B, Pent 12 Proper 16 - John 6:56-69 "Life, be in it! Let it be in you" (Part 5 of 5)
Today we hear the final sermon in the series from John chapter six. For the fifth time we hear about Christ’s being and our call to be in him and trust his being in us. We have been called to let Jesus Christ, the perfect wisdom and the spotless love of God, be our bread from heaven, our bread of life, which came to us only because of the Father’s action through the Holy Spirit. Today, as everyday, God calls us to this life, to be in eternal life, to let it be in you, so that eternal death will never be a part of your being.
Jesus says, 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in
60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” 61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.” 66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:56-69)
Earlier in John 6 Jesus tells us what the work is that God calls us to do. The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent. (John 6:29) And now in this text the difficulty of doing this one simple thing comes to the fore. To remain in faith, being in a state of willingness to feed on Christ and nothing else, proves to be more difficult than many think, once the sinful rational mind kicks in, seeking to justify our deeds, personal thoughts and emotions. So many disciples grumble then turn away from believing Jesus and his hard teaching.
Those of us who were around in the 70’s and 80’s were accustomed to the television character, Norm — the great Australian sportsman. He watched every sport that came on television. He was undisciplined to such a degree, he didn’t even get exercise getting out of his armchair to change the channel, the remote control saw to that. As we watched him, with a beer in his hand resting on his stomach, he’d lay back and watch every sport conceivable, without being a part of life. For Norm, “Life! Be in it!”, could be rationalised so to justify his armchair deeds, lazy thoughts, and his self-centred sorry emotions.
Life! Be in it! The Father enables us to be in life, by sending his Son to us, to be our bread of life. Jesus is the life of the world, his flesh was sent to give our flesh eternal life in peace with God. And now he calls us to be his disciples, by disciple-ing ourselves, by disciplining ourselves, in the doing which God has set in advance for us to do. And that is: to believe in the one God has sent. And that is not an easy thing to do, when things appear to be going so wrong in the church today.
Droves walk away from the “one” true faith, because apparently it’s not enough just to be in Christ and trust his word anymore. The temptation is to go looking for a diet of gratification – continually searching for something that’s never found. Perhaps that something is power, prestige, popularity, protection in numbers, or personal fulfilment in enjoyment of some kind.
Just like Norm – The great Australian sportsman, many call themselves great Australian Christians without being in Christ, without participating in the Christian life to which we have been called, and reduce being a Christian into a justification of all the things that please the self. But Jesus says, The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing.(John 6:63)
Perhaps you’re one of those who use Jesus to justify your deeds, or thoughts, or emotions, rather than let him call you to repentance because of your deeds, thoughts, and emotions! Maybe Jesus is just a legal warrant in your life, as if being a Christian is about using a few “Jesus phrases” on Sunday to justify what you think Christianity is; trusting works, or human understanding, and emotions; over against God’s word – from where we receive the true bread of life. Perhaps the Christian life for some of us is more about what one can do for Jesus, so that Jesus will do things to please the appetite of the sinful self.
The Holy Spirit gives life; our flesh counts for nothing! Eternal Life; be in it! The life of Jesus; let it be in you!
Like being a sportsman or woman, being a Christian or a disciple is about discipline. And the discipline to which all Christians are called is that of listening and being learners of Jesus. Our holy work is to put aside all the rationalities, of ourselves and the world—that tell us to put our works, understanding, and emotions first—and instead be in a state of willingness to be in Jesus.
And this discipline of discipleship calls us to let the Holy Spirit be, so he might give us life, in the simple, practical, physical things Christ brought to be, so we might continually receive the benefits of his life, death, resurrection, and ascension, some two-thousand years after the fact. The Holy Spirit has been sent to coach you in Christ, and give you food for strength, Jesus Christ – the bread of life, so that in God you might be.
In the collect, the prayer of the day, we prayed for faith to follow Jesus because he is the way, the truth, and the life. So we prayed by the power of the Holy Spirit, that he would grant us the willingness to follow and walk in him alone, whose way leads to eternal life. This is the only way any of us are going to win the race of eternal life.
Picture a soldier on the battle field, without a weapon or armour, who thinks his own personal being is going to protect him from the onslaught of the enemy. Being a soldier without any armour, is like being a “so called” Christian without trusting in the very things Jesus gives us to keep us together in him. When our personal being, which is flawed with sin and evil, is confronted with the evil of others, seen and unseen, we quickly become allied with the forces of evil or the evil smothers us and kills us. The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing.
If looking at our own lives is not confirmation of this reality, we only have to look at the disciples of Jesus to see their weakness at following Jesus and disciplining themselves under him. They saw what was happening to Jesus as he got closer and closer to the cross, and buoyed by their own understanding and emotions, and their failure to do any works to save Jesus from humanity’s sinfulness, they ran and were consumed by the evil around them. So Jesus died for them too. In the end their flesh counted for nothing, even Christ’s flesh didn’t save him, it was the Holy Spirit who gave Christ his life, it was the Holy Spirit who gave life to the disciples and their ministry, and it is the Holy Spirit who gives life to you. Life, be in it!
Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God. To whom shall we go for life? No one other than Jesus Christ! Not to our understanding of him, not to our dubious deeds, and definitely not to our emotions. We go to the great “I AM” not the “I am” of ourselves. In the Greek the word for “I” is “ego”, so we trust not our own ego but the ego of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We trust the life-giving being of God.
Just like a soldier who stands strong in his armour, shoulder to shoulder with others, disciplined as one. We Christians get our strength, not in numbers, but when we stand together as one, in the being of Christ. Like a soldier, being a Christian is not about having fun, especially on the battle line, but its all about life; the life of home, the lives of others, and the preservation of one’s own life. As Christians our being is all about living in eternity with God, and having our eternal life defended and our neighbour’s eternal life defended, with the being and strength of Jesus.
So Paul tells us, 10 … Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
19 Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. (Ephesians 6:10-20)
As Christians, we survive only when we allow the Holy Spirit to dress us in the armour Christ. The armour of Christ is his word, the water and his word, his body and blood. Only with this armour can we help others put their armour on too. Our strength comes not from our self but from what the Holy Spirit seeks to dress us in — the being of Christ, the bread of life.
Life; be in it! Amen.
