To whom can we go? - Sermon on John 6:56-69 - 08.26.2018

Listen to the gospel and the sermon here. 

John 6:56-69

56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever."⁵⁹ He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.⁶⁰ When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?"⁶¹ But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, "Does this offend you?⁶² Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?⁶³ It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.⁶⁴ But among you there are some who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him.⁶⁵ And he said, "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father."⁶⁶ Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.⁶⁷ So Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?"⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.⁶⁹ We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." 

Today is our fifth and final week with a gospel lesson from the sixth chapter of John.  For more than a month we’ve been reading, hearing, and discussing the 6^thchapter of John.  The entire chapter is dedicated to a discussion about Jesus being the bread of life, a new manna from heaven for all people.  A heavenly bread that offers eternal life to all who eat of it.

In today’s final installment, the sixth chapter of John culminates in a moment of decision for the dedicated crowd that has been following Jesus.  As Jesus wraps up his discourse on heavenly bread, he connects the dots between God providing bread from heaven and him being the bread from heaven. He then goes so far as to teach that eternal life is synonymous with the eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood. 

This whole thing started 60 verses ago as Jesus crossed to the far shore of the sea of Galilee to find a moment of rest.  He climbed the hillside and barely sat down before he saw a great crowd of people following him. Jesus tested Philip.  Philip, how are we going to feed these people?   Recall Philip saying, Jesus even if there were a place to buy enough food, we don’t have the money.  There aren’t enough resources. You’ll remember that Jesus then takes a small amount of food, 5 loves and two fish, from a boy in the crowd.  He lifts it up, blesses it, breaks it, and feeds the crowd. All eat enough that they are fed to satisfaction, and the disciples collect 12 baskets left over.   It was a moment of pure abundance. 

In that moment of feeding on the mountainside, the crowd received not only food to eat, but affirmation of their decision to follow Jesus.  They had let everything behind, family, work, and home to trail Jesus. To see what sign he might offer next. This feeding event served as a catalyst for the crowd.  

So over the last 5 weeks Jesus taught about the bread from heaven and the bread of life.  He’s taught us about the benefits of the bread from heaven, living bread and everlasting life.   He’s named himself as the new manna, the bread from heaven that will feed and give eternal life. 

And in today’s final segment of this entire discourse, this decision making moment, Jesus makes one final connection that some consider to be one step too far.  “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.”  “I am the bread from heaven and those who eat of my flesh and drink of my blood will have eternal life.”   …Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood will have eternal life.

There’s a popular anecdote that circles around with this text.  I don’t know if it’s true, but the story goes that as a pastor was presiding over the Eucharist one Sunday morning, he referenced this passage of scripture.  And once he lifted the bread and the wine and said whoever eats of this flesh and drinks of this blood will have eternal life. And almost immediately a young girl in the front of the church exclaims, eww yuck! 

Flesh and blood…ew! Yuck!  Can’t fault her. When we really think about it her response seems rather appropriate.  I would imagine that within the gathered crowd, at least one person audibly gagged or scoffed at the idea of gnawing on Jesus flesh and blood.

And it’s not just that Jesus’ proclamation sounds distasteful, but the crowds gathered would have easily made the connection to the Old Testament in which such an act was considered cannibalism.  It was unlawful and unclean. And in this culminating moment, when many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?"

Some Left

So it is this moment in the sixth chapter of John, when Jesus proclaims that eternal life comes through the eating and drinking of Jesus’ flesh and blood that some of the disciples say, “nope, I’m out.”  

This teaching is too hard.  It’s too far. It’s too much.  Feeding us on the hillside with such little food is one thing…healing people is one thing…preaching bread from heaven is one thing... but chewing our your flesh for the promise of eternal life is where we should draw the line.  So Jesus, thank you for this adventure, I appreciate the fish and the bread, but we’re going to head back now.

Hard teaching

"This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?"  Jesus offers his whole self, body and blood as nourishment for the journey. Like manna pouring from heaven for the Israelites wandering in the desert, Jesus offers himself as food for the journey.  His own body and blood to sustain and nourish them. I don’t blame them for leaving.  That is a hard teaching to hear. 

