Eternally Now at the Table
A sermon by Rev Andrew Colman on John 6:6:56-69
This summer, we have been focusing primarily on the story of David, his rise to power and then his fall from Grace. Eventually, his act of true and earnest repentance solidified him as a man after God's own heart despite some truly wicked actions.
It is a story that is full of mercy and Grace, because it tells us that no matter how far we fall we are never too far gone, that God in unable to fulfil God's covenantal promise of drawing us home, back to him, where we will always always have another chance to live a good life that is Glorfies God.
No matter our circumstances or the consequences of our previous actions, the change to love our neighbour as ourselves and love the Lord our God is always there.
That is message of the Gospel and it is also the blessed "moral of the story" of the life of King David.
However, save last week, we have not really been paying attention to the Gospel’s story. We are at the end of the Summer of Bread, the summer in the lectionary cycle, during which we work our way slowly through Chapter 6 in the Gospel of John.
Here is a really quick summary of what's happened so far.
Jesus, in Chapter 5, was out doing his thing, healing a bunch of people who were sick and or demon-possessed after some fashion.
At the beginning of Chapter 6, he saw that because of these signs, crowds of people started to come to him.
So he went up a mountain, where there was plenty of grass, and still a large crowd approached.
The five thousand+ sat down, and he turned a few loaves of bread and a few fish into enough food to feed them all with an overabundance of twelve baskets of bread.
So far, so good, Jesus. Heal a bunch of people, create a stir, and get people to follow you to a beautiful place. Then feed them until they can't eat anymore!
Now, he saw that they were going to seize him and try to make him "king," so he got out of there. He was not looking for that kind of trouble yet.
And he went up another mountain. This time, he slipped away by himself.
When evening came, his disciples jumped in a boat and were heading across the sea. In the middle of the night, Jesus joined them by walking on the water.
For those who are counting, this is miracle number three in this episode: healing the sick, feeding the many, and walking on water.
In the morning those who had been fed by Jesus, seen him go up the mountain, and seen the disciples leave without him went looking for him and couldn't find him. Word got out that he was, somehow, already on the other side with his disciples.
So, some of the crowd headed over to be with him.
It's safe to say that not all 5000 made it over to see him, but those who were there would have been intrigued, curious, confused, seeking answers.
Jesus had three big miracles or at least mysteries under his belt in just a couple of days what could possibly come next? Another free meal, or maybe he's building up to something bigger. And he was indeed; it just wasn't at all what they were expecting.
So now that Jesus has their undivided attention, according to our world's standards or rules of engagement, he commits an unimaginable blunder.
This wild bait and switch. Jesus starts into teaching about the bread that will become flesh and wine that will become blood.
So we go from Jesus I healing. That’s easy to understand.
You were sick, and now you are not.
Jesus feeding, though inexplicably,
you were hungry, and then you were not.
Jesus moving through time and space in ways that you cannot understand.
He was on this side of the sea, and then on was on that side.
Not easily explained, if explainable at all, but things with undeniable results.
We go from all of that to Jesus teaching about the bread that will become flesh and wine that will become blood. And in consuming these mysterious creatures, we might gain life itself and eternal life thereafter.
A mystery, a disturbing one if taken literally, followed by mystery, followed by otherworldly claims, followed by not a shred of evidence.
Conventional wisdom might say it's best not to blindside the people who are following you.
Be predicatable, be safe, be creative and a little surpising, but not so much that you scare people off.
That's how you gain followers on Instagram or TikTok or increase the number of friends on Facebook.
You don't lure people in with amazing and beautiful things and then start talking about eating flesh and blood and having eternal life.
That literally sounds crazy.
So what happened next was exactly what one might expect to happen.
"Because of this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.”
It was just too much for some.
The hope of a free lunch was met with a promise of eternal life. What!? In that moment, even healing, feedings, and walking on water were not enough to keep them in the fold.
Honestly, this is probably a part of the story for most of us who are followers of Christ.
If you've been around church long enough, you'll have seen some miracles if it wasn't a miracle itself that brought you here.
- Thousands of people are fed out of soup kitchens or food pantries that were empty at the beginning of the week that was filled by the member of the Body of Christ..
- Healings, both in body, soul, and spirit, by the prayers and care of all the folks praying and visiting those who need it.
- Being moved either physically and spiritually in ways that we could never have expected by God.
We have all seen those kinds of miracles,
and some maybe even more miraculous.
But there are times that even those are not enough to keep us from shaking our heads at the absurdity of this greater promise of eternal life offered to us by Jesus.
It's too much—way too much. Espcially in light of all of the darkness we see are constantly bombared with in the new cycle.
We can understand sickness, hunger, and mobility —
but life, Jesus, eternal life—that's too far.
———————————-—
But that's the point. For God, it is not too far. It is nowhere near too far.
Precisscy because of those head lines in the news cycle where we see how humanity invents ever new ways of taking us away from God. Each time, with a new spin on how to take away life, both in body and spirit.
Each time, God looks down and is residing among us finds new ways of bringing us back giving us life.
And God will do that until the Kingdoms again.
God will eternally find us and give us life. (I don't think I'm out of theological bounds here)
But we are living within of God's infinite sense of time right now.
We are living in God's eternal right now.
So, while there is this idea that at culmination of time we will be granted eternal life.
So to is life in the fullness of God is being offered and given to us here and now.
Last week, we talked about taking the bread and wine and being lifted into the life of God in the Trinity, which is everlasting and eternal.
And so we are made one with a part of that everlasting life every time we come to the table and eat.
It is something absolutely to shake our heads at. It is utterly nonsensical that we live in some kind of eternal life, by the body and blood of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit, in our daily lives.
Now, What that means to each of us and how we unpack and live into that is beyond me. When I was thinking about how to "bring this home" to make it applicable to our everyday lives, all I could do was rub my eyes and shake my head. It is something each of us can only figure out for ourselves, in community to be sure, but also on our own.
And a little bit closer to the ground, especially for those who left after Jesus's confounding teaching that day, there will be another meal.
Every Eucharistic meal is an invitation and opportunity to come back, to be fed and hear the head-shaking Gospel once again.
No matter how many times we've walked away.
It says that the disciples gathered up the leftover bread so that none would be lost.
We to gather by at Christ’s command to share in the body and blood from now through... eternity? So that no one will be lost.
Amen.