For Sure?

 

Sometimes we ask others, almost as a greeting or an opening remark, "Hey, whatddya know?" But we should pay more attention to such a question. I want to ask you something this morning. What do you know for sure: one thing, one reality, one experience? I invite you to share that "knowing" with a person beside you. (give them 30 seconds to a minute).

 

Now, you are sure, right? Wonderful. But be careful. Here are some things that I have been sure of – that turned out either not to be true, or which I now understand in a completely different way now than I did at an earlier time. Moving from the less significant to the more important. Just over 2 weeks ago the football team that I cheer for was ahead by 22 points near half time. I was sure that they were going to win but THEY LOST. A second example: one of my parishioners in Vernon had a large malignant mass while he was in his early 70's. His physician told him that he then had less than 3 months to live. He did die but nearly 10 years later.

 

I used to be very sure about the power of gravity. But about ten years ago I witnessed  a person levitate off the ground right before my very eyes. Now I think about gravity in different ways. And lastly - I have met many different people who were sure they could trust someone. However later days or months or even years they discovered that their trust was misplaced. I have also witnessed the opposite where one hadn't been trustworthy for years and then changed.

 

So, we need to have some humility about what we are sure of, both positively and negatively..

 

The people who are quizzing Jesus in today's gospel are dubious about what he is saying. Jesus makes the most remarkable assertion: "I am the bead of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." They question all of this. They ARE SURE that they know Jesus. To be sure, they do know something about Jesus. To be sure, they also know something about the people that they think are Jesus' parents. And these people think that because they are very familiar with Jesus' parents, that Jesus must have exactly the same or very similar limitations to his parents. You know that old thing about the apple not falling too far from the tree! How then could Jesus come from heaven – if he had lived as a young child among them? As a result of their so-called certainty they are not open to the full reality of Jesus' presence, even though he is right there with them. 

 

Now, before we are too harsh on these people, we will do well to examine our own preconceptions. What do we know? People don't change because very few if any people we have ever known (including ourselves?) have dramatically changed. We may say that we know that God is good but what happens to such "knowledge" when cancer strikes or violence rips those we love from our presence? Even the so-called laws of science have been reexamined in the last 40 years that I have been reading and studying them. At the very least they have expanded dramatically. Read history and discover that what the church claims to know also changes. I hope that we wouldn't excommunicate Galileo today. 

 

All of this directs towards humility when it comes to what we think we know and the limitations such knowledge directs us to place on others, ourselves and yes, GOD!

 

Jesus makes declarations then and now. "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty". It is very likely that Jesus' meaning here is not literal. Regardless of our trust in him we continue to need material sustenance. So the meaning here must be deeper, more expansive.

 

In this regard I think that he is talking about a quality of life now and forever. And we are convinced that death is certain? In so many ways it is. I observe those who had the direct hands in creating my life. They are becoming more physically frail. As their earthly life draw closer to death  I cannot deny the reality of death. I have also been bedside while one of my closest friends has died this year. And I await a call as another fades way too quickly. I have painfully observed relationships that were once fueled by mutual compassion and joy wither and die, giving way to acrimony, apathy or even hatred. Death is powerful! Death has its own sting!

 

But Jesus comes making this audacious statement: "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry".. "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever."

 

Watch Jesus live? Do we dare? Watch him bring life to people: to disciples who don't get it. Yet he keeps on trying with them. He even says that Peter, the one who denies him, will be the rock – the one who will in his living point others to Jesus. And Jesus gives those disciples peace, even after they have denied him.

 

Most importantly watch Jesus die. He doesn't die returning hatred for the hatred that kills him. See him turn hatred upside down. Jesus loves the world. His love is manifest as we gather today to receive him in such seemingly ordinary forms of bread and wine. He invites us, he can enable us to trust that in this bread and wine, coupled with the words of his promise, he is present bringing us new life and then even through us, new life for the world.

 

How can we know this? Well, what we have is His word, that is His promise, his life, death and resurrection. Others receive him too and spreading the word as He takes root in them and gives them flight! Thanks be to God for all of this.

 

It is good for us to wrestle with what we know for sure, by directly asking where our sustenance, our nurture is coming from? Oh, yes we need our daily bread. That's why Jesus encourages us to pray for it. But we also need much more than that. We need the "bread" that can fill our hearts and minds with the ongoing impetus to love. We need the "bread" that can give us hope in the face of death and evil, that propel us to respond by working for life ourselves. We need the "bread" that can make us sing and dance, gives us the freedom to lament and mourn in the midst of all reality.

 

Let me tell you that the witness of the Scriptures, the experience of my limited life is that this bread, this One is Jesus, just as he claims.

 

One further thin: amazingly we don't have to find him ourselves – we can't. Through the work of the Holy Spirit he is working to draw us to himself. The words of Scripture, the Sacraments and sometimes the words and actions of others, even the working of creation can all become part of that grand and wonder-filled mystery. May we be open to His action in our lives to leading us to new trust even opening us up to all kinds of possibilities as we are led beyond our security need to be so "sure"

 

Christ tells us that he is the bread from heaven. Even now he invites us to come and receive, just as we are. Amen.