Pentecost 14 – 29 August 2021 – Year B

Grace to you and peace 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 1– 8 & 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; 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 it Star 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 feelings makes 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 instincts works 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 time because 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 devious depravity that is my sin.  It is terrifying for Jesus to tell me that my own heart betrays me.

 

The most frightening aspect of this devious 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 13 – 22 August 2021 – Year B

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

The text for this meditation is written in the 6^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St John; Verses 56–69:

Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. ⁵⁷ As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread^[a] the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” ⁵⁹ Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at 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 have the words of eternal life, ⁶⁹ and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

 

I come from a family of tradesmen, and as such, there were no parental aspirations of a university degree. My dad declared “what you need is a trade son, something you can always fall back on”. So, with my fate subsequently sealed, at the end of year ten, dad announced that he had found me a job as an apprentice electrician. Dad knew the boss, so the interview was almost a formality, and I started the next Monday. Nobody took into account that at high school, Maths B with its algebraic formulas was my weakest subject, and that to manually calculate power loadings for motors, industrial switches and the like, as was the case in those days, one needed a fair grasp on Maths B. College two nights a week for 5 years was a great challenge, and I got little encouragement, for dad it was a ‘fait accompli’. I would keenly listen to the lecturers and so often I just did not quite understand. I would get frustrated, so frustrated in fact that I would say “this is sooo hard, I just want to give up”

 

Well, today, we find something similar in our gospel reading.  I can empathise with the people who are gathered together, listening to Jesus as he teaches in the synagogue.  And, when he is finished, a bunch of his followers come to him and say, “Jesus, this teaching is soooo hard!”

This is the last week of five in which we hear about Jesus as the bread of life.  In John 6; known as the ‘Bread Chapter’, Jesus has been telling the people this meal he offers them doesn’t come from the fields or the sea, but from his very own body.  As we covered in last week’s sermon, Jesus says to them that those who eat his flesh and drink his blood will abide in him and he will abide in them, and that whoever does this will live forever.  The crowd, now referred to as disciples, say to themselves, “This teaching is so difficult; it is so hard.  Who can accept it?”

Now, it is important to understand that the English translation giving us the word “difficult,” doesn’t quite get at what the Greek word really means.  In the Greek, the word means “hard”, as in solid and dense, something that would leave a bruise if it hit you in the arm.  So, what the crowd is saying is that this teaching is like banging your head against a brick wall.  It’s so hard.  You can’t quite break through it.  You can’t understand it.   They are saying, “This is craziness! This is insane.  This doesn’t make any sense.”  

But does Jesus water it down? Make it softer? Does he explain any of it?  No. In fact, to this very day, in the Holy Scriptures Jesus words are quite clear and explicit about the use of Water and the Word in Holy Baptism and partaking of His Body and Blood in Holy Communion. 

In our reading, Jesus ramps the sermon up more, saying, "Oh, I'm sorry, does this offend you?  Well, if this offends you, what if you see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?  It is the spirit that gives life; human flesh is useless. But among you, there are some who don’t believe.”

“It is the spirit that gives life”. You see the most important thing is the spirit in which any action is done. William Barclay puts it this way: "All human things are trivial if they exist for nothing beyond themselves." 

That is, the real value of anything depends on its aim. If we eat simply for the sake of eating, we become gluttons; if we eat to sustain life, to do our work better, to maintain the fitness of our body at its highest peak, food has a real significance. If a person spends a great deal of time on education simply for the sake of self-improvement, they are to some extent selfishly squandering their time. But if they spend that time in order to work in servitude to God and mankind, education ceases to be trivial and becomes a God given vocation. The things of the flesh all gain their value under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

 

Christ alone can tell us what life is, and put into us the spirit in which it must be lived, and give us the strength so to live it. Life takes its value from its purpose and its goal. Christ alone can give us true purpose in life, and the power to work out that purpose against the constant opposition that comes from without and within.

 

As a result of our exploration of the preceding verses in John 6 last week, we have the benefit of some insight as to what Jesus is talking about!   These followers don’t.  And so, not surprisingly, they leave. 

