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Sermon - Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost (B) - 23rd August 2009
St Alban's & St Aidan's Anglican Church Epping 7am
Readings: John 6:56-69
This is the year of Connect 09. This is the year where the Archbishop wants us to connect with our neighbours, our families and our friends; to tell them the good news of the gospel. This is certainly a worthy call. He is asking us to share the faith that we have committed ourselves to. But for me, at least, it poses a dilemma. I know that I certainly believe the truths of the gospel. I know that Jesus has the words of eternal life. It certainly is a message worth spreading. But I also know how it feels when other people want to tell me all about their faith – all about their god. I just don’t want to listen. I don’t want to know. People like that, I go miles to avoid. So I am in a strange place. I have a faith I believe is worth committing my life to, a faith that is truly worth sharing. But I don’t want to be that person who makes others feel uncomfortable, by telling them a message they don’t really want to hear.
Talking about your faith in any context is a difficult thing to do. It is intensely personal. When you do it, you are exposing yourself, and making yourself vulnerable to others, and that too can be very uncomfortable. At the heart of it there is the fear of rejection and ridicule. And that is exactly the position Jesus was in at the end of John 6.
He was preaching about himself. He makes the outrageous claim “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.” What an extraordinary way to talk about yourself. What an outrageous claim to make. He is saying that anyone who eats him or drinks him will live forever. What sort of a person makes that claim? And it is not surprising that many of the disciples hated this teaching. Apart from the 12, Jesus had many disciples, many followers. And it was these who complained that it was a hard teaching – but not in the sense that it was hard to understand. They understood him very clearly. But they found this teaching harsh and objectionable and they weren’t prepared to listen any more.
From what these people had said earlier it may be that they really were more interested in the feeding miracle than in what the miracle pointed to. They liked the idea of a leader with miraculous powers, who could produce food for thousands from a few rolls and some fish. They liked a leader that was so popular that the crowds rallied to hear him. But they had no interest in a leader who talked about eating his flesh or drinking his blood. And no doubt they were uncomfortable with a leader who seemed to be encouraging them to break the Mosaic law by speaking about cannibalism. The drinking of blood, no matter what its source, was strictly forbidden and though they probably understood that Jesus was speaking metaphorically, even mentioning the practice was offensive to them.
Added to that was the implied criticism of Moses. Moses fed them in the wilderness but they still died. But whoever eats my bread will live forever. Moses was the hero of their faith. What was Jesus teaching? Was this a new faith? How could he be greater than Moses? And behind all of that was the fact that they knew Joseph and Mary. They knew Jesus’ origins. They knew where he was from. So how could he say he came down from heaven. There was a real fear with this, that Jesus words implied blasphemy. He was making himself equal with God and these disciples were not prepared to go there. It was fine while Jesus was popular. It was fine when he healed or fed the crowds. But this teaching was going too far. The people could never support that. It was too radical.
So what was Jesus’ response to their criticism? He doesn’t take the time to explain it further. Rather he warned them that it is only going to get harder. If they keep following Jesus they will see him ascend to where he was before. Jesus knew what his mission was. But he also knew how that mission would be achieved. He knew that he would face the cross. If the Jews didn’t like the messiah to speak about the eating and the drinking they certainly wouldn’t want to see their messiah crucified. For them, a dead messiah was a failed messiah. They would not be prepared to see in Jesus’ death, the victory of God.
So here we have another dilemma. We have come to the very centre of Jesus’ teaching. We know that, because Jesus comments on his own teaching. He says – “the words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.” That is, what he has taught them are not mere words. Rather, his words will have an impact, his words will achieve their goal. These words are spirit and life. Its not helpful here to use the word “Spirit”. It is spirit more in the sense of breath. His words are the breath and life. They breathe life into something or someone who is dead. Think of a person dragged from the sea. They look as good as dead. No breathing, no heart beat. But CPR is administered. They are given the breath of life. And they are brought back from the dead. Jesus is using a similar idea. These words of Jesus are the breath of God, bringing life to those who hear it and believe it.
Yet from a human perspective they are offensive. These words were a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to the gentiles. In our own society the message of Jesus is not popular. It doesn’t enjoy wide acceptance. We can be fairly sure if we did share our faith with anyone it would not get a good reception. So how do we respond to that? And how do we respond to the Archbishop’s appeal for Connect 09?
I think a good place to start is to call to mind our own journey of faith. How has it been for you? Has it been something for you that has grown over many years? Have there been crises along the way, some helpful, some not so. Have there been easy times punctuated by some rocky experiences? Have there been times where you have climbed the mountain tops, with a new vision of faith, usually followed by long periods back in the valleys. What I am describing is a gradual process, often over a life-time. There are those rare exceptions where a person of no faith, hears the words of Jesus, and immediately comes into an experience of real faith. It can happen. But I don’t think it is often. Instead, it’s the slow progress that’s the norm.
And Jesus understood this. He knew his words would be hard to take. He knew his message would be unpopular. And so he goes on to explain “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.” Or as he had said earlier, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” That is a process that I can recognize at work in my own life. That sense of slowly being drawn to God. And we must realise that that is the work of God. Sure, we can aid the process, but as with the rest of life, God is sovereign in the work of bringing people to himself. We can be active in praying for others, caring for others, speaking up at appropriate times. But in the end, this work too is an act of faith, as we trust God to do his work, and as he works out his purposes for our world.