More Than Feel Good

Pentecost 13b, John 6:56-69 – August 23, 2015 FOLLOWING AIN'T EASY, BUT THEN.

So Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the holy one of God." (verses 66-69).

 

Mark Twain once wrote: "Most people are bothered by those passages in Scriptures which they cannot understand; but as for me, I always notice the passages in Scripture which trouble me most are those which I do understand."

 

I think Twain is on to something, something REALLY BIG, something which we tend to ignore.

 

Attempting to live as a Christian, to actually follow Jesus in the way we live out our lives, is anything but easy. This is especially underlined in the Gospel of John where the word 'believe' is almost always a verb, an action word, rather than merely a noun.

 

Over the last weeks we have listened in as the crowds that were following Jesus gradually disperse. Early in this chapter Jesus miraculously feeds the crowds. They come after him, wanting, even demanding more. He tells them that "following" him in this way is all wrong. He isn't about tea and crumpets or even steak and potatoes. He's about so much more than any of that. He's about living with, in and from God. Such living involves loving even one's enemies. Such living will not be controlled by the fear of death. Such a life involves both knowing and being known by God in conscious and unconscious ways. There are struggles and massive wrestling with oneself and God. This living Jesus calls ... ETERNAL LIFE.

 

This life dear people – although incredibly good, is not easy.

 

Let me say more.

 

There was once a man who did some wonderful things. He had worked his way into upper level management in a large corporation. The vast majority of his employees experienced that his fairness. He told the truth. Upon making a promise he kept it. On more than one occasion he had given an employee a second chance even after a major mess up. He was a faithful husband. He was an active and generous member of his congregation in terms of time, talent and money. He and his wife loved their children and grandchildren with all their hearts.

 

One day this man came in to talk to his Pastor. He remarked that lately he hadn't been feeling that good as he left church. The implication was that the Pastor's sermons were not uplifting but had in fact at times depressed him.

 

His pastor thought long and hard before replying. Then the pastor said, "There are times when the Gospel will make us feel good, lift us up, sometimes even carry us. Those are the times when we are struggling with illness, with loss, with the struggles of those we deeply care about. Then this news of Jesus, of God becoming human, suffering and dying on our behalf and on behalf of the entire world will comfort us, will bring us living hope"...

 

"But", the Pastor continued,  "There are other times – those times when we are doing well, when we feel as if all is right with the world, when we tend to forget God or at the very least some of those God deeply loves – the sick, the poor, the struggling, those affected by tragedy or our way of life, even the neighbor who irritates or wrongs us – in those times this Word (Jesus) afflicts us, challenges us, reminds us of our hardness of heart or lack of faith, demanding that we change."

 

The man listened. Then he walked out, pensively.

 

Not long after that, the man retired. There was a wonderful retirement meal – many deserved accolades. He and his wife enjoyed pulling their 5^th wheel over much of North America. They still supported their church and the work of God in the world in so many ways – even bringing clothes and shoes to Mexican orphanages. They continued to worship wherever they travelled. They actively sought to be open to what God was calling them to be and do.

 

But major struggles were on the horizon. One of their children battled addiction. Dementia raised its ugly head. The man's wife became ill with dementia. It wasn't easy caring for her but he did a wonderful job, even after she began to forget who he was.

 

I now suspect that this man realized that the power of the news of Jesus is so much deeper than simply making us "feel good". I suspect that he realized in profound ways that God through Jesus and the Spirit accompanies us into the very depths of suffering, pain, loss, uncertainty and death helping us through and ... beyond.

 

Don't be fooled! The sayings of Jesus, observing the very life and death of Jesus is anything but easy! His ways are sometimes impossible to understand. And following him? See where he goes! Jesus isn't meek and mild. He says radical things: "Eat my body! Drink my blood and you will live forever."

 

On so many levels this is offensive. We are not cannibals. But even if we are enabled to see beyond the literal meaning of his words, there is a direction to Jesus' suffering, dying and resurrection that we cannot avoid nor evade.

 

In becoming human God shows us another way. God's way in Jesus is the way of sacrificial love, of refusing to blame our enemies for whatever is wrong in the word. It is the way of refusing to pretend that everything is alright. Everything is not alright! As human beings we suffer from a propensity to blame, to hate, to hurt, to exclude, to hoard, to think of ourselves first and foremost. We often try to act as if we are God, that we alone matter, that we can "handle things" on our own. None of this is true.

 

From Adam on we have loved to play the blame game. Will we who are created from the earth face our responsibility for what we are doing to the earth, to each other, in our thinking and consumptive absorption? Will we acknowledge our incapacity to stop the damaging thoughts that fill our minds and hearts – thoughts of hatred or dismissal of so many around us? Indeed, where is our capacity to quell the fear that sometimes overwhelms us causing us to build more walls around us seeking to shut out others including God?

 

As Jesus speaks and lives, many of his disciples abandon him. Jesus then looks at the twelve and asks them if they too will go away. Peter, moved by the Holy Spirit replies, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life."

 

Somehow Peter knew that other ways may well be easier. How easy it is to hate. Yes, he could go back to fishing for a living, to his family, back to his old ways. But the way things were before, were not ways that were leading him to new life. He now could see and sometimes experience new life with others, new life with himself, new life even with God. To be sure, this new life wasn't easy. He wrestled with so many things now that he wasn't even aware of before.  And yet, this new way is now the only way he can live, no matter what happens. So, when Jesus asks them if they too will abandon him, Peter says, "Lord, to whom shall we go?"