How easy it is to relate to the followers who walk off on the spot. You see, when things start to lose their meaning, or we don’t really feel like we understand, it is pretty tempting to just leave, isn’t it?  And, as I think about the church in today’s culture, I think we church people often speak in a language that people don’t understand.  

For many people, church just doesn’t seem to have a lot of relevance.  In light of all the other things going in our culture and world that do impact people’s lives, many today wonder why they should continue to go to church.  So, they quit.

How do we respond to that?  Do we take them aside and tell them about original sin, Jesus being God incarnate, the Holy Trinity of Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier? Do we ‘hit them with the book’?  - Or do we tell them that in this church they come into the presence of a loving, forgiving God; one who died that they can live eternally. A God that doesn’t want them to be a theologian, but one who will trust Him to walk with them in their lives through good times and bad? Do we teach them that simple most effective prayer; ‘Jesus, please help me”?

When we look again at today’s gospel reading, notice what Jesus does when the people leave? Nothing.  He doesn’t do anything.   Why?  Why not just try to make it easier to understand?  Why doesn’t Jesus give the people what they want? 

In the late 1980s big church growth seminars became the in thing. I have been sent to a few. If each parish had the money and the will to follow the trend, their church became a Christian entertainment centre of Biblical proportions. As recent as 2010, one, not so big church in Townsville, had two data projectors and two bands working at the same time; the children’s address was a scaled down ‘Wiggles’ type performance, and the sermon was an interactive two way talk fest. It was a really ‘rockin’ place. Sadly, when the Pastor left, so did most of the congregation. The Gospel was there, but too much of the world to distract from it.

When He saw their backs, Jesus had the power to ‘bring down the house’ – He could have made the ‘parting of the Red Sea’ pale into insignificance.  But Jesus… he just lets them leave, without a word. Jesus bestows a remarkable gift but at that time they did not have the means to receive it.

You see, here we come upon a truth that re-emerges in every age. Time and again; it is not the intellectual difficulty which keeps mankind from becoming Christians; it is the height of Christ's moral demand. At the heart of any religion there must be mystery, for the simple reason that at that heart there is God. In the nature of things mankind cannot ever fully understand God. This is at the very heart of John 6: the very words that provide the means of grace to all mankind “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” Are beyond human comprehension, and it was these words that drove the people from Jesus. But for them at that time these words are prophetic. Later when they receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, they will become real. Still incomprehensible, but received in faith.

 

As for human nature, at this point, can I remind you that Jesus has just spent weeks healing the sick – no one questioned or left. Jesus had just fed about 15,000 people with 5 loaves and two fish – no one questioned or left. By human standards, these were supernatural actions – but; they physically benefited the people – so they went unquestioned!

 

Well, when these followers leave, we then get, from a human perspective, one of the most profound lines in all of Scripture…Jesus looks at the twelve remaining disciples, and he says, “Do you wish to go away too?”  Does Jesus have fear of being abandoned by His friends? Does He have a sense of grief in this very moment?  Friends, when Jesus asked this question, He is giving these men whom He personally picked, a time to triumph in faith.  

Peter responds with this beautiful line, “Lord, to whom shall we go?   You have the words of eternal life.”   - Yes, Peter asks, “To whom can we go?”  And, the twelve disciples stay with Jesus.

Now, on the surface, this line from Peter sounds like a confident statement of faith, but Peter's loyalty was based on a personal relationship to Jesus Christ. There were many things he did not understand; he was just as bewildered and puzzled as anyone else. But there was something about Jesus for which he would willingly die. In the most recent analysis, Christianity is not a philosophy which we accept, nor a theory to which we give allegiance. It is a personal response to Jesus Christ. It is the allegiance and the love which a person gives because their heart will not allow them to do anything else. 

Now, I don’t know why you are here today. But I do know this whole faith thing isn’t always easy.  In fact, I must honestly say that, in our present culture, there are times when this life of faith seems increasingly hard.  It is a very counter-cultural way of living.  At times, it can seem exhausting.  At times, it can seem soooo hard.

But where else can we go?  Where else can we at least join together in the struggle and contemplate the mystery of this life and the mystery of the Christian faith?  And that’s just it. It is something we do together.  Notice that Peter didn’t say, “Lord, to whom can I go?”  No, he said, “Lord, to whom can we go.”  When Peter responds with these words, it is truly a significant point in the Gospel of John.   It is the first time that Jesus’ closest disciples are named “the twelve.”  

