Sermon: Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, John 6:56-69

August 25, 2024 

“Difficult, Offensive Even, But Words of Eternal Life”

Faith-La Fe Lutheran Church
Pastor Jonathan Linman

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus concludes his bread of life teaching at the synagogue in Capernaum in the presence of religious leaders. And as we’ve experienced in the past several weeks, Jesus’ teachings are quite something to say the least. Here in summary is what Jesus taught and what we’ve engaged in this sermon series: Jesus is the living bread that came down from heaven, sent by God the Father, and this living bread is Jesus’ flesh and flood, and the ones who eat his flesh and drink his blood will live forever. 

All of this was nothing short of astonishing to the leaders of Jesus’ own religious heritage. Of course, the leaders complained and murmured among themselves, taking offense at what Jesus was teaching, because it was such a departure from their conventional religious wisdom. Their reaction is perfectly understandable, given their religious commitments to the traditions handed on to them by previous generations.

But as we also heard in today’s reading, even some of Jesus’ own followers objected to what Jesus was teaching. They exclaimed: “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” Jesus, aware of his disciples’ complaining, responded: “Does this offend you? [Does this scandalize you?] Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?” That’s yet another wild claim and difficult teaching – that alongside the view that Jesus’ greatest glory would be revealed in the agony and humiliation of the cross, and that he would be raised from the dead in the flesh after three days! All of this is incredible, that is, unbelievable. 

In reaction to such teaching, we learned that “many of [Jesus’] disciples turned back and no longer went about with [Jesus].” Again, no surprise there, because so very many of Jesus’ teachings are just plain difficult and can offend our sensibilities. (We’ll explore this further in today’s forum conversation after our worship in terms of the teachings we find difficult and maybe offensive.)

But here's the thing about our finding Jesus’ teaching difficult and offensive: our finite human nature and our sinful inclinations are such that when it’s all said and done, we want God on our terms. We want a God that we can manage, a God that doesn’t challenge us too much, a God who is a chaplain to our whims. When we don’t get the God we want, we’re offended and may walk away. And we’re pretty much captive to these inclinations. It’s part and parcel of the sinful, human condition.

Still, Jesus Christ has made it abundantly clear in his teachings about being the bread of life sent from heaven that the God who sent him, and the God whom he is, will not be put into one of our little conceptual boxes, and God in Christ will not cater to our whims. In short, when Jesus invites us to follow him, we are indeed called upon to believe the unbelievable, at least from human perspectives. 

For some that was too much. Hence, it’s understandable that many of Jesus disciples stopped following him. And there are plenty of people today who for various reasons have turned away from Jesus, often for good reason because of the failures of Christians in the church, but also just because of the difficult, sometimes offensive nature of Christian teachings.

Returning to the ancient story in today’s gospel passage, Jesus, perhaps exasperated, turns to his own 12 closest disciples, asking them, “Do you also wish to go away?” And here’s where Simon Peter speaks up and offers a stunning insight: “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.” 

It’s as if Simon Peter is saying, “Yes, Jesus, your teaching is difficult, even offensive, but where else can we turn and to whom?” Simon Peter might continue to elaborate: “Jesus, you are like nobody else. There’s something so compelling about you and your manner and presence that we find life and eternity in you! You alone are the one we’re beckoned to follow. You alone are the heavenly bread on which we’ll feed.”

Then Simon Peter makes his confession on behalf of the others in the inner circle of the twelve: “We have come to believe and know that you are the holy One of God.” 

How on earth did Simon Peter come to this conclusion and to this confession when so many others turned away? The gospel writer reports that Jesus gives us the answer: “No one can come to me,” Jesus says, “unless it is granted by the Father.” (cf. John 6:65b) In short, believing in Jesus as the true bread from heaven is a gift from God, a gift made available through Jesus himself, whom the Father sent. 

