The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. George Pejakovich, Assistant to the Dean
Grace Cathedral
08/23/09

John 6:56-69

THIS IS THE FOURTH SERMON IN THE SERIES ON JESUS AS THE BREAD OF LIFE. YOU MIGHT THINK THAT, BY NOW, THERE IS NOTHING MORE TO BE SAID ON THE SUBJECT, BUT, OF COURSE, PREACHERS ALWAYS HAVE MORE TO SAY ON ANY SUBJECT. THE WRITER OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN SPENDS A LOT OF EFFORT AND SPACE IN HIS ACCOUNT IN ORDER TO CAPTURE ALL THAT JESUS HAD TO SAY ON THE SUBJECT BECAUSE IT IS THE ULTIMATE EXPRESSION OF JUST WHO AND WHAT JESUS IS. HE CAPTURES THE CONFRONTATIONAL NATURE OF THE DISCOURSE; HOW WHAT JESUS SAYS DISTURBS AND ANGERS THE CROWD AND THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS. HE DETAILS HOW JESUS KEEPS DRIVING THIS POINT HOME, AGAIN AND AGAIN, UNTIL HE ACTUALLY DRIVES AWAY MOST OF THE CROWD OF FIVE THOUSAND HE HAD FED WITH FIVE LOAVES AND TWO FISH. SINCE THIS IS SO IMMENSELY IMPORTANT TO JESUS, AND TO THE WRITER OF THE GOSPEL, IT MIGHT JUST BE IMPORTANT TO US.

WE HAVE ALREADY SEEN HOW BREAD IS THE SYMBOL FOR LIFE, AND HOW THE TORAH, THE WORD OF GOD, WAS CALLED THE BREAD OF LIFE OR THE BREAD OF HEAVEN. AS JESUS KEEPS POUNDING AWAY AT THE CROWD BY CLAIMING THAT HE IS THE BREAD OF LIFE, THE BREAD WHICH CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN, HE IS DOING MUCH MORE THAN SPEAKING IN METAPHORE. HE IS, IN FACT, CALLING THE CROWD, THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS, AND HIS DISCIPLES TO A PROFOUNDLY NEW AND RADICAL COMMITMENT TO HIM, AND THROUGH HIM, TO GOD. THE CROWD UNDERSTOOD WHAT JESUS WAS DOING WHEN THEY HEARD HIS WORDS, WHICH IS WHY THEY LEFT IN DROVES, AND WHY THE RELIGIOUS AUTHORITIES NOW LOOKED UPON JESUS WITH HATRED.

IN THE ANCIENT WORLD, WHEN YOU RECEIVED BREAD FROM THE HANDS OF ANOTHER, YOU WERE LITERALLY AFFIRMING THE FACT THAT YOU WERE SUBJECT TO THAT PERSON’S AUTHORITY. THE HEAD OF THE HOUSEHOLD WAS ALWAYS THE ONE WHO BROKE THE BREAD AND GAVE IT TO THE REST OF THE FAMILY. THIS ACTION ESTABLISHED THAT THE HEAD OF THE HOUSHOLD WAS THE ONE IN CHARGE, AND ALL WHO RECEIVED THE BREAD FROM HIS HANDS WERE UNDER HIS RULE AND PROTECTION. WHEN A GUEST RECEIVED BREAD FROM THE HANDS OF HIS HOST, HE PLACED HIMSELF IN SUBMISSION TO THE RULE AND PROTECTION OF THE HOST, AND THE HOST WAS OBLIGATED TO PROTECT THE GUEST AT THE COST OF HIS OWN LIFE. EVEN IN THE PAGAN CULTURES, LIKE ROME, TAKING BREAD FROM THE HANDS OF ANOTHER OBLIGATED YOU TO THE SERVICE OF THE BREAD – GIVER, AND MADE HIM YOUR MASTER. WE HEAR AN FAINT ECHO OF THIS REALITY EVEN TODAY WHEN WE USE THE ENGLISH WORD “LORD.” THE WORD “LORD” HAS BEEN ERRODED FROM THE OLD ENGLISH WORD “HWAEFFLELOD,” WHICH MEANS “LOAF – GIVER.” ALL OF THIS IS IMPLICIT IN WHAT JESUS TELLS THE CROWD. THEY UNDERSTAND, CLEARLY, THAT HE IS TELLING THEM THAT HE IS THE BREAD WHICH GOD HAS GIVEN TO THE WORLD, AND TO TAKE THIS BREAD FROM THE HAND OF GOD MEANS THAT YOU ARE NOW SUBJECT TO THE RULE AND PROTECTION OF GOD, THAT GOD IS YOUR MASTER AND LORD, AND THERE CAN BE NO OTHER FOR YOUR LIFE.

“THOSE WHO EAT MY FLESH AND DRINK MY BLOOD ABIDE IN ME, AND I IN THEM,” JESUS SAYS. “JUST AS THE LIVING FATHER SENT ME, AND I LIVE BECAUSE OF THE FATHER, SO WHOEVER EATS ME WILL LIVE BECAUSE OF ME. THIS IS THE BREAD THAT CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN, NOT LIKE THAT YOUR ANCESTORS ATE, AND THEY DIED. BUT THE ONE WHO EATS THIS BREAD WILL LIVE FOREVER.” JUST AS ISRAEL LIVED BY THE BREAD FROM THE HAND OF GOD IN THE DESERT, AS GOD LED THEM TO THE PROMISED LAND, SO MUST YOU LIVE BY THE BREAD FROM THE HAND OF GOD, BUT THIS BREAD LEADS TO THE PROMISE LAND OF EVERLASTING LIFE WITH GOD. THIS NEW BREAD IS NOT  “MANNA,” BUT IS A PERSON, JESUS, AND HE MUST BECOME A PART OF YOU, AND YOU A PART OF HIM, AND ONLY THROUGH THIS INTIMATE AND COMPLETE RELATIONSHIP, CAN YOU BECOME A SUBJECT OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