Honestly, I find comfort in their honesty and conviction.  These disciples who had dropped everything to follow Jesus were buying in whole-heartedly.  They were growing in faith, listening and learning...seeing and believing...but this moment was too far, the teaching was beyond their comfort or belief.  It complicated their understanding thus far.  So they walked away. 

Who among us, despite our life in faith hasn’t walked away? Or at least been tempted to walk away? Thanks Jesus, it’s been interesting and enlightening, but I’m just not with you anymore?  That teaching is too hard. I can’t accept it.

Being baptized, confirmed, or even a regular worship-attendee doesn’t make us immune to the difficult moments in life in which we can’t accept Jesus’ teaching. The deep, vulnerable moments of life that challenge our comfort or conviction. Moments when faith seems distant, arbitrary, or trite.  

When the teaching of Jesus is hard to hear. To know. To believe. I suspect we’ve all been there...ready to walk away...when the teachings of Jesus are hard to believe and we refuse to accept them. 

Jesus teaches eternal life even through death, but when you’re standing bedside by a loved one at or in the waiting room during an emergency.  

God created all things good and for good, right?  Yet we life in fear of that creation... violent hurricanes, like Irma, Katrina, and Lane...wildfires consuming California and forgiving no one in the way, earthquakes, volcanoes and typhoons…

We know good and well that Jesus teaches that we should love god and love our neighbor, but headlines...every single day challenge our faith school shootings, mass tragedies, senseless violence, wandering refugees, desperate immigrants.  

Jesus teaches peace, yet faithful as we may be we have never known a time without war or fighting.  Teenagers today have never lived a day without us being at war. 

Jesus offers healing, but even the strongest in faith shutter at disease, illness, and addiction. 

Jesus teaches of an inclusive kingdom, but our society and culture celebrate exclusivity.  

Faithful as we are, the world thrives on diversity, disparity, inequality, injustice, and oppression. 

Jesus teaches us who we are, but even our very identity in Christ is at risk when overwhelmed with loneliness, exile, bullying, despair, and depression. 

For me, it was 2007.  4 agonizing years of wandering in and out of hospitals, clinics, trials, and treatments, and cancer ended my mother’s life.  Absolutely the most brutal, pain staking moment of my life. And I knew the Jesus taught eternal life.  I knew that Jesus was abiding in my mother.  I knew that God loved me and my mother. I knew, even though I didn’t want to admit, that God didn’t cause my mom’s cancer or even take my mother’s life.  And if I had any reason or motivation to walk away from God during those 4 years, they were affirmed on January 30, 2007. It was a decision moment. Where a vulnerable moment of life directly challenged my conviction of faith.  Death and grief were too heavy for me to keep on following. The teachings were too hard, and I couldn’t accept them. 

In these vulnerable, decisive moments of life, when the teaching of Jesus seems so hard and our faith is challenged...the easy response is to walk away.  Turn around. Thanks, Jesus, for the journey thus far, but I think we’ll bow out now. 

... 

And yet, here I am.  Here each of you are.  Here we are. Again and again.  Choosing to walk on this holy ground, to be in the presence of the Lord.  To hear, pray, sing, confess, eat, and drink. 

To follow, if even hesitantly, to follow Jesus. Listening to the teachings and promises, regardless of how much we may resent them at times.  But why? Why would we keep coming back?

⁶⁷ So Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?"⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.⁶⁹ We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." 

You notice that Peter didn’t answer yes or no.  Peter, without hesitation says, “Lord, where else would we be?  Where else would we go? To whom else would we turn?” 

You. You alone have the words of eternal life.  The world may challenge that at every turn, but you Lord, you are the Holy One of God.  You alone have the words of eternal life. Where else would we go?

Peter isn’t saying that they have no other options.  Well, Jesus, you’re our last and only choice so there’s no reason to leave.  No, Peter confesses that Jesus, despite the hard and challenging teaching, Jesus is the Holy One of God.

