Pentecost 15 – 2 September 2018 – Year B

Grace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen 

The text for this meditation is written in the 7^thChapter of the Gospel according to St Mark: Verses 14–23:

Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, ² they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. ³ (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, ⁴ and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) ⁵ And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” ⁶ And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

 “ ‘This people honours me with their lips, 

but their heart is far from me;

⁷ in vain do they worship me, 

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

⁸ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”   …………….

¹⁴ And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” ¹⁷ And when he had entered the house and left the people,  his disciples asked him about the parable. ¹⁸ And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) ²⁰ And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. ²¹ For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, ²² coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander,pride, foolishness. ²³ All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

In 1977, George Lucas released the first of the Star Wars series of movies.  At the time, he simply called itStar Wars, but most fans now know it now as Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope.  It was an incredible success and made a lot of money for a lot of people.

One of the plot devices was something called “The Force.”  People who were strong in “The Force”were basically wizards.  They could anticipate other people’s actions, move objects with their minds, control other people’s thoughts, and so forth.  Using “The Force”required a great deal of training and skill.

Proper control of “The Force”depended a lot on feelings.  The trainers were constantly telling the learners to search their feelings … trust their feelings … feel, don’t think … trust your instincts … and so forth.  Eventually, the main character learned to trust his feelings … control “The Force”… win the day … and become a hero.

All of this trusting in instincts and feelingsmakes for a fun movie. It is great fiction, and the movies are very popular.  Unfortunately, there are people who believe that trusting your feelings and instinctsworks in real life.  This is especially sad when it comes to making choices between right and wrong.  People think that if they follow their heart, it will always lead them in the right way.

Jesus taught the exact opposite.  He said, _{(Mark 7:20–23)}“What comes out of a person is what defiles him. ²¹For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, ²²coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. ²³All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”According to Jesus, following your heart is a very dangerous thing to do.

The book of Judges in the Old Testament gives an account of some of the deepest, darkest, most immoral days of Israel. Cruelty, obscenity, and hardness of heart all reach their deepest depths in this book.  The book of Judges ends with these words of judgment,^{(Judges 21:25)}“In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.Some of the most horrible things described in the Bible were considered right at that timebecause people judged by what was right in their own eyes.  This is just another way of saying that they were following their heart.

If we take a few moments to think about it, it makes sense that it is dangerous to trust our feelings as a guide to the ultimate truth.  Think about it.  Do you feel the same every day?  If your feelings change from day to day, does that mean that the truth changes from day to day?  What about other peoples’ feelings?  If you interview a hundred people on any given topic, the odds are pretty good that you will get three or four different feelings on that topic.  If you interview those exact same hundred people a year later, their feelings will change.  Many of them won’t agree with the answer they gave the previous year.  Think about it … honestly … do you really want to stake your eternity on a feeling that you have … a feeling that might change tomorrow … a feeling that varies from person to person?

This is probably one of the biggest problems in the world today.  People base their ideas of right and wrong on philosophies that come from within.  They don’t ask, “Is this the right thing to do?” Instead, they ask, “Does this seem right … to me?”  “Does this make me happy?”  “Does this give me pleasure?”  It is all about what makes me feel good … today.  Our society thinks this is good, healthy, wholesome, and so forth.

On the other hand, Jesus says, “… evil things come from within…”  The Holy Spirit inspired the prophet Jeremiah to say,^{(Jeremiah 17:9)}“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?After the flood, the Lord Himself said, ^{(Genesis 8:21)}“… For the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth …” Our culture wants you to believe that what comes from inside of you is basically good.  The Bible tells us that man is actually evil to the core.

I don’t know about you, but this teaching frightens me.  It means that while I live in this sin-filled world, I carry a traitor around inside of me. Jesus says that deep down in my heart is a source of evil, not good.  Jesus says that I can’t trust my heart for good.  I can’t trust my heart for truth.  Jesus basically says that I can’t trust my heart – that my heart is a traitor within me.  I carry within me a deep core of rotten filth that is my sin.  It is terrifying for Jesus to tell me that my own heart betrays me.

The most frightening aspect of this rotten sin within me is that I can do nothing about it.  Every righteous deed I try to do … every pure thought I try to have is polluted by the evil that is within me.  I cannot help myself because my own heart betrays me and works tirelessly to drag me down to hell.  What hope do I have against such a severe traitor?  I would be lost forever unless delivered from sin, death, and everlasting condemnation by a salvation that is beyond me – outside of me – greater than me.

