Twelfth Sunday after pentecost 15th August 2021

1 Kings 2: 10–12; 3: 3–14                   

Then David slept with his ancestors, and was buried in the city of David. 11 The time that David reigned over Israel was forty years; he reigned for seven years in Hebron, and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David; and his kingdom was firmly established. Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David; only, he sacrificed and offered incense at the high places. The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the principal high place; Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt-offerings on that altar. At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, ‘Ask what I should give you.’ And Solomon said, ‘You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart towards you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?’ It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. God said to him, ‘Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word. Indeed, I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honour all your life; no other king shall compare with you.  If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.’

Psalm 111

O praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord with my whole heart:

in the company of the upright and among the congregation.

The works of the Lord are great:

and studied by all who take delight in them.

His deeds are majestic and glorious: and his righteousness stands for ever.

His marvellous acts have won him a name to be remembered:

the Lord is gracious and merciful.

5 He gives food to those that fear him: he remembers his covenant for ever.

He showed his people the power of his acts: in giving them the heritage of the heathen.

The works of his hands are faithful and just: and all his commandments are sure;

They stand firm for ever and ever: they are done in faithfulness and in truth.

He sent redemption to his people; he ordained his covenant for ever:

holy is his name and worthy to be feared.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,

and of good understanding are those that keep his commandments:

his praise shall endure for ever.

John 6: 51–58

51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’ The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ So Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 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.’

Reflection:

As we continue this week to explore John’s gospel, you may be noticing that the book of John is quite different to the other three Gospels that are called Synoptic Gospels (‘seeing alike’) whereas John is unique. John has its own language and expression. It is the only gospel that speaks of Jesus as the Word- (the logos ). It portrays Jesus identity and theology differently, thus, making it most likely in many ways the most influential book in the New Testament. 

The relationship of Jesus to God as Son is strongly portrayed as is his human/ divine nature - (We saw this last week when the local towns people questioned how can this Jesus, the carpenter, be sent from heaven.)

Remember, that the evangelist is writing for a particular believing community in the midst of a specific set of historical conditions. We today have the privilege of knowing Jesus is God’s Son. We have witness’ accounts of his death, for it is his death and resurrection, not his teachings and power, that make his identity known. No one around Jesus at the time of these narratives knows this and consequently John continually tells his readers who Jesus is – the Son of God. He picks out the moments from Jesus ministry that he feels are important for his audience to hear. If you look toward the very last verse of John 21:25, it says , ‘25 Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written’… John the evangelist has written the things he has for us so to understand that Jesus is the one.

In today’s verses, we are stuck in the middle of this argument between Jesus and the crowd who were following him, an argument about bread from heaven and Jesus’ unthinkable and rather grotesque assertions about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. These verses are quite difficult to swallow (Pardon the pun!) How do we explain them to new Christians? Biblical scholars, certainly can show that behind these verses a debate rages in the early Church about the nature and significance of the Lord’s Supper, a controversy which John is attempting to settle with his record of Jesus’ statement about giving his own flesh and blood that the world might live.

During the last few weeks we have heard from John chapter 6 - a profound and beautifully developed teaching on the signs and identity of Jesus. This chapter is very much connected to the Lord’s Supper, through which Jesus continues to feed and strengthen us. Jesus has fed the 5000, and then its only the next day that the people ask, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ This is followed by teaching that introduces the contrast between physical bread and bread from heaven. – ‘Do not work for food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life.’ John continues to encourage his readers to believe in Jesus whom God the Father has sent. But the crowd still have not grasped it, asking what signs will you give us? Jesus explains- the manner in the wilderness was perishable bread- the bread that Jesus gives will last for eternity. Remember Jesus says, ‘I am the bread of life.’- ‘I am the living bread that came down from heaven.’ But now the people are faced with a dilemma, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ Jesus has said to them- ‘unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you have no life in you…’

So, as I try to make sense of this, I wonder- What does this talk of flesh and blood and heavenly bread and even with the Lord’s Supper really have to do with the ins and outs, the ups and downs, of everyday living? Especially as the whole state of NSW goes into lockdown and we cannot meet and physically take communion as we normally do together. What does feeding on Christ have to do with the things that seemingly really matter, our hopes and fears, our living and our dying? What does it have to do with us, here and now, two thousand years later, struggling just to live each day?

Jesus responds ‘For my flesh is the real food; my blood is the real drink.’

And then, suddenly, upon hearing these words perhaps it can make sense – to the crowd both then and now – we realize that he’s serious. Jesus is not being metaphorical or speaking abstractly; he really means it. Jesus, would give up his life for us- his flesh and his blood.

Our hearts can sing for joy and thankfulness. It seems now, here, this week, we finally encounter the heart of the message. In these verses we begin to recognise just what is at stake for Jesus, just how much we are worth to him. In these verses, he offers to us his very own flesh and blood, the flesh which will be stretched upon the cross for our sake, the blood which will flow freely from his hands, feet, and side, also for our sake.

For us to eat the living bread of Jesus flesh and blood is to accept him as our Lord and Saviour. 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, reading his word, depending on his teaching and trusting in the Holy Spirit for power. It goes two ways- what he does- what we do. 

In Jesus, the Word made flesh, and in the sacraments, the Word given physical, visible form once again, we meet the God who will be satisfied with nothing less than our whole selves. This is why Jesus speaks of giving us his flesh and blood, you see, for ‘flesh and blood’ is a Hebrew expression which refers to the whole person, hearts, minds, spirit, feelings, hopes, dreams, fears, everything. In Jesus, you see, the whole of God meets us to love, redeem, and sustain the whole of who we are.

This is about the God who comes for our whole selves who is prepared to give his whole self for us. This then sums up all of John’s testimony to Jesus. For throughout this Gospel we have heard some of the most familiar images describing the relationship of Jesus and those who believe in him: Jesus, the shepherd and we, the sheep; Jesus the vine and we the branches; Jesus calling us to abide in him and he abides in God. John the evangelist is trying to express the unbreakable union and inseparable sharing of one life in another. 

As we share our lives with Jesus, as we partake of his word and sacrament and apply it to our lives, he desires to fill us in every part of our very being. As the psalmist says, I will praise the Lord with my whole heart… as we give to God, he gives to us and makes us one with him.  This is the promise which God makes to us in the Sacraments: to be one with us and for us forever, to stick with us and even in us no matter what.

Every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, God comes to us once again to offer us a promise made so concrete and solid that we can touch and feel, taste and eat it. For, here, in these common physical elements, we have God’s promise that God not only cares about our births and deaths, our successes and our failures, but that God has also joined God’s own self to them and to us through Christ, the Word made flesh and given for us.

So, God invites us to come. Come to eat and drink this promise. Come prepared to meet the God who meets us exactly where we are. Come to receive the real food of Christ’s own body and blood that we might have strength in living in this so very real and difficult world. Come, finally, to meet the God who offers us, not just meaning, but life itself, life in Christ both now and forever.

Let us pray:

Thank you, Jesus, you have saved our life, thank you Jesus you have brought us from darkness into glorious light. May we hold onto the gift of your love and feed on you in the depths of our souls, this day and always, Amen.