Pentecost XI

16/08/09 10:00 Filed in: Sermon

SERMON
at
Christ Church, Watertown, Connecticut
Pentecost XI
August 16, 2009
by
The Rev. Stanley C. Kemmerer, AHC


“I tell you most solemnly,
if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man
and drink his blood,
you will not have life in you…”

Food again! Why??? What has gotten into this Savior of ours? Enough already! Why doesn’t he give it a rest? And the Standing Liturgical Commission: What’s wrong with them? This is the third week in a row we get the “bread of life” metaphor. And the Gospel author, John: What is he on about?

I think I can tell you: The repetition is about two, maybe three, things:


    In last week’s continuation of the passage, I suggested the focus had changed from a criticism of crowds following Jesus to use him to the perspective it was to be     used that he was sent in the first place and that, similarly, his followers are sent to be used as his continuing presence, his continuing hands and feet.

    In this week’s passage the focus becomes much more serious, much more “down and dirty,” much more intimate.

    For the first time in the discourse Jesus uses the word “flesh.” Before, he may have said things like “I am the living bread,” but he didn’t make it     physical, as in

    “Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood
    has eternal life…

    And it wasn’t all that well received where it was spoken. Not at all. It was an outrage. It was gross. It was disgusting. It was beyond rude. The passages we’ve been reading for the last few weeks are from the Discourse in the Synagogue at Capernaum. After Jesus spoke the words,

    “Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever;
    And the bread that I shall give
    Is my flesh, for the life of the world.”

    the passage continues

    Then the Jews started arguing with one another: “How can this man give
    us his     flesh to eat?”

    And this isn’t any simple curious question. The tone of it is “How     dare the (expletives deleted) do this!!!” At the core of the Levitical code is the prohibition against eating meat in its own blood. To do so is Major Sin.

    It’s even worse if you understand Jesus’ choice of words. There are two different words John uses for “to eat” in telling the story. Earlier in the passage, prior to the change in focusm, he has used the Greek word     esthio. In this focus he uses trogo which has a much more graphic sense. That word is used to describe eating the way animals do: gnawing, chewing, tearing. So, here is a man telling others they are to eat his flesh and drink his blood in this animal manner. Later, a few verses past where this morning’s lesson ends, we discover even the disciples have trouble with what he’s just said.

    After hearing it, many of his followers said, “This is intolerable
    language. How could anyone accept it?”

    If eating his flesh and drinking his blood aren’t strong enough, what follows is even stronger, perhaps:

    He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood
    lives in me
    and     I live in him

    This is the language of intimacy used to describe the relationship Jesus has with those who truly believe in him. It is the language of mystics like Thersa of Avila, Julian of Norwich or St. John of the Cross. It is the language of the hymn

    And I walk in the garden alone
    and he walks with me and he talks with me
    and he tells me I am his own
    and the     joy we share as we tarry there
    none other has ever known.

    I dare say when we come to a full awareness of what this Gospel is saying, it makes us most uncomfortable. Because it’s setting as a standard one we can identify certain others as having embraced in other activities but, this time, applied to religion. Could we say golf is Tiger Woods “whole life?” Or opera Luciano Pavarotti’s? You can fill in the blanks, I’m sure. But whenever we use the phrase that “it’s his/her ‘whole life’” we’re talking about what Jesus expects to be capable of being said of his followers. That would be us!

    What tends to be more true of us is akin to what someone responded when being asked what faith a friend of theirs practiced: They said, “Well, she’s an Episcopalian, but she’s not gauche enough to take it seriously!”

    If we want the life changing difference religion can make in our lives and     does make in many lives, it won’t come from visiting church as we would go to a concert, when we don’t have a conflict or too much else to do, enjoy the music and fellowship, get a few tips from a good sermon and go home. We shall have to cross the “tipping point” where it starts to take hold.

    Early in our relationship my wife said, “I don’t share well.” It was her way of saying, “Choose to run this out with me and see if it goes anywhere or not but, while we’re discovering that, only by having an exclusive will     I commit to seeing if we have anything here.” Jesus is like that. He wants all of us. Only if we give him that can he make our lives different. That means large amounts of our time, extensive use of our talents on his behalf, and, yes, significant amounts of our treasure.

    I think we sense that. It may be why we react so strongly to stewardship messages: to hearing them or preaching them (most clergy are very uncomfortable with the topic). It may be why we hear statements like, “Look. I just want to go to church. I don’t want to get “involved.”

    And we, like the disciples, say and fear,     “This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?” In a way, I think it right that we do. Because we’re only human. It is possible to get so far in front by leading that, even those who sincerely are working on greater discipleship get left behind. Is that what Jesus wants? I doubt it!

    Perhaps we should adopt the attitude of the Centurion, who said to Jesus, “I believe. Help my     unbelief,” and in our quest to become one with our Lord and Savior ourselves and to help others to do so, accept them and ourselves where we are and start there.

    But Jesus clearly does not want us to stay     stuck there. We should seek for ourselves and to help others identify, celebrate and offer what they can offer, affirm and appreciate it. We want to push the envelope to reach the next levels at a pace we can absorb, re-evaluating along the way, seeing how far we’ve come, as the inspiration for getting to where we can get next. Until we reach the tipping point at which it begins to be said of us our faith is “our whole life!”