In Psalm 51, we hear the cry of David as he called out for rescue from this sinful condition.  King David had followed his traitorous heart.  He committed adultery with the wife of one of his finest and most loyal army officers.  Then he murdered that army officer in an empty attempt to cover up his adultery.

What was his prayer when his pastor, Nathan the prophet, uncovered his horrible sin?  In his words in Psalm 51, David finally did the only honest thing a sinner can do before Almighty God.  He pled guilty to all the charges levelled against him and threw himself on the mercy of the court.  He begged Almighty God to kill his old sinful heart and create a new clean heart within him. This psalm is a psalm we all need to pray.

God has already answered this prayer that we pray with David.  He sent His Son Christ Jesus into the world to take up our human flesh.  Since Jesus is the Son of God and was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, He was born with a clean heart. He experienced all the temptations we experience, but He never sinned.  Instead He took the sin of our hearts onto Himself and carried it to the cross.  As He hung on that cross, He paid the price that God’s justice demands of our sin. He suffered the punishment of hell in our place for us.  We know that the price He paid was more than enough because the grave could not hold Him. His resurrection from the dead shows us that God is now ready to create a clean heart in each of us.

In order to create a clean heart in us, God first puts the old, filthy, toxic, sinful heart to death.  It is as the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to say, ^{(Romans 6:3)}“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death?”and ^{(Romans 6:6)}“We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.and ^{(Galatians 5:24)}“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”God works … not from the inside … but from the external Word to drown our old sinful nature.

He then works in us to create that new, clean heart for which we prayed.  Again, the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to say, ^{(2 Corinthians 5:17)}“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” and^{(Romans 6:5)}“If we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” and^{(Romans 6:8)}“If we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.” When the Holy Spirit plants faith in us, He does a heart transplant.  He removes our filthy hearts of sin and replaces them with new, clean hearts.

Now, although we have new, clean hearts, we still live in a sinful world.  Temptations still attack us from all directions, and we often suffer defeat. That is when our new hearts convict us of sin and drive us back to the cross.  There we once again confess our sins and receive forgiveness for all our sins. In this way, God keeps our new heart clean until He takes us away from this world of sin.  On that day, the angels will carry us to His side in Heaven. There we shall wait for the Last Day when He will raise the dead and take all who believe in Him into eternal life. In that new earth, we shall never be sinful again.

Each and every one of us was born with a toxic heart.  It was a heart that loved sin and hated God.  Over time our continuous sinning only made our hearts blacker and more toxic. There was no way that we can trust such hearts to guide us in the truth.   Instead, God took our filthy, sinful hearts and destroyed them at the cross. Now through Holy Baptism, He gives us newly created hearts – hearts that fear, love and trust in Him above all things – hearts that turn to Him in time of trouble – and when temptations overwhelm us, hearts that confess our sin in the sure and certain knowledge that God loves us for Christ’s sake and will forgive us.  These are new hearts that will live with Him in heaven and rejoice before His throne forever.  These are the new hearts that God has created in us.  Amen

The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

Pentecost 14 – 26 August 2018 – Year B

Grace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for this meditation is written in the 6^thChapter of the Gospel according to St John: Verses 51–69

⁵¹ I am the living bread thatcame down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give forthe life of the world is myflesh.”

⁵² The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat?” ⁵³ So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of theSon of Man and drink his blood, you haveno life in you. ⁵⁴ Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood haseternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. ⁵⁵ For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abidesin me, and I in him. ⁵⁷ As theliving Father sentme, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. ⁵⁸ thisis the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” ⁵⁹ Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taughtat Capernaum. 

⁶⁰ When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” ⁶¹ But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? ⁶² Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? ⁶³ It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. ⁶⁴ But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) ⁶⁵ And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

⁶⁶ After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. ⁶⁷ So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” ⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You havethe wordsof eternal life, ⁶⁹ and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

We just heard the ending words of John 6.  John 6 is also known as the “Bread of Life” chapter.  In order to properly understand the words at the end of the chapter, we need to take a few moments to review the rest of the chapter.

The events at the beginning of the chapter show us that Jesus is, in fact, the Lord of Creation. The chapter begins with the account of Jesus using a boy’s lunch to feed 5,000 men and their families.  This happened in an empty area on the other side of the Sea of Galilee.  After Jesus fed the 5,000, He put the disciples in a boat and sent them back to Capernaum while He went up on the mountain to pray.  The disciples encountered a headwind and were not able to cross the sea.  When Jesus finished praying, He walked to the boat on the water.  Immediately the headwind stopped and Jesus and the disciples landed on the other side.  These two events demonstrate that Jesus is well able to supply us with all our needs and protect us from every danger.