Their decision not to turn away but to walk forward with Christ draws them together as a community of faith. It is not any particular creed, or mission statement, or style of worship, or service program that unites them as the body of Christ.  It is their professed willingness to walk together following Jesus Christ that renders them a community of faith.  You see, this life of faith is not something we do on our own.  We do it together and we go forward together!  It is something we share together as we live together in relationship with Jesus.  And when it is shared, we – together - make up the body of Christ. Jesus, the true Word of God stands here in our midst, in the midst of all the challenges of life and the challenges of the living of these days, pointing us to life and life abundant. 

Quite honestly, running away from the challenges of life, running only to self, living for self, really leads to empty satisfaction.  In saying this though, it is a fact that this life of faith goes against all our human instincts.  It is counter-instinctive, because the words of eternal life which Jesus gives to us, tell us that we must die to sin, and that is so hard.  But it is only through Christ that we can daily die to sin.  We die to self and live to Christ, and in doing so,  it is at the foot of the cross that we gather.  It is at the foot of the cross where God is faithful, where Christ is present with us, and where, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are one in Christ.

So, in times of uncertainty and challenge, at times when we do not understand, at times when there is a temptation to leave because things seem soooo hard, may we look again to Christ and not ourselves.  Like the twelve disciples, we will find there what has always been – the good news of Jesus Christ, the Holy One of God.  We will find Jesus, the bread of life, the one with the words of eternal life.  To whom else can we go? 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

Pent 12 – 15 August 2021 – Year B

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

 

The text for this meditation is written in the 6^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St John: Verses 51 – 58:

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

⁵² The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” ⁵³ So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; ⁵⁵ for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 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.”

 

 

In the USA there is, there is a highly accredited visionary research and resource company named ‘The Barna Group’, (bit like the Lowy Institute in Australia). A few years ago, the Barna Group conducted a national survey in the US on behalf of non-profit organisations and Christian church groups. There was one simple question on the survey.  That question was, "What is the phrase you most long to hear?"  The overwhelming, most popular answer was not at all surprising: "I love you." In a solid second place was the phrase "I forgive you."  And, the third most longed to hear phrase was, "Dinner is ready!"  I find it fascinating that these three answers articulate the deepest longings and needs of every human being.

 

The thing is, the Jesus we meet this morning in John's Gospel, understood these deepest longings that exist in peoples’ lives. Longings for love, forgiveness and, yes, sustenance.  And, in the 6th chapter of John, we repeatedly hear Jesus address these three areas of human need.  In this lectionary year, for five Sundays in a row, we hear Jesus address these deep human desires as he claims, "The Bread that I present to the world so that it can eat and live is myself, this flesh-and-blood self."  

 

As we enter today’s reading, we see the crowds becoming irritable.  After hearing Jesus say over and over again that he is the bread of life, the crowd gets a bit impatient and grows frustrated as they are unable to understand Jesus’ abstract words.  They want something more concrete, something that is easier to understand.  And, I have to say that, after hearing this message multiple weeks in a row, we too are likely getting a bit frustrated.   The crowd asks, “How can this man serve up his own flesh for a meal?”  We might say, “Jesus, please talk sense!  Don’t give us metaphor, give us substance!”

 

Well, Jesus does not budge an inch.  He responds by again strongly emphasising the point he has been making throughout this chapter.   He says, “I am telling you the truth.  Only by eating and drinking flesh and blood, the flesh and blood of the Son of Man, will you have life within you.  The one who brings a hearty appetite to this eating and drinking has eternal life… My flesh is the real food, and my blood is the real drink.”

 

I don’t think we fully understand how mind shattering and grotesque Jesus’ words were to the people at that time.  What Jesus is saying, eating a person’s flesh and drinking a person’s blood, has always been a sinful act.  Such practice or behaviour has always been regarded as an abomination by the law and the prophets.  And, quite frankly, Jesus’ words can be literally gross and grotesque when we hear them.  They assault our sensibilities and our understanding of what is ethical and not ethical.  If we truly listen to Jesus’ words, his assertion sounds uncomfortably cannibalistic.  Quite honestly, I know several Christian Ministers who try to avoid preaching on this passage, simply because of this. 

