…LET’S CALL THE WHOLE THING OFF? THIS LRYIC IS FROM THE 1937 GERSHWIN FILM ‘SHALL WE DANCE’ AND WAS PERFORMED BY FRED ASTAIRE AND GINGER ROGERS. IT SPEAKS TO THE MANY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO CHARACTERS AND MAKES THE SUGGESTION THAT BASED ON THESE DIFFERENCES THEY SHOULD JUST WALK AWAY FROM THEIR RELATIONSHIP. HOWEVER, THE PAIR END UP MARRIED IN THE MOVIE. A DIFFERENCE IN THE SIMPLE PRONUNCIATION OF WORDS IS HARDLY REASON ENOUGH TO CAUSE A PARTING OF THE WAYS BETWEEN A COUPLE WHO OTHERWISE HAVE MUCH IN COMMON.
THE LECTIONARY FOR TODAY COMES FROM PAUL’S LETTER TO THE CHURCH IN GALATIA, CHAPTER 5, VERSE 13. “FOR THE WHOLE LAW IS SUMMED UP IN A SINGLE COMMANDMENT, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF’”. MOST FOLKS KNOW THIS STATEMENT AS ‘THE GOLDEN RULE’. IT APPEARS IN THE HEBREW BIBLE AND MORE THAN ONCE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. BUT BEFORE ANY OF US CLAIMS SINGULAR RIGHTS TO THE PHRASE LET’S INVESTIGATE SOME OF THE OTHER PLACES THIS ‘ETHIC OF RECIPROCITY’ IS FOUND.
‘NOT ONE OF YOU IS A BELIEVER UNTIL HE LOVES FOR HIS BROTHER WHAT HE LOVES FOR HIMSELF’. Islam.
‘TRY YOUR BEST TO TREAT OTHERS AS YOU WOULD WISH TO BE TREATED YOURSELF, AND YOU WILL FIND THAT THIS IS THE SHORTEST WAY TO BENEVOLENCE’. Confucianism.
ONE SHOULD NOT BEHAVE TOWARDS OTHERS IN A WAY WHICH IS DISAGREEABLE TO ONESELF. THIS IS THE ESSENCE OF MORALITY. Hinduism.
THIS ONE IS MY FAVORITE:
‘ONE GOING TO TAKE A POINTED STICK TO PINCH A BABY BIRD SHOULD FIRST TRY IT ON HIMSELF TO FEEL HOW IT HURTS’. Yoruba Proverb (Nigeria).
THIS ‘ETHIC’ APPEARS IN MANY OTHER TRADITIONS AS WELL; JAINISIM, BUDDHISM, MANY AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGIONS. IS THE APHORISM LESS TRUE BECAUSE THE WORDS DIFFER? DOES THE YORUBA-SPEAKING NIGERIAN REALLY INTERPRET THE ‘GOLDEN RULE’ DIFFERENTLY FROM THE CHRISTIAN, THE JEW, THE BHUDDIST, THE MUSLIM? YOU SAY ‘TOMAYTO, I SAY ‘TOMAHTO’…LET’S CALL THE WHOLE THING OFF? REALLY, SHOULD WE ‘CALL IT OFF’ AND JUST CONCENTRATE ON OUR DIFFERENCES? OR SHOULD WE, MUST WE INSTEAD CELEBRATE OUR SAMENESS?
EARLIER IN HIS LETTER TO THE GALATIANS PAUL WRITES ‘THERE IS NO LONGER JEW OR GREEK…NO LONGER MALE AND FEMALE’. SO HERE THE WRITER STATES THAT THERE ARE NO LONGER ANY DIFFERENCES AMONG US, AND LATER HE REMINDS US OF JESUS’ ADMONITION TO LOVE OUR NEIGHBOR.
IN THE PARABLE OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN THE EXPERT IN JEWISH LAW ASKED JESUS ‘WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?’ OVER THE CENTURIES MANY OTHERS HAVE ALSO ASKED, ‘WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?’ DO WE STILL ASK TODAY? IS THE NEIGHBOR THE ONE WHO SITS NEXT TO US AT WORSHIP, THE ONE WHO THINKS AND BELIEVES EXACTLY AS WE DO? THE CASUAL ACQUAINTANCE WHO WE TOLERATE, BUT ISN’T EXACTLY OUR ‘BFF’? OR…DARE WE ADMIT THIS TO OURSELVES; IS OUR ‘NEIGHBOR’ THE ONE WHO IS DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED TO US AND OUR DEEPLY HELD BELIEFS IN EVERY WAY? ACCORDING TO JESUS THAT’S EXACTLY WHO OUR NEIGHBOR IS!