Jesus and His disciples arrived on the other side of the Sea of Galilee around dawn of the day after He fed the 5,000.  The word immediately went out, and people from the surrounding area began bringing friends and family to Jesus for healing.  Jesus healed and taught as He made His way to the synagogue in Capernaum.

Some of the 5,000 that Jesus fed the previous day also found Jesus as He was on His way to the synagogue.  Although they never came right out and asked Jesus for more food, Jesus could see into their hearts and knew that they were only interested in Him in order to get more free food.  Jesus used this as an opportunity to teach that although He supplies all our earthly needs, that is not the main reason He came down from heaven and took on human flesh. His main reason for coming was to provide us with all our eternal needs.

The crowd wanted to compare Jesus and Moses.  They claimed that Moses was better because he fed the entire nation of Israel for decades. Jesus only fed a few thousand for one meal.  Jesus first of all pointed out that it was God who gave the manna in the wilderness. Moses was the servant of God at the time.  Jesus also pointed out that all the people who ate the manna in the wilderness are dead. The people who participate in the eternal food that Jesus gives will rise from the dead on the last day and never die again.

Jesus taught that just as a person needs food to live here on this earth, so also a person needs eternal food for eternal life.  He taught that He is that eternal food.  As He taught that He is the eternal food, He explained that eating the eternal food meant believing in Him.  He said, ^{(John 6:29)}“This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”He also said,^{(John 6:40)}“This is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”With these words and others, Jesus taught that eating eternal food meant believing in Him.

It is important that we understand all this context from the preceding verses of John 6.  It is especially important that we understand that when Jesus is talking about eternal eating, He is speaking of faith that believes.  Otherwise, these last few verses of John 6 will sound a lot like cannibalism.

Jesus said,^{(John 6:51)}“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”Now that we know the context of these words, we know that Jesus is talking about believing in Him for eternal life.

The people in the synagogue struggled to understand what Jesus meant.  They had not made the connection between eating and believing. The Jews … disputed among themselves, saying, ^{(John 6:52)}“How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”They know that Jesus is not talking about the kind of eating that they did the day before when they ate the bread and fish that Jesus gave them.  Never the less, they know no other kind of eating and they are confused.

Jesus kept right on teaching.  If you understand that eternal eating means believing, then Jesus’ words make perfect sense.  On the other hand, if you are like most of the hearers in the synagogue and do not understand … if you are still thinking about eating bread and fish, then Jesus’ words are disgusting.

Jesus said to them, ^{(John 6:53–58)}“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. ⁵⁵For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. ⁵⁷As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. ⁵⁸This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”

The signs that Jesus performed in this chapter and others demonstrate that He is from God. It is as the blind man told the Jewish authorities, ^{(John 9:32–33)}“Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. ³³If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”As a man from God, His word is true.  He has told the crowd that He is the bread of life from heaven.  He claimed God the Father as His Father and that He is the Son of God.  He taught that He came to give eternal life to those who believe in Him.  He explained that those who put their trust in His body and blood will have eternal life.

The rest of the chapter shows that there are two ways to react to Jesus’ message: belief and unbelief.  Some who heard Jesus’ words said, ^{(John 6:60)}“This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”The text then tells us ^{(John 6:66)}“thatmany of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him”.This is the response of the unbeliever.

As Jesus watched His congregation shrink in size, He turned to His disciples and said, ^{(John 6:67)}“Do you want to go away as well?” This gave Peter one of those rare opportunities to say exactly the right thing.  In fact, Peter’s reply is so excellent that part of it is sometimes used in the Alleluia verses of liturgy in for Divine Service.  Simon Peter answered him, ^{(John 6:68–69)}“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, ⁶⁹and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”This is the response of the believer.

The reaction of these people shows the truth of the words written by the writer to the Hebrews:^{(Hebrews 4:12)}“The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.Whenever anyone proclaims the Gospel, some will believe and some will reject.”

The full meaning of Jesus’ words on this day became clear to the disciples when He died on the cross and rose from the dead.  Feeding on Christ’s flesh and drinking Christ’s blood means believing in His body broken and His blood shed on the cross.  Christ’s shed blood and broken body earned the forgiveness of sins. That forgiveness is the source of eternal life for us.  This is the central teaching of Christianity.