 

In one of his many books, the Christian author and Pastor, Martin Copenhaver, shares a story, that I think is priceless, about Jesus’ words today and our practice of communion.  Pastor Copenhaver described what happened when one of his parishioners, a child, really listened to the words he used in preparation for communion.  He writes, “The communion table was draped, as always, in starched linen and set with silver chalices and plates and a crystal flagon. The congregation was silent, even sombre. I began carefully reading the words of institution in a solemn tone, meant to add dignity to the proceedings. On this one occasion, when I repeated Jesus’ familiar words, ‘This is my body, broken for you; this is my blood, shed for you,’ a small girl suddenly said in a loud voice, ‘Ew, yuk!’ The congregation looked horrified, as if someone had splattered blood all over the altar — which, in effect, is just what the little girl had done with her exclamation.”

 

Well, for the past few weeks we have been hearing Jesus say he is the bread of life.  However, with the words Jesus speaks in today’s reading, he ups the ante and takes it to a new level.  Jesus uses language that is startling.  As Pastor Copenhaver continues his story, he writes, “In this passage, language is pressed to the limits to express the indissoluble union and inextricable participation of one life in another. For those who receive Jesus, the whole Jesus, his life clings to their bones and courses through their veins. He can no more be taken from the believer’s life than last Tuesday’s breakfast can by plucked from one’s body.”

 

Yes, today Jesus “presses language to the limits” as we reach the heart of John’s gospel.  Today’s reading from John is all about Holy Communion.  In the gospel of John there is no last supper.  So, scholars believe the words we hear today provide John’s version of the institution of what we now call the Eucharist.  And, with Jesus’ graphic, gritty, grotesque words, we begin to see just what is at stake for Jesus and how much we are valued in his eyes.  Jesus confronts us with the claim of a carnal God, the God who becomes incarnate and takes on human flesh and bones and blood.  In Jesus we see the God whose flesh will be stretched upon the cross for our sake, the God whose blood will flow freely from his broken, wounded hands and feet and side, all for the sake of God’s love for us.  In Jesus we see God’s love absorbing us into God’s life as we are made part of God’s ever-widening family.  And, when we eat this bread and drink of this cup, we are drawn as living beings into God’s ever-widening family as God’s love embraces all people.

 

In her book, Love Without Limits, acclaimed theologian and professor Dr Jacqueline Bussie talks about this aspect of communion.  She writes:

“To be honest, the ritual of communion with its repetition of Jesus’ words, “My blood shed for you and for all people,” has always troubled me, for what does that really mean, to drink Jesus’ blood?  We often assume it’s about sacrifice and pouring out blood to appease a vengeful God.  But I have come to believe that it’s about something else”.

 

You see, as humans we’re obsessed with blood and bloodlines.  Many of the ugliest things we’ve ever done to one another were motivated by the desire to keep our blood “pure” and “uncontaminated” by others.  Consider the Nazi hatred for people of “Jewish blood,” or the widespread discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS.  Also consider the Australian laws drafted to maintain pure Anglo-Saxon bloodlines in Australia. Laws that prevented Australian Aborigines from marrying white Australians without explicit permission from the government. These laws were not amended by the Federal Parliament until 1961. The prevention of ‘mixing of blood’ has long been our idyllic obsession.

 

To counter all of this horrible hatefulness, Jesus uses the symbolic meal of Holy Communion.  Every sip of the wine contains a lesson:  the same blood runs through everyone’s veins.  As we drink down this truth, we share in Jesus’ bloodline and become one family: the human family.  Holy Communion shares the same doormat - as Jesus’ words to us today - WELCOME TO MY FAMILY; YOU ARE NOW ALL RELATED.

 

Of course, we are a broken people who like to shatter apart this wholeness. This is why God insists that we share the bread and wine not once but over and over again.  We need constant reminding that our sense of who is our “blood” and “flesh of our flesh” is too narrow, too vertical, too ancestorial.

Jesus draws us into a family that is circular and not a lineal, and He bids us to make that ever widening, and much, much more inclusive. 