IN HIS TELLING OF THE PARABLE OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN CHRIST MAKES HIS POINT IN DIRECT, STARK, AND UNCOMFORTABLE TERMS. THIS DISCOMFORT WAS FELT VISCERALLY BY THE HEARERS OF THE PARABLE. TO BE BLUNT, JESUS PICKED AS HIS PROTAGONIST THE MOST UN-NEIGHBORLY PERSON THE PEOPLE COULD IMAGINE. NOT TO PUT TOO FINE A POINT ON IT…THE JEWS DESPISED THE PEOPLE OF SAMARIA. ALTHOUGH THE TWO GROUPS WERE CLOSELY RELATED THEY HATED ONE ANOTHER, CHIEFLY BECAUSE EACH BELIEVED THEY POSSESSED SINGULAR CLAIM TO THE ORIGINAL TWELVE TRIBES. IN JESUS’ TIME THE JEWS WERE FORBIDDEN BY THE RELIGIOUS AUTHORITIES FROM HAVING ANY CONTACT WITH THE PEOPLE OF SAMARIA, EVEN THOUGH GEOGRAPHICALLY AND HISTORICALLY THEY WERE CLOSE ‘NEIGHBORS’. IN THE PARABLE A PRIEST AND A LAWYER DELIBERATELY WALK PAST THE INJURED MAN, PRESUMABLY A FELLOW JEW WITH WHOM EACH HAD MUCH IN COMMON. TO DRIVE HOME HIS POINT JESUS TELLS US THAT THE ONE TO RENDER AID WAS A SAMARITAN; ONE OF ‘THEM’, NOT ‘US’, AN OUTSIDER, ONE WHO WAS TO BE AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS.
THE LAWYER’S REPLY TO JESUS’ QUESTION, ‘WHO WAS THE INJURED MAN’S NEIGHBOR?’ WAS ‘HE WHO SHOWED HIM MERCY’. NOW HERE’S THE KICKER. JESUS TELLS HIM TO ‘GO AND DO LIKEWISE’. WE MUST ALSO ‘GO AND DO LIKEWISE’. SHOW MERCY TO THOSE WE WOULD LEAST LIKELY CONSIDER OUR NEIGHBORS. TREAT THEM AS WE WOULD HOPE THEY WOULD TREAT US. LOOK PAST THE DIFFERENCES AND REJOICE IN THE THINGS HELD IN COMMON. ‘TOMAYTO-TOMAHTO, POTAYTO-POTAHTO’; OUR WORLD IS MUCH TOO SMALL FOR US TO TRIFLE OVER DIFFERENCES OF OPINION, FAITH, POLITICS. WE CAN’T AFFORD TO ‘CALL THE WHOLE THING OFF’. AT ALL COSTS WE MUST STRIVE TO ‘LOVE OUR NEIGHBOR’, NO MATTER OUR DIFFERENCES. TO DO OTHERWISE IS TO VIOLATE THE MOST BASIC ETHICAL RULE OF SOCIETY, WHETHER CHRISTIAN, JEW, BHUDDIST, MUSLIM, OR HUMANIST. BESIDES, WE MIGHT FIND WE’RE REALLY NOT THAT DIFFERENT AFTER ALL.
AMEN.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
How much will it cost?
Scripture lesson: Luke 14:25-33 (Speaking to one of the parishioners) Good morning Rob, wanna go to France? No, really, I have an opportunity to go to Paris and I thought you might want to go with me. So, do you wanna go? (He asks: ‘How much will it cost?’) How much will it cost? Let me get back to you. …. Rather obvious question, no? I mean would anyone agree to a trip to Europe without knowing the cost of airfare, hotel, and meals? What about the date the trip departs, how long we would be out of the country, and most importantly how do we convince our wives to let us go? No rational person would agree to participate in anything as important as an overseas trip without first inquiring as to the cost. Even if Captain Kirk secures for us the lowest possible rate through Priceline, we would still be compelled to know the total price tag before we would agree to go.
