13th Sunday after Pentecost

For the last four weeks we've been working our way through chapter 6 of John's Gospel. I have to admit that I was tempted to pick one of the other texts to preach on this morning, but I decided that we should finish the course. In fact, I even added two verses to the end of the lectionary reading so that we could say we'd read the whole chapter. Well, there was a little more to it than that!

A month or so ago in his meditation for morning prayer, the dean of the Washington National Cathedral asked his listeners to imagine a situation similar to this. You turn on the TV one day and there's breaking news: Jesus has returned to earth. There's no doubt at all that the man is Jesus. Yet there's something in the picture of him that doesn't seem quite right to you. Maybe he's wearing a MAGA hat or a Biden T-shirt. Or he's got a football jersey on: is it Ravens or Steelers? Maryland or Michigan? Perhaps he's wearing a three-piece suit and carrying a briefcase. Or a tank top so that you can see the tattoos that cover his arms. Maybe he makes a statement on a political or social issue that's just doesn't go along with what you think. Whatever it is, he's not what you expected him to be, or he's not saying what you expected him to say, or both. How would you respond?

In our readings from John, we've encountered two groups of people who have faced a challenge like this and reacted in different ways.

The first group was the crowds who were following Jesus because of the miraculous signs he was doing, like healing the sick and feeding thousands with five barley loaves and two fish. People who witnessed these events pursued Jesus from one side of the Sea of Galilee to the other, in hopes that he would feed them again. These folks mixed up physical bread with the spiritual bread that Jesus was offering them. And Jesus did not match their expectations of what the Messiah should be and do. Like most Jewish people at that time, they were looking for a Messiah who would deliver them from the Roman occupation and establish a prosperous kingdom like David's. But that wasn't what Jesus came to do. So they were confused and maybe a little disappointed in him.

Next, Jesus had a sparring match with the “Jews”. This term has multiple meanings in John's Gospel. It can refer to the entire Jewish people, but the context here makes it pretty clear that Jesus is only talking to a group of people around him. The term is sometimes used to designate those who live in and around Jerusalem, but Jesus is in Capernaum which is about 80 miles north of Jerusalem. It can also refer to Jewish leaders, and that meaning seems to fit best here, particularly since John tells us that Jesus was teaching in the synagogue. These men were authorities in Jewish law and Scripture, and they didn't like what they were hearing from Jesus. They couldn't accept the idea that Jesus came down from heaven because they knew his father and his family. They knew that he was only the carpenter's son. Jesus was just too ordinary to be what he was claiming to be. The idea that he was the new manna was incomprehensible. These leaders also argued about what Jesus meant when he talked about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. This concept was not only unbelievable; it was offensive. They charged that Jesus did not know who he was or where his place was. He was not what they expected, and they refused to believe him.

It's easy for us to discount or disregard these two groups of people. The crowds were just checking out the new rabbi they'd heard about. They hadn't made any commitment. The Jewish leaders were hostile toward Jesus before he even began speaking. All of these people were outsiders, not believers. They just didn't get it.

But now the story moves on to a group that is not so easy to dismiss. In our Gospel today, Jesus is talking to his disciples. At first, this wasn't just the Twelve. There were others who were not part of the inner circle who traveled around with Jesus; Luke refers to “a great crowd” of them (Luke 6:17). Like the people and the Jewish leaders, many of them were struggling. They found the things that Jesus was saying to be difficult to understand. In The Message, Eugene Peterson translated their complaint in verse 60 this way: “This is a tough teaching, too tough to swallow.” Jesus asked them if what he had said was causing them to stumble, to not believe. Remember that for John, belief means having a relationship with Jesus. And indeed many of these disciples gave that up and left.

So Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Do you also wish to go away? (v. 67) This question can be seen as an opportunity to leave, but it is also a call to commitment. Peter knew that their lives had been changed for the better since they had been following Jesus, so he spoke for all of them and affirmed their faith. His answer made it clear that there were no other options. Jesus was the only one who had the words of eternal life. This does not mean that the Twelve completely understood what Jesus was saying. It does mean that they trusted him enough “to believe and know that [he is] the Holy One of God” (v. 69), the One who came down from above. This confession was the work of God (v. 29). Faith is a gift, not an achievement. It was not made possible by the strength of the disciples' faith, but because it was granted by God.

And yet, one of them was not like the others. This passage contains the first references to Judas in this Gospel. John first alludes to “the one that would betray him” (v. 64) and then identifies the betrayer as “Judas son of Simon Iscariot” (v. 71). It's shocking that one of the Twelve, one whom Jesus had personally chosen, should be the betrayer. But this was not the work of God; it was the work of Satan, the devil, as John makes very clear here and in his version of the passion story. In John's Gospel, Judas does not hand Jesus over to the Jewish authorities by identifying Jesus with a kiss. Jesus identifies himself and willingly hands himself over while Judas stands with those who came to arrest Jesus. Judas' betrayal lies not so much in making it possible for the Jewish authorities to arrest Jesus, but in his unbelief, his renunciation of a relationship with Jesus.

Which of these groups are you with? Is it the crowds who confuse things so much? Is it the Jewish authorities who are so disappointed in Jesus that they accuse him of not knowing what he's talking about? Is it the disciples who refuse to believe and leave, or even betray, Jesus instead? Or is it the eleven disciples who by the power of God working through the Spirit choose to abide in Jesus?

I know that I want to be right there in Jesus' inner circle, choosing to stand firm in the faith right alongside him. I'm sure all of you do, too. And yet, Judas was a member of the inner circle. And among the Eleven we find Peter, who not too long after this confession was denying he ever knew Jesus when he thought his own neck might be on the line. That sounds a lot like refusing a relationship with Jesus, doesn't it?

I think these groups are a lot like the soils in the parable of the sower. At different times, we are different kinds of soils. And at different times, we are different types of disciples. Sometimes we are confused and don't understand what Jesus is trying to tell us. We can also be upset and angry when Jesus doesn't live up to our expectations and accuse him of not doing what he's supposed to. If this goes to extremes, we can outright give up on having a relationship with him, if only for a brief time.

Discipleship isn't easy. It's a constant struggle that goes on both within each of us and outside of us. But God has blessed us with sources of comfort and strength on each front.

The first is the grace and mercy of God in Christ Jesus. The struggle that goes on within us is due to our sinful human nature. If you're like me, you betray Jesus daily with your words and actions. But no matter how often you do this or how far or how long you might wander away, Jesus will always forgive you and be there to welcome you back when, like the prodigal son, you come to your senses.

The second is that we have tools to help us in the fight against “the wiles of the  devil” and all of his allies. These forces have ultimately been defeated by the death and resurrection of Jesus, but they are still active in the world. In our reading from Ephesians, Paul calls these tools “the whole armor of God”. As believers, we are clothed with truth, righteousness, faith, peace, and salvation, with the Spirit through the Word, and with prayer for our defense and strength. You might have noticed that when I started talking about the armor of God, I switched to plural pronouns. That's because these are gifts that God gives to the community, and that brings me to the last source of encouragement.

Look around you. Your brothers and sisters with you here this morning in the sanctuary, as well as those in the parking lot and watching on YouTube, are your allies on the path of discipleship. They can provide all kinds of help as we work together to be Christ's presence in the world.

I challenge each of you today to examine your own commitment to Jesus.

▪      Do you follow him for what you imagine he can do for you or for who he is and what you can do for his glory?

▪      Do you want to bail or abide?

▪      Are you willing to accept the long road of discipleship?

I pray that, by the grace of God in Christ Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, you can confess with Peter: “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”.

Amen