 

You see, Mark Twain is right. The passages of Scripture that really get us are the ones that have a clear meaning:  Love our enemies. Do good to those who wrong us. Come honestly to Jesus in our deepest need. Eat his body. Drink his blood. Some are so offended by Jesus and his honest gifts and demands that they leave and never come back.  Others think, "This is impossible", or at the very least unrealistic. So, will we also go away?

 

Sometimes we do go. Our minds wander. We are filled with fear. We turn our backs on others. We don't want to be disciplined in reading, in prayer, in giving. We don't wish to see those who make us feel uncomfortable. (There are so many of them). Sometimes we harbor grudges, cling to our money while thinking of ourselves first and foremost.

 

But, dear people, this is not life. These ways lead only to separation and death - from God, and ultimately - from ourselves.

 

Yet even now, Jesus draws near seeking to draw us in. May we not only hear but may we ourselves be moved, in the midst of all our living and dying to confess with Peter, "Lord to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. For we have come to believe and know that you are the holy one of God".

Let us pray – O God, help us so to live, believing and following your Son, our suffering and risen Lord, Amen. 

 

IMAGINE!

Pentecost 12b, August 16, 2015

Key verses –"Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; 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 I in them". John 6:56, 57

 

Imagine.

 

Imagine a mother. A mother who gives birth to a child that is then taken from her. The mother has done nothing wrong. And yet that child is wrenched away from her bosom, from her loving arms. That wee child is taken to a place unknown to the mother – to a place that mother cannot find.

 

Time passes. Not a single day passes wherein that mother longs for, years after, wanders about her child. Is her child safe? Is her child growing up? Is her child being loved? How is it with her child? How she longs for her child, aches for her child! She would give anything to be with her child. She would give her very life, all of her past, all of her future – to be with that child – to have that child be loved, be safe, be enabled to live. How she would love to see her child, hold her child, whisper into her child's ear, "I love you!"

 

The pain of separation is immeasurable for that mother. Can you imagine?

 

And then one day there is a call. Her child has been found – unharmed, safe. The authorities will bring her child to her in a few hours. Can you imagine?

 

Her heart is pounding nearly out of her chest, threatening to burst its meager limitations.  Her mind is racing –thoughts, questions, memories, hope for the future. Those hours feel like an eternity. But then, then her doorbell rings. There are men in her doorway, standing with her child, a beautiful boy. Yes, he is fifteen years old – FIFTEEN  YEARS OLD. He Is her son. She can tell – she reaches out – she wants to hug him and hold him and never let him go. She has dreamed of this moment for years – and then chastised herself for dreaming what may well be impossible. But now the impossible is possible. Yes, she reaches out – to touch his face, hold him, tell him how she loves him, how special he is to her – that there is no one else like him – to her.  

 

But he steps back. He isn't sure. Many things have happened in his life. And she is – at least in that moment – kept at bay. How she loves him. BUT SHE WON'T HURT HIM. She wants him to be so close to him – she is there – she is available, she is reaching out – but he is not responding, unsure, perhaps unable in that moment to trust anyone – EVEN HIS MOTHER.

 

She is so close to him. She knows that if he will just come one step closer – their relationship will grow in ways that will be so GOOD. But in that moment they are frozen.

 

Imagine...

 

Do you know – do you realize deep within yourself that GOD IS YOUR FATHER, GOD IS YOUR MOTHER?

 

In some ways this is impossible to know. I am not speaking here of knowing in our heads, in some intellectual, ethereal capacity that God creates us – which God most certainly does.

 

Rather, I mean to realize that God loves us, wants the very best for us – is our beginning and our end, our home – wants to hold us, hear us, dialogue with us, go before us and encourage us. God wants us to know GOD as OUR LOVING MOTHER AND FATHER, to see also beyond ourselves – to see our brothers and sisters, men, women and children, creatures and the earth. God, like the mother in my story loves His/Her children so much, longs for us, yearns to embrace us – and continually reaches out to us.

 

This reality is underlined in today's Gospel from John. God's longing comes to us through God's own Son, Jesus who in becoming human reaches out to us and all people in direct ways. He gives His life so that we may see who we are – so loved by God. And then he sends us out – out from this place, from the Word become flesh, the Word we take into ourselves, through our mouths and into all our cells, shaping and transforming us, to carry whom we ourselves have received – to bring daily bread for others, to reflect light and love.

 

But we can only be this – as we eat and drink this bread from heaven, this body and blood of Christ, as remain in deep communion with God. God doesn't desire merely a texting relationship or simply intellectual assent. Instead God wills to be in all and through all.

 

As that old crusade hymn proclaims, Jesus loves us right where we are, just as we are.

 

In and through Jesus God also loves the world, calling us to do the same.

 

But we can't know the depths of this relationship, can't live out of the wonder of this relationship until we are being embraced and filled, moved and persuaded again and again by communion with this Christ.

 

Similar to the mother in our opening story – Jesus reaches out, longing to speak, to hold, to guide, to enable us, to be who we really are – the Sons and daughters of God.

 

What's holding us back? Even now, Jesus is reaching out to you and to me. – Amen.