The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost Proper 21, Year B

Transformed by the Gospel

Readings: 1 Kings 8:1, 6, 10-11, 22-30, 41-43; Psalm 84; Ephesians 6:10-20; John 6:56-69

The Gospel today begins as last Sunday’s ended. “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.” Taken literally, that statement is truly gross. In fact, taking it literally gave rise in the early church to allegations that Christians were cannibals. What is more, it follows other statements that were equally offensive to the people to whom Jesus was speaking. For one, he claimed to have descended from Heaven. But people took Jesus literally and failed to get his message. They failed to understand that he was not speaking literally. He was speaking deep spiritual truths about himself. He was speaking about spiritual hunger. He was speaking about the yearning in their souls. He was telling them about how God reaches out to humanity, breaking down all of the barriers.

It was not just the crowds who followed Jesus who misunderstood. The disciples, his close followers, also heard in a literal sense. “This teaching is difficult,” they said. And so Jesus reassured them. “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”

That need to step back and assess what is being offered is something that we in this computer age should easily comprehend. Computers are wonderful things. I don’t know what I would do without my computer. It handles all kinds of problems. It works things out so quickly for me. It gives me access to information. It does so in a totally rational way. That is its strength. It is also its weakness. It isn’t human. I still have to assess the information that it gives me. I have to filter it, judge it by what I know. Check it out for its truth. A certain U.S. president aside, there is a lot of fake news out there, and I do not want to be the one to spread it any further.

As rational beings we speak in terms of logic. We say, “Let’s be rational about this!” Even as we say it, we know that the real meaning is that something is going to happen that shouldn’t. Perhaps we are letting someone down easily about a relationship. A marriage is about to break down. A business is going to close, putting many people out of work. There is going to be heartbreak. But there is something behind the statement.

What Jesus is explaining to the disciples is that the spirit is different from the flesh. The spirit is different because it is life giving. It is directed by rationality, but it is accompanied by love. “My words,” he is saying to them, “can speak to your spirit. My words are life giving. Being in relationship with me means being in relationship with God. And here I am, standing in front of you, speaking these words of life.”

Even with his explanation, some of the disciples still do not understand. They turn back and no longer go about with him. They are offended by the message of the Gospel.

The gospel of Christ offers comfort, but it also offends. Many are ill at ease with its paradoxes and demands. They try to reduce the Christian faith to simplistic categories. They want a more palatable faith. They don’t want to grapple with shades of grey. They want everything to be black and white, right and wrong, clear-cut. They want to look it up in Scripture and know exactly what God is saying. What they fail to understand is that the Bible is not a book of answers to all of life’s dilemmas. It is not a proof text. It is not a recipe. It is not a history book. Reading Scripture is about listening to what the Spirit is saying to the Church.

As Christians we need to know that the Gospel makes demands. It is costly to be a disciple of Christ. It requires commitment to God’s purposes. That can strike at the very core of our self-centred lives. We are pretty good at recognizing sin and evil, but not necessarily in ourselves. Until we understand like the disciples that Jesus has the words of eternal life, the Christian faith can indeed be offensive.

Within the Church, it seems, it is very easy to offend. Often the reasons are beyond comprehension, or even more often we never hear how we have offended. People simply leave, and we don’t hear from them again. When I was a student I had a conversation with someone who had left the church because in the new service in the BAS the priest turned the page in the Prayer of Consecration before the people. She said that she no longer knew when to turn the page.

Let’s face it! People are offended by all sorts of things, but primarily by change. They want the church to remain static and unchanging. They want it to be available to them for rites of passage. But they don’t want it to change their lives. That is why they are offended. They are offended when we ask them to contribute to the ongoing operating expenses of the community. “All you ever do is ask for money,” we hear at our once yearly commitment campaign. And actually I stopped hearing that when my congregation undertook a massive stewardship campaign that required me to preach about it once a month. There are some who become offended over issues, without even understanding what the church is saying about such things, or without understanding the way in which, at least in our denomination, we go about making decisions.

