Year B, Pentecost 13 (Sunday Between August 21 and 27 Inclusive)

Year B, Pentecost 13 (Sunday between August 21 and 27 inclusive)

August 23rd, 2015

By Thomas L. and Laura C. Truby

Four Questions

Four weeks ago we read in the Gospel that Jesus took the bread, gave thanks and distributed it to a large crowd. The next Sunday we read that Jesus said“I am the bread of life”. The Sunday after that he said “I am the living bread….the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” Last week he said “I assure you, unless you eat the flesh of the Human One and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” Why are we going on and on about this? What more is there to say about bread and Eucharist? John’s message seems so simple it’s hardly worth talking about.

So today we begin with “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in them.” Boring! Why are we going over this again? We know about communion and how important it is.

But what if I share something so strange you will be tempted to turn away by the time we finish today? What if Jesus is using the image of eating his flesh and drinking his blood to shock us on purpose and that when we hook it to the Eucharist too quickly; we tame it, domesticate it,and pull its teeth to where it no longer has the bite it had for the disciples. Could this passage be offensive drama, a necessary jolt to half-asleep souls?

In the original Greek the word “eat” could better be translated as “gnaw” like a dog gnaws on a bone. Jesus is saying “whoever gnaws on my flesh” remains in me. To gnaw on something is to have to work it, like chewing on a rib. It takes time and effort and cannot be done casuallyor quickly. Isn’t that the way it is with Jesus? In gnawing on him we take him seriously thinking about what he said and why he might have said it.

And remember in Jewish law Jews were forbidden to drink blood. How do you think his disciples feel when Jesus tells them that if they want to be connected to him they have to drink his blood? Do you think they are offended? Jesus’ teaching brings his audience to an encounter and a crisis and it brings us to the first of four questions.

Our text reads “Many of his disciples who heard this said, ‘This message is harsh. Who can hear it?” “Who can hear it?” our first question.The disciples are offended and think other people will be too. How can they follow someone who says things like this? “Gnaw on my flesh and drink my blood!” Are you kidding! Its offensive and the disciples don’t want to listen. If we imagine the scene, we find ourselves a long way from a gentle Eucharist in the sanctuary of a church.

Jesus asks “Does this offend you?” This is the second of our four questions. “Does this offend you?” I imagine the disciples thinking,“Yes it does! It offends me! I am very offended. I don’t like the idea of gnawing on anybody’s flesh or drinking anybody’s blood, particularly yours. If that’s what it takes to be connected to you I am not sure I want to. Jesus goes on; if this offends you “What if you were to see the Human One going up where he had been before.” Jesus seems to be saying if they are offended now they would be even more offended if they knew who Jesus is and where he came from. He doesn’t back down for he knows they must face into the offense. It is the message! Can they believe in someone who says something both offensive but true or will they stumble and turn away in revulsion. This is the alternative they face. Believe in him or be offended by him. That’s the choice the gospels always present us.

Jesus then said, “The Spirit is the one who gives life and the flesh doesn’t help at all.” The Spirit is the carrier of forgiveness and mercy. Forgiveness and mercy givelife. Forgiveness and mercy is the spirit of Jesus. The flesh doesn’t help because it subsists on consuming human flesh and drinking human blood. This is not an empty metaphor. It’s the way the world works. We talk about our dog-eat-dog world and this is what we mean. We talk about how we divide the world between the haves and have nots and keep it divided through violence and rules hidden in systems of power that give some the advantage and make it nearly impossible for others. Examples that we are currently talking about are racism and the shrinking of the middle class. This is what the writer of Ephesians meant when he tells us, “We aren’t fighting against human enemies but against rulers, authorities, forces of cosmic darkness, and spiritual powers of evil in the heavens.”

“The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life” he says.They come from another place; a place John identifies as heaven;thatrestful place outside the force-field of human striving and ambition that we generate in our rivalry with each other. By contrast, Jesus’ words come from a place of self-sacrifice not human sacrifice. We tend to sacrifice the other and not ourselves. We gnaw on each other’s flesh and drink each other’s blood in our wars and economic systems designed to maintain the current distribution of wealth. Jesus sacrifices himself saying gnaw on my flesh and drink my blood instead of your neighbors. I give you my own flesh for you to gnaw on. Does that offend you?

Jesus knows some of them are offended and don’t believe. They don’t believe what he says is life-giving. They don’t believe that he and his father are one. They don’t believe he is the bread sent from heaven. The prologue to John says “he came to his own and his own people did not accept him.”

Knowing this he continues, “For this reason I said to you that none can come to me unless the Father enables them to do so.” He implies that he and God are working together and he makes this clear so that they will have to decide whether they believe him or are offended by him. They can’t have it both ways. He has deliberately presented them with a choice between belief and offense. Jesus is a stumbling block and the gospels know this. They tell us about Jesus hoping we won’t stumble.

The text says, “At this, many of his disciples turned away and no longer accompanied him.” This was a turning point for many and they stumbled.

“Jesus asked the Twelve, ‘Do you also want to leave?” We have come to the third question and Jesus asks it. “Do you also want to leave?” Are you also going to be offended by me or are you going to stay and believe in me? Am I a stumbling block to you or the Human One come down from heaven, the bread of life?

In response Simon Peter asks the fourth question and it is full of pathos. ‘Lord, where would we go? You have the words of eternal life.” There is no other place to go. We may not like what you are showing us but we know it’s true. We can’t escape it and you have shown us a way out.

We are on this earth and we have begun to face the truth about ourselves. We are the ones destroying this planet with our strivings and fear but you have the words that lead to lasting peace. We will either consume each other or eat the forgiving and merciful flesh of Jesus. When we take him in he gradually changes our desires and gives us life that does not end.

At least for now Simon Peter has decided to believe in Jesus. Speaking for the twelve disciples who remain after all the others have left he declares, “We believe and know that you are God’s holy one.” Amen.

Page 1 of 3