And sure being a follower may be characterized by risk.  It means confessing teachings of faith that rub up against a culture and society.  It means pushing back against a world that that is so quick and so ready to render faith in Christ obsolete. .  

Certainly we don’t always understand.  In the synagogue that day, they couldn’t understand Jesus offering himself, body and blood, as nourishment and as promise of everlasting life.  We still don’t fully understand it. 

We may not always understand Jesus’ command to love or show peace.  We may not get turning the other cheek or serving the last, lost, and least. Because sometimes the teaching seems too hard to accept.

Yet here we come again and again, following Jesus, not because we’re out of options, but because deep within, Christ has claimed us, and in Christ we have no need, no desire to walk away. 

We may never fully understand that power of God, but we come again and again, following Jesus as best we can. We listen.  We taste. We see. We tell. In this moment we experience Jesus, through flesh and blood, bread and wine. God only knows exactly what happens in that meal.

But Deep within our core we come with sure and certain hope to experience Christ.  We come again and again.

Because to whom else can we go?

Lord, you and you alone have the words of eternal life.  Amen

© Pastor Daniel Locke, preached Aug. 26, 2018 @ St. Mark's Lutheran JAX, FL

John 3:16 - Sermon Lent 4B

Listen to the gospel and the sermon here. 

John 3:14-21

¹⁴And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. ¹⁶“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. ¹⁷“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. ²¹But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”

For God so loved the world that God gave God’s only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

John 3:16 is by far one of the most referenced and highly revered verses in all of scripture.  I honestly can not recall a time in my life when I was void of the phrase “John 3:16.”  I can picture roadside billboards when taking road trips as a kid.  I can see countless windshield flyers, door hangers, and handouts that plastered John 3:16!   I remember sidewalk chalk plastered all over campus at least once a week at college that said John 3:16!  I have a vivid memory of watching a football game and seeing a well-known quarterback with black stickers under his eyes advertising John 3:16.  Tattoos, t-shirts, bumper stickers, coasters….I even discovered an entire apparel line this week dedicated to John 3:16.  I suspect you all have had your own interactions, experiences, and encounters with John 3:16. 

Some might say that there is no greater verse in all of scripture than this...That God so loved the world...To be clear, the content of John 3:16 is a significant proclamation of the Christian faith, and a crucial understanding of God’s desire for the world.  It’s a crux for which most of Christianity stands on.  Even the dedicated website for John 3:16 describes it as “The gospel in a nutshell.” 

I have no issue with the branding and promotion of John 3:16...no issue with its prevalence in today’s world.  Certainly there are much worse things we could broadcast.  My only fear is how easy it is to hide behind John 3:16 as a brand, to proclaim the citation only, without every cracking the nutshell to hear, embrace, and embody the message of the verses.  Or more terrifyingly...to be changed by the words of the gospel nutshell, to feel affected, convicted, or empowered by its proclamation.  To be covered by the light of God and know that God loves the world so much that God would enter a world that has become partial to sin, not only to rid the world of sin and offer a better way, but to experience all the sin the world had to offer.  To experience pain.  To embody grief and sorry.  To embrace suffering.  To experience death.  It is more than a statement of faith, it’s a call to action.

For God so loved the world.  My fear is that we are not always ready to embrace who John 3:16 empowers us to be.  Does John 3:16 change you?  Does it change how we view, interact, live in the world that God so loves?

One of the traps of reading John 3:16 is that we ONLY read John 3:16.  We read, hear, and proclaim that God so loved the world that God gave Jesus so all who believe in him may not perish but may have eternal life.  Full stop.  If our affection for John 3:16 stops here then we risk conveying a message that says salvation is given by God through Jesus Christ purely out of God’s love for us, and therefore there is no need, no concern, no motivation, no purpose for our actions...word or deed.   No need to consider what kind of person we are, how we interact with others.  We risk conveying that the relationship between faith and salvation is simply to believe in the proclamation of John 3:16. 