The “Bread of Life” chapter, John 6 is an excellent summary of the signs and teachings of Jesus as He began to prepare His disciples for His suffering, death, and resurrection.  He taught them and He teaches usthat He is the source of eternal life.  It is by faith in His body broken and His blood shed that we receive the forgiveness of sins, salvation, and eternal life. For our human salvation, our Lord and Saviour has transposed His true body and true blood into the elements of consecrated bread and wine that we may in faith, continue to ingest His eternal presence throughout our life on earth. For those of us who live after His death and resurrection, these words point us to the cross that saves us.

Another thing we learn from this chapter is that some people will reject eternal life.  In spite of the fact that Jesus is the only perfect teacher who ever walked this earth, some who heard Him rejected Him. We often forget that the Gospel divides people.  The Holy Spirit uses the Gospel to draw people into the family of God.  At the same time, the very same Gospel will drive away those who refuse to believe.

Jesus made it very clear that we are to proclaim the Gospel as we live our lives in this world. At the same time, we are not called to convert an unbeliever.  That is the work of the Holy Spirit.  When we proclaim the Gospel and reinforce the words from the Book of Acts,^{(Acts 16:31)}“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved,”we are actually asking our hearers to do something that they cannot do. We are in fact carrying out the command of Jesus given in the Great Commission in Matthew 28. We are proclaiming the Word and inviting people to the Baptismal Font where the Holy Spirit brings them into the family of God.  The Holy Spirit is God Himself at work in us and only through His presence in us can we believe in the broken body and shed blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins that leads to eternal life.  Amen.

The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

Pentecost 12 – 12 August 2018 – Year B

Grace to you and peace from God our father and our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The Gospel reading is written in the 6^thChapter of the Gospel according to St John: Verses 35 – 4:

³⁵ Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. ³⁶ But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. ³⁷ All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. ³⁹ And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. ⁴⁰ For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

⁴¹ So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴² They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” ⁴³ Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. ⁴⁴ No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all betaught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— ⁴⁶ not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸ I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

I am sure that you would have to agree that there have been some really big issues that have shocked us and fired up our opinions and caused us to question truths and values we have lived by for ages. The Royal Commissions into institutional abuse involving the Church and the blatant corruption in the banking and finance sectors have rocked our values to the core. The debate and outcome of same - sex marriage in Australia has drawn anger and various strong opinions and divisions. Then there is the extremity of political correctness where in one case alone it offends people if we refer to a female as ‘she’ and a male as ‘he’. Every day we are confronted with examples of extreme change which in fact show us how our culture is rapidly changing.  

Some of these changes seem related, but other changes seem to have nothing to do with each other. Never the less, if you examine these changes carefully, you will find a common idea behind them.  These changes came about because the relationship between truth and feelings have changed in our culture.

There was a time when truth was important in our culture.  We thought it was important for people to know the truth so that they could make good decisions as they lived their lives.  Now, our culture values feelings more than truth.  Who cares if something is true or not as long as it makes me feel good about myself?

If you look at that motivation behind all these revelations that shock, disgust and annoy us, in just about every case it is based on selfish human desire. People want to do whatever is necessary to achieve what they want; they want to feel good regardless of the impact on society as a whole.

The really strange thing about this is that our culture still wants most other people to base their decisions on truth.  We want ourbanker to keep careful track of our money, and not just do what he feels like with our money.  We want the doctor to treat usfor the disease we actually have, and not for the disease that is more interesting to him.  We even want the fast food restaurant to giveusthe food we ordered instead of the food they feel like giving us. Our lives are full of examples where it is actually dangerous to base our decisions on our feelings instead of on the truth.  I don’t know about you, but I much prefer the dull boredom of being in an aircraft that lands on a runway, as opposed to the excitement of landing it in the nearby paddock. In spite of all this, we have become a culture that celebrates people who follow their feelings instead of following the truth. 

This problem with truth is not something new.  People down through the centuries have always had this strange attitude toward truth. When we are dealing with things in this world, we value people who can deal with reality … businessmen, leaders, scientists, and so forth.

Never the less, when we consider our eternal well-being, the importance of truth more or less disappears.  Even though God Himself revealed eternal truth through His prophets, people prefer the religion from their own imaginations.  They wander away from the truth.  They forget the promises God made through His prophets.

