[Machine transcription]
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father,
from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Our text for this morning’s sermon
is the Gospel reading from the book of John,
Gospel of John, which was just read.
In the name of Jesus, amen.
The people listening to Jesus are confused,
and they ask,
how can this man give us his flesh to eat?
The folks in Capernaum don’t understand what Jesus is saying, and who could
really blame them? Jesus says, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and
drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my
blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. Has Jesus taken
Is he going to leave off his senses?
Or is he just speaking metaphorically?
A little over-the-top shock and awe
to get the attention of dull ears
just to see if they’re listening?
But actually, Jesus does go an extra step here.
Jesus takes us from faith to mouth.
Up until now, it’s been all faith talk
in this John 6 Sermon.
To eat of the bread of life
is to believe in Jesus, he says.
Faith, like eating,
draws upon all that Jesus has to give
like a grain of wheat is to the eater.
We receive His person, His forgiveness,
His obedience, His righteousness.
All are yours through faith in Him.
So far, so good.
Eating as a metaphor for faith, bread as a figure of speech for Jesus.
That much we can swallow without giving our reason and senses a case of indigestion.
But Jesus doesn’t stop at faith.
Faith tends to be a rather abstract, squishy thing.
You’ve met people who trust in their believing.
such great faith they have.
Surely God is pleased with them.
Perhaps we have said as much about ourselves as well.
But rightly, faith is something that’s only given to.
As the eye receives light and so it sees,
so faith receives the gifts of Jesus.
As the ear receives sounds and so it hears,
so faith receives the forgiveness,
life and salvation that come through Jesus’ words.
So faith is utterly passive, receiving, giveable to.
It’s like a little child, trusting.
Jesus says, unless you become as little children,
you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.
Like a little child held in the arms of its mother.
That’s the image of faith in God.
Our old Adam, our sinful selves,
would have us look inside at our faith
instead of at Jesus.
Admire your believing.
How strong you are.
How resilient.
But faith that looks at itself
is not saving faith.
And so the metaphor must give way to something more concrete,
something more real, something in your mouth.
And so Jesus goes from faith
to mouth, moving from believing in Him to
eating His flesh and drinking His blood, and that’s where the challenge
begins. How can this man give us His
flesh to eat, they ask. It’s a reasonable question.
What is Jesus advocating here?
Eating flesh and drinking his blood,
that sounds so terribly unspiritual,
not to mention unscientific and downright barbaric, it seems.
Seriously, how are we supposed to understand
what Jesus is saying here?
How are we supposed to feed on his flesh
and drink his blood and so have life in him?
Is he speaking figuratively, metaphorically,
symbolically, spiritually.
Jesus gives no avenues
for avoiding His words.
They mean what they say.
He even lumps up the verb a little bit.
He not only says, eat,
but He says, feed on Him.
Feed.
It’s all so terribly earthy,
ordinary, food-like.
Not the spiritual sort of Jesus
that makes for a good Sunday morning
you warm up to brunch after church.
Or the Jesus you can conveniently
tuck away during the rest of the week
and just go on with business as usual.
But metaphorical food doesn’t satisfy,
and symbolic drink will not quench thirsty souls.
We are flesh and blood creatures,
and we need a flesh and blood savior,
one who is like us in every way.
bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. In many ways, this sermon in John 6 goes
back to Bethlehem and Jesus’ birth of a human mother. The Word became flesh. The
bread that Jesus gives us for the life of the world is his flesh, the flesh that
was conceived in the mother’s womb, born of the Virgin Mary,
laid in the manger, and also was obedient to his parents
and to the entire law.
The flesh that was nailed to the cross and buried in the tomb
and raised from the dead is now at the right hand of the Father.
Whoever feeds on this bread, this flesh,
whoever drinks this blood has life.”
They grumbled over his words.
They were offended.
He dared to speak of his flesh as food
and his blood as drink.
They didn’t believe who he said he was,
and so they were scandalized by his words.
Your flesh, born of flesh,
is no help here and will get in the way.
Your reason and senses will tell you
that on the altar there is only plain bread and plain wine.
nothing more. That’s as far as human flesh will take you. But, but you are born of the Spirit
in baptism. The Father has granted you to come to his Son by faith, and that faith knows only what
it hears from Jesus, like a sheep who hears the voice of its shepherd only listening to him.
His words are spirit and life and imparting to you exactly what they say to you here today.
The words from Jesus to your ear and to your mouth do exactly what they say,
forgiving your sins, giving you life, granting you salvation, giving you hope, creating you anew.
People stopped following Jesus on that day.
they turned away and returned to what they were doing previously. Jesus could
have kept it simple, could have avoided that, could have kept it simple spiritual
abstract faith stuff, but he chose in his wisdom to put salvation into our ears
and into our mouths. Faith comes by hearing and yet Jesus wants not only to
be heard, he also wants to be our food and drink. He wants to be more than just information.
He wants that kind of intimate communion with us that says, I died for you, to save you.
If you were the only person in the world, I would have come to save you. That death,
you’d say, that death that I died for all on the cross I died for you. Take and eat,
take and drink, taste and see that the Lord is good. In a way, the Lord’s Supper is an exercise
in faith in Jesus’ words. He completely hides everything and bids us to trust Him, to take Him
at His Word.
This is my body.
This is my blood.
No explanations or equivocations.
Just His words.
Words that are spirit and life.
Words that give us eternal life.
In baptism, He remade His child.
And the Lord suffers a place
where He teaches us to trust Him,
where we cannot see for ourselves,
so that when we stare into that dark pit of the grave
known as death, we cling to nothing but His words there.
The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life,