Luke tells us this morning that ‘large crowds’ were travelling with Jesus. By this time in his ministry Christ had become something of the ‘latest novelty’. People were following him throughout Galilee, and they were eager to hear what He had to say, they wanted to see Him perform miracles, and like many people today, they wanted to be part of the ‘in crowd’. Kind of like groupies following rock stars around from concert to concert. But if any of them were considering becoming a genuine follower of Jesus, a disciple like the twelve, He wanted them to be fully aware of what that choice would cost. He knows it’s time to thin out the crowd. Jesus tells them they must ‘hate’ father, mother, wife, and children. At first glance this seems pretty harsh. After all Jesus repeatedly tells us we must honor our parents, love our spouses, and to suffer the little children to come to Him. The word translated here as ‘hate’ is a Hebrew expression referring to comparison. Its ancient meaning was to ‘love less’. It’s like saying ‘Suzie hates cookies, but loves ice cream’. She obviously does like cookies, but they come in second when ice cream is involved. A big dish of Rocky Road ice cream is preferred over a few chocolate chip cookies. The message is that if the decision is made to follow Christ, EVERYTHING else becomes secondary, even the life of the believer. The would-be followers are told they must ‘carry the cross.’ This doesn’t refer to each person’s individual burdens, but is in reference to the Roman policy of requiring the condemned to carry the beam of their cross to the crucifixion site. Christ is telling the crowd they must be willing to share in His suffering, to be willing to follow Him unto death. He wants to be sure that potential followers know they must be willing to see their discipleship through ‘to the end’. In essence Jesus is quoting for the people ‘the cost of discipleship’. Christ tells these first century Judeans that they must fulfill all these requirements…and, ‘give up all their possessions’. As incredible as that must have sounded to those ancient people, consider what we would have to surrender today. Most of them lived hand to mouth and had nearly nothing in the way of ‘possessions’. What then are we asked to relinquish if we are to answer the call to true discipleship? No one can answer that for us; each of us must resolve this matter for ourselves. Yet I submit that very few, if any of us will ever abandon our family, take up the cross and give up all our possessions. However, each of us must, at some point in our faith journey determine just what the cost of our discipleship is, and how much we are willing to pay.
In 1937, at the beginning of the rise of Nazism Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the dissident German Lutheran pastor coined the term ‘cheap grace’. He described this as ‘Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing.’ ‘Cheap grace’. In forgiving his children God paid the price with the life of His only son. In His obedience to the Father Jesus suffered and died on the cross. Bonhoeffer wrote that since God the father and God the son have already paid the price for our salvation, we then are left to decide how to respond to this forgiveness. Do we recognize the enormous value of the gift we have been given and strive to live lives of discipleship or do we tell ourselves that the price has been paid and there is no cost to us? ‘Cheap grace’?
So we have a dichotomy; we live in tension between cheap grace and costly discipleship. But we’re not the first to struggle with this quandary. Paul wrote of the conflict between ‘faith and works’ in his letter to the Galatians within 20 years of the resurrection, wherein he stated we are justified by faith not the works of the law. Luther reiterated Paul in 1517, going so far as to nail his commentary to the church door. Bottom line, we really don’t have to do anything to pay for our salvation. But because we are aware of the cost to God and Jesus, and because we recognize the immeasurable value of what we have been given, we will want to respond with those actions that show our thanks for Christ’s love.
We are compelled to do those things which we know are needed in the world; give to the poor, feed the hungry, aid the oppressed. Care for the sick, visit the lonely, show compassion for the disenfranchised. These are not the marks of ‘cheap grace’; they are the deeds of those who practice costly discipleship. And when we get down to it, how much do these acts really cost? It’s not a matter of expense, but an understanding of, and a rising to, the need. We really are fully aware of the cost of following Christ. It’s not abandoning family, hating relatives, and selling all we own. Unlike the crowds of the curious following Jesus we are well aware of the cost; we just have to decide whether we are willing to pay it. It’s really nothing more than being fully committed to living our lives with God at the center. Just as Jesus did. His entire time on earth was spent in obedience to God’s will. If we affirm that we are truly committed to following Christ then the cost of our discipleship is a willingness to emulate His obedience to the Father. The cost of our discipleship is a total devotion to following Jesus.