THE CROWD HEARS THIS CALL FOR AN UNCOMPROMISING AND COMPLETE COMMITMENT, AND SOME, BECAUSE THEY ARE SO TIED TO THE MATERIAL ASPECTS OF LIFE THINK THEY HEAR OVERTONES OF CANNIBALISM. “THIS TEACHING IS DIFFICULT; WHO CAN ACCEPT IT.” THEY CAN NOT ACCEPT IT. THEY CAN NOT ACCEPT THE COMMITMENT TO WHICH JESUS CALLS THEM, NOR CAN THEY UNDERSTAND WHAT HE IS SAYING ABOUT TAKING HIM INTO THEIR SELVES AND THEREBY BECOMING A PART OF HIM. THE CROWD MELTS AWAY, LEAVING JESUS AND THE TWELVE DISCIPLES, AND A FEW OTHERS WHO FOLLOWED HIM. JESUS IS NOT FINISHED BEING CONFRONTATIONAL, AS HE TURNS TO THOSE WHO ARE LEFT AND DEMANDS, “DO YOU ALSO WISH TO GO AWAY?”
 
NOW PETER WAS NOT ALWAYS THE “SHAPEST PENCIL IN THE BOX,” AND HOW MUCH HE GRASPED OF WHAT JESUS WAS SAYING CAN NOT BE KNOWN. IN FACT, WE KNOW FROM THE TESTIMONY OF PETER AND THE OTHERS THAT THEY REALLY DID NOT UNDERSTAND IT ALL UNTIL AFTER THE RESURRECTION, BUT THE IMPLICATIONS OF WHAT JESUS HAD BEEN SAYING COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MISSED BY PETER AND THE OTHERS, EVEN IF THEY DID NOT UNDERSTAND COMPLETELY. SO, PETER, LOOKING JESUS IN THE EYES, LOOKING AT THIS MAN WHO CALLED HIMSELF THE BREAD OF HEAVEN AND WHO JUST SAID THAT HIS FOLLOWERS WOULD HAVE TO EAT HIS FLESH AND DRINK HIS BLOOD, SAID, “LORD, TO WHOM CAN WE GO? YOU HAVE THE WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE. WE HAVE COME TO BELIEVE AND KNOW THAT YOU ARE THE HOLY ONE OF GOD.”

BELIEF ALWAYS COMES BEFORE UNDERSTANDING. BELIEF IS NOT AN INTELLECTUAL ASSESMENT AND CONFIRMATION, BUT IS A TRUST THAT GOES BEFORE AND BEYOND UNDERSTANDING. WHAT PETER IS SAYING IS THAT EVEN THOUGH WE DON’T “GET” WHAT YOU ARE SAYING, WE “GET” YOU. WE MIGHT NOT UNDERSTAND COMPLETELY, BUT WE BELIEVE IN YOU, WE TRUST IN YOU, AND COMMIT OUR SELVES AND ALL THAT WE ARE TO YOU. WE ARE YOURS, BODY AND SPIRIT, BECAUSE YOU AND YOU ALONE HAVE THE WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE. YOU ARE THE BREAD OF LIFE.

THIS IS THE BELIEF TO WHICH JESUS CALLS US, THE TRUST IN HIM AND THROUGH HIM THE TRUST IN GOD, WHICH GOES BEYOND ALL HUMAN UNDERSTANDING. WE ARE CALLED TO COMMIT OUR SELVES, BODY AND SPIRIT, TO HIM, AND HE WILL FEED US WITH HIS FLESH AND BLOOD. I DO NOT REALLY UNDERSTAND COMPLETELY WHAT HAPPENS AT THE ALTAR HERE AND EVERYWHERE THOSE WHO TRUST IN JESUS GATHER, BUT I BELIEVE THAT HE FEEDS US WITH HIS FLESH AND BLOOD, AND THAT HE LITERALLY BECOMES A PART OF ME, AND YOU, AND WE BECOME A PART OF HIM AND OF EACH OTHER. I BELIEVE, I TRUST, THAT HE FEEDS ME WITH HIS WORD AND WITH HIS BODY AND BLOOD. I BELIEVE, I TRUST, THAT HE FEEDS ME AND YOU WITH THE BREAD OF HEAVEN, THE BREAD OF LIFE ETERNAL, AND RECEIVING THAT BREAD, WHICH IS HIS SELF, WE RECEIVE THE BREAD OF LIFE FROM THE HANDS OF GOD.

FROM THE HANDS OF GOD WE RECEIVE THE BREAD OF LIFE, AND, IN TAKING THAT BREAD, WE COMMIT OURSELVES TO HIM, AND PLACE OUR SELVES, BODY AND SPIRIT, UNDER HIS RULE AND PROTECTION. IT IS JESUS WHO GIVES US THE BREAD WHICH DOES NOT PERISH. IT IS JESUS WHO FEEDS US SO THAT WE NEVER HUNGER. IT IS JESUS WHO FEEDS US DAILY ON OUR JOURNEY TO THE PROMISE LAND OF LIFE EVERLASTING. IT IS JESUS, WHO GIVES US THE BREAD OF LIFE, WHOM ALONE WE CALL “LORD.”

“TO WHOM CAN WE GO?” INDEED; HE ALONE HAS THE WORDS OF LIFE. HE ALONE IS THE BREAD OF LIFE.
 AMEN