There is a story entitled “A Baloney Sandwich” by Bob Benson in his book entitled See You At The House in which I was reminded of some of the church picnics I attended in my life. Benson’s experience was so similar to mine that we could have been at the same picnics. Like him, I would get ready to pack my picnic lunch, go to the refrigerator and find a dried up piece of baloney and just enough mustard in the jar so that I got it all over my knuckles trying to get to it. I would add a couple of slices of stale bread, put it in a brown paper bag and head off to the picnic.
When it came time to eat I would more than likely find myself sitting beside some people who it seemed had been preparing food for this parish picnic for the past week. They had fried chicken, potato salad, green salads, homemade rolls, pies, and cake. If that wasn’t enough they had a few things like hamburgers and hot dogs that they could throw on the BBQ. They would spread this feast out next to my baloney sandwich.
Then they would say to me, “Say, Why don’t we put it all together, and share.: I would look down at my meager offering and reply, “No, I couldn’t do that! All I have is this sandwich”
But they would insist, “O come on, we all love baloney sandwiches, and we have plenty here. We’ll put it all together and there would be enough for everyone.”
So I would finally agree and place my baloney sandwich with the rest, with a certain reluctance but also with an eye on that fried chicken.
One could say that I came to the picnic as a pauper and ended up eating like a king.
As Bob Benson points out: One day it dawned on me that God had been saying just that sort of thing to me. “Why don’t you take what you have and what you are, and I will take what I have and what I am, and we will share it together.” I began to see that when I put what I had and was and am and hope to be with what he is, I had stumbled upon a bargain of a lifetime.
I think of that when I reflect on the Gospel this morning when Jesus talks of eating his flesh and drinking of his blood. What this passage is saying to me is that Jesus is willing to offer to us all that he is and all that he has and let us share in it. I know that in my life I don’t have enough love or faith or grace or mercy, but Jesus does. He has all of these in abundance and he is saying, “Let’s put it all together – what you have and what I have – and in that way we can be fully alive together.” It is the bargain of a lifetime.
Lod, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that the next time we see the bread and wine being brought to the altar we think of our meager, broken lives and remember this balony story. For when I am broken, Christ has healing. Where I am inadequate, Christ’s Grace and love are sufficient. Transformation has happened. My life has a greater meaning than I could ever have imagined because I actually share the being of God. To me, that is the bargain of a lifetime.