In doing this there was a genuine risk to first century Christians. They were expelled from the synagogue, persecuted, and often martyred for their faith. The cost of discipleship today remains very dear indeed, in most Middle Eastern countries, China, India, and many African nations. Christ’s admonition to ‘take up the cross’ has keen meaning for Christians living out their faith in these places. Yet these followers of Christ are fully aware of the cost and are willing to pay it in order to fulfill their obligation to live a God-centered life. They gather to worship in secret places, using smuggled bibles and hymnals. Many fear for their lives.
Their cost is indeed high; what is ours? Simply this; to live as God commands. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God with our heart, soul, and mind; then to love our neighbor as ourselves. On these two He said, hang all the law. In Jesus’ admonition to the crowds in Luke, in rather stark terms He laid out for them what was expected if they chose to follow Him. In essence they were told to ‘look before they leap’. To measure the cost and accept the consequences. As confessing Christians we have done this. We know what we are expected to do, how we are to live, and how we are called to serve. Piece of cake, right? Maybe not. Out in the world is where our discipleship is measured. In a moment we will come to the Lord’s table. I dare say each of us will be fully committed to our discipleship as we partake of the bread and wine. But a lot can transpire between the altar and the door. Life happens, and the burdens of our day to day existence can very easily cause us to forget that we made a commitment to place Jesus above all else. We may be tempted to pay a lower cost of discipleship, to look for a 20% off sale, to hope for a bargain-basement price. There is that ‘cheap grace’ again.
Jesus knew it wouldn’t be easy for His first followers, and He surely knows it’s not easy for us. He asks only that we strive to make the payments when we can, not to fall too far behind on our obligations to serve others. He knows we will stumble and fall. We will be selfish and place our possessions above our love for Him. Even Peter, Jesus’ number one guy had his share or doubt and faithlessness. But the truly amazing part of our relationship with God is that even when we fail, He doesn’t. We might be willing on any given day to fork over only a small percentage of the cost of our discipleship, as evidenced by how we treat out fellow man. But God’s willingness to bestow His grace on us is unlimited. He simply calls on us to try to meet our obligations as best we can, in spite of our brokenness.
Soon we leave the altar for the door. Let our lives and actions reflect our willingness to be counted among those who have ‘taken up the cross’. Let us be seen as people who are willing each day to try to pay the cost of our discipleship through our service to others.
Amen.
Luke tells us this morning that ‘large crowds’ were travelling with Jesus. By this time in his ministry Christ had become something of the ‘latest novelty’. People were following him throughout Galilee, and they were eager to hear what He had to say, they wanted to see Him perform miracles, and like many people today, they wanted to be part of the ‘in crowd’. Kind of like groupies following rock stars around from concert to concert. But if any of them were considering becoming a genuine follower of Jesus, a disciple like the twelve, He wanted them to be fully aware of what that choice would cost. He knows it’s time to thin out the crowd. Jesus tells them they must ‘hate’ father, mother, wife, and children. At first glance this seems pretty harsh. After all Jesus repeatedly tells us we must honor our parents, love our spouses, and to suffer the little children to come to Him. The word translated here as ‘hate’ is a Hebrew expression referring to comparison. Its ancient meaning was to ‘love less’. It’s like saying ‘Suzie hates cookies, but loves ice cream’. She obviously does like cookies, but they come in second when ice cream is involved. A big dish of Rocky Road ice cream is preferred over a few chocolate chip cookies. The message is that if the decision is made to follow Christ, EVERYTHING else becomes secondary, even the life of the believer. The would-be followers are told they must ‘carry the cross.’ This doesn’t refer to each person’s individual burdens, but is in reference to the Roman policy of requiring the condemned to carry the beam of their cross to the crucifixion site. Christ is telling the crowd they must be willing to share in His suffering, to be willing to follow Him unto death. He wants to be sure that potential followers know they must be willing to see their discipleship through ‘to the end’. In essence Jesus is quoting for the people ‘the cost of discipleship’. Christ tells these first century Judeans that they must fulfill all these requirements…and, ‘give up all their possessions’. As incredible as that must have sounded to those ancient people, consider what we would have to surrender today. Most of them lived hand to mouth and had nearly nothing in the way of ‘possessions’. What then are we asked to relinquish if we are to answer the call to true discipleship? No one can answer that for us; each of us must resolve this matter for ourselves. Yet I submit that very few, if any of us will ever abandon our family, take up the cross and give up all our possessions. However, each of us must, at some point in our faith journey determine just what the cost of our discipleship is, and how much we are willing to pay.