 

Friends, Jesus’ words to us are all about inclusive agape love, God’s self-giving love, a love that fills our deepest need.  Each time that we come to this table, we again meet the Word made flesh, the Word given in physical and visible form for our whole selves.  When we come to this table, we participate with and are stirred to become like Christ, the “living bread” from heaven.  When that happens, what is very ordinary – that is each one of us – becomes extraordinary – Christ among us, Christ living in us.  When we engage in this meal, not only do we remember we are all part of the same family, but we also become the living bread of God.  And, when that happens, that circle representing our sense of family becomes an ever-widening circle as we share God’s love with all others.

 

Jesus truly knows and understands our deepest longings and needs, the deepest longings and needs of every human being.  Every time we come to this table and receive his very life, we hear him say to us, “I love you. You are forgiven, and dinner is ready!  Feast on me!”  So, come, and participate in this feast of love for the whole world, a love for all people. 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 11 – 8 August 2021 – Year B

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

The text for this meditation is written in the 6^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St John: Verses 35 – 51:

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 Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; 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 This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them 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 be taught 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.”

 

 

Today, I will give you a short instructional prefix to the sermon proper.

 

Today for this sermon, I have used the alternative readings as written in the ‘Australian Lectionary – 2021’. It is worth mentioning the Lectionary, as it has been a ‘work in progress’ since the First Century and has been developed in various ways that would take the rest of the day to comprehensively explain. We now use what is called “The Revised Common Lectionary” and that is generally standard across most mainstream denominations.  The Lectionary collates the readings for the day in a way that helps us understand the message of the Bible. It is done on a three-year cycle that covers the synoptic Gospels Matthew, Mark and Luke with the Gospel according to John supplementing the readings each year. Each set of readings cross reference with each other in a way to demonstrate that the message of the Word comes completely from the Old Testament, the Psalms, the Epistles, and the Gospels combined. 

By comparison, you will often see TV Evangelists in their preaching, continually ‘grab’ random ‘popular’ passages from the Bible to develop an emotionally based narrative with no real theological message. The Lectionary readings combined for each day, give the true message. Let me give you an example of the Liturgical Setting for the readings I am using from the Lectionary today.

 

In today’s Psalm, (Psalm 34), the psalmist praises God for deliverance from trouble using an image of eating: (Ps 34:8). “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him” In the Old Testament Reading, (1 Ki 19:4, 6) the prophet Elijah has slain 450 prophets of Baal. But under threat of his own life, he flees, and on his way to Mount Horeb, “a day’s journey into the wilderness,” he is weary and in despair. God feeds, nourishes, and sustains him for his journey with “a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water”. This foreshadows Jesus’ words in Jn 6:35 of today’s Gospel, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

The Epistle connects with two themes in today’s Gospel. First, Eph 4:22–23 encourages putting away our old selves, our former manner of life, and being renewed in the spirit of our minds. There is a similar emphasis on the physical in the spiritual in the Gospel. Second, the reference (Eph 5:2) to Christ “[giving] himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” is another way of saying that Jesus is “the bread of life” and (Jn 6:35, 51) “the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh”. Both are speaking of Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross. 

 

And now having been provided with the daily ration of God’s truth, let’s see if I can successfully turn it into a meal that will sustain you over the coming week.

 

I can remember there was a time when I was growing up, my father would make homemade bread. I would come home from school, and its wonderful aroma wafted through the house. My brother and I would beg for just a slice. There was usually a reluctance to spoil our appetites for dinner.  But when it came to homemade bread, mum usually gave in and let us have a slice while it was still warm. It was so good and satisfying! Looking back, the reason it was so good was that it was baked and shared in our home. My dad, who was in fact a butcher, not a baker, put everything into making that bread—it was his contribution to his family’s sustenance.

So it is with Jesus. When Jesus Gives Us the Bread of Life,
He Gives Us Himself.

 

In (v 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’ ”. Jesus, and Jesus alone, is the source of true and genuine life: ^{(v 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”. This is “cross” talk. Jesus gave nothing less than his life, on a cross, for the life of the world. And this is “faith” talk. To “eat the bread of life”is an act of faith. It’s believing in Jesus. ^{(v 40)} “This is the will of my Father,” says Jesus, “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”. 

