Twelfth Sunday after Trinity John 6:51-58 Ephesians 5:15-20The teachings of Jesus can be hard to understand; especially when he says something like: ‘my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.’ So, if you would rather turn away now, I understand, even though I also think it would be a mistake to do so. One of the most difficult things for people to grasp in those early days of the Church was the reference to ‘eating and drinking’ the Son of Man. Drinking blood was forbidden anyway, so how can Jesus talk about himself as being ‘consumed’? Of course, as with many parables that he taught, Jesus was not speaking in literal terms but as metaphor. Again, he is talking about ‘bread from heaven’, making that connection with the Exodus of the Jewish people from slavery in the days of Moses, and God’s own provision of food each day, in the form of manna. But he was not turning his friends into cannibals! Instead, what he does seem to mean, is a reference to the bread and wine of the sacrament of Holy Communion, which he says is celebrated ‘in remembrance of him’. In partaking of the food that is offered in the Eucharist as Jesus’ body and his blood, we are partaking of the life that Jesus has offered us by dying on the cross on our behalf and rising again to give us the hope of eternal life. The bread of life, Jesus himself, is given to us through death, so that we may not die but enjoy new life for ever. How does this work, though? The physical food and drink we consume nourish us, of course, but each time it is temporary and needs to be repeated. So how can eating the true bread from heaven feed us for ever? Well, maybe part of King David’s story may help. One day, when he was fighting the Philistines who had occupied Bethlehem, David was thirsty and said aloud: ‘O if only I could have water from the well in Bethlehem!’ This was picked up by three of his most loyal followers and they risked their lives to get water from the well and brought it to David. But David wouldn’t have any of it. He said, ‘God forbid that I should drink the blood of these men who risked their lives in such a way!’ To David, drinking the water that the men had got for him at the risk of their lives would be akin to drinking their blood. He was not going to profit from their putting their lives on the line. And that is what Jesus means but in his case it is the other way around: He is going to risk his life; in fact, he is to give it completely, so that others can profit. In that sense, if we want to profit from Jesus’ work of salvation, we have to ‘eat his flesh and drink his blood’; in other words: accept the Son of Man, who is Son of God and Saviour of the world. In that sense, our spiritual and emotional hunger and thirst are truly satisfied. The reading from Ephesians complements it, saying that we should live as wise people, making the most of the time we have and being filled with the Spirit, as we ‘sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs making melody to the Lord in our hearts, giving thanks to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ God’s work through Jesus, the Word made flesh, is on offer to all who believe. This is the true nourishment that we need, the true bread from heaven. In the Holy Communion we are reminded of this as a foretaste of what is to come in the fullness of time, as God has determined. So take, eat, and rejoice in the provision of the living God, our Saviour. Amen.
Eleventh Sunday after Trinity John 6:35; 41-51 1 Kings 19:4-8One of the most difficult things, it seems, for people to do, is to realise that they need help. Most people like to be self-sufficient, able to cope, and strong enough to weather a storm. Great score is often set on being strong, and although it is good to have strength and to manage with most things, there comes a moment in life when we know that we need help. This happens when we fall ill and have to get medical care, for instance, or when we are stuck on the motorway with a failed engine, or even when we have to perform a task that is too difficult for a person on their own. I have found that it is impossible, for example, to put together a flat-pack wardrobe without somebody else to hold up certain parts in the process! In today’s reading from 1 Kings, we find the prophet Elijah, on the run from bad Queen Jezebel, who was out for his life. After a day’s journey into the wilderness, he has reached a solitary broom tree and says to God that he has had enough; he is totally exhausted and doesn’t care anymore whether he lives or dies and falls asleep. An angel wakes him up, offers food, and, strengthened by this attention and nourishment, Elijah is able to continue the rest of the journey. Yes, I believe that angels are sometimes sent to drag us out of our misery and help us to move on. As Paul himself testifies in the letter to the Hebrews, ‘Are not all angels […] sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?’ Also in our day, accounts appear from time to time about miraculous rescues that can only be explained by the intervention by angels. But this as an aside. The point is, that Elijah needed help and that God provided for him. In John’s Gospel account in chapter 6, Jesus also talks about the way God provides to those who are in need. By bread, in the literal sense, as we already learned from what comes before in the Gospel account, but even more and ultimately by God’s Son, Jesus. As with the people of Israel grumbling in the desert during the Exodus, the Jews are complaining now at Jesus. They, like their ancestors, are looking for a leader who gives them what they want. Their idea of the Messiah, the Anointed One, chosen by God, is quite different from what God has intended for them and that is what Jesus addresses here. His statement, ‘No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day’, is startling, because it changes their human concept of being chosen by God for having special attributes in and of themselves. Again, it is the heart – what goes on in a person – that needs to be ‘drawn’ in the secret silence within. Jesus is quoting from Isaiah 54:13, ‘They shall all be taught by God.’ This reminds the people of one of the greatest prophecies of the renewal through the outpouring of God’s love – bringing the people back to himself. It is the complete helplessness of the people of Israel to be as God has intended them to be, that makes God take the initiative for their salvation. Jesus is the bread of life, as he says in verse 35, and, making further connections with history, he goes on to say, ‘Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’ This is what gives us hope. The hope of eternal life, in a new sense, through faith, is the new life as God has always intended it. It begins already in the here and now, and carries on into life after death. Jesus pioneers this in the resurrection, and it is on offer for all who taste the living bread. The great Christian writer, C.S. Lewis, in his autobiography ‘Surprised by Joy’, says this: ‘His compulsion is our liberation’. In other words, God’s salvation of the world and the redemption of his people is his work and his alone. C.S. Lewis said that he had not made a decision to believe but that God had ‘closed in on him and he couldn’t escape’, even though, at the time, he wanted to. The point is, that the bread of life, and the water of life, are free to all, but we need to see our need of it and accept it in faith. Then we can be refreshed and strong enough for the journey ahead. Amen.
Tenth Sunday after Trinity John 6:24-35 Exodus 16:2-4; 9-15So, the Olympic Games 2024 are in full swing. If we watched some of it on TV, we have seen some wonderful athletics and happy medal winners, but also the near misses and disappointments. For those who love to watch sport in this way, it is a great time and those who don’t like it, well, they can just try to ignore it… I am reminded, though, of a particular quote, that says, ‘Give them bread and games’, as a reference to the notion that that is all that people want to keep them happy. It comes from a fuller quote, attributed to the Roman poet Juvenal, in his 10th Satire, of about 100AD. This quote says, ‘Give them bread and circuses and they will never revolt.’ It describes the way that the Roman government began to provide free food and entertainment, in order to keep them happy, after the Roman Republic ended and the Roman Empire began. It was all free and the scheme was based on the idea that bread and circuses were the only remaining interests of the people. If the Olympics and games in general are not the real topic of today’s readings, bread is a feature in those readings: God’s provision of manna in the wilderness, in Exodus 16, and Jesus talking about food that truly satisfies in John 6. In both accounts, there is a hidden meaning to explore.After their Exodus, the people who had been led out of slavery in Egypt had begun to grumble at the lack of the food they had in the past. They seemed to have forgotten their time as slaves in Egypt, and were concerned with their stomachs, craving for the food they had before. Their complaint against Moses and Aaron reached the Lord too, and he turned things around by sending them a new kind of bread, ‘manna’ which means ‘what is it?’. This was bread from heaven that was found as a layer on the ground each morning, like dew. There was always enough for all.In John’s Gospel, too, there is mention of ‘bread from heaven’, when Jesus talks about the bread that the people were looking for since he fed the five thousand from five loaves of bread and two fish. He tells them not to work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give them. In both accounts, then, we find that what people are looking for is feeding; but is it the food that truly satisfies? We know that we don’t live by bread alone, as Jesus has said, ‘but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’ (Matthew 4:4).Today, with the Olympic Games, we are reminded of that other item in the earlier quote: ‘circuses’ or ‘games’; in other words: entertainment in sport. At that level of sport, the stakes are high. Athletes compete to the best of their ability and after a long time of training. Their aim is of course to earn the gold medal, the pinnacle of their success. But only one in each item can be crowned with it. So what about the hidden meaning in the biblical accounts and references to ‘bread from heaven’ and the things that satisfy? Well, if it is physical hunger that needs to be satisfied, then, surely, physical food is necessary. For food – and bread is a generic reference to it – is what our bodies need to survive and remain healthy. But there is another kind of hunger, a spiritual one, that every person is in need of having satisfied, and that can only be fulfilled by God himself. A loaf of bread will feed us physically for a day; but God’s Spirit feeds us for ever. Our need for forgiveness, for love, for belonging, for comfort and for peace: they are satisfied by God alone. He does that through Jesus, his Son, whose work of reconciliation on our behalf has set us truly free, and allows us to enjoy life for ever. God’s provision is as generous as it is complete: bread to feed the body (as we see in Exodus) and bread to feed the soul (as found in Jesus). We need the former, sure, but we most certainly also need the latter, to truly satisfy and give us peace in our soul. And the Olympics? O well, we may enjoy them for a time, but our true and lasting crown comes from God. Amen.