In 1937, at the beginning of the rise of Nazism Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the dissident German Lutheran pastor coined the term ‘cheap grace’. He described this as ‘Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing.’ ‘Cheap grace’. In forgiving his children God paid the price with the life of His only son. In His obedience to the Father Jesus suffered and died on the cross. Bonhoeffer wrote that since God the father and God the son have already paid the price for our salvation, we then are left to decide how to respond to this forgiveness. Do we recognize the enormous value of the gift we have been given and strive to live lives of discipleship or do we tell ourselves that the price has been paid and there is no cost to us? ‘Cheap grace’?
So we have a dichotomy; we live in tension between cheap grace and costly discipleship. But we’re not the first to struggle with this quandary. Paul wrote of the conflict between ‘faith and works’ in his letter to the Galatians within 20 years of the resurrection, wherein he stated we are justified by faith not the works of the law. Luther reiterated Paul in 1517, going so far as to nail his commentary to the church door. Bottom line, we really don’t have to do anything to pay for our salvation. But because we are aware of the cost to God and Jesus, and because we recognize the immeasurable value of what we have been given, we will want to respond with those actions that show our thanks for Christ’s love.
We are compelled to do those things which we know are needed in the world; give to the poor, feed the hungry, aid the oppressed. Care for the sick, visit the lonely, show compassion for the disenfranchised. These are not the marks of ‘cheap grace’; they are the deeds of those who practice costly discipleship. And when we get down to it, how much do these acts really cost? It’s not a matter of expense, but an understanding of, and a rising to, the need. We really are fully aware of the cost of following Christ. It’s not abandoning family, hating relatives, and selling all we own. Unlike the crowds of the curious following Jesus we are well aware of the cost; we just have to decide whether we are willing to pay it. It’s really nothing more than being fully committed to living our lives with God at the center. Just as Jesus did. His entire time on earth was spent in obedience to God’s will. If we affirm that we are truly committed to following Christ then the cost of our discipleship is a willingness to emulate His obedience to the Father. The cost of our discipleship is a total devotion to following Jesus.
In doing this there was a genuine risk to first century Christians. They were expelled from the synagogue, persecuted, and often martyred for their faith. The cost of discipleship today remains very dear indeed, in most Middle Eastern countries, China, India, and many African nations. Christ’s admonition to ‘take up the cross’ has keen meaning for Christians living out their faith in these places. Yet these followers of Christ are fully aware of the cost and are willing to pay it in order to fulfill their obligation to live a God-centered life. They gather to worship in secret places, using smuggled bibles and hymnals. Many fear for their lives.
Their cost is indeed high; what is ours? Simply this; to live as God commands. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God with our heart, soul, and mind; then to love our neighbor as ourselves. On these two He said, hang all the law. In Jesus’ admonition to the crowds in Luke, in rather stark terms He laid out for them what was expected if they chose to follow Him. In essence they were told to ‘look before they leap’. To measure the cost and accept the consequences. As confessing Christians we have done this. We know what we are expected to do, how we are to live, and how we are called to serve. Piece of cake, right? Maybe not. Out in the world is where our discipleship is measured. In a moment we will come to the Lord’s table. I dare say each of us will be fully committed to our discipleship as we partake of the bread and wine. But a lot can transpire between the altar and the door. Life happens, and the burdens of our day to day existence can very easily cause us to forget that we made a commitment to place Jesus above all else. We may be tempted to pay a lower cost of discipleship, to look for a 20% off sale, to hope for a bargain-basement price. There is that ‘cheap grace’ again.