For example, many people left the Anglican Church over the ordination of women. They were offended that the Church would allow women the right to answer God’s call. They had all the Scriptural references, but there was little reason or scholarship behind it. And now most people would acknowledge that the decision to ordain women was indeed the Spirit speaking to the church.

If the Gospel message is offensive to Christians, it is even more offensive to society. A teenager in my last parish was sent home from school to change one day because a teacher found her t-shirt offensive. You might think that she was sporting foul language. I want you to know that the offensive language on that t-shirt was “What would Jesus do?”

To our detriment, we have learned as Christians to be careful of how we speak about our faith so that we will not be offensive. It was pointed out to me one day in a mall that I should not say “bless you” when someone sneezes. We no longer celebrate our holy days like Christmas in schools because it might offend someone of another faith. We don’t share our faith with others.

A priest was standing outside his church when a stranger approached him. What kind of people live in this town?”

“What kind of people lived in the town you just left,” the priest asked him.

“They were horrible,” the stranger said waving his had in emphasis. “They were dishonest, selfish and inconsiderate.”

The priest shook his head, “I’m sorry to say that’s probably what you’ll find in this town too.”

The stranger moaned and walked away.

Later that day another person happened past the church and stopped to talk to the priest. He too asked, What kind of people live in this town?”

“What kind of people lived in the town you just left,” the priest asked him.

“They were thoughtful, friendly, and kind,” was the reply. “I hated to leave them.”
The priest put out his hand and smiled. “I’m pleased to say that is about how you’ll find people here.

Not that we can simply sit back and think that the way we act is fine because we are Christians. Sometimes the things that good, church going people do to others in their midst, is truly offensive. It causes rifts in a congregation. If you find people leaving in droves then it is time to look at the way you behave and make some positive changes. The Gospel is about transformation. How do you as a congregation change the perception, rightly or wrongly that this is an unfriendly place? Because, face it, that is the perception! How do you draw people in instead of chasing them away? How do you transform this place into a place of light and joy?

I have to say, I was so pleased to hear the letter that Walter read two weeks ago saying that there is a will in this congregation to bring about change, to be known as a welcoming and faithful place. It begins by welcoming a new priest and his family into your midst. The backbiting and anger and blaming about the past need to be gone. It begins with offering and accepting forgiveness for wrongs and perceived wrongs. It means letting the light of Christ shine through you into the community.

In the letter to the Ephesians, Paul says that we should walk carefully and live gratefully. We cannot ignore what is going on in our lives while we stand firm against the world. It is not about being right, but about discerning the truth. Our minds must remain open to knowing the truth, even the truth about ourselves. So be aware of God’s presence in all aspects of your lives. Be committed to the faith. Open yourselves up to the Spirit. Above all, know Jesus in whose presence we break bread. Amen

Proper 21, Year B

Where Can I Go?

Readings: Readings: 1 Kings 8:1, 6, 10-11, 22-30, 41-43; Psalm 84; Ephesians 6:10-20; John 6:56-69

A friend was telling me about a colleague who had left his church in a huff because he felt that the clergy had let him down at a time of great need in his life. He knew that my friend was quite involved in her church and conversation often centered on the Christian faith. She found him to be a caring person, a person of great integrity, and it bothered her that he had left over a bad experience. She found it sad, not only for him, but for his parish. As much as she empathized with him, she was not about to let him off the hook. “It’s no good staying outside and complaining about things,” she told him. The only way to make a difference is to come in and be part of the solution. The church is like a family. Sometimes people let you down, but they never stop being family to you.”

He left his work at the company to begin a new career. She phoned him up to see how things were going. His first week had been particularly difficult. He asked her to pray for him. At first she thought it was a joke, but she realized that he was totally serious and wondered if perhaps her words had struck a chord in him.

People have all kinds of objections to God and to the church. There are numerous excuses for being offended at the Christian faith. People get offended that we say “God bless you” when they sneeze. They are offended that we want prayers in schools and public places. They are offended by anything religious. A young person I know was told to turn her tee shirt inside out at school because it was offensive. You might think that it was because it used foul language. Actually it said, “What would Jesus do?”