The Holy Spirit made promises about the Messiah in Isaiah 35:5–6. “When the Messiah comes,the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy”. Jesus has been fulfilling those signs.  As Jesus preached and taught the blind received their sight, the lame walked, lepers were cleansed, the deaf heard, the dead were raised up, and the poor had good news preached to them.  In fact, Jesus had taken the contents of a boy’s lunch box, and fed 5,000 men and their families.  The crowd should have seen these signs and shouted out loud, “Jesus is the Messiah.”  They should have known that His Words are the truth.

Therefore, when Jesus began to tell the crowds about the blessings of believing in Him, the crowds should have listened.  When Jesus described Himself as the Bread from heaven that cures eternal hunger and the drink that cures eternal thirst, they should have recognised Him as the Messiah. When Jesus described Himself as the One Who came down from Heaven, they should have recognised that God the Father sent Him into human flesh.  When Jesus described the relationship between Himself and the Father, they should have believed that Jesus is the Son of God.

Sadly, when people forget the truth and believe a lie, the truth often makes them angry. Instead of listening to Jesus, the people grumbled.  They remembered the boy Jesus who grew up in the home of Joseph and Mary.  How could someone who grew up in their neighbourhood be the Messiah … the Son of God?  They considered it ridiculous, offensive, and foolish that He claimed to have come down from heaven and to dispense a bread which afforded eternal life. They thought He was either an evil liar or a great fool for trying to persuade them that He had come from heaven. In spite of all the signs that Jesus was proclaiming the truth, the people rejected Jesus.

This should be a warning to us.  Like the people of Capernaum, we sometimes also prefer to reject our saviour.  Each of us needs to examine ourselves.  How am I like those people?  How do I reject the truth that God wants to give me in His Word? Do I skip over the parts of God’s Word that bother me?  Do I just read my favourite parts of the Bible and ignore the rest?  Do I try to explain away the parts of the bible that bother me?

Perhaps the most offensive thing Jesus said came near the end of today’s reading.  He said,“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”^{(John 6:51)}That small wordanyonemeans that the salvation He earned with His suffering and death on the cross are for all people in all places and in all times.  It means that the worst sinner in the entire history of the world can receive the forgiveness that Jesus earned with His death.

At the end of World War II, an American Army Chaplain, Henry Gerecke, was set a very challenging task. His commanding officer sent him to Nuremberg to provide spiritual council for the NAZI prisoners who were on trial for war crimes.  Being of German descent himself, he spoke fluent German and he was also experienced, as before the war he had conducted a prison ministry in the United States. 

Some of the NAZI prisoners rejected the Gospel of Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins, but others heard Gerecke’s words and the Holy Spirit brought them into the family of God even while they waited for the hangman’s noose.  Joachim Von Ribbentrop was one of the NAZI criminals in Gerecke’s prison congregation.  As he stood on the hangman’s platform, he said, “I place all my confidence in the Lamb who made atonement for my sins. May God have mercy on my soul.”  Then he turned to Gerecke and said, “I’ll see you again.”  The black hood was pulled over his face.  The thirteen-coiled noose was put around his neck – and he dropped through the trap door. 

Jesus said, “… anyone …” The Apostle Paul described himself and said, “I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”^{(1 Corinthians 15:9)}He also said,“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”^{(1 Timothy 1:15)}

Jesus said, “… anyone …” St. Augustine was an immoral, womanising playboy before the Holy Spirit performed the miracle of faith in him. He lived a life as obscene as anything that you hear about today.  Never the less, the Holy Spirit worked faith in him and he became one the great theologians of all time.

Some people take offence that such obscenely evil sinners are waiting at Jesus’ side … waiting for the resurrection on the Last Day.  The truth is that the salvation of these horrible sinners points to the simple fact that Jesus died for the sins of the world.  When Jesus said, “If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever,”He meant that it makes no difference who you are or what you have done.  There is forgiveness for allin His perfect life, His suffering, and His death.  

In the words of John 3:16“Whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”.

It is by the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith that we can eat of Jesus Christ, the bread of life from heaven.  By that gift of faith, we can believe that Jesus is eternal food and drink who will keep us alive with Him in eternity.  We have the promise of Jesus that just as He rose from the dead, so also will He appear on the Last Day to raise me and all the dead.  On that day, all the sinners who believe in Him will rise in body and soul and join Him in eternal life.

And as Jesus said … this promise is for anyone.  Amen

The grace and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen