Sunday
08/23/15 Freeville/Homer Ave UMC’s
Sermon Title: “This is the bread
that came down from heaven”
(“The Bread of the World” series: Part 3 of 3)
Old Testament
Lesson: Psalm 84
New Testament
Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-20
Gospel Lesson:
John 6:56-69
My friends, my sisters and brothers, I want to welcome you
once again on this the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost. Thirteen Sundays
after the Holy Spirit moved like a mighty wind so long ago, giving birth to the
Christian Church. Here we are centuries later, still living into the calling
that Jesus Christ gave us in his gospel so long ago.
The last two Sundays, I have preached on church lectionary
readings from the Gospel of John. In these readings, Jesus referred to himself in
different ways as being “bread.” As a result, I am concluding this three week
preaching series this morning, called “The Bread of the World” series.
In the first Sunday of this “The Bread of the World
series,” Jesus said in the Gospel of John reading, “I am the bread of life”
(John 6:35ab, CEB). Now Jesus in this verse, was discussing in part how God
feed the ancient Israelites in the story from the Book of Exodus. In this
story, after the Israelites were sent into the wilderness, which according to
the story, was for 40-years, they hungered and they thirsted. God provided them
therefore, with “mana” or bread from heaven, as well as water, and even quail
to eat. God did this to keep the Israelite people fed and alive.
Jesus then, in the first week of this preaching series, was
making the claim that he was spiritual food. That who he was, and his message,
was food four our hearts and our souls. So the way that God fed Moses and the
Israelites physically in the wilderness, Jesus Christ says instead, “I will feed
your souls.”
Now
this is certainly a huge claim to make, and one that was not met with the
greatest of warmth by some of the religious and the political leaders of Jesus’
time (John 6:41-42, CEB).
It is also interesting to note, that in our church
lectionary reading on week one of this “The Bread of the World” series, that the
lectionary reading from the Gospel of John ended with 6:51, which says,
“Whoever eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for
the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:51, CEB). This is interesting,
because in our church lectionary reading from last Sunday, verse 51, was
repeated from the previous week’s reading from the Gospel of John, as is to
emphasize it. As to personify what Jesus Christ was saying with his statements
on being “spiritual bread.”
The verse that I chose to hone in on from last week’s
gospel of John reading, was when Jesus said in John 6:54, “Whoever eats my
flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life” (John 6:54, CEB). This verse
largely draws us to the significance of Jesus Christ, why his death matters,
and why Christ’s gift to us, is so important. That the sacrament or sacred gift
of Holy Communion, or the Eucharist, or the Lord’s Supper, is one of the powerful
ways that we can be connected to God. To come closer to Jesus Christ, to be
filled with the Holy Spirit, and to know that Christ is present in us and
amongst us. So when Jesus Christ said in John 6:54, “Whoever eats my flesh and
drinks my blood has eternal life,” part of this I think, is a call for us to
take Holy Communion very seriously (John 6:54, CEB). To take the communion bread
and juice reverently, and with great joy, as we call upon the God of the
Universe to fill us, to bring us closer to Jesus Christ.
As it turns out, this week’s lectionary reading from the Gospel
of John has the same sort of overlap of verses, as was found in week one and week
two of this sermon series. The overlap from last week’s reading from the Gospel
of John to this week, was John 6:56-59, which says, “Whoever eats my flesh and
drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I
live because of the Father, so whoever eats me lives because of me. This is the
bread that came down from heaven. It isn’t like the bread your ancestors ate,
and then they died. Whoever eats this bread will live forever” (John 6:56-59,
CEB).
So once again, the first three versus of the church’s
lectionary reading from the Gospel of John for this Sunday, is a repeat from
last Sunday. I wonder once again why the church would do this? Perhaps, to
really drive home or to emphasize what Jesus Christ was saying maybe? To drive
home and to emphasize who Jesus was and is?
With this said, the verse that I chose to focus on for this
Sunday’s series finale, is taken from John 6:58, which says, “This is the bread
that came down from heaven” (John 6:58a, CEB). Jesus then completes this verse
by saying, “It isn’t like the bread your ancestors ate, and then they died”
(John 6:58b, CEB). Perhaps this Jesus then, isn’t the bread that we eat physically,
but the bread that fills us spiritually?
I mean last week and this week, when Jesus said in the
Gospel of John, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life,” I
don’t think that Jesus was necessarily focused so much on the physical here (John
6:54, CEB). Instead, I think that Jesus was saying, that “in me you can find a newness
of life.” That “in me, I can make all things new,” and he went to great
extremes with what he was saying to prove to his disciples and his other
followers who he was.
John 6:59 then says, “Jesus said these things while he was
teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum” (John 6:59, CEB). I went through the
ruins of this synagogue in Israel last year, and I can imagine what it was like
to hear Jesus making these claims about how he was “The Bread of the World.”
In fact, even some of Jesus’ own disciples found his
statements to be too much, as some of them said, “This message is harsh. Who
can hear it?” (John 6:60b, CEB). I think that this is part of the reason that the
debate over who Jesus Christ was and is, continues to this very day. I mean
think about the magnitude of what Jesus Christ said in the Jewish Synagogue in Capernaum,
in last week’s Gospel of John reading. Jesus said, “Whoever eats my flesh and
drinks my blood has eternal life” (John 6:54, CEB). I mean wow! That is a pretty
massive and a powerful statement to make.
Jesus
Christ was saying that his very body and blood are the keys to unlocking to
truths of God, and to eternal life itself. Are we shocked then that some of his
disciples had doubts at this point? How many of us have struggled at times with
what we read in the Bible? How many of us have struggled at times with what we
believe, or why we believe it? Well if we have struggled, or have ever had any
doubts, it would seem that so did some of the disciples and the listeners of
Jesus Christ this morning.
Yet Jesus responds to his doubting disciples and listeners,
by saying, “Does this offend you? What if you were to see the Son of Man going
up where he was before?” (John 6:61a-62, CEB). Jesus was saying to the
disciples then, are you bothered by what I am saying? Then he says what if you
were to watch me ascend to heaven, as we have written in the Book of Acts, the
Gospel of Luke, and the Gospel of Mark.
So Jesus is saying to his disciples then, like the song
lyric says, “Don’t believe me, just watch!” Jesus then tells the disciples and
others, “The Spirit is the one who gives life and the flesh doesn’t help at all.
The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. Yet some of you don’t
believe.” (John 6:63-64a, CEB).
Have you ever told a truthful story to group, and some
people believed you, but others just thought that you were lying or crazy? So,
did some believe you, but others were convinced that you weren’t telling the
truth? In this way, the Gospel of John then says, “Jesus knew from the
beginning who wouldn’t believe and the one who would betray him” (John 6:64b,
CEB). In this way Christ tells us, that we must chose Him, as he cannot force
us to follow Him. To “taste and see” that He is good, for ourselves. For even
Judas Iscariot who betrayed him, partook in that first Holy Communion of bread
and cup at the Last Supper, but that Holy Communion didn’t fill him. It didn’t
fill him, because he didn’t first repented and ask Christ to fill him. You see,
Jesus is speaking spiritually. That we can come to church, that we can take
Holy Communion, but have we allowed Christ to change our hearts and our minds?
Or do we stay the same week after week?
This is evident when Jesus then says, “For this reason I
said to you that none can come to me unless the Father enables them to do so”
(John 6:65, CEB). The Gospel of John then says, “At this, many of his disciples
turned away and no longer accompanied him” (John 6:66, CEB). So Jesus “Upped
the Ante” then, and said this is who I am, and some of his disciples said, “this
is too much for us, we are leaving.”
How
many of us have walked away from Jesus Christ when it got to hard? When we
realized that to be His disciples that we would have to be wholly committed and
surrendered to Him, as the Lord of our lives, and our savior?
So then next in the Gospel of John, Jesus asked the twelve
disciples that he had handpicked, and I believe He is asking us all this
morning, “Do you also want to leave?” (John 6:67, CEB).
