The sermon was on the text of John 6:56-69. Our church generally (though not always) follows the Revised Common Lectionary, and this was the gospel text for last Sunday. The text (NRSV) follows, but I suggest grabbing a Bible so you can follow the different places in the text that I reference without having to scroll back up.
56Those 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.
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.
This is the fifth straight week we are in John 6, and in preparation I got to wondering why the makers of the lectionary would have us spend five weeks in this chapter. Perhaps they figured it would take pastors and preachers five weeks to explain this somewhat difficult text! But really, I think it's because this text really contains the heart of the Christian life; the core of what it really means to be a Christian.
John 6 is a turning point in John's gospel. Up until this point, following Jesus has been a relatively easy thing to do. He's the "cool new prophet" of Israel. Earlier in this chapter he fed thousands of people with one kid's lunch. He's already healed some people that were on the brink of death. So if you follow Jesus around, you'll see some pretty cool stuff - rumor has it he's even the life of the party. He even turned water into wine at a wedding!
But Jesus' message in the synagogue at Capernaum changes everything. He said, "In order to be my follower you have to eat my flesh and drink my blood. Earlier, in 6:30, the people want more signs - more proof that Jesus has come from God. But instead of offering more signs, Jesus offers himself. This is a difficult teaching for the people that hear it, and many of them turn and walk away at this point. It's no longer cool to follow Jesus. And before long, people are going to be trying to kill him.
Why are Jesus words so difficult? Well, they're strange for us today, even when we can hear them through the lens of the bread and wine of communion. But here, Jesus is speaking to Jewish people with strict dietary laws. They couldn't even eat meat with blood in it! And here Jesus asks them to drink his blood and eat his flesh? And this teaching would have legs - a few years later the early Christians would be accused of cannibalism. But even if the people can get past the strangeness of his words and call them metaphor, he's committing a worse offense - he is dangerously close to claiming to be the source of life - God himself.
Editor's note: this is getting long already, I'm gonna try to skip parts to shorten in a bit...
Take a look at Jesus' response to the complaint that his teaching is difficult: "Does this offend you?" The word translated 'offend' is a form of the Greek word skandalon, from which we derive english words like scandal and scandalous. It literally means "stumbling block,", which recalls Isaiah 8, which prophesies, "he will be a stone that makes them stumble...and a rock that makes them fall."
Coming to Jesus always causes us to stumble, because we were always expecting something different. The Jewish people learned very quickly that Jesus was not what they were expecting in a Messiah. The religious leaders saw his words as offensive from the beginning. In Mark 3, Jesus' family comes out to take him away, thinking he's gone crazy. In Matthew 11, even the John the Baptist, the one who prepared the way for the Messiah, wondered whether Jesus really was the one who was to come, sending word to him from prison. Jesus is never what we expect.
In the present text, there are two groups of people. Many 'disciples' walk away (v66) - the scandal of Jesus is teaching is too much to bear. But 'the twelve', represented by Peter, profess faith in the face of this hard teaching. Later, of course, they too would stumble, abandoning and denying Jesus as he is led away to die. We, like Peter would do eventually, also try to tell God what is best, consciously or not. We're still looking for signs. And Jesus still offers himself.
The question is not whether you will stumble - you will. The ways of God are not our ways. The question is what happens after you stumble over something unexpected. Will you be like the many who leave, staying firm in your own expectation of how things are supposed to go? Or will you be like the few who, tripping over Jesus, allow your expectations to be broken so that Jesus can rebuild them?
Thanks be to God, it doesn't depend on us. That's the gospel. That's the good news in this story. If it did, we would all walk away. But the good news that it is God who calls us, draws us, and allows us to follow his ways is sprinkled all over this text. Verse 65 is the most obvious--no one can come to Jesus unless it is granted by the Father. But it is also in v63 (flesh vs. Spirit) and v70.
What causes you to stumble? Is there something in your life causing a crisis of faith? Whatever it is, let it go, and fall into the arms of Jesus. You don't have to have it all figured out. In fact, if you think you do, that's when you know you're in trouble. You're holding on to your own expectations so tight that when you stumble over something unexpected, you'll be falling onto that rock instead of into the arms of Jesus. Sometimes you have to give up faith in order to gain it - faith in yourself, in your own ideas of how things are supposed to go. And Surrender into a deeper commitment with Christ, a deeper trust in Him.
Peter says, "Yeah your teaching is difficult, but where else are we gonna go? We have come to believe and know that you are the holy one of God" The word "believe" is a form of the Greek word pisteau, and commonly means "to believe; to have faith in, to trust." But another meaning, and the one I like best in this context, is "to be committed to". The text mentions that Jesus knew who would betray him, and pisteau can be seen here as the opposite of betrayal - total commitment. In effect, Peter is saying, "We have come to being committed to you and knowing that you are the Holy One of God."
So how do we surrender into this deeper commitment to Christ, this deeper trusting relationship? Jesus has already told us in v56: "Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them." Here in this verse is the core of the Christian life: Word and Sacrament. "Word and Sacrament" is not boring church-speak, it is the dynamic, living presence of Jesus. Jesus wants to get inside of us, and the two ways he does that is through our ears - through hearing the Word - and through our mouths - through the receiving of his body and blood through the bread and wine at communion.
In John 1, Jesus is called the Word. Here he says that in order to be his follower, we must eat his flesh. We must consume theWord of God. In a Jewish worldview, blood is the seat of life. That's why they weren't allowed to eat meat with blood in it - that would be taking in the life of another being. But here Jesus, says, "I want to be your very lifesource." In drinking his blood, Jesus is asking us to make the deepest-level commitment possible.
The Word is the voice of God, and the Sacraments of baptism and communion are his presence. To read the Word is to hear God’s voice, and to participate in the Sacraments of Baptism and Communion is to be filled with the very life of God. So when you stumble over something unexpected that doesn’t fit with your idea of what it means to walk with God, don’t hold onto your expectations so tight that you fall onto them. Instead, surrender. Fall into the arms of Jesus, and fall into the arms of grace, a grace communicated and experienced through God’s life-giving Word and through the dynamic, powerful Sacraments.
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