So no wonder when we come across passages of Scripture like the Gospel for this Sunday, people find it offensive. “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them,” Jesus says in John’s gospel. And as Anglicans, Christians in a liturgical tradition, we have a pretty good grasp of what that means. We meet Sunday by Sunday to break bread and drink wine in remembrance of God’s great gift to us. While we may not understand the nuances of consubstantiation, we do know that the Eucharist is about being nourished at the table so that we are able to spiritually nurture those around us. At the same time it is not difficult to understand the kinds of questions that could arise about those words. Certainly the claim that people should eat Jesus’ flesh and drink his blood is grossly off putting when taken literally. Let’s face it! It sounds like cannibalism.

If it is off putting to those of us who have some understanding of where it is coming from, then we can probably gather that such language was enormously offensive to the Jews of Jesus’ time. Jewish law forbade anyone to drink blood. Drinking blood was a terrible offense against Jewish law. Even the secular Romans during the early stages of Christianity considered Christians to be practicing cannibalism, and in fact wrote against it.

One parishioner commented this past week that many years ago when a Jewish friend questioned her about it and commented that it sounded like cannibalism, she did not know how to begin to respond. No wonder! They are words that offend. There is no doubt about it. It seems unrefined. It brings things down from the sublime to the ridiculous.

As Christians we are to understand that eating the body and blood of Christ gives eternal life. How could “eating his flesh and drinking his blood” do such wondrous things as giving eternal life? That is the promise that is given repeatedly in this text. Those who eat the flesh of Jesus and drink his blood receive eternal life.

No wonder many who heard the words of Jesus fled in disgust. Even the disciples wondered if they were on the right track. “This teaching is difficult,” they said to Jesus. “Who can accept it?” They are finding the claims about Jesus to be over the top, more than they can handle. And so Jesus explains it in a new way. He assures them that he is not speaking literally; he is speaking a spiritual truth. And then he asks them a very telling question. “”Do you also wish to go away?”

It is a time of reckoning. They need to make a decision. They need to make a commitment. It is Peter who puts their thoughts into words. “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.” They have been on a spiritual journey with Jesus. They have seen him in action. They have a personal relationship with him. They know and trust him. Through him and his actions they have come to know God in a very real way. They still suffer from doubts, but they have already made the choice to follow him.

It was not just the first disciples that grumbled and questioned difficult teachings and chose not to follow Jesus. Many people wonder if Christianity has anything of value to say to them. Does it speak to the human condition? Is it simply wishful thinking? Is there any truth to it? What should I believe? Our faith can be offensive. It is difficult to be at ease with our faith’s paradoxes and demands. It requires commitment to God’s purposes. That strikes at the very core of our self-centred lives. We recognize sin and evil, but not necessarily in ourselves. Until we understand like the disciples that Jesus has the words of eternal life, the Christian faith can indeed be offensive.

If we continue to grapple with the faith, there comes a time in our spiritual life when we realize there is no turning back. It becomes inconceivable to us to follow any other path. That is not to say that we do not go through periods of doubting. Life is fraught with difficulties, for the Christian as for any human. Yet we come to a point where we know what choice we have made.

Some, of course will choose to be offended. They will choose to be offended by the little things. I know that I have been the cause of offense. I have caused offense to more than one person by simply being a woman priest. One person was offended that I wore sandals without nylons on a hot summer day. People are offended all the time that in this parish we insist that parents attend baptismal preparation before we baptize their children. People become offended at us as Christians when we uphold what is important in our faith. There is little we can do about such things except to pray for those who take offense.

We are fast approaching Back to Church Sunday. That is the Sunday that this church is going to be filled to overflowing with people who used to go to church but have gotten out of the habit. It is an opportunity to seek out those who have been offended, or who have simply drifted away. Pray for them. Send them a card, or better still visit them and personally invite them. Invite them to come to church with you on September 27th. Remember to ask them what time you can pick them up. It may not be easy. But it will be rewarding if they find they their way back to God. And you may find yourself becoming more centred in the faith, more committed.