When Jesus was about to raise Lazarus from the dead, he told his sisters, Martha and Mary: ^{(Jn 11:25–26)} “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die”.

 

Homemade bread is so much better than store-bought bread. Life with “the bread of life” is so much better than life without Jesus. It’s not just a matter of quantity. It’s not just that it’s eternal. It’s also a matter of quality. It’s not just more of the “same old stuff” that we may be experiencing or going through now. It’s not just more of what’s corrupted by sin. It’s not just more of what’s broken and heart-breaking. It’s not just more death and what’s threatened by death. It’s new; it’s different. Jesus has put himself into it. He loves us! God loves us! God forgives us! God has got us!

 

Life with Jesus is far more than life that is here today and gone tomorrow. Life with Jesus is far more than what we can touch and taste. Far more than what we have. Far more than what makes us feel good or bad. Far more than the desires of our hopes and dreams.

 

The people in our text to whom Jesus was speaking still had the taste of the barley loaves and fish in their mouths, the barley loaves and fish with which Jesus had miraculously fed them. They were remembering the manna with which God fed their ancestors in the wilderness. What they weren’t remembering was that their ancestors ate the manna and died. Life is far more than bread. Life is more than our experiences in this world.

 

We have a generous, loving God who does provide for our physical and material needs. Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” And the acclaimed theologian Dr Martin Luther reminds us in his explanation of the Lord’s Prayer that “daily bread” is everything we need for this life. 

 

But Jesus came for so much more. He came as the source of eternal life, life with God that is forgiven and forever. Jesus fed the crowd with bread as God fed his people Israel in the wilderness with manna. Jesus did this as a sign, to make a point; the same point God made for his Old Testament people in the wilderness: ^{(Deut 8:3)} “He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord”.

 

Jesus is that Word. He is ^{(Jn 6:51)} “the living bread that came down from heaven”. Today’s Psalm invites us to ^{(Ps 34:8)} “taste and see that the Lord is good!”. In Jesus, we are able to know and experience God. Fullness of life. Closeness to and intimacy with God that is otherwise impossible. Our brokenness, sin, guilt, and shame corrupt our relationship with God. Death breaks it forever. Jesus went to a cross for us. He suffered and died for us. He rose from the dead. He lives. He forgives. He restores our relationship with God. Now and forever.

 

^{(v 39)} “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”.

“That I should lose nothing!” In speaking of himself as the Good Shepherd, Jesus said, ^{(Jn 10:27–28)} “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand”. We can’t be any more secure than that. And yet, in ^{(Jn 6:41)} “the Jews grumbled about” Jesus. Their “grumbling” recalls the constant, stiff-necked, faithless “grumbling” of the people of Israel against God in the wilderness. And it recalls the attitude of Jesus’ hometown people in the synagogue at Nazareth when they rejected him.  

 

Do we grumble? Grumbling is essentially refusing to believe in Jesus—wanting something different than he gives or, worse, someone different than he is—and, thereby losing out on the life he gracefully gives us.

 

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Jesus is the bread of life. He feeds us in the Word. When we are affirmed, that is forgiven in the Words of Absolution, Jesus takes away all that stands against us, all that stands between us and God, all that separates us from God. 

When we gather around his Table, Jesus feeds us in the Sacrament. Through this means of grace, we receive nothing less than himself. In the bread of his Supper, we receive nothing less than his body broken for us. In the wine, we receive nothing less than his blood shed for us, for the forgiveness of sins.

 

Paul reminds us of this life in his Letter to the Ephesians. He says, (Eph 2:4–6,) “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ . . . and raised us up with him”. …. Recalling our Baptism, he says, ^{(Eph 4:22–24; 5:1–2)} “Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and . . . be renewed in the spirit of your minds, put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. . . . Be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God”.

 

“A fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Not unlike fragrant, homemade bread, prepared and baked in love, served and shared in love, with a lot of the baker put into it. Jesus is the “bread of life.” He feeds us, nourishes and sustains us in life eternal . . . by giving himself for life that is in himself. 

 

My prayer is that through the gift of faith bestowed on you through the waters of Holy baptism, you will willingly seek and receive the grace offering of life-giving sustenance by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, that you will find nourishment and peace in Him into eternity. Amen.