Gospel
Reading: John 6:56-69
Think about our
journey over the last few weeks. We followed the crowd along to a place by the
sea to hear this fellow Jesus talk. Everybody is hungry so he tells us to sit
down on the grass and personally feeds us from a basket of fish and bread some child
had brought along that never seems to empty.
I'm not sure any of us really took his words seriously.
People around me
say this experience is just like the story they heard in the synagogue about
the Hebrews fleeing Egypt with what little food they took with them now gone
and they are starving and cursing God.
Back in the desert barely out of Egypt, all thought
they would die of starvation and wondered if staying put in Egypt
as a slave rather than following God’s command to leave was better since at
least they had some food. Moses said they would get food and they did.
We did not die of starvation then. Some grain-like substance that appeared on the ground like dew in the morning.
You could gather it and make bread. Moses called it manna. On top of that, in
the evening quail appeared and the Hebrews were able to catch the birds for meat!
This meal Jesus
gave us was just like the one Moses gave us. We just cannot understand how
Jesus did it. But even so, the next day we all said, "Lets find Jesus
and get some more bread."
We didn’t expect
to find him on the other side of the lake, but there he was. And we did not
expect to hear him tell us we only wanted food for our belly, not the bread of
life. He was pretty insulting.
He said we
had it all wrong. God sent manna to the Hebrews in the desert so they would not
die of starvation. But do you know what he said? He said eventually our ancestors still
died. We forgot God made us wander in the desert until everyone who left Egypt had died and only their progeny survived. They never saw the Promised Land, only their children did. Those who left Egypt are all sleeping in the ground somewhere.
Jesus said the bread
he brought was not like manna that you ate but eventually still died. He
said eat his bread of life and we would not die! Now that is good news, but
it is all so far fetched.
There are no such
things as miracles. (Jesus did not call them miracles. He said they were signs
of God’s presence. But whether you call them miracles or signs, they are unscientific, to say the least!) No reasonable mind believes Jesus made all that food from a few fish
and some bread. Right?
But we were all
there and we saw it. So much for seeing and believing.
Just as we were
getting comfortable believing Jesus might be something special not only did he tell us it was not Moses
who sent bread but God, he also told us God sent him as the new bread of
life. But we didn’t eat Jesus back on the grassy plain, we ate bread and fish he pulled from a basket.
But Jesus says we
have to eat the bread of life. He went even further and said, “I am the bread of life, and you must eat
this bread and drink my blood to gain a life that defeats death.”
Now I have to
tell you that I am a Jew. There are certain things we do not do because it
makes us horribly unclean and prevents us from even entering the synagogue to
worship. One of those things is to touch
a dead person. The other is to touch blood. And here Jesus is telling us to eat his flesh and drink his blood!?!?
How are we
supposed to believe this crazy idea that Jesus is sent from God and we are to
eat his flesh to gain eternal life?
Then he says,
“What if you saw me ascending to Heaven from whence I came?” Don’t you
understand I am not talking about physical flesh and blood? I am talking about
spiritual things. After seeing these signs of divine power, do you not believe
who I AM? (What is he getting at here? What is this "seeing him ascend into heaven," supposed to mean?)
“It is a cruel,
cold world out there, and some of you are quite comfortable making your way in
it. I know you do not want to take the time to think about what I have said. You don’t have
the desire to think about spiritual things, you are so focused on power, fame,
a full stomach and adulation of you by others for your righteous deeds. You would rather get a pat on
the back from Caesar, or your fellows, than believe my outrageous claim and
invitation to believe and eat.
“Some of you will substitute loyalty
to my actions and distort my words to justify a fight against Rome and civil authorities.
“But it will not work. As I have just told you, the battles you fight with the world are pointless futility. You will die. The world only wants you believe you can rely on your own strength.
“I am the true
bread and blood of life, Ruach the
breath of God who blew into your nostrils to give you life as you exited your mother's womb, your nefesh.
Before I came to
you when you died Ruach within you returned
to God and you lost your soul, your nefesh. You died. Now he offers nefesh, your being, to you for eternity.
“As I AM, YOU ARE. All you have to do is eat the spiritual bread of life and drink the spiritual
blood of life.
“As they say on
Monday Night Football, “Are you ready to play football?”
“I remind you. This is just the first step. The world
opposes the ones who eat the bread of life and will seek to do them in. But all you have to do is put on the armor of God – simply believe and you are in 'Fat City,' no matter what happens.
“You observe those
others of the synagogue who cringe at my words and wander away from my feast. They let my literal words blind them to belief in my spiritual and physical essence. You know what I say
is truth.
“Do you, my loyal disciples, also wish to go
away as the Hebrews in the desert who lamented for a full stomach rather than believe my words?
"Or are
you ready to admit that you believe that if you desire life you have no other place to go? If so, then let
your actions speak to your belief.”
Amen
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