Grace to you and
peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Amen
Jesus and
Bread. That’s the theme.
For five weeks
our Gospel lesson has been from the sixth chapter of St. John, the Bread of
Life discourse.
It begins with
Jesus’ feeding a crowd of five thousand people, having only a boy’s lunch, a
few barley loaves and a couple fish.
As the chapter
goes on, Jesus teaches the crowds about himself, that he is the true bread of life
who came down from heaven, that all who eat of it may not perish, but
live.
After the feeding
of the five thousand the crowds were ready to seize him and make him King.
After Jesus
explained that he is the Bread of Life that came down from heaven, and that
they would “eat his flesh and drink his blood” the crowds left him, leaving
only his disciples, because the teaching was too hard for them.
Their stomachs
were filled, and they wanted him to be their King.
But when he
shared with them what truly happened, they could no longer associate with him.
What happened?
From King to
outcast in a few short moments,
Why???
There are two
major themes in Jesus’ teaching, both of which appear to be equally offensive
to the crowds.
The first is that
he is the “Bread of Life” and that just as the Israelites ate the manna in the
wilderness so to would those who followed him eat this bread, and live. Even more offensive is that uses the words,
eat my flesh and drink my blood.
After two
thousand years of celebrating Holy Communion, we likely don’t realize what an
offense those words would cause. Cannibalism.
That’s enough to
turn one’s stomach.
The second theme
is Jesus’ teaching is that he has come down from heaven. This divine origin troubles the people, and
they just cannot see it. After all, they
thought that they knew him, the Son of Joseph and Mary, the boy who grew up
among them.
And now he says
that he is from heaven?
This was hard to
accept.
I find myself
asking two questions of the crowds who were with Jesus that day.
Was it because
they simply didn’t understand Jesus that they rejected him and his teaching?
Or was it because
they did understand him, that they found what he said to be intolerable?
Similar questions
can be asked of us.
Like his
disciples, we have chosen to follow him, and we accept his teaching regarding
him being the bread of life that has come down from heaven.
But is the reason
we can so easily accept Jesus and his teaching because we have truly understood
him?
Or is it possible
that we have accepted him and followed him, because we don’t fully understand
him?
Christians have
long understood these passages as dealing with communion. “Eat my body” and “drink my blood” are
obvious references to communion.
But this is the
thing.
Eating bread and
drinking wine as part of a ritual is common to both Jews and Christians.
Specifically, the
bread and wine are part of the Passover Seder, and other times as well.
That would not
offend Jews.
Something else
was going on, not merely eating a bit of bread or drinking some wine.
Obviously, there
is the understanding that “this is my body, this is my blood” that is part of
communion.
But even that
wouldn’t be so difficult to accept.
So why is this
teaching so hard that the crowds turned back from following Jesus?
The second part
of that teaching is that Jesus is the Bread of Life, from heaven.
It is Jesus’
talking about having come down from heaven that is a stumbling block for his
followers.
They knew him.
They knew his
family.
They thought they
knew where he came from.
I have a
sister-in-law who is Jewish. She was
telling us how she explained to her boys the difference between Jews and
Christians.
Her explanation
was that both Jews and Christians believed that Jesus was a great man who had
many good things to teach us about the Law and Life.
But Christians
believe that Jesus was God’s Son and came down from heaven. Jews don’t.
That you see is
the problem for Jewish people.
Did Jesus, one of
their own, come down from heaven and take on earthly flesh?
What is it that
is so offensive about Jesus?
Was it what he
taught?
Or who he was?
Or Both?
What I believe we
can say with absolute certainty is that for those people who first encountered
Jesus, who heard his teaching and came to know who he was, the encounter with
Jesus was a game changer.
It made a
difference.
For some it meant
they could no longer follow him.
And for others it
meant that they would follow him, even if it meant their death.
“I am the bread of life. Whoever
comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be
thirsty.”
“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.”
Those two simple words,
“I am” also point us in another direction.
I am, or in
Hebrew “Yahweh”, was the name God gave Moses from the burning bush.
And for Jesus to
make such statements is to claim the name of God as his own.
At the beginning
of this passage the crowds were ready to seize him and make him King.
At the end of the
passage, it is becoming clear that Jesus is not just an earthly ruler, but the
King of the Universe.
And that makes
all the difference in the world.
Either you will
refuse to follow him at all, or you will follow him even to the point of giving
your life.
Fast forward
2,000 years to our own time and our own place.
At times I wonder
if being a Christian in this country that is in large part a Christian country
and culture—is just too easy.
Does the decision
to follow Jesus carry with it any weight; does it truly change our lives?
Is it radical
enough that some would turn away?
Is it significant
enough that others would be willing to give even their lives?
What difference
does it make?
I think that one
of the most difficult challenges facing us as Christians in this day is that
living a life of faith, as we understand it, no longer means being set apart
from the world.
Rarely does it
change our politics.
Rarely does it
affect our economy.
When people
become Christian, often the rest of their life continues unchanged.
It’s both the
curse and the blessing of living in a Christian culture.
My sister-in-law,
who I mentioned before is Jewish, has a different experience.
Her faith, which
is different than the majority of our country, sets her apart.
There are things
about her life that are different from our culture because she is Jewish.
I find myself
wondering if there is anything about my life that is different, life changing,
because I am a Christian.
Does Jesus make a
difference?
And what is the
difference?
“I am the Bread
of Life.”
I once heard it
said about the Amish, that the reason that they did not adapt to modern things,
was not that the modern things were evil, but rather that they felt it was just
important to set themselves apart as Christians.
They desire to
live their lives different from the world in order that they might not become
one with the world.
Are there ways
that we can live our lives set apart from the world in order that we might
focus more intently on Jesus as the Bread of Life from heaven, and the life
that he, and he alone, grants?
It’s a simple
question in the end.
Jesus gave his
life for me—what difference does that make?
I am forgiven—does
that change the way I act?
Jesus is the
Bread of Life from heaven, I will not perish—so how then will I live?
I guess what I
long for, most of all, is that others might see the way I live, and know that
there is something different about me, and that difference is the faith that I
hold.
I want them to
know that Jesus made a difference in the life I lived and the love I shared.
That, to me, is
the most significant challenge facing the whole church in this country.
Are we different
because we bear the name of Christ?
Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment