Whatddya Need?
11th Sunday after Pentecost, August 16, 2009
Focusing on John 6:51-59
What do you need to live? Think about this in terms of your life, your commitments, that is the expenditure of your time and money. What do you absolutely need, have to have, to live? I invite you to think about this for 30 seconds. Then I invite you to turn and tell someone else at least one thing that you need to live.
What do we need to live? This is an important question. It is a question that frequently surfaces in my life. Sometimes this is because I am a Pastor. As a Pastor I am regularly faced with the reality of our mortality. What is the meaning of life as we are born, as we live and as we die? These questions surfaced again this past week as Marilyn discovered that she needed heart surgery right away. Even yesterday, as my wife and I went to renew our mortgage I again thought about, what do I really need to live?
This question arises again and again as we live and move and have our being. Yesterday I spoke with my parents on the occasion of their 58th anniversary. As I heard their (from my perspective) "simple" plans for the day, I thought about what they needed to live.
Be careful about how we are answer this question. Sometimes our temptation, particularly when we are young, is to act as if we are going to live forever. You know, get in your car and drive hell bent, as if nothing could ever happen to you. Even now there are times when I'm tempted to do that. It's not only the young who must deal with temptations about what we need for life. I remember an acquaintance of mine, a fine father, a good husband, a successful partner in a very successful business dropping over and shortly after dying while he was participating in a run for cancer. He was 44 years old. None of us are going to live as we are, forever. And the stuff that seems so important right now, that absolutely can't wait because it just has to be done, well we would do well to asses that. At times it may need to be done right now. But at other times, think also about what we are sacrificing with others to do all those things right now. What do we give up in terms of our family members, friends, God, the rest of creation to do all those other things right now? What is the cost of our busyness to our relationships? What do we need to live?
There are a variety of temptations that run through our lives in this regard. A great one is to try to function as if we don't need any help. Someone asks, "Do you need any help?" "No, I'm fine", runs off our lips almost before the question has even been asked. How we long to be independent. How we must pretend, even to ourselves, that we can manage on our own, physically, emotionally, financially – even as the load becomes greater and greater. And our gender at this point doesn't' really seem to make much difference. Men and women are both equally guilty. Yah, sure, we can do it!
Oh, really? Can we do "it", on our own when our spouse dies? Can we do "it" on our own when our child denies us in some manner, shape or form, or runs the risk of really getting lost on their life's journey? Can we do "it" on our own when a friend that we counted on, betrays us? Can we do "it" on our own when we receive a diagnosis that knocks our socks off, cancer, heart disease, Parkinson's?
And on an even grander scale can we do "it" on our own while millions of children starve, while the planet enters an ecological crises, mostly because of our human actions? Can we do "it" on our own when others hate us because of what we have or because of what we believe? I ask, can we care for them, love them, refuse to hate them, simply by our own power?
There are some people, perhaps even many who claim that trusting in God, taking Jesus' promise that in Him there is life both now and after death, is a crutch, a convenience. I wonder about that.
Take today's Gospel text. Here Christ claims to be the living bread that has come down from heaven. At its climax Christ makes this incredible statement about himself: "But the one who eats this bread will live forever."
There are many Christians who want to spiritualize this claim of Christ – to say that what Christ is saying here is only about what happens to us when we die. There is truth in their statement. Christ does promise to raise up all who receive Him, who trust Him with their living. But there is also much more here! Yes, even more than life after death - as amazing, as wonderful, as incredible as that is.
The word that is translated in Christ's statement as "eat", that "the one who eats this bread will live forever" comes from a Greek word that literally means to gnaw on, to eat vigorously, as if our very lives depended on it. This is the key. What Jesus calls us to isn't somehow merely a polite or even a reverential reception of a communion wafer or bread. Instead Christ calls us to be nurtured by all that He is and does in His suffering, life, death and resurrection. In such a reception we literally can't wait – for what He is, who He is and what He brings to us: life that joins us to God. Such anticipation, longing to receive and eat is like my Chocolate Labrador who waits at our table or by my couch wanting so desperately to share what I already have. My dog Abby just can't wait for what she thinks she needs!
Truly there are many things that we want. We live in a time where advertisers capitalize on increasing and over emphasizing our "wants". What we want changes throughout our lives. What we want to do, perhaps what we want to be, or even what we think we must have can change. But for a life that knows unconditional love, experiences that and can gladly, joyfully give such love away no matter what – this life can only be received from God, the Creator of the universe. This life comes to us in very real ways through God's Son, Jesus the Christ. He gives His flesh – that is his body, his very being for us in unconditional love, so that we can experience new life with God, with others and with creation.
We could never achieve this on our own. It is absolutely impossible. Think about this, we can't even make dirt on our own, let alone rise up from our own dirt, that is our grave. At times we are hard pressed to love ourselves, to say nothing of loving our enemies. To be sure as human beings we have developed a propensity to end life. But on our own we cannot create life.
So, whatddya need? Think carefully people. The community birthed by the risen Christ, through which His very Spirit blows, tells us that the One reality we need for life is to dine on, to receive from, yes even gnaw on Jesus. Of course such gnawing is a metaphor, but as such it points us to profound reality. Hear Jesus' words. Receive his body and blood. Be moved by His Spirit to listen for Him, be open to Him, receive Him. In Him is life, eternal life that which for John's Gospel is a quality of life here and now, that God wills to gift us with even through any and all realities. In Christ even then, especially then we are joined to God with this new life beginning now and forever!
Jesus is the One we cannot live without. By the grace of God may our living prayer be, "Give us your bread, O Lord!" In receiving this bread new life comes both for us and for the world. Amen.