PROPER 16B 2009
Text: John 6:56-69
Our gospel lesson this morning is taken from the end of a long discourse, or teaching by Jesus. We have been hearing this teaching for the last several weeks, but because of our series on David, we have not yet addressed this very interesting, and difficult passage. As occurs several times in the gospel of John, John tells us about a miracle, or as he calls it, a sign, and then follows that up with a teaching by Jesus on the deeper meaning of that sign. John chapter 6 begins with Jesus feeding 5000 people by multiplying loaves of bread and a few fish. Then a few verses later we have this very incredible and hard teaching by Jesus about how he is the bread of life and how one can come to Jesus unless the Father draws them.
At the end of Jesus’ teaching, we read this:
John 6:60-61 ( NRSV ) 60When many of his disciples
heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” 61But Jesus, being aware that his disciples
were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you?
And then a few verses later we read this:
John 6:66-67 ( NRSV ) 66Because of this many of his
disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 67So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also
wish to go away?”
So what I would like to do is go back into this teaching by Jesus and see just what was so offensive about it to those early hearers.
Let’s start with what at first seems to us to pretty positive sayings by Jesus. After a discussion about Moses giving the people manna in the wilderness, and Jesus correcting them and telling them that Moses did not give them bread, but it was the Father that gave them bread, we have a series of promises by Jesus. I will read some of them.
John 6:35 ( NRSV ) 35Jesus said to them, “I am the
bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes
in me will never be thirsty.
John 6:37 ( NRSV ) 37Everything that the Father gives me will come to me,
and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away;
John 6:40 ( NRSV ) 40This 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.”
John 6:47 ( NRSV ) 47Very truly, I tell
you, whoever believes has eternal life.
John 6:51 ( NRSV ) 51I 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.”
John 6:54 ( NRSV ) 54Those who eat my
flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the
last day;
Now not having tons of time, lets just briefly address why these sayings were offensive to those early hearers.
First, these are pretty incredible things for any human being to say. And those early people knew it.
John 6:41-42 ( NRSV ) 41Then the Jews began to
complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from
heaven.” 42They were saying, “Is not
this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now
say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
Then, as today, people stumble over the incredible idea that Jesus is the way, the truth and the light… that he is the bread of life that gives life to the world… that he is the light of the world… that he is the Word of God… that he is Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus is not just one among many great religious teachers. He is qualitatively different, and those early hearers recognized that he was saying this… and many did not like it.
Next, in the promise of Jesus to have eternal life, there is the implication that without him, without believing in him, a person does not have eternal life. In our lesson today Jesus says that unless we eat his flesh and drink his blood, we do not have any life in us! Now this is a difficult saying. What do you mean we don’t have life in us? We are alive? Whether we like it or not, there is in the gospel message this concept that we are not really alive, and we don’t have eternal life, unless we are connected to Jesus.
Now what this all means, and how it all works out, I don’t really know. But here in this
teaching of Jesus is a hard saying. What about grandma? What about mom or dad, who could care less about Jesus, but I loved
them? Do they have eternal life? How does this all work? I don’t like this
saying of Jesus, that unless we eat his
flesh and drink his blood we don’t have life.
What do we do with it?
And then of course, to those early hearers, and if we pause and think about it for a minute, the idea of eating flesh and drinking blood is just not acceptable. In the Jewish law, which is reflected today in kosher food, faithful Jewish people are not to drink blood or eat food with blood in it. And here is Jesus talking about drinking blood. What is this all about?
And then, in several places, he says that no one can come to Jesus unless the Father draws them, or as he says, unless it is granted by the Father. It is passages like this from which the Calvinists came to believe in election. What does Jesus mean by these sayings… no one can come to Him unless the Father allows it, or draws them? This is not easy to understand.
If we are honest, we, like those first hearers, might find these teachings of Jesus pretty difficult to understand, and maybe even offensive. John tells us that after Jesus was done teaching:
John 6:66-67 ( NRSV ) 66Because of this many of his
disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 67So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also
wish to go away?”
What I first noticed in reading this again is that John says that many of those who left Jesus at this point were, up to this time, followers, or disciples of Jesus. Then, as today, people, for whatever reason, give up following Jesus. One of the reasons people often give up following Jesus is that their motives for following were for their own gain, or their own agenda. . Some of those early Jewish people hoped that Jesus was going to be their political messiah, the one who would be king and over throw the Romans. But now as they begin to understand that this is not his agenda, they leave him. We often have our own agendas as to why we are going to follow Jesus – God will keep us safe and give us health and prosperity… but when this doesn’t happen like we had hoped, then we drift away.
Another reason why many of us might give up is that we just don’t understand the teachings of Jesus. What we read and hear is difficult for us to understand. It is my experience that the longer I follow Jesus the less I really understand. When I was younger, I felt like I knew more, but as I get older, the human experiment is immensely confusing for me. Sometimes I go to the big city and I sit and look at all the people and I think: “What in the world is this all about?” Each person has intense inner joys and struggles, and yet in a few moments they won’t even exist, at least in this realm. And then to think about another realm of existence brings me to absolute mystery. And, since I am a priest, a professional Christian, and I have studied a whole lot of this stuff, I should know something about it all. But at times, for me, just like for you, it is all a great mystery. In my doubts and confusion, I often feel like just giving this Christian life thing up.
But then Jesus turns to me and he
says,
Like Peter, I always have to say: “Lord, to whom can we go… You have the words of eternal life… we have come to believe that you are the holy one of God…’
Peter, and the other disciples, and Christians down through the ages, are not just those who have the right answers about all of life, nor are never filled with confusion and doubt. They are not those who understand everything about sin and evil and why this or that happens.
Christians are simply those who have felt drawn in their hearts to Jesus. It is about that simple. And this drawing is so deep that it overcomes doubts and confusion and all the questions that arise as we try and follow and understand.
As you go through your life, there will be those times when, either because of the lure of the world around you, or because of the struggles you are facing, or because of the doubts and confusion you have, you will be faced with the choice of being in the crowd that turns and walks away from Jesus or stays. The sad truth is, some of us will be those who turn away. But I hope that this passage will become a strength and a friend to many of you, as it has to me. For when I think about walking away, I always have to ask myself, to whom am I going to go? What teacher, or philosophy of life am I going to bet my eternal soul on? And when I come to this fork in the road, everything within me realizes that I am going to put my faith and trust in Jesus, even in the midst of my confusion and doubt. I am going to stand on his side. I am not going to trust my life and soul to my own ideas of what is right and true, nor to any other great religious teacher, nor simply to the lusts and desires of my flesh.
Any pastor or priest or other Christian that leads you to think that being a follower of Jesus is easy and gives you all the answers to the great questions of life is not being honest with you. On the other hand, as any follower of Christ will tell you, there is incredible excitement and meaning and depth along the way. Learning and being challenged to love and to give and to serve and to forgive… all things that we can do… makes this life full of life, just as Jesus promised.
So in closing I pray that this passage in John chapter 6 becomes a friend and a help to you. I pray that it might help some you stay with the Lord, even in the midst of struggle and doubts and confusion. AMEN!