“Because of the Father”
1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14 John 6:51-58
Solomon asked for wisdom. He got it. A gift from the Father…God.
The Jewish leaders argued among themselves because they
didn’t believe…or couldn’t understand…the one who had been sent…as a gift…by
the very same Father.
Not understanding the gifts from the Father happens…in
unexpected places. Today’s gospel lesson
from John is one of them. The language
and ideas may seem quite strange. But to
those who heard it first it spoke to familiar ideas and activities.
The words and ideas that John attributed to Jesus would
have been quite normal and familiar to anyone who understood the rituals of
sacrifice. The animal that was
sacrificed was seldom burned entirely…even though the whole animal was offered
to the god. Part of the flesh was given
to the priests and part to the worshiper who made a feast for himself and his
friends within the temple area. They all
believed that the god was with them as part of the feast.
Also…once the flesh was offered to the god, it was believed
that the god had entered into the flesh.
Therefore when the worshiper ate the flesh he also ate the god. When they left the feast the people went out
believing they were god-filled. We may
think it was wrong…idolatry…but the people left believing they had a new
vitality because their god was in them.
The people of that day would know about the experience of
union with the gods. They understood the
language that John used.
Let us remember what John was doing when he wrote this
gospel. He was not giving…or trying to
give…the actual words of Jesus. John had
been thinking for seventy years about what Jesus had said. Led by the Holy Spirit…John wrote his gospel
to show the inner significance of Jesus’ words.
It is not a simple recording of words…but the essential meaning of the
words that John wrote…guided by the Holy Spirit…the words and thoughts a gift
of the Father.
John wrote that Jesus talked about eating his flesh and
drinking his blood. Jesus’ flesh was his
total humanity. In his first letter John
said that every person who denies that Jesus has come in the flesh is the
antichrist. John insisted that Jesus was
the mind and heart of God become a person who walked the earth…and lived as
normal people lived. This means that in
Jesus we see God taking human life upon him…facing our human situations…struggling
with our human problems…battling with our human temptations…working out our
human relationships.
It’s just as if Jesus said, “Feed your heart, feed your
mind, and feed your soul on the thought of my manhood. When you are discouraged and in despair, when
you are beaten to your knees and disgusted with life and living…remember I took
that life of yours and the struggles of yours on me.” When we do we will see that our life is
filled with glory because it is touched with God…it is of the Father. To eat Christ’s body is to feed on the
thought of his person-hood until we are strengthened and cleansed and purified
by him.
Jesus said we must drink his blood. In Jewish thought the blood stands for
life. What Jesus was saying is that we
must take his life into the very center of our being…and that his life is the
life which belongs to God. When Jesus
said we must drink his blood he meant that we must take his life into the very
core of our hearts.
Think of it this way.
There in a bookcase is a book which you have never read. Maybe it’s something by Shakespeare…one of
the world’s classics. As long as it sits
on the shelf…remains unread…it is apart from you…it is unknown. But…one day you take it down from the shelf
and read it. It thrills and fascinates
you….moves you. The story sticks with
you…the great lines and characters remain in your memory…now you can take that
out of yourself…think about it and feed your heart and mind on it. Once that book was outside you…now it is
inside you and you can feed upon it. It
is that way with any great experience in life.
It is apart from us until we take it in… experience it…make it internal. Then…instead of being apart from us…it is a
part of us.
It is the same with Jesus.
As long as he remains a figure in a book…someone who performed miracles
and taught a couple thousand years ago…someone we worship…he is apart from
us. When he enters into us we can feed
on the life…the strength…the vitality he gives us. He becomes a part of us. Jesus said that we must drink his blood. He said, “You must stop thinking of me as the
subject for theological debate. You must
take me into you. You must come into
me. Then you will have real life.”
Maybe…like me…you’ve seen the movie “Rush.” It’s the story of the two men who were
competing for the 1976 Formula One auto racing world championship. In that movie the producers were able to
create video that was very realistic…just like the viewer was in the seat driving
the automobile…just like the viewer was looking outside the auto to see the
wheels of his opponent coming within a fraction of an inch of his car’s
wheels…just like the viewer was inside the vehicle as it crashed and rolled
down the side of the race track. That
movie’s video put the lives of the drivers inside me.
Jesus wants to do the same.
When the view from your driver’s seat is rushing past you
at 200 miles an hour…or seems like the chaos of a pit stop…Jesus wants to be in
you…seeing it too…a part of you.
When those who might cause you harm are within a hair of
success…when their tires are about to rub against yours…Jesus wants to be a
part of you…taking you through the right kind of evasive action.
When you are crashing and burning…and you see the ground
coming up to meet you…the sky coming down upon you…and a ball of flame
surrounding you…Jesus wants to be in you to take you safely away from that
crash and burn.
When Jesus told us to eat his flesh and drink his blood…he was
telling us to feed our hearts and souls and minds on his humanity…and to
revitalize our lives until we are filled with the life of God…a daily life
where Jesus is no longer apart from us…Jesus is a part of us.
As you leave the sanctuary today…do not leave that hunger
for Jesus’ flesh and blood and humanity…in the pew…take it with you…show Jesus
your hunger in your words and deeds…tell Jesus of your hunger in prayers and
conversation with him.
Because of the love of the Father…the gift of the Father…the
hunger will be fulfilled.