched with the cost of food or the difficulty regulating it. Perhaps it is because of social shaming. Afterall has been made known to be a well-known fact that excessive eating is bad for the heart. More people are aware of the risks with obesity, yet more people fall into the risk of heart trouble related to it regardless. They watch their carbs. They check their cholesterol but once an a while what would it matter if one were to say to himself beforehand, “No matter how much they give me, I’m going to eat it all”?

There is a recent development in the world of food these days. It goes way beyond the fourth trip to the buffet line. In 2008, a popular TV food network show, went to Denny’s Beer Barrel Pub in Fairfield, PA to witness a new record. A man stuffed the six-pound burger Known as “Ye ‘Olde 96er”, into his mouth, chewed and swallowed it in two hours and twenty-three minutes. On July 4th of 2009, a larger audience watched on ESPN, another man beat the reigning champ from Japan, by stuffing fifty-nine hot dogs in ten minutes, at Nathans on Coney Island. There has been a surge of interest in this newly formed sport known as Competitive Eating. These men and women are doing what we dare not. They go in and say, “No matter how much they give me, I’m going to eat it all.”

Let us now switch plates to a new course being offered. The sign is still up, “All you can Eat.” Bread. Nothing but bread. It doesn’t sound as fulfilling as an all-you-can-eat burger, steak, or seafood buffet, nor does it offer anything tasty as pies, cannoli, or ice cream. Bread seems so plain. Yet every Sunday we find that there is variety in it, do we not? In our parish hall we serve a variety of loaves, bagels, and buns. Some with cinnamon, some raisins, or even chocolate chips. The very name, “Panera”, in which there is one just across the bridge, simply means, “All Time.” The proprietor of this organization was clever to come up with a name, with a food, that can feed for all time.

You would have to go far and wide to find someone who doesn’t like to eat at least some kind of bread. In our Gospel today, God puts out the sign, “All you can eat” by offering His son Jesus, “The Bread of Life” for all time.[1] It all begins with his opening when Jesus says, “All that the Father gives me will come to me and Him who comes to me I will not cast out”. Ahead of time, in heaven, before Jesus comes into the world, he says this. Let’s put ourselves in place of the skeptic for a minute. “What conditioning has this man done, to prepare him to make the bold claim, that he is the bread of life.” The ruling Jews in his day are heard murmuring this. “Isn’t this plain ordinary person, the son of Joseph and Mary”, they ask? “We are more intellectual. We are more philosophical. We have more to offer on our buffet line than he ever could.” They were searching for his appeal to offer himself as bread.

Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome in the year 604, rightfully connected the saying “the bread of life” with the simplicity in the birth of Jesus.[2] The word Bethlehem, he points out, means the “City of Bread.” The holy family traveled from far away, during the time of the festival, when bars and taverns were filled with people who had been gorging themselves. The innkeepers turned them away to finish cleaning up the mess. Where was Jesus born? In a mess. He was born in a manger. The place where grain, the basic ingredient of bread, had been served to the cattle and livestock. Born in a place that served bread, in the city of bread.
Fast forward now to the upper room and see Jesus taking the unleavened in his hand and breaking it. Keep going further. Will the priest not break and distribute his body, “the bread of heaven” today? The bread of life is served up in the past, present, and future. Food for all time. God presents Jesus as the basic ingredient for the appetizer, the main course and dessert for all who come to feed at the trough or the altar. The Eucharist offers the bread of life for us to enjoy a taste of His heavenly kingdom. We are to push aside the plate of gluttony and resist the temptation to be satisfied by food that does not have his blessing. Therefore, say your prayers before you eat. Take only what you need for all else will perish like the manna that fell in the wilderness. The bread you eat after the service will perish. The bread placed in your hands, in a short while, will not.

The wafer you will receive must not be taken lightly. It must be taken surely, reverently, plainly. Its plain taste is a reminder that Jesus is the basic ingredient. Its small size is a reminder to take only what is needed. When Jesus said, “All that the Father gives me will come to me”, he is speaking of an ongoing meal. The Son of God leaves heaven to come to earth. God the Father is filling him with spiritual food daily. He declares that for Him to live below, He must receive from above. When we are called to the Lord’s table to eat, understand the meaning.

Don’t be in a hurry.
Don’t expect cheap grace.
He is the living bread;
For all time.
All you can eat.

[1] John 6:37
[2] Robert Wright, Readings from the Daily Office (Church Publishing, NY, 1991), p. 36.