And we’ve been here before in these five weeks of explorations of John 6 where previously we heard Jesus say that “No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me.” (John 6:44a) Jesus’ loving, welcoming, compelling presence in the world is the way that God the Father draws people to himself in Christ.

What’s noteworthy about Simon Peter’s confession – again, “we have come to believe and know that you [Jesus] are the holy One of God” – is that knowing follows the believing. Knowing follows believing. We might think it’s the other way around. But really, it’s a matter of “believing is seeing,” not “seeing is believing.”

Which is to say, Simon Peter was given the gift of faith, of belief, and that opened his mind to receiving knowledge about Jesus being the Holy One of God, the bread of life sent from heaven. And in this case, it’s a first-hand knowledge rooted in the intimate relationship that Simon Peter and the others had with Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, dwelling among them full of grace and truth. 

We, too, like Simon Peter and the others, cannot believe the unbelievable without help from God. God also gives us the gift of faith, the willingness and the ability to believe the unbelievable – and this through compelling experiences of Jesus, now in Christian community as we are gathered around the living Christ in his word and the celebration of the sacraments that make Christ known to us. And by the gift of God, we, too, make our confession about Jesus: “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.” 

In this way, we are following in the footsteps of Joshua and the people of Israel as recorded in today’s first reading, where Joshua exhorts the Israelites: “Now, therefore, revere the Lord and serve the Lord in sincerity and in faithfulness…. Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve… but as for me and my household,” Joshua says, “we will serve the Lord.” And the people replied: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord…. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for the Lord is our God.” (cf. Joshua 24:14-15, 16, 18b)

And we like the people of Israel of old, and like Simon Peter and the others disciples, discover the gifts to continue to follow Jesus, not turning back, but entering into a world full of danger as Jesus did when he also bade his disciples to take up the cross and follow him. 

For you know, being a believing disciple is not really about being a member of the club of the saved to the exclusion of the damned. No. Being a believer, a person of faith, is to be one called by God to go on a mission. 

And it’s a dangerous mission as suggested by the author of Ephesians as we heard today. “Be strong in the Lord,” the author writes, “and in the strength of the Lord’s power; put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, for our struggle is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:10-12)

Folks we know from encountering the news headlines each and every day that there are wicked forces at work in the world to keep people divided against each other so that the powers that be can further divide and conquer for their own greedy gain. 

But the good news is that it's in baptism that we are clothed with the whole armor of God to protect us on our dangerous mission-impossible to take on the powers of evil and darkness like David took on Goliath. 

We are clothed in baptism with the truth of Christ as the belt around our waist. God’s righteousness, a gift of God in baptism, is our breastplate. Our sandals, which we put on after we come up out of the baptismal waters, carry us in our proclamation of the gospel of peace. Faith, another gift of baptism, is our shield. Salvation, granted in the sacramental waters, is our helmet. The word of God is the sword of the Spirit – and the Spirit works through the word to make water-baptism regenerative and transformational (cf. Ephesians 6:14-17). 

And we’re fed with the bread of life from heaven, Jesus’ own flesh and blood, in bread and the fruit of the vine, to be strengthened for the work that God has entrusted to us. We are indeed well-protected and fed.

Notice that while the images employed for the armor of God are martial, or military in nature, they are not ultimately militaristic, even if we’re called to be the church militant. No, the protections we wear are weapons of peace making: truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation, God’s word and Spirit. These make for life, not for violence and death, even if we’re in the spiritual battle of our lives confronting the cosmic powers of darkness. 

And here’s how we engage in this cosmic struggle: through our works of mercy in loving our neighbors as ourselves and in our seeking of God’s justice and well-being for all people and all of creation. It’s that simple, but that profound.

So, this wraps up our series of five sermons on Jesus as the bread of life. We’ve covered a lot of territory, and sometimes difficult terrain. Now, once again, get up, come and eat of Jesus’ flesh and blood in the bread and in the cup so that you may be strengthened to do spiritual battle seeking the justice of God in Christ for the healing of the nations. Amen.