John6:56-69; Ephesians 6:10-20 Panzer Liturgical Service
Before we started the sermon, I had some of the children pass around baskets of crusty German pretzels... I figured that if we were going to talk about bread one more time, it we might as well have a little snack.
Let’s talk about bread.
Bread holds a special place in most societies. In
Germany, it’s the pretzel.. or bretzel… or laugenbretzel as we know it in Baden
Wurttemberg. For most people around here, the day is really not complete
without it. In Italy, it’s focaccia, in France - the croissant or maybe a
baguette, in some places it’s naan or pita, in Mexico it’s the tortilla. In the
US – well, we never met a bread we didn’t like.
And it’s not just that bread is a staple in our
diet. It goes much deeper than that. Bread gives us comfort and hope for a new
day. It’s been that way for a long time.
When the Israelites were wandering on their
circuitous journey to the Promised Land, God instructed them not to take any
bread with them – it would be provided on the way. Manna came down from heaven
and gave them all the nutrition they needed. They were given exactly what they
needed, and if they tried to store some for later in the day, it was spoiled
before they could eat it. Through this process, God was teaching them trust –
they were dependent on God for what they needed. And it was a lesson they got, at least for a
little while. Until they forgot.
This story about manna reminds us that we are also
dependent on God for what we need, even though we often confuse “wants” with
“needs”. Most of us live with pantries full of food, taking our next meal for
granted. But there are those in the world for whom daily food is not a given,
but an answer to prayer… and the faithfulness of those who have enough to
share.[i]
This is the fifth week in a row that we have heard
from the sixth chapter of John. Five weeks for us to think of Jesus in the
context of being bread from heaven. Five weeks – 10% of our lectionary year –
and each week, we see the people wrestling with their discomfort of what Jesus
is asking them to believe about him.
This week’s gospel lesson actually starts with the
last three verses from last week’s lesson.
They are jarring, difficult and puzzling verses… beginning with the idea
of eating and drinking the flesh and blood of Jesus, and ending with the
promise of eternal life. According to Jewish law, these verses are actually the
antithesis of what would bring eternal life. Coming in contact with flesh and
blood makes one unclean, with elaborate rituals required to become clean again.
For Jews of the day, Jesus’ words are crazy.
And in the grumbling surrounding him, true character
is revealed. The ones falling away remind us of what we already know. That following
Jesus is easy when it doesn’t require us to change the way we act or think. But
when our preconceived ideas about who Jesus is and what he wants from us are
challenged, then we grumble and turn away, just like some of his followers did.
Since the third chapter of John, we have watched
Jesus do some pretty amazing, even unbelievable, things. People followed him for miles, enticed by the
loaves and fishes. They had been awed by the miracles and fascinated by his
understanding of the law and the prophets. But like us, they had their own
ideas of what the Messiah should be. They were expecting a big show… just not
the kind of show in which Jesus was asking them to participate.[ii]
As time goes on, we see that they often didn’t get
the big picture of Jesus’ ministry. They were looking for a different kind of Messiah
– we’ve talked about this before. They were expecting a warrior, a ruler, a
king. What they got was a homeless peasant/teacher, who spoke of himself in
terms that were unthinkable to most. “I am the bread of life” and “I am the
living water” paint a much different picture of our Savior. Jesus’ identity was not then and is not now about
fulfilling people’s long-awaited expectations. Jesus isn’t about grabbing
power. Instead he identifies himself with the very things that give us life…
bread and water… without their sustenance we will surely die. He relates to the
least important people around him, and calls them friends.
Like the disciples, we want Jesus to fit a rational
formula. We want faith to be easy or comfortable – at least I do. But Peter
reminds us, that sooner or later, we have to be willing to have our minds and
hearts be changed. We have to come to an understanding that following Jesus is
hard, but in faith we realize there’s nowhere else for us to go. Following
Jesus and growing our faith in him is the only way we’re going to have a piece
of this thing he calls “eternal life.” And then it will be the easiest hard
thing we’ve ever done.
