August 25, 2024 Sermon

Sermon title:  “The Words of Eternal Life”

Scripture:  John 6:56-69

(Other lectionary suggestions include I Kings 8, Psalm 84, Ephesians 6:10-20.)

John 6:56-69

56“Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” 59He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

The Words of Eternal Life

60When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” 61But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, "Does this offend you? 62Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. 65And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.” 66Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 67So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” 68Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

          What we heard from the Gospel of John today indicates that not all of Jesus’s early followers stayed with him. I mean, you can’t really blame them when he says such things as “Pick up your cross daily and follow me.” And how about what we heard at the beginning of the passage:  “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood.” I can hear some of them saying, “This is getting’ weird! I’m outa here!” And one more thing:  the words in the original carried with them a munch-munch sound! “Chew on me!” Jesus seems to be saying. Don’t simply eat my flesh and drink my blood. Make a SOUND when you’re chewing!

          What Jesus is doing, of course, is showing how his way differs from those in the wilderness under Moses who ate the manna from heaven. And they later died. Jesus is saying that if you eat the bread that HE is offering, you will never die.

          One of the things that some of the population felt early in the young church’s life is that these Christians are CANNIBALS! They would point to passages such as the one we heard today and say, “Look! You have to EAT Christ!” You and I know that the early Christians were NOT cannibals, but the Romans weren’t so sure! And a literal interpretation of Scripture does not help! When one reads the Bible, one needs to remember that the writer or writers may be talking about truths at many different levels. The Gospel of John is a perfect example.

          As we have mentioned before, the Gospel of John is thought to have been the last one written, and probably near the end of the first century. And at that time there was already an established Christian community or church. One thing we may be seeing in today’s Scripture lesson is a part of the LITURGY of the early church. When those believers took communion, they may have heard the words we heard today. If they didn’t hear “This is my body broken for you,” they may have heard “Whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which the ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” And maybe they also heard Peter’s words:  “You have the words of eternal life.”

          That’s a possibility. And I find myself wondering, liturgy or not, how Jesus said, “Do you also wish to go away?” Did he say it with pain in his voice, as if he were being abandoned? Or did he say it in a more matter-of-fact kind of way? Impossible to say. But I absolutely LOVE Peter’s response:  “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

          And I agree with that big fisherman! Really, if we don’t follow Jesus, to whom shall we go? And I’d ask you the same question:  Where you gonna go? You know, without Jesus WE HAVE NOTHING! Did you ever think about that? Without your religious faith, where are you? NOWHERE! Now let’s just say, for argument’s sake, that there is no God, and that Jesus deluded himself and everybody else. Wouldn’t that be terrible? There is NOTHING out there! Nothing! Wouldn’t that be terrible? Yes. Terrible awful, as Harlane says! But what we have is HOPE, and because of Jesus, whom Peter called the Holy One of God, we dare to hope that God IS. And not only that, but the God who IS wants a relationship with you and with me. Now following Jesus may be no walk in the park.....but where you gonna go? Really. Where are you going to go? As Peter says, “You have the words of eternal life.”

          Diana Butler Bass has a publication that she calls the Cottage, and she comments about bread and wine. Both get the way they are by the process of fermentation. And both involve CHANGE. The process of baking bread is SLOW, and the process of making wine is SLOW. When Jesus talks about being the bread of life and how we are invited to EAT this bread, even MUNCH on this bread, could he be saying that TIME is involved and we must be prepared to spend some time before we are the creatures God made us to be? I don’t know. It’s just a thought.

          What Bass says is this:  “Central to bread and wine is the exact same principle:  in order to become what they are, they must be transformed from one thing into another. When a leavening agent is introduced to flour and water, it becomes a dough that bakes into bread. When yeast consumes the sugar in juice, it ferments the fruit and turns it into wine. Wheat and fruit are, in effect, broken down and simplified by an outside agent, turning them into bread and wine. That’s what fermentation does. But this process takes time. Bread must be worked, kneaded, left to rise, reworked, and baked. Wine is the result of weeks or months or even years of yeasts breaking down sugar and slowly turning fruit into alcohol. Bread and wine are staple foods for everyone, and yet they demand great patience of bakers and vintners. Neither happens immediately. One must learn the craft of these foods over time. They cannot be rushed. Staples, yes. Slow foods, absolutely. The best things to grace our tables - those things that sustain us and give us joy - result from an intentional and gradual undertaking."

          Diana Butler Bass says that when Jesus refers to himself as “living bread,” it’s actually kind of funny, because every baker knows that ALL bread is alive, “yeasty and transforming all the time. Wine is the same. These are living foods that give us life.....Bread is alive; wine is alive.”

          Then she quotes Jesus:  “This is my body; this is my blood.” She says, “Of course bread and wine are body and blood. It is a miracle, but it is an ordinary and everyday sort of miracle. Living bread and living wine are the source of our very lives. All the time. Everywhere.”

          Concluding her remarks, she says, “We only need to sit and feast. Eat and drink. Some will be called to become bakers and vintners; others will set the table and pass the basket and cup. But we can all live yeasty, fermented by the Spirit.” Amen.

Pastor Skip