Well
brothers and sisters, for me, I side with my brother Saint Peter, who then said
in 6:68-69, “Lord, where would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe
and know that you are God’s holy one.” (John 6:68-69, CEB). In this way, “No
one compares with Jesus” (Africa Bible Commentary). In this way, “Jesus has the
words of eternal life” (Africa Bible Commentary). In this way Jesus is “God’s
holy one.” (John 6:69b, CEB).
So this morning, Jesus Christ says, “This is the bread that
came down from heaven” (John 6:58a, CEB). When he hear these words spoken from
Jesus Christ, do we believe and allow Jesus Christ to spiritually feed us? Or
do we depart and say, “This message is harsh. Who can hear it?” (John 6:60b,
CEB).
Further, if we say yes to Jesus to Christ, if we say yes to
“the bread that came down from heaven,” then what do we do with that (John
6:58a, CEB)? How are we changing the world for Jesus Christ? How are we telling
people about Jesus Christ, who he is, what he has done, and what he is going to
do? How can we feed the poor, stop war, stop suffering, and stop hardship
through the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Through the one who said, “This is the
bread that came down from heaven” (John 6:58a, CEB).
Friends,
sisters and brothers, I want to share with you a story that I think explains who
Jesus was and is, and what He was trying to tell us in this “The Bread of the
World” series. Well this story is called, “At the End of Time,” by author
unknown. Here is how it goes: “At
the end of time, billions of people were scattered on a great plain before
God’s throne. Most
shrank back from the brilliant light before them. But some groups near the
front talked heatedly – not with cringing shame, but with belligerence.”
“‘Can God judge us? How can he know
about suffering?’ snapped a young Albanian. He removes his shirt to reveal a
bullet scarred back. ‘In Kosovo we endured terror… shootings… torture!’”
“In another group an aged aboriginal
woman pulls a crumpled, tear stained photograph from her pocket. ‘What about
this?’ she demanded, ‘This is my precious child. I have not seen her since the
day she was stolen away for no crime but being black!’”
“In another crowd, was an abused
schoolgirl with sullen eyes. ‘Why should I suffer’ she murmured, ‘It wasn’t my
fault.’”
“Far out across the plain there were
hundreds of such groups. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and
suffering he permitted in this world. How lucky God was to live in heaven where
all was sweetness and light, where there was no weeping or fear, no hunger or
hatred. What did God know of all that people had been forced to endure in this
world? For God leads a pretty sheltered life, they said.”
“So each of these groups sent forth
their leader, chosen because he had suffered the most. A Jew, a person from
Hiroshima, a horribly deformed arthritic, a thalidomide child. In the center of
the plain they consulted with each other. At last they were ready to present
their case. It was rather clever.”
“Before God could be qualified to be
their judge, he must endure what they had endured. Their decision was that God
should be sentenced to live on earth – as a man!”
“‘Let him be born into a hated race.
Let the legitimacy of his birth be doubted. Give him a work so difficult that
even his family will think him out of his mind when he tries to do it. Let him
be betrayed by his closest friends. Let him face false charges, be tried by a
prejudiced jury and convicted by a cowardly judge. Let him be tortured.”
“‘At the last, let him see what it
means to be terribly alone. Then let him die. Let him die so that there can be
no doubt that he died. Let there be a great host of witnesses to verify it.’”
“As each leader announced his portion
of the sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the throng of people
assembled. And
when the last had finished pronouncing sentence, there was a long silence.
No-one uttered another word. No-one moved. For suddenly all knew that God had
already served his sentence.”
Friends, brothers and sisters, do we
believe that Jesus is “The Bread of the World?” Do we believe that Jesus Christ
is “the
bread that came down from heaven” (John 6:58a, CEB)? Further, if we do believe
this, then how can we change the world around us for Jesus Christ? How can we
spread the Gospel of life, and how can we transform a hurting and a broken
world, into all that Jesus Christ has called us to change it into? A world of
people, that Jesus Christ came to live and die for. Amen.
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