Jesus knew it wouldn’t be easy for His first followers, and He surely knows it’s not easy for us. He asks only that we strive to make the payments when we can, not to fall too far behind on our obligations to serve others. He knows we will stumble and fall. We will be selfish and place our possessions above our love for Him. Even Peter, Jesus’ number one guy had his share or doubt and faithlessness. But the truly amazing part of our relationship with God is that even when we fail, He doesn’t. We might be willing on any given day to fork over only a small percentage of the cost of our discipleship, as evidenced by how we treat out fellow man. But God’s willingness to bestow His grace on us is unlimited. He simply calls on us to try to meet our obligations as best we can, in spite of our brokenness.
Soon we leave the altar for the door. Let our lives and actions reflect our willingness to be counted among those who have ‘taken up the cross’. Let us be seen as people who are willing each day to try to pay the cost of our discipleship through our service to others.
Amen.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Bread of Life
Scripture lesson-John 6:22-59
I’M SURE WE’VE ALL WATCHED TV SHOWS WHERE, JUST BEFORE THE EPISODE BEGINS THE NARRATOR REVIEWS WHAT HAPPENED THE PRIOR WEEK. THIS USUALLY TAKES THE FORM OF HIM SAYING; PREVIOUSLY ON ‘LOST’ OR LAST WEEK ON ‘DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES’. THIS IS DONE SO THE VIEWER IS BROUGHT UP TO DATE WITH WHAT HAS TRANSPIRED BEFORE; SO VIEWERS CAN MAKE SENSE OUT OF WHAT IS TO COME NEXT. THIS IS NOT A BAD APPROACH TO TAKE WHEN EXAMINING SCRIPTURE, SINCE MOST BIBLICAL ACCOUNTS ARE PART OF A LARGER STORY. SO, LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT’S HAPPENED ‘PREVIOUSLY IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN’. JUST THE DAY BEFORE A CROWD OF 5,000 FOLLOWED JESUS AND HIS DISCIPLES TO THE FOOT OF THE MOUNTAIN WHERE HE WAS TO TEACH. JESUS SAW THAT THE PEOPLE WERE HUNGRY AND ASKED PHILLIP; ‘HOW ARE WE TO BUY FOOD FOR ALL THESE?’ A YOUNG BOY IN THE CROWD HAD FIVE LOAVES AND TWO FISH. JESUS BLESSED THE BREAD AND FED THE 5,000 WITH THE FIVE LOAVES, AND EVEN HAD 12 BASKETFULS LEFT OVER. THAT EVENING THE DISCIPLES LEFT THE SHORE OF THE SEA OF GALILEE IN A SMALL BOAT, ROWING TOWARD CAPERNAUM. JESUS ‘MISSED THE BOAT’ SO TO SPEAK, SO HE WALKED ON THE WATER FOR THREE OR FOUR MILES IN ORDER TO CATCH UP WITH THEM.
NOW HERE WE ARE THE NEXT MORNING, AT CAPERNAUM AND JESUS IS ASKED BY THE CROWD ‘WHAT SIGN ARE YOU GOING TO GIVE US SO THAT WE BELIEVE IN YOU?’ JOHN TELLS US THAT THIS CROWD IS MORE OR LESS THE SAME GROUP OF 5,000 THAT WERE FED THE PREVIOUS DAY. JESUS HAD ALREADY PERFORMED TWO RATHER IMPRESSIVE MIRACLES. MOST OF THE ASSEMBLED CROWD HAS WITNESSED THEM, AND YET THEY ASK ‘WHAT SIGN WILL YOU GIVE?’ CAN’T YOU JUST IMAGINE WHAT JESUS MUST BE THINKING TO HIMSELF? I’VE FED ALL 5,000 OF YOU WITH A COUPLE OF BARLEY LOAVES, THEN I WALKED ON WATER; HELLO! …DID I MENTION I WALKED ON WATER, AND STILL YOU ASK ME FOR A SIGN? BUT CHRIST KNOWS THAT THE TEACHING HE GIVES THIS DAY IS A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH, SO HE DECIDES FIRST ON THE SUBTLE APPROACH. HE REMAINS PATIENT WITH THE PEOPLE BECAUSE IT’S ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE THAT THEY UNDERSTAND PRECISELY WHAT IT IS THAT JESUS IS BRINGING TO THEM.
