"Spirit and Life" sermon

Spirit and Life- John 6:56-69

8-26-12

A few weeks ago, we heard Jesus’ words, “I am the Bread of Life,” and we explored what all that means for our faith and how Jesus fulfills and nourishes us spiritually like nothing else can. So we rejoin the discussion today with Jesus’ continued teachings on the bread of life in the synagogue at Capernaum- teachings that, to put it lightly, were very controversial and hard to swallow.
I recently heard a funny story about one Sunday morning during a communion worship service where the minister of a certain church was saying the familiar words: “This is my body which is broken for you.  And this is my blood which is shed for you,” when all of a sudden a little girl sitting in the sanctuary cried out, “Oh, yuk!”  Ah, out of the mouths of our children.  But seriously though, this little girl was onto something.  Just as this language sounded strange and yucky to this child, this language would have sounded even more strange and yucky to those who first heard Jesus speak about eating his flesh and drinking his blood.  We sitting here today have the hindsight to hear these words in church and have thousands of years of communion liturgy, tradition, and our theological understanding to back them up.  We also have the benefit of reading the other 3 gospels and the story of the Last Supper, whereas John does not include that story in his telling of Jesus and doesn’t give us much to work with. But in order for us to get at the heart of our biblical lesson today, we have to think like a child, or to think like the first hearers of these words. 

We have to first understand that drinking blood in the Old Testament law of God was strictly forbidden.  The Jewish people believed that blood was THE life force of a human being.  In the old sacrificial system, blood played a huge role.  The blood of the animal being poured out to God represented the life of the person presenting the sacrifice being poured out to God as well.  So to drink blood was an abomination before the Lord.  And yet, now, we hear Jesus speaking these words and telling his hearers to eat his flesh and drink his blood.  It’s as if he is taking the words of the sacrificial system and changing them around to say, “take my life and pour it into your bodies, your lives, your souls.”  But those who heard didn’t quite take it that way, and who can blame them?  Their reaction, like that of the little girl’s, probably should have been, “Yuck!”  And it gets even stranger if we take a closer look at the original Greek meaning of today’s text- when Jesus speaks these words, he’s not just saying “eat my flesh,” he is using the word more similar to “gnaw” or “crunch.”  So this is some heavy eating he is talking about here.

It’s no surprise then that people began questioning this teaching, saying “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” or “This WORD is hard, how can we believe it?” John has been setting this up from the beginning with Jesus as the WORD who became flesh.  This is to say that Jesus as the Word who became flesh is not always easy to follow or accept.  That to be a follower of Jesus isn’t always going to be easy.  In fact, a lot of times it will be messy- that sometimes our ears will fall on confusing or difficult words, ideas, or situations, and we will have to make the choice to accept them or not.  Jesus then confronts his disciples, asking, “Does this offend you?” or in the Greek translation, “Does this scandalize you?”  Wow- so now we have a bit of drama unfolding here, and those who heard these words had to make a decision- do we follow someone with such scandalous teachings or do we turn away and go home where life is known and comfortable?

And many of Jesus’ followers did turn away and no longer went about with him, ending their journey prematurely before sticking around to listen more and understand what it was that Jesus was really saying.  This got me thinking about our own stubbornness and tendency to shut down when we hear or see something we disagree with or don’t understand, whether because we don’t want to expand our minds or feel we have nothing new to learn, or we were not raised to think that way, or the thought of learning something new that might go against our own values or ways of thinking. Or the worst, we utter, “I’ve never seen or heard of it that way before.” 

