Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost 22nd August 2021

Ephesians 6: 10–20        

 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of 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. Therefore take up the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.                         

 John 6: 56–69

Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live for ever.’ He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum. When many of his disciples heard it, they said, ‘This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?’ But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, ‘Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But among you there are some who do not believe.’ For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. And he said, ‘For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.’ Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, ‘Do you also wish to go away?’  Simon Peter answered him, ‘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.’ 

Reflection: 

We have a beautiful yet in some ways confusing readings before us this week. Similarly, we have a beautiful world yet we are in confusing times and times when things feel like they are far less than beautiful, times that are difficult to make sense of. Our comfort therefore is to be found in God alone. One thing remains the same and that is God’s call for us to walk with him, the Lord of heaven and earth. We are called to come to God and allow God’s own self to be entwined with us in our Baptism. To come to be reminded again and receive again the powerful promise that God will always be with us, he will carry us, and he will love us forever. 

 Last week I said, to feed on the flesh and blood of Christ is when we accept Christ into our lives and become united to him. We are united with Christ by believing in his death (the sacrifice of his flesh) and in his resurrection. By devoting ourselves to living as he requires, depending on his teaching and trusting in the Holy Spirit for power. It goes two ways- what he does- what we do. God gives us a free will to choose to follow him, but this does not give us a magic wand that then all life will be easy. So, some might say what then is the point? In the words of Poet Robert Peck, ‘Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.’ The way may not be easy, but the end result will be good. Choosing to follow Jesus will make all the difference.

 The verses from 1 Kings today, come in the story after the reign of Solomon when the people turned away from God, and found themselves overrun by enemies several times. But then in desperation they called out to God for forgiveness and God restored them. God’s call to the people of Israel remained, his faithfulness continued. God promised to save them, to send a blessing to the world. And so, he sent Jesus to redeem not only them but all people. Although it seems straight forward, for many in our world today this message is just too hard to accept or believe. Yet God wants all people to turn back to him.

 This world is difficult, not just because we have Covid and lockdown, not just because we have terrible atrocities and disasters that happen around the world. This world is difficult because we live in a world that is not just flesh and blood, we live in a world that has spiritual forces and powers that we do not fully understand. We live in a world that is filled with temptation and material enticements. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, therefore gives critical encouragement to stand firm with the Lord, allowing him to cover us with his armour, with all that we need for each day. By doing so he will strengthen us to face the challenges that will come as we remain constant in prayer. 

 I suggest that we’ve all had times in life when like the disciples we just want to say ‘This is a hard saying; who can listen to it, or who can understand it?’ And perhaps that is how you are feeling as you ponder these things today. There are times when its difficult to get a grasp of what is happening or understanding of what’s it all about. But as I read this last portion of John Chapter 6, I know yes, it’s easy to feel likeminded with the crowds who misunderstand and question Jesus - Jesus’ teaching, and what we have heard these past four weeks, is difficult. That Jesus is the bread of life? That he provides the only food which truly nourishes? That he gives us his own self, even his own flesh and blood, to sustain us on our journey? These are hard words, hard to comprehend, hard to believe. Couldn’t there be an easier, simpler, comfortable solution? 

 No wonder then, that many of those following after Jesus now walk away. But at this point we should be careful, as it’s just too easy to judge those who give up on Jesus as people with no commitment or too unfaithful to believe. Note that John calls these people not simply ‘the crowds,’ as in earlier passages, but rather ‘disciples.’ That is, the people in today’s reading who now desert Jesus, are those who had previously, in fact, believed in Jesus, who had followed him and had given up much to do so. But now, as his teaching becomes more difficult, they can no longer see clearly and so they leave.

 And perhaps who can blame them? However, it concerns me as I wonder… are we really all that different? Perhaps we have had a time when we’ve wondered whether we have believed in vain? During the dark of the night, perhaps, watching and praying for a miracle to happen... Perhaps during the last few years as the world seems to have gone a little if not a lot crazy with global warming, Covid, not to name all the rest…. 

Or perhaps in the early part of the morning, maybe, waking up and wondering why… why things have not turned out the way we hoped and whether they ever will.

 But it’s at these times that we have to admit that there is no solution to the world’s woes – at these times there is nothing we can do in our own strength. Perhaps we don’t desert the Lord openly, we just haven’t made the extra effort to get to church regularly, (and now unfortunately attending church is not an option to do for the short term at least) or we haven’t been reading his word or we reduce what we’ve been giving, are more reluctant to help others, or simply stop praying until, in the end, we end up just like the disciples in today’s reading - drifting away.