EVERY VERSE IN JOHN’S GOSPEL SO FAR IS LEADING UP TO THIS POINT, AND CULMINATES IN THE NEXT FEW LINES JESUS SPEAKS. IN THE FIRST FIFTY OR SO VERSES IN THIS CHAPTER, THE WORDS ‘BREAD’ OR ‘LOAVES’ APPEAR NINETEEN TIMES…NINETEEN! AS A METAPHOR FOR HIS MESSAGE JESUS USES THE MOST BASIC FOOD IN THE PEOPLES’ DIET; COMMON, ORDINARY BREAD. INITIALLY, HE TELLS THEM THEY MUST COME TO HIM AND THEY WILL NEVER BE HUNGRY. NEXT THEY NEED TO BELIEVE IN HIM, AND THEN FINALLY, EAT OF THE BREAD OF HEAVEN. THE MULTITUDE STILL DOESN’T GET IT; SO HE ABANDONS ALL PRETENSE OF SUBTLETY AND TELLS THEM THEY MUST EAT OF HIS FLESH AND DRINK HIS BLOOD TO HAVE ETERNAL LIFE. THE GREEK WORD USED BY JOHN IN THE EARLIER VERSES FOR ‘EAT’ IS ‘ESTHIO’, AND SIMPLY REFERS TO THE ACT OF EATING A MEAL. NOW THE WORD USED IS ‘TROGO’. THIS VERB IS USUALLY USED TO DESCRIBE THE WAY AN ANIMAL FEEDS, AND MEANS ‘TO MUNCH’ OR ‘GNAW’. IT CONVEYS A SENSE OF RAW HUNGER, URGENCY AND NECESSITY. CHRIST IS TELLING THE PEOPLE THAT IT’S CRUCIAL THAT THEY PARTAKE OF THIS ‘HEAVENLY BREAD’. HE WANTS THEM TO KNOW THAT EATING THIS BREAD OF HEAVEN; THAT BELIEVING JESUS IS THE WAY TO ETERNAL LIFE, IS EATING AS THOUGH LIFE DEPENDS ON IT…BECAUSE IT DOES!
IT’S NO COINCIDENCE THAT JOHN QUOTES JESUS TELLING THE PEOPLE THAT THEY MUST EAT THE FLESH OF THE SON OF MAN. LET’S GO ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE FIRST CHAPTER IN JOHN, WHERE IT’S WRITTEN THAT ‘THE WORD BECAME FLESH AND LIVED AMONG US’. BELIEF IN CHRIST, REPRESENTED BY THE EATING OF THE BREAD OF HEAVEN, THE ‘TAKING IN’ OF JESUS’ VERY BEING, IS THE MEANS NECESSARY FOR GAINING A LIFE WHICH NEVER ENDS. THOSE WHO EAT ONLY WORDLY BREAD, THE STUFF OF GRAIN, YEAST AND WATER, WILL BE SUSTAINED FOR THE DAY, BUT THEY WILL ULTIMATELY DIE. BUT THOSE WHO PARTAKE OF THE BREAD OF HEAVEN, OF THE VERY FLESH OF CHRIST HIMSELF, WILL OBTAIN THE LIFE-GIVING FOOD WHICH LEADS TO EVERLASTING LIFE. JESUS TELLS THEM THAT IF THEY DO PARTAKE OF HIS FLESH (AND BLOOD) HE WILL ABIDE IN THEM AND THEY IN HIM. THAT’S WHY HE WAS SO URGENT IN HIS MESSAGE, SO INSISTENT THAT THE PEOPLE UNDERSTAND AND COME TO BELIEVE. BECAUSE HE KNOWS THAT ONCE THEY ACCEPT THE TRUTH OF WHO HE IS THEIR VERY LIVES WILL BE SAVED. THE PEOPLE MUST FEED ON THE BREAD OF HEAVEN, THE VERY BREAD OF LIFE WHICH COMES FROM THE FATHER FOR THE SALVATION OF THE WORLD.