Well, what are we so afraid of?  Why are we so comfortable in our own little worlds that we refuse to see it grown and expand around us?  Why do we shut our minds and ears to new or difficult teachings?  We are people of faith, are we not?  The beauty of this scripture is that Jesus challenges his hearers, he challenges us, to be faced with the difficulty of discipleship, not just the easy parts.  He challenges us to hang in there and have faith in what he has to say to us, despite the sometimes ugly words he chooses to use, and he uses those words on purpose, to make a point.  He tells us to “gnaw” and “chew” on his flesh in order that we might be given spirit and life.  Well, that certainly gets our attention, doesn’t it?  He’s saying that to have faith in him, we have to be challenged every now and then, faced with things that we don’t understand or questions that we don’t have answers to, or people that we don’t quite agree with or look like us, and we are told that we have to see it through to the end, to hear it out, to be in relationship, to hear one another’s stories, to be okay with not being comfortable all the time.  It means that we have to be willing to talk to each other instead of attacking or jumping to conclusions without hearing the rest of the story.  It is then that we are given the gifts of spirit and life that Jesus promises us in this story.

I am always amazed at how easily and quickly people attack others on social media without engaging in conversation or seeing the big picture.  I tend to view social networking as a tool used to educate, resource, and be in dialogue with many different kinds of people, while some use it as a tool that fuels anger and misunderstanding.  A few weeks ago, I posted something on facebook that was meant to get people to think and be educated on a particular issue.  Most people that saw the post and commented on it were appreciative of what it was about and the message it sent, and some wanted to understand it more and were talking on facebook with each other about it.  And one person, someone who I had never actually met before, had seen this post on another person’s facebook page and linked it back to my name, sent me a personal message and attacked me about it, even to the point of calling me “stupid.”  Now, this person had no idea who I was or what the story was behind the posting, or what it was even really about.  She just saw it and decided to attack me for no legitimate reason.  At first I was really angry, but then I messaged her back and calmly suggested that the next time she sees something that has an impact on her, she needs to think about it and initiate a healthy conversation and dialogue with the person instead of attacking them.  It made me sad that a chance to educate and engage her was lost because of her initial reaction to attack first and walk away from what could have been a learning moment.

We can’t just shut down or God forbid, attack, when we see or hear something that rubs us the wrong way.  We have to be willing to challenge ourselves and hear it out, try to experience it for ourselves.  This doesn’t mean that we will ever accept or agree with the issue or situation at hand, but it does mean that we are called to accept the challenge of being in dialogue with one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.  When we just walk away, we risk missing out on something wonderful, a learning moment, a meaningful relationship, a chance to grow as people and in our faith.

When Jesus saw many followers turning away, he turned to his twelve disciples and says, “Aren’t you going away, too, just like everyone else?”  And Peter basically says, “Well, no, Jesus, where in the world would we go?!” and just when we think that they stay only because they can’t go anywhere else, Peter makes his confession of faith: “Jesus, you have the words of eternal life.  We have come to believe that you are the Holy One of God.”

This question of Peter’s is significant: “Lord, to whom can we go?”  Well, that’s it exactly.  If we won’t be willing to go with Jesus, where will we end up?  What is the alternative?  A life without faith?  Without direction?  Without hope?  It’s not always easy to be a follower of Jesus.  There are times when we face the difficult moments where we do want to walk away out of anger, fear, doubt, or misunderstanding.  But it is Jesus who ultimately calls to us and says, “Are you going to walk away, too?  Or are you going to stick in here with me and see this through?”  And when we summon the courage to make our own confession that Jesus is indeed the Holy One of God, the Bread of Life, we do so out of our faith- our beautiful, mysterious, challenging, messy, difficult, ugly at times faith.  Jesus never promises it will be easy- we recall the words of discipleship that those who wish to follow should take up their cross and follow Jesus.  While it’s not easy all the time, we are promised that the challenges of our faith come with the gifts of Spirit and Life- the spirit who guides, strengthens, and sustains us, and the Life that occurs when we let God work through us as the center of our being and in everything we do.

Jesus calls to us that we may have ears to hear His message, even when it is difficult- to hang in there, to not walk away, but to explore, to challenge, to grow for ourselves as people of faith.  You might be surprised at what you learn, whom you might befriend, what you might be called to if you open your ears and listen, truly listen.

May we have ears to hear this message.  Amen.