In our epistle lesson, Paul writes to a church
surrounded by those who do not believe in Jesus, his ministry or his church. He
reminds them that they do not battle the skeptics or those who would destroy
them alone. He redefines their armor, evoking images of battle protection with
the foundations of a faithful life – truth, righteousness, prayer, peace,
Spirit, scripture – this is where we should be investing our time and our
actions. We want there to be simpler answers to the questions we have. But
really, only the weapons will truly defeat evil, in whatever forms it presents itself
in our lives and in the world.
And to end the passage, Paul asks for prayer. He
believes that we should pray for everything – for the needs of our lives, for
those around us, and for all the saints who have fought the same battles we
fight. He’s not talking about prayer as a way to get what we want. He’s talking
about prayer to face the difficult challenges that a faithful life will present
to us. He’s talking about something that gives us the strength and joy to the
hard thing well and in the spirit of love.
Paul refers to his own incarceration, which he
rightly believes will end his life. But in that, he is reminding them that God
is bigger than any of our struggles. God can make good come from the difficult
experiences of our lives. God can turn the memory of the darkest day into one
filled with hope for a new day.
This was certainly true for the disciples as they
regrouped to follow Jesus, and then later abandoned him to face his arrest and
execution mostly alone. And still the resurrected Jesus came to them. What good
news for us that the resurrection did not depend on the faithfulness of the
followers, but on the faithfulness of the God who has and will keep the promises
made since the beginning of time.
I have this friend.
She’s an ordinary, middle-class white American woman. She’s a former
military spouse, and until just before I met her, the mother of two towheaded
preschool boys. One day, she felt God calling her to adopt a child from Africa.
After sharing this with her husband, and her friends, and her church, they
began the process to bring a child from Ethiopia into their family – simple,
right? Except that, with God, nothing is really simple. After all was said and
done, they brought three children home – a girl about the same age as their
boys, and an older girl and boy.
Now they weren’t just dealing with the differences
in race and culture – now they were the parents of pre-teenagers. My friend kept saying that God’s dream for
her family was so much bigger than she ever imagined. But she just kept
trusting.
Through all of this joy and struggle, adjustment and
turmoil, she realized that God was continuing to call her to a life she never
imagined. So with five children between the ages of 5 and 12, she started the
process to become an ordained minister in the United Methodist church. Today she
works as one of the pastors at a growing church in Metropolitan Washington DC,
and in December will graduate from Wesley Theological Seminary with a Masters
of Divinity, one step closer to ordination.
She says that most days she is able to understand
that her life has taken a totally different direction than she imagined or
intended. But on Saturday nights when she is laying out the clothes for church
the next day, at least one of her children will ask, “Mom, do you have to go to
work tomorrow?” And she wonders if any of us ever fully understand what Jesus
is asking us to do.
It’s my guess, that if you met her, you might ask
her if the choices she has made over the last ten years have been worth it, or if
it as hard or harder than she thought it would be. And here’s what I think her
answer would be… it was the easiest hard thing I’ve ever done. But without the prayer
and the support and questions of those who are walking this journey with me, it
would have never happened.
And when you look back over your life, I hope that
you can see the places where the whole armor of God helped you in ways you
never imagined – to get back on the journey and once again follow where Jesus
has called, even if you thought it was a place you’d never go. I have missed
many opportunities to be the best reflection of Christ in the world, but some
days I get it. I can see all the places where doing the hard thing – of
following Christ in prayer, in faith, and in supplication – was the easiest and
only choice I have.
For many of us, life is getting ready to gear up.
School is starting, committees and organizations that we are a part of are
making a plan and ready to carry it out. Maybe we’ve just moved here, or are
getting ready to start something totally new. I pray that in our new routines
we will not forget to rely on and sharpen our battle skills.
Remember that pretzel I gave you to eat at the
beginning of the sermon? It is my hope that prayer, worship, bible study,
Christian conversation and friendship will become like bread for you – giving
you strength and comfort and securing the foundation you need to live a faithful
life.
And so I send you into the world – to find the easy,
hard thing – and do it. Amen.
Peace, Deb
No comments:
Post a Comment