Wow.
I had the best darn time this past week catching up with an old buddy of forty
years’ duration—my pal Mike who was a friend from Lutheran Youth Group back in
the 1970’s. He was in Philly on business from his job in LA so he took me and
my wife to dinner. Although I hadn’t seen him in a quarter of a century, we
picked up our friendship as if we’d never been apart. In fact, I’ve recently
been in contact with a whole crowd of lost friends from that Lutheran community
which nurtured me as a teenager. We are scattered all over the United States
now, but the bond of “family,” the communion of saints, knotted through our
Christian assembly is as strong as ever.
My
dad, rest his soul, used to say that belonging to our church was the best thing
ever to happen to our family. He and my mother, my sisters, and I all found our
individual niches within that family. The friendships, the spiritual lessons,
and the sacred practices are still part of my life forty years later, bringing
my heart a smile as I write this.
In
the gospel lesson for Pentecost 13, Year B (John 6: 56-69) Jesus asks his
disciples if they wish to continue following him even though his teachings are
hard to accept or understand at times. Peter replies, “Lord, to whom can we go?
You have the words of eternal life.” (v. 68).
Indeed,
this is the existential question: If I did not have faith in Christ—faith in
sacrificial love, forgiveness, life-renewing spirituality, and the promise of
the immortality of the soul—to whom or what else would I turn? What other tie
or association would be as meaningful to me as that which meets me at the level
of ultimate reality? Where else would I find the love which has connected me to
so many people through all these years?
This
week’s reading strikes me as being rooted in ecclesiology—the study of the
church as the body of Christ. We start by doing a little review from last week
with verses 56 through 58, those yucky references to eating flesh and drinking
blood. I can’t help but think that this is an obvious allusion to the practice
of Holy Communion, and I’m guessing that the evangelist is telling us those who
are in the Church—who share an intimate relationship with Jesus and a family connection
to each other through the sacrament—are the ones who are living in the
knowledge of grace, forgiveness, and immortality.
From
here John points out that Jesus is making this assertion in a synagogue (v. 59),
a place where the scholars might find Jesus’ teaching hard to swallow (pun
intended!). They say in verse 60, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept
it?” The word John uses which we translate as “difficult” is in Greek sklhros
(scleros),
from which we get the term “sclerotic,” which usually refers to a body part which
has hardened with disease. It’s not a nice term, and could be translated as “hard
to take” or “unacceptable.”
I
guess if any of us had been Jewish scholars in the synagogue of John’s day we’d
find this teaching of Jesus hard to take too. We certainly can’t take it
literally, and if we were hung up on ritual purity, animal sacrifice, or strict
obedience to the law we’d have a pretty rough time digesting simple faith in
God’s love. Indeed, as John has Jesus remind us in verse 65, we need God’s help
too ingest the love which gives itself away as sacrifice for others. As Martin
Luther put it:
“I believe that by my own understanding or strength I
cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but instead the Holy
Spirit has called me through the gospel…” (Small
Catechism)
Face
it: it’s pretty hard in this busy, dangerous, unpredictable, selfish,
confusing, and sinful world to find the faith to abide in Jesus. Constantly to seek
Christ in others and to strive to be Christ to others is a tough order. It’s
hard enough to live in flesh and blood reality. No wonder the spirit so often
escapes us.
There
are those who just never try to wrestle with the relationship with Jesus. But
where will they go? What will replace abiding in love, forgiveness, compassion,
and the hope of eternal life in the spirit of God?
I
kind of dig the fact that the compilers of the Revised Common Lectionary have
linked this gospel lesson with the lesson from the book of Joshua. Here is
Joshua at the end of his time as judge and leader of the Hebrew people. He is
filled with awe and gratitude for God’s blessings. He’s whooped all of Israel’s
enemies, and now he calls the people together and issues a challenge:
“…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.” (Joshua 24: 15b)
Peter
and Joshua both challenge us on this day. To whom can we go and whom shall we
serve if not the Lord? If our answer is “no one,” than we’d best embrace the
nourishment of word and sacrament found in the church, renew our commitment to
spiritual discipline, and live in the joy, gratitude, and blessed assurance of
God’s love.
Glad you stopped by, brothers and sisters!
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