I doubt many of us wrestle with the truthful proclamation of John 3:16 that God loved the world so much that God would conceive an incredibly generous and humble way to eternal life for all people.  But the greater and scarier truth is that John 3:16 is only the beginning of faith and faithful living.  God’s gracious and merciful act in Jesus Christ not only warrants, but demands a response.  A life-giving, and light-shining response - dare I say, good works.  

Here we can turn to our Ephesians text for some clarity. As John 3:16 is to Christianity, we might say Ephesians 2:8 is for Lutheranism.  For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God - not the result of works, so that no one my boast.  Grace...not works...is one of Paul’s primary theological arguments, and it serves Luther as well during the reformation.  But the significance of this statement, for both Paul and Luther goes well beyond a discussion of grace over works.   

Paul writes to the church in Ephesus beginning with an extensive salutation claiming that God destined us for adoption as children through Jesus Christ and elaborates on the promise granted to God’s children in the death and resurrection of Jesus.   He then prays, not so subtly, for the community of Ephesus.  He prays that God give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation….that their hearts be enlightened….and that they may know God’s immeasurable greatness for those who believe.

Now Paul reiterates that they were dead in their trspasses an sin.  They once lived according to the rulers and powers of the world, following the desires of the flesh.  But GOd...God who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which God loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved.   For God so loved the world, even when you were dead in sin, that God gave God’s only son, and saved us by grace through faith, so that all who believe may have eternal life, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.  

For the Ephesians this would be there bumper-sticker, mouse-pad, T-shirt moment.  Ephesians 2:8, Saved by grace through faith.  The breath of fresh air as they are reminded that God saved God’s people, God saved the world freely..and you don’t have to do anything to earn that.  

That’s all good and well if Paul stopped there, but Paul never shies away from cracking open the nutshell.  He then says, “For we are what God has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”  Created in Christ Jesus for good works, that is to be our way of life.  Truly I tell you that good works are not a prerequisite for God’s salvation in Christ Jesus.   Good works rather are an expression of God’s salvation through Christ. 

What Paul is truly expressing and will go on to explain is a way of life.  A behavior.  A change in our very being as a result of God’s salvation.  God’s gracious and merciful act in Jesus Christ not only warrants, but demands a response.  A life-giving, and light-shining response.  God’s salvation changes everything.

While John 3:16 indicates that no thing or no one is beyond the grasp of God’s salvation and promise to eternal life, The rest of John’s statement reminds us that God’s salvation does not permit us to simply stand idly by, comfortable and content.  For John, the message of God saving the world demands a reaction.  An active and willing choice to participate in God’s salvation in the world.

Active participation in a world that is partial to the darkness.  A world overwhelmed by temptations of the flesh...a world ravaged by self-interest and greed.  A world lost in the darkness of sin.

And the truth is friends that God so loved the world.  Not just you.  Not just me, but all of creation.   The object of God’s love is the world.  And we, the believing body of Christ, are fruits of God’s salvation.  Active and willing participants in God’s salvific plan for the world.  This means shining a light in a dark world through word and deed.  It means working to end hate and violence.  It means speaking out against injustice and oppression.  It means acting with compassion and love. It means pushing against the current to challenge oppressive systems of power and tear down the walls and barriers of life.

Make no mistake, For God so loved the world that God gave God’s only Son, not so those who believe may rest in comfort and complacency, turning a blind eye to the pervasiveness of sin in.  Apathy and indifference towards God’s salvation for the world only enhances the problem. 

Rather, God so loved the world, so that all who believe may have eternal life. The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. ²¹But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”

John 3:16 is a proclamation of hope and promise for that world, the first step in a faithful response.  We are called to embrace and embody the confession of John 3:16 and that means being changed.  Changed from people of darkness to people of light.  Empowered by God to choose good in this world.  To stand as witness in a world desperate for good news.

 © Pastor Daniel Locke, preached on March 11, 2018 at St. Mark's Lutheran JAX, FL.