13th Sunday after Pentecost
John 6:60-69
“The Marvelous
Peace of God”
Today
is an important day here at UniLu. It is
LCM Welcome Back; it is Rally day for Sunday Church School. Today is all about new beginnings and new
starts. Today is given over to reaching
out and inviting persons into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ and the
community which bears His name. This is
an important task; this is a very significant day. We want everything to go right; we are
working to put our best foot forward.
The
danger, in putting one’s best foot forward, is the temptation to hide, or disguise,
or at least leave till later the other foot.
You know, as in “When the shoe drops;” or, “On the other hand.” Whenever the people of God are putting on
their best face, we ought to make sure that our other face isn’t hidden too
completely. We need to make sure that we
accurately and completely make known what it means to move into a deeper
relationship with Jesus Christ and the community with does bear his name. It is an opportunity beyond compare; it is
the invitation to live. This life is ours
as the result of a willingness to die.
John
6:66 lays it all out for us: “Because
of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer when about with him.” “They,” the ones who turned back and no longer
went about with him, “they” had been confronted with the realities beyond the simple
presentation. “They” had eaten their
fill of the loaves and fish, in events recorded earlier in John, Chapter 6. Jesus feeds a crowd of 5,000 with the simple
offering of a little boy’s lunch. Jesus
was teaching them things, and healing their sick, and “they” thought they would
never be able to get enough. Until Jesus
began to speak of the life which was so freely flowing from him and through him
and into “them.” He tells them that this
life will come through his own body. That
it is death which will complete the offering.
And that in order to receive this life they will need to eat of the
bread which he will give.
It is
upon hearing all of this that “they” begin to complain and slowly to fall
away. Finally, Jesus looks at the twelve
(these would have been the disciples who were following before the whole
feeding of the 5,000 began,) Jesus turns even to this inner circle and asks
them, "Do you also wish to go away?"
Tone
of voice is everything. And we can only
imagine the tone with which Jesus asks this question. Was he calm and sincere? Did he ask a question for which he didn’t
already know the answer? Was he asking
but also pleading with them to remain? As
in, “Are you going to leave me too?”
Or is
he defiant? Does he chide anyone who is
having any such thoughts? Is it with a
chip on his shoulder, or with the tone of a soccer coach whose team is done 2-0
that he asks them whether they just want stick their tail between their legs and
go back to what they were doing before?
Which
tone do you hear? In Jesus’ question? And,
of course, the never exhaustive whole range of human emotions means there are
many, many other possibilities.
Verse 60 raises the question at hand. It was when the crowd heard Jesus speak of
himself as the living bread, come down from heaven, which they must eat if they
are to have this new life, that many of “them” began to murmur, “This teaching
is difficult; who can accept it?”
In the
verses immediately preceding those appointed for today, Jesus lays it out for
them. "I am the living bread
that came down from heaven," he
says. "Whoever eats of this
bread will live forever; and the bread
that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
Let’s
consider at least two reasons why this is so difficult. First, there is this matter of “eating this
flesh. The actual Greek word would be
better translated as "chew" or "gnaw." There is a mutilation involved here and Jesus
is in the middle of it. Forget all the
cute pictures of Jesus cuddling the little children on his lap or gently
holding a lamb in his arms. This is a
terrible thing. Jesus will not go gently
in to that great good-night. He will be
rejected, betrayed, murdered. There is a
mutilation involved here. The “chewing”
or “gnawing” reference is precisely the image which informs us that following
Jesus means passing through the Cross.
Second,
is the disappointment factor. In the
face of hostility; in the encounter with un-repentant forces; Jesus will not
fight. "The bread THAT I WILL
GIVE ... is my flesh." he says.
We humans are often prepared to defend our ideals and beliefs to the
death. But we do so with all of the
strength and courage we can muster.
Jesus, on the other hand, simply folds his cards. He yields his life so that we might have this
bread.
"This
teaching is difficult; who can accept
it?" Many of those who had followed him begin to
turn back and no longer go about with him.
Jesus
sees what is happening. I would venture
to say that he understands what is happening and why. He watches, observes, and then his eye
catches the twelve. So he asks them, "Do
you also wish to go away?"
"Here's your chance," he says.
"If you want to go, go."
Again; tone is everything.
Then
comes Simon’s answer. And if tone was
important in what Jesus said, how much more so in the reply offered by the
bumbling, fire-brand of a disciple whom Jesus renames “Peter” (that name which
means “Rock.”)
“Lord,
to whom can we go? You have the words of
eternal life.” I think Peter is
admitting that if there were another place to go, where they could find the
life they have witnessed in Jesus, he might consider going there. But there is no other place. Jesus put his best foot forward when he
healed the sick and fed the 5,000 and even when the other shoe drops Peter can
see that this the one opportunity he has to be part of that which is truly life-giving
and of God.
“Lord,
to whom can we go?” Nowhere else are
we going to be able to find the life which you have to offer.
This
is precisely what we are attempting to do, through our Rally Day for Sunday
Church School, and through our Welcome Back to the college students. We want to invite all persons into a deeper relationship
with Jesus Christ and the community which carries forth his name, his message,
and his gift. We do so, acknowledging
the wonder of following where he has lead the way; while admitting that it is a
way which will change lives – mostly the lives of those who follow.
I
want to close with the lyrics to a hymn which was in the old Green Hymnal but
didn’t make it into the new red one. It is
a poem which captures the significance of what happens to those who did not
turn away from Jesus; it prepares us for what is likely to happen to us,
too. Had I been better prepared, I would
have had hard copies for all of you when you came in. You can cut and paste them from the blog
where I post my sermons, or find the words on-line. The poem is “They Cast Their Nets.”
They cast their nets in Galilee
just off the hills of brown;
such happy, simple fisherfolk,
before the Lord came down.
Before the Lord came down.
Contented, peaceful fishermen,
before they ever knew
the peace of God that filled their hearts
brimful, and broke them too.
Brimful, and broke them too.
Young John who trimmed
the flapping sail,
homeless in Patmos died,
Peter, who hauled the teeming net,
head-down was crucified.
Head-down was crucified.
The peace of God, it is no peace,
but strife closed in the sod,
Yet let us pray for but one thing—
the marvelous peace of God.
The marvelous peace of God.
Amen.
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