Sermon IV for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Year B August 18, 2024
Jesus Shocks the Crowds and Us! (John 6:51-58)
Our World eats a lot of flesh- the flesh of cows, goats, sheep, pigs…you get my drift
However, we draw the line at eating human flesh, so, imagine the reaction of the crowds when they hear Jesus talking about being the living bread that God sent from
God for us to eat…
In today’s passage from John 6, Jesus,
tests our limits,
pushes our buttons,
offends us,
and we and the crowd long to scream back—
No way, that’s just wrong!
I’m referring to Jesus’ words in verse 55-56- “for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and me in them”
I mean, don’t you think that’s a little too vivid, shocking, and just too much information?
This is offensive, conjuring up visions of people gnawing on bones—ripping off hunks of flesh…in other words, visions of cannibalism!
It’s especially offensive to the Jews in the crowd since they are forbidden by God to drink the blood of any animal.
Instead, they’re instructed to offer the blood on the altar- a symbolic giving back of the life of the animal to the one who gives life to all.
Chapter 6 is John’s version of the Lord’s Supper.
The synoptic gospels-- Matthew, Mark, and Luke all focus the Eucharist, as the central event of the Last Supper- Jesus giving bread and wine to his disciples
John’s Gospel has no central event for the Eucharist.
In John, the central event of the last meal is the foot washing, making oneself a servant to others.
In the synoptic gospels, the authors talk about eating the bread and the wine in remembrance of Jesus…a toned down, more politically correct version of Jesus’ current words.
John, however, focuses on all of Jesus’ life, as that which “institutes” the sacrament of the eucharist.
Jesus says that he alone is the food that gives life… not manna or any other bread.
In chapter 6, Jesus says it’s only through eating his flesh and drinking his blood that the believer can become one with him.
In John’s gospel, sharing in the Eucharistic meal isn’t remembering or commemorating one specific event, it’s sharing in all aspects of Jesus’ life including his death.
For John, participation in the eucharist creates a deep relationship between Jesus and the believer that embraces God’s promise of new life—bringing the believer into a restored relationship with God in spite of being a sinner
But what does this talk of flesh and blood…of heavenly bread or even the Eucharist have to do with us?
What does it have to do with the ins and outs, the ups and downs, of everyday living?
What does it have to do with all the things that really matter to us
…our hopes… fears… loves… hates… our living and dying?
What do these words have to do with us, …two thousand years after Jesus walked the earth?
Because I’m here to tell you that all the theology, all the arguments and discussions among scholars, pastors and lay people are meaningless unless they provide us with a glimmer of hope that makes life worth living today, tomorrow and for all our days.
We want something concrete—something we can grasp, something beyond Jesus saying, “eat my flesh, drink my blood…”
Jesus goes on to say, “if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you WILL NOT HAVE LIFE in yourselves.”
“For my flesh is the real food, my blood is the real drink.”
And there it is, this is the moment when the crowd realizes Jesus is dead serious.
He’s not being metaphorical or speaking in abstracts…
Jesus truly means it. He is life itself!
Jesus, would and does, lay down his life for us,
Jesus freely gives us his flesh to eat…his blood to drink.
And the crowd in Capernaum shrinks back, appalled because what Jesus is suggesting has always been regarded as a scandal by the law and the prophets.
If we’re serious, we too shrink back when we hear it..
These words don’t fit our idea of acceptable social behavior
These words offend our sensibilities—
not just too much information—
but information that’s too graphic, too disgusting to consider—sounding more like cannibalism than Christianity.
Let me ask you this- when was the last time you really paid attention to the words of Jesus in the Eucharist?
Jesus says, ‘this is my body broken for you, and this is my blood poured out for you,’ and we see Jesus hanging on the cross, giving his life for us
And most of us would respond, too graphic, too much information!
In fact, those words seem so over the top we’ve watered down the words of institution even more,
saying instead “this is my body given for you… this is my blood shed for you”
The reality of John’s Gospel is this,
Jesus offers us his very own flesh and blood…
the flesh which will be stretched out on the cross,
the blood which will flow freely from his side,
all for our sake.
In this fourth week of talking about Jesus the bread of life, Jesus makes it excruciatingly clear what he is talking about.
Jesus gets too graphic, in his imagery solely for the purpose of confronting us with the claim and promise of a carnal God,
a flesh and blood God,
Jesus the one sent down by God to become incarnate,
who taking on flesh, becomes just like us…
all so that one day we may be like God.
So that one day our whole being will seek to share love
In the 70’s I remember a bunch of “Love is…” quotes and posters.
Friends, Love is God- He sent Jesus to us because he loved us and wanted us to have a better life, and even when we killed Jesus, God didn’t reject us or seek revenge,
He forgave us…that is love
In Jesus, the word of God is made flesh,
And in the sacraments, the Word of God is given physical, visible form once again…
Here we meet God who won’t be satisfied with anything less than our whole selves, given freely to him, as Jesus gave himself freely to us.
“flesh and blood” is a Hebrew idiom which refers to the whole person… body, heart, mind, spirit, feelings, hopes, dreams, fears…everything and anything that makes a person a person
In Jesus, the whole being of God comes down and meets us—
to love, redeem, and sustain the whole of who we are---
good, bad, and ugly.
This is the promise which God makes to us in the Sacraments: God promises to be one with us and—for—us-- forever,
Nothing can separate us from God who lives within us…
So maybe we need to first be offended in order to better understand,
maybe we do need to hear the raw physical words as Jesus spoke them
Perhaps, instead of crying, “Too much Information!”
we need to need to hear the words spoken by Jesus and wonder why we are offended and why we work so hard to take the sting out of Jesus’ words and action…why we water them down…
Maybe, we need to be honest and see Jesus for who he is … not for whom we want him to be.
Jesus stands up to the injustice of the world and brings us life his flesh and body broken and poured out for us.
In the Hymn “I Am the Bread of Life,” which we will sing in a few moments, Jesus’ purpose and promises are summarized in the first 4 verses, then in the final verse we are given the opportunity to respond, “Yes, I believe that you are the Christ”
And finally the glorious refrain, Jesus promising, “And I will raise you up on the last day!”
God loves us so much he sent his only Son Jesus to us, Jesus loves us so much that he died for us, and now we, having received the love of God every time we share the holy meal, are sent out to love and serve those we meet in the world. Amen
