14th Sunday after Pentecost

Many of you know that while we were on vacation this summer, we celebrated my parents-in-law’s 60th anniversary. And, of course, because my father-in-law is a pastor and because Anke and I are pastors, we had a worship service. It was a very small and intimate affair with just the three children, their spouses, the grandchildren, and my father-in-law’s sister. And everyone played a role. Some of us provided music, some of us did the readings, yours truly preached, and Pastor Anke presided at communion and at the renewal of my parents-in-law’s wedding vows.

The renewal of their vows was especially poignant. They’ve never had a crisis of any sort in their marriage. Although they’ve had their disagreements to be sure. But it was a beautiful affirmation of their love for one another. A love which forms and shapes the rest of the family to this very day.

Joshua is leading the people of Israel through a similar affirmation, but this affirmation is regarding the covenant relationship between God and Israel. Joshua has led the people into the promised land. They have settled it, conquering the people who lived there already. And now, before he dies, Joshua wants to make sure the people are willing to uphold their end of the relationship.

Joshua says to the people, “15Now 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.”

16Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; 17for 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; 18and 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.”

As opposed to my parents-in-law’s renewal of vows, Joshua had every good reason to question the people of Israel and whether they were willing to hold up their end of the covenant. Because while they were wandering through the wilderness they were “less than exemplary”, shall we say, in their fidelity to God and the covenant God had established with them. They complained. They revolted. They worshiped a false god in the form of a golden calf. Time and again, they question God’s commitment to the covenant and God’s ability to provide for them. By complaining they demonstrate ironically their own lack of commitment to the covenant and their inability to trust God to do the things that God has promised to do. But let’s be honest, here. Being in relationship with God is not always an easy thing. The people of Israel discovered that. The disciples of Jesus discovered that.

There’s a comedian who, several years ago, had a standup routine called “Jesus is magic”. The first time that phrase comes up is when she’s talking about her boyfriend. The comedian is Jewish, and her boyfriend is catholic. She talks for a bit about how it’s not really a problem. And then she says, “Even if we have children, it won’t be a problem. You know, I’ll just say that Mommy is one of the chosen people and Daddy believes that Jesus is magic. Because he turned water into wine.”

And yet what we see in the gospel reading for today is most decidedly a non-magical Jesus. All the people can see is the magic. All those people who followed Jesus because of his trick with the bread. All those people who wanted to hoist him up on their shoulders and make him their king. (Because what kind of king could be better than a magical one?) The people are fascinated by the bread, and they want more of that kind of thing. But that isn’t what Jesus offers. Instead, what Jesus offers is a relationship that defies boundaries and confines. Even the confines of time and space.  And this, it turns out, is too much for many of them.

56“Those 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 a difficult word; who can hear it?” 

Jesus is not magic. Jesus is demanding. A relationship with Jesus demands a lot from us. What are some of the words of Jesus that you have a hard time hearing? How about “love your enemies?” What about, “You lack one thing. Go, sell everything that you own and give it to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.” So, I have a question for you. What’s Jesus’ hardest word for you to hear? I’m going to give you a little time to think about that. What sticks in your craw? What raises your hackles? What, when you hear it, simply makes you throw up your hands and say, “Nope. Not gonna happen”? Take some time with that.

OK. So, now, knowing the words of Jesus that are most troubling to you, how does that make you feel. How does it feel knowing that your response to Jesus when he presents you with a particularly challenging idea is along the lines of “How dare you?”, or “That’s none of your business!”, or “Sorry. Nope.” Now take a minute or two to share your thoughts with the person next to you, or in front of, or behind you. But only if you feel comfortable doing so. I realize that this can get into some pretty personal stuff.

So, the whole purpose of this little thought experiment was to help you to put yourself in the place of both the disciples who left and those who stayed. It’s a little hard to say what, exactly, is so objectionable in the eyes of the disciples who choose to leave Jesus. The Gospel doesn’t tell us what it is that they find so difficult to grasp. Are they still hung up on the “eat my flesh drink my blood” part of it? Is it the whole “This is the bread that came down from heaven” thing? Or is it the supremely intimate nature of the relationship that Jesus tells us we are to have with him.

Jesus is not magic. And neither are his words. If that were the case, then Jesus could have simply said the right words, and everyone would have believed him and remained with him. At the very least he could have whipped up another batch of bread and fish to keep them hanging around a while longer.

On their face the words of Jesus are outrageous. What if I were to stand up in front of you today and say, 56“Those 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.” 

Who can accept Jesus’ words as truth. And Jesus’ answer is that he we are called to trust in a reality that while described by Jesus, is not yet fully realized. Except, that is, in the person of Jesus. And honestly, that’s its own kind of mystery that takes the Spirit’s help to trust and believe.

Rev. Chelsey Harmon, in her commentary on this reading notes the following: “Throughout this Bread of Heaven discourse Jesus has been playing with this idea of the physical/flesh and the eternal intertwined and yet distinct. It is the Spirit, Jesus says, that is the interplay between them; It is the Spirit that gives life where the flesh is useless. In … difficult situations, we often fall back on the good spiritual discipline of looking for the goodness of God in the land of the living—in real, physical things and experiences—so that we can trust and remember that God is real and good and at work in the world. We do so because, from the very beginning, God has been mixing the spiritual power of life into the physical existence of creation.” That’s one of the reasons why I continually point to the good work that we do here, and the good work done by other communities of believers. Because it’s those very communities doing the work of Jesus that help to point us towards the reality of Jesus and his promises to us.

All this talk about the spirit and Jesus abiding in us and us in him, just like he abides in God and God abides in him. I mean, it’s all a little “out there”, right. And for some people it’s all a little to “woo woo”. It’s so much easier, it’s so much more manageable to keep things purely in the physical plane. But we also need to be careful with that, because it’s much easier to believe in things or people that will make a difference in our physical existence. It’s very easy to get trapped into only thinking about things physically. Instead of giving God credit for providing for our physical needs through the power of the spirit working in the world, we give ourselves credit. Looking to only the physical, our vision becomes short-sighted and we lose the connection to the full spiritual truth of God-as-provider.

As a people, we fall again and again into a pattern of over-reliance on human leaders. And yet, the pursuit of immediate gratification does not build resilient or strong faith. This is what Jesus means when he says that “the flesh is useless.” It’s useless when it fools us into thinking that we’ve found true life in a way that is disconnected from the reality of God. When anything or anyone here on earth tells us that they alone are able to offer the solution for whatever ails you, and we find ourselves being seduced by that message; We have wandered far from the path that Christ has laid out for us. Anything or, dare I say, anyone like that is useless when it’s devoid of the Spirit’s life-giving power because the evil one tries to use such things and such people to convince us that they are all we need. This life and what the physical world can offer in terms of happiness and prosperity are not the full story. That’s what drives us to seek the spiritual truths that run deep and wide and make this life make better and truer sense.

Theologian Dale Bruner translates Peter’s declarative question “Lord, to whom can we go?” this way: “Lord, the alternatives are not good.” The alternatives and all of their trappings are not good for us. When we start to understand that we begin to find the Spirit’s life in the words Jesus speaks to us. It’s the arc of repentance: 1) What we are doing is not good for us. 2) We realize this and so we turn to Jesus. 3) In Jesus we find the Spirit’s power to live a better, holy way. In doing this we affirm our relationship with Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. Bearing all that in mind, let us take a minute to reflect on these thoughts. And then, just as Jeremiah did with the people of Israel as they entered the promised land, I will invite us all together to reaffirm our covenant relationship with God with the order for the affirmation of Baptism.

AMEN