THOSE SAME TELEVISION SHOWS WHICH REVIEW PREVIOUS EPISODES ALSO GENERALLY OFFER A GLIMPSE OF WHAT WILL BE SHOWN THE FOLLOWING WEEK. IF WE DO THE SAME WE MIGHT DISCOVER THAT MUCH HAS CHANGED YET MUCH REMAINS THE SAME. IT’S BEEN TWO THOUSAND YEARS SINCE JESUS TAUGHT THE CROWDS IN PERSON, YET WE TODAY ARE BLESSED WITH THE ABILITY TO READ AND STUDY THOSE VERY SAME LESSONS. PEOPLE STILL NEED TO EAT WORDLY BREAD, EVEN IF IT TAKES THE FORM OF McNUGGETS AND FRENCH FRIES. AND WE MODERN FOLKS STILL NEED THE BREAD FROM HEAVEN; WE MIGHT EVEN SAY THAT WE NEED IT EVEN MORE THAN OUR FOREBEARS. OUR WORLD TODAY IS A COMPLEX, COMPLICATED PLACE. BUT THERE IS SIMPLE TRUTH IN ORDINARY THINGS. BREAD MAY BE UNCOMPLICATED, YET THE CONSTANT NEED FOR IT TO SATISFY US CONTINUES UNABATED. BUT HOW MUCH MORE ARE WE IN NEED OF THE BREAD OF HEAVEN? TO HAVE JESUS ABIDE WITH US, TO ENJOY A RIGHTEOUS RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD THE FATHER, FACILITATED THROUGH BELIEF IN CHRIST THE SON? TO NAVIGATE OUR DEMANDING WORLD, TO REMAIN TRUE TO OURSELVES AND FAITHFUL TO OUR GOD, WE MUST CONTINUALLY PARTAKE OF THE GIFT THAT HE PROVIDES. PERHAPS WHEN JESUS RESPONDED TO THE DISCIPLES’ REQUEST TO TEACH THEM TO PRAY, HE HAD THIS IN MIND. WHEN THE LORD TELLS US TO ASK GOD TO GIVE US EACH DAY ‘OUR DAILY BREAD’, MAYBE HE WAS THINKING ABOUT BOTH KINDS, WORDLY AND HEAVENLY.
WHILE EARTHLY BREAD MAY GO STALE OR BE UNFIT TO EAT BECAUSE OF MOLD, THE BREAD FROM HEAVEN, THE ABIDING SPIRIT OF CHRIST WITHIN US WILL NEVER SPOIL, WILL ALWAYS BE FRESH. IT WILL SUSTAIN US BODY AND SOUL THROUGHOUT ETERNITY.
SO, WE FIND OURSELVES AS DAILY RECIPIENTS OF GOD’S GRACE, PROVIDED THROUGH THE HEAVENLY BREAD WHICH IS CHRIST JESUS. HE ASSURES US THAT HE ABIDES WITHIN US ALWAYS. SO WHENEVER WE LOOK INWARD WE SHOULD BE WATCHFUL FOR SIGNS OF HOW CHRIST’S SPIRIT IS MANIFESTED IN HOW WE ACT. MORE IMPORTANTLY, WHEN WE CAST OUR GAZE OUTWARD, TOWARDS THE OTHERS WE ENCOUNTER IN OUR LIVES, WE NEED TO REMEMBER THAT THE HEAVENLY BREAD IS WITHIN THEM AS WELL.
AS WE GO FORTH INTO THE WORLD, LET’S REMIND OURSELVES TO LOOK FOR THE BREAD OF HEAVEN THAT ABIDES IN THOSE WE MEET. HOPEFULLY THEN, WE WILL ACT COMPASSIONATELY TOWARD THE HOMELESS VETERAN ON THE CORNER HOLDING A ‘WILL WORK FOR FOOD’ SIGN. OR THE AGED WOMAN HOLDING UP THE CHECKOUT LINE AT THE STORE AS SHE SEARCHES HER PURSE FOR THE COINS NEEDED TO PAY FOR A FEW SMALL ITEMS. OR EVEN THE PERSON WHO CUTS US OFF ON THE HIGHWAY WITHOUT SIGNALLING. IF WE PAUSE A MOMENT TO LOOK INTO THEIR EYES, WE JUST MIGHT FIND THAT THE BREAD OF HEAVEN IN THE FORM OF CHRIST JESUS, IS LOOKING BACK AT US.
AMEN.
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