 And so, while John draws for us in today’s reading a picture that may not a pretty one, it is a rather realistic one. It is, in other words, a fairly accurate portrait of disbelief, with Jesus surrounded by folks who wanted to believe, who used to believe, who have been trying to believe, but have gone through the motions too long and have finally given up.

 At the same time, though, John’s picture is also one of belief, of courage, and of faith. For as he writes, after many disciples drew back and no longer followed him, ‘Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Will you also go away?’ And, Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.’

I have often wondered, where do Peter and the other twelve get their faith. Or to put it another way, what makes them different from all those who gave up on Jesus and went away?

 Remember, these twelve disciples were also plagued by doubt and fear, they suffered at times from an overabundance of pride and a lack of courage, and they, too, eventually deserted Jesus, at the very time he needed them the most. So, if they aren’t smarter, or more faithful, or more courageous, or, in short, any better than the rest of Jesus’ disciples – then or now – then what is it that sets them apart?

 Let me tell one more story from the book, ‘Mondays with my old pastor by Jose Luis Navajo, (p42)

A wise Greek man was exploring the land. He felt satisfied and proud of his knowledge of philosophy and science. On one occasion he had to cross a river, so he boarded a boat. The old boatman rhythmically rowed the oars and looked distractedly at the water. Then the wise man asked him, ‘Do you know astronomy?’

‘No sir.’

‘Well then you’ve lost a fourth of your life. Do you know philosophy?

‘No sir.’

‘Well then you’ve lost a fourth of your life. You must at least know ancient history?

‘No sir.’

‘Well then you’ve lost another fourth of your life.

 Right then, a blast of wind violently shook the boat and turned it over. Both men fell into the water. The boatman swam toward the riverbank. Once there he observed the wise man desperately waving his hands in the water. The river was quite swollen and the current was strong.

 ‘Do you know how to swim my wise friend?’ Asked the boatman.

‘No!’ the wise man shouted in desperation. ‘I don’t know how to swim!’

‘Well then you have lost all of your life.’

 This story perhaps helps us to have some understanding. You see human beings live worried about a lot of things, but only a few things are really necessary. There are very few things that are truly essential. The sad thing is that those few things are not the priority of most people. And of course, I don’t mean swimming but faith… faith in the one true God, who loved us so much that he sent his only Son.

 Listen, again, to the words of Peter: ‘Lord,’ he replies to Jesus’ question, ‘to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.’ Peter, you see, knew where to look. He knew what was important. That’s what makes him and the others different – it’s not about their intelligence, ability or their status or even their faith for that matter: they simply know where to look.

And take note of the Psalmist’s words... ‘Blessed are those who dwell in your house: they will always be praising you, O Lord God… One day in your courts is better than a thousand…Blessed (happy) are those who put their trust in you.’

 As Jesus’ real presence in our world, the sacraments are the one place we may look and know for sure that we will find God in Christ there for us. This is not to say that God is not at work in other places in the world. As believing Christians we confess that this world is full of the presence and activity of its creator. God continues to be both present and active, creating and sustaining the whole creation.

And yet… and yet each of us knows just how difficult at times it can be to see God in these places. When nature turns violent or government goes corrupt, when the family is a place of discord and the church one of division, when pandemic strikes, when all the things we usually count on come up empty and we no longer know where to turn, then we may hear the sacraments calling us back to see God clearly at work for us through water, bread, and wine, combined with God’s mighty word of forgiveness, acceptance, and life.

More and more churches from a variety of traditions have moved in recent decades to more frequent celebration of the Lord’s Supper, recognising that week in and week out, in the midst of all the craziness and haziness of life in our world, it’s incredibly helpful to come to church and count on having the elements of bread and wine lifted into the air that we might see and taste God’s particular promises of acceptance, forgiveness, and presence for us. And while just at the moment because of the lockdown we may not be able to celebrate and praise God together in one place, we can praise God together in Spirit with Christians all around the world. I suggest that one of the blessings from shutdown is that there are numerous and great diversity of options for church services available to watch on line. On the television we find programs such as ‘Songs of Praise’ to draw us as one in praise to Jesus. These can continue to feed us until we again can worship together in person. May we not be like the people in Solomon’s time and turn away from God. 

You see, here’s the thing: we who are simple, common, ordinary, and everyday people may come to Jesus and receive him with confidence. By accepting him as our Lord and Saviour, knowing the promise that God loves us, forgives us and offers us life, life in abundance. Not life filled with ‘stuff’. but life that strengthens us, with peace and a joy that the world cannot give. And then along with Peter we can truly say-   You Lord have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you truly are the Holy One of God.