Ninth Sunday after Trinity John 6:1-21 Ephesians 3:14-endIt is not the usual way things are arranged in the natural world: according to design, people don’t walk on water, and five barley loaves and two fish are not enough to feed thousands of people. But Jesus does exactly these particular two things in John’s account for today; so, what do we do with that, or, in other words, how do we interpret these events, these phenomena and Jesus’ performance at this stage in the Gospel story? In the passage from the letter to the Ephesians, we are encouraged ‘to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.’ An interesting phrase: the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. It is quite true, of course, that it is not easy to fathom the mystery of God’s love for us in Christ. The usual way God’s love for his people is explained in the Bible is through metaphor, and comparison with the love of a parent for a child, or a lover for the beloved. And how rational is that, exactly? As the song says: ‘you can’t see it with your eyes, hold it in your hand … Ever since time nothing's ever been found that’s stronger than love’ But even though we cannot explain love, we know that it is essential for our wellbeing, in both the giving and the receiving of love, and we know that it is very powerful. So what does Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand and his walking on the sea tell us, other than that he is able to overthrow the laws of nature? This account in John’s Gospel comes after Jesus’ teaching about his relationship to God, giving proof of his calling, and rebuking those who refuse his offer, saying that those who lack the love of God, don’t accept the one whom he has sent (chapter 5:42). Perhaps we can deduce at least that God’s love for us is simply to be accepted gratefully, with an open mind, and without trying to rationalise it. After all, much of John’s Gospel is about the challenge of the Good News to all existing worldviews, and offers a new perspective of God’s purpose for us. Something that we cannot deserve or work towards earning it. Of course, the crowds are puzzled, as are we! How does Jesus do it? Even if we have a vague notion of the why – God’s love and the revelation of who Jesus is – the how will ultimately escape us. We may ask, ‘Does this matter?’ The feeding of the five thousand gave the people reason to say, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world’. It was a recognition of Jesus’ identity, if not completely understood. His walking on water, it has been said, can be a theme for meditation. Our lives are full of moments when a storm breaks out, metaphorically speaking; when we are tossed about by the waves and the wind, and the journey of life gets rough. As we are struggling through those times, the presence of God may be felt as comforting, but it may also disturb us: who is this, that follows us like a ghost! This event in John’s Gospel tells us exactly who this is, and if we allow ourselves a moment to listen, we can hear those words: ‘It is I; do not be afraid.’ I like the way this passage ends: ‘Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward they were going.’ Jesus’ presence with us, in the boat, offers us peace but even more than that: safety. With him on board, we reach the harbour even quicker than we imagined. As soon as fear is taken away, we see things in their true perspective and we can rejoice. Rejoice, then, in the love of God that surpasses knowledge, and be filled with the fullness of God. No, it is not rational, and it is not something we can work out scientifically. But we can accept it, like a gift, undeserved, and wonderful. Amen.
