“LORD, TO WHOM SHALL WE GO?”

12TH Sunday after Pentecost   August 27, 2006

United Lutheran Church—Red Wing, Minnesota

John 6:56-69

Grace and Peace be with you in the name of Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life.  Amen

              It was several years ago when I was attending an educational seminar on the Arts and Religion that I met Reinhold Marxhausen.  At the time he was a Professor of Art at Concordia College in Seward, Nebraska.  He was attempting to help those of us who are a bit “artistically challenged”.  He was challenging us to be open and to discover what we see around us which might be symbolic of our lives and our daily faith journey.  He hoped we would see with new eyes and to express ourselves with some artistic medium, whether through sculpture, sketching, or paints.  We needed an example of discovery and he told of walking through old “dump grounds” and observing whatever was there. One day a man approached him and asked him, “What are you looking for?”   His response

was,  “That’s the wrong question.  The right question is, ‘What are you finding?”

              I was reminded of that experience this week as I read yet another segment of this 6th Chapter of John focusing on the Bread of Life. I was thinking about those who were part of the throng partaking of the loaves and fish or perhaps saw or heard of Jesus walking on the water and began to follow Jesus.  I wondered what they were looking for and I wondered what they had found or “thought” they had found in Jesus.  The dialogues that ensued leading to Jesus revelation of the Bread of Life metaphor.

              It seems relatively easy to follow Jesus when stomachs are full and needs are being met.  But chasing after a “miracle worker” didn’t seem to be Jesus reason for calling people to be disciples.  It’s simple when my “belly” is full but John’s gospel has Jesus pushing from the most obvious and suggesting that these events are more than they appear on the surface.  Signs, suggests John, pointing to Jesus identity. “I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE”.    And Jesus identifies himself as the Bread Man…but one who is there to do more than nourish the body with daily food and provision.

              That, in itself, is vital for life for we don’t only live to eat, but we eat to live. We are reminded of the day to day struggle for people all over the globe trying to live at a poverty level.   Over these past four weeks, this image of Jesus as the bread of life is like looking at a precious gem because there are many facets to it.  Yes, we know that Jesus truly is deeply concerned about physical bread-food to nourish the body but he is also deeply concerned of that which nourishes the spirit, the very soul of humankind.   He is the food quintessential to sustain us, to change us; more than change us… HE IS THE BREAD FOR THE JOURNEY to eternal life.   The Eucharistic food which feeds us with the gifts for new life—forgiveness, daily life, and life yet to come.

              Jesus does have a way of pushing a metaphor until it takes us deeper into the meaning of life, until it has a way of touching us, calling us, even forcing us to be more than listeners and into a situation where we must make decisions, commitments, and actions based on those convictions. 

              In last week’s segment from John 6 the same words that ended that text began our text this morning. “THOSE WHO EAT MY FLESH AND DRINK MY BLOOD ABIDE IN ME, AND I IN THEM. JUST AS THE LIVING FATHER SENT ME, SO WHO-EVER EATS ME WILL LIVE BECAUSE OF ME…THE ONE WHO EATS THIS BREAD WILL LIVE FOREVER.”   Michael Conklin writes, “I have always found this kind of language in John more than a little off-putting.  But then, there he is, this Jesus presented to us by John, unwilling to be a comfortable fit in our lives, but insisting that our lives be reshaped to accommodate who he is.  I’m all for the bread and fish dinners because they fit easily into my life.  This other immersing myself in the nitty-gritty of Jesus’ life and ministry, is a little more problematic.”

              A good number of years ago a song was written by John Ylvisaker, who at the time was introducing a Christian folk venue to the church, that spoke to all those experiences which cause people to back away from following Jesus.  He used some of the parables and miracles which presented significant challenges to discipleship.  And in a tongue-in-cheek manner each verse was followed by the chorus that sang, “Pardon me if you don’t agree, but ‘That’s the Thing I Don’t Like About Jesus!”

              As we begin to hear of the attrition among the followers of Jesus, as they began to more fully realize this was not just about food to eat, but food that nourishes spirit and soul, food that calls for a change in life and demands upon life if perhaps they pulled

back because there were things they did not like about Jesus.   “When many of his disciples heard it, they said, this teaching is difficult; who can accept it.”  The language of “eating his flesh and drinking his blood” became repulsive, offensive and had a chilling effect upon the commitment of those who were finding things about this Jesus that were “hard to swallow”.   Whatever else it meant, it implied a hard commitment to following that goes beyond a simple allegiance.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer succinctly put it in the book, THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP,  when he wrote, “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die!”  Die to self, and come alive to Christ.

              There is within us, when confronted with a life-changing commitment, a desire not to step out beyond our own comfort zone, to pause and rethink whether we can or want to place our lives into the hands of another,  risking the adventure of faith.  Jesus senses that and says, “Does what I’m telling you offend you?  Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending where He was before?”  If this offends, just wait

              Jesus response is, “THE WORDS I HAVE SPOKEN TO YOU ARE SPIRIT AND LIFE. FOR THIS REASON I HAVE TOLD YOU THAT NO ONE CAN COME TO ME UNLESS IT IS GRANTED BY THE FATHER.”   Of course, these are difficult, because they challenge us to not see ourselves at the center of our own universe.  For they remind us of our helplessness to come to God.  That faith is not at our initiative but rather God’s initiative always.  That is it is not about “ME”. But it is about Jesus.  It is about the Spirit given us life.  It is about the Father dragging us to Jesus.  It is about the Spirit giving us life as we “eat” of this Christ and participate in his loving forgiveness that nourishes this life to which we are called.

              Hardly a week goes by for me when I am not drawn to Luther’s definition of the 3rd Article of the Creed where he writes:  ‘I CANNOT BY MY OWN REASON OR EFFORT BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST MY LORD OR COME TO HIM.  BUT THE HOLY SPIRIT CALLS ME THROUGH THE GOSPEL, ENLIGHTENS ME WITH HIS GIVES, SANCTIFIES AND PRESERVES ME IN THE ONE TRUE FAITH.  IN LIKE MANNER, THE SPIRIT CALLS, GATHERS, ENLIGHTENS AND SANCTIFIES THE WHOLE CHRISTIAN CHURCH ON EARTH AND KEEPS IT UNITED WITH JESUS CHRIST IN THE ONE TRUE FAITH.”  God finds us, takes the initiative, and continues to offer this gift of life always, always at God’s initiative.  God’s gracious, loving initiative to draw us into the life-long journey. 

              Jesus asks the poignant question as he sees the people beginning to pull back and not walk with him anymore.   “WHAT ABOUT YOU?  DO YOU ALSO WANT TO GO AWAY?”  Surprisingly, Peter describes the corner that he and the others are backed into,  words we often sing and just sang this morning as we prepared to hear the reading of the Gospel.  “LORD, TO WHOM SHALL WE GO?  YOU HAVE THE WORDS OF ETER-NAL LIFE.”  And then, “WE HAVE COME TO BELIEVE AND KNOW THAT YOU ARE THE HOLY ONE OF GOD.” 

              Where else would I find life like this?  Where else would I find love like this? Where else would we see a God like this?   To whom shall we go for eternal life.

Yogi Berra once said,  “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll wind up some-where else!”   That might just be true for us as we journey in faith.  To whom indeed!  Where indeed, can we go?

              It’s a faith touched and healed enough to know that there really is no other place to go.  Some of us struggle greatly in matters of faith.  We wonder if it all makes sense. Some of us get irritated with the church because it’s too slow or too fast, too old-fashioned or too-modern, too in tension with many of the values that we’ve absorbed

which put us at cross-purposes with Christ.  But when we’re tempted to go, we need ask of ourselves, “LORD, TO WHOM SHALL WE GO?”  Who else offers us life lived in the unending presence of God?

              Eternal life is that unending presence of God that truly begins now…not just in some hereafter we perceive begins at death.  That theme of eternal life echoes throughout the Gospel of John as a pervasive theme.  From John 3:16 to the end of John’s writing that “these are written that you may have life in His Name.”

              Is there somewhere else to go once we come to realize that we are known by Christ and that we know him?  As the church we are called and to be a calling people who speak the words in spirit and truth. We are challenged and to be a challenging people, an invited and inviting people.  To call others to hear the Word and to share

in Christ’s family.  The family of this Jesus, the Bread of Life. And we are to do so “for the sake of the world.”

              Call to believe and confess that “You have the words of eternal life.  And we have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”   Receive that Word and share it with all.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.  As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.

                                                                                                  Pastor Clark Cary