Not Comfort But Salvation

Sermon-Year B Proper 16-August 23, 2009
The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
We started 4 weeks ago with Jesus at his highest point in his ministry. 5000 gathered around him, and were filled. It is the peak of his popularity. John Dominic Crossan in “The Essential Jesus, points out that one of the most popular visual representations of Jesus in the early years of the Christian movement was the feeding of the multitude.” Jesus had arrived. Thousands of people were following him, surrounding him, listening to him. HE. COULD. DO. ANYTHING. Except give them what they wanted.
In Medieval England, the person in charge of bread was called the “loafward” (sort of like our senior or junior warden). Over time Loafward was abbreviated until it became the word “lord”. The “lord” was the person in charge of distributing bread-in other words, of keeping people alive.
So here are thousands of people who are looking to Jesus as the Lord, the loafward, the one who gives them bread. And throughout the 6th chapter of John Jesus offends, disturbs, and alienates all these people. We are now at the end of the chapter, and almost all the people have left. Jesus has told them that he is not just the loafward-he is the loaf, the bread of heaven, and unless they eat his flesh and drink his blood, they will never be a part of him. For a good Jew, a faithful Jew who lived and died by observing strict dietary laws, Jesus’ words were so scandalous, so disgraceful, that they could not stay and listen to him.
The Rev. Dr. David Lose professor of Biblical Preaching at Luther Seminary writes
“No wonder, then, that many of those following Jesus now desert him. And at this point we need to be careful, for it's always tempting to write off those who gave up on Jesus as people too stupid or lazy or unfaithful to believe. But note that John calls these folks not simply "the crowds," as in earlier passages, but rather "disciples." The people in today's reading who now desert Jesus are precisely those who had, in fact, believed in Jesus, those who had followed him and had given up much to do so. But now, finally, after all their waiting and watching and wondering and worrying, they have grown tired, and they can no longer see clearly what it was about Jesus that attracted them to him in the first place, and so they leave...and who can blame them?”
Jesus goes from being the most popular person in the land, to the loneliest in just a few verses. And Jesus is surrounded now, not by thousands-but by a few. And not necessarily the best few. Just the 12 who are left. And, “So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” Do you realize how close Jesus was to being finished? What if those last 12 had said, “uh, we just have to go out for a pack of cigarettes, we’ll be back in a little while?” What if they had said, “we just need to reassess our options.” What if they, too, had left?
Jesus is at the crossroads, literally. He has just said that living in him will be the most demanding, most difficult, hardest thing that anyone ever does. And people who had liked him, and followed him up til then, suddenly couldn’t get away fast enough. And he asks the last 12 still standing if they want to leave also.
And you know what, they must have been dying to go. Everything Jesus has been teaching is so difficult to understand, so painfully obscure and incomprehensible. They must have wanted desperately to run after all those other people who were slipping away.
And Jesus, who could have told them thanks for staying, or praised them or given them gifts, SOMETHING, ANYTHING to keep the few remaining, simply turns to them and asks, “Do you also wish to go away?” Haven’t you ever felt that way? Haven’t you ever been to a point in your faith when you just wanted to walk away, when you were tired of being a follower?
You know how they felt, don’t you? Maybe you just didn’t have a convincing answer to a tough question someone asked you about being a Christian. Maybe you felt angry at God, or confused, or unsure, or worst of all-maybe there have been many times in your faith when you felt nothing at all about God.
Peter, the spokesman for the 12 who remained, says the famous question, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. Peter doesn’t say he wants to stay, he doesn’t say that he is happy, he doesn’t say that he’s going to lead a successful life now. Peter has no choice. He knows that he is in the presence of truth, and regardless of how he feels, he has to give this answer-where else can we go?
“In the Preface to her book Amazing Grace, subtitled “A Vocabulary of Faith,” Kathleen Norris tells of an evening when she was making a presentation on this “vocabulary of faith” when a question was addressed to her concerning the real value of these “words of faith.” I don’t mean to be offensive,” her questioner said, “but I just don’t understand how you can get so much comfort from a religion whose language does so much harm.” Taken aback momentarily (Ms. Norris understood the question all too well, for she had, herself, been distanced from faith and its vocabulary for many years), she struggled to respond when in a moment of inspiration it came to her that the problem lay in the word “comfort.” “I said that I didn’t think it was comfort I was seeking,” Ms. Norris said, “or comfort that I’d found. Look, I said to her, as a rush of words came to me. As far as I’m concerned, this religion has saved my life, my husband’s life, and our marriage. So it’s not comfort that I’m talking about-but salvation.” (pp. 3 and 4)
We have listened for five weeks as Jesus went from giving people what they want, being the loafward, to being almost alone. It was short journey. We, too, struggle with difficult words, with Jesus talking about his body as a metaphor for living in him. It has not been an easy 5 weeks. And now it ends with Peter’s simple statement of faith, “69We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” These were words that did not come easily. And they would certainly cost Peter a lot in the days ahead. But for Peter, all of Jesus tough words weren’t about comfort, they were about salvation. He couldn’t turn away, he couldn’t leave. This morning’s gospel is about choice, and Peter doesn’t feel that he has a choice. Neither is there a choice in the first reading
“choose this day whom you will serve” Joshua says to the Hebrew people. “Lord, to whom can we go? Peter says to Jesus.
For Joshua, for Peter, for me. “Choose this day whom you will serve”. But there is no choice, no decision involved. Once the truth is clear, once the bread is presented, once I stick out my hands to receive the gift of life, how can I say “no”? How can I follow something, someone else? I cannot.
I have 2 granddaughters, you may have heard. And when we talk to our kids they will put them on the phone. Lauren, the 6 year old, will talk to us and we actually carry on a conversation. But when Danielle, the 4 year old is on the phone. We get about every 5th word. It makes for some very strange discussions. Finally I will yell into the phone, “KYLE, what did she say???” I don’t always understand her, but I have no doubt about my love for her, or what I am willing to do for her. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. I am not always sure what that means, but I know that I choose him. Amen.
John 6:56-69
56Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” 59He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.
60When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?9 D 61But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? 62Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. 65And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.” 66Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 67So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” 68Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Joshua 24:1-2a,14-18
Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: "Now therefore revere the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River, and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. Now if you are unwilling to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." Then the people answered, "Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods; for it is the LORD our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight. He protected us along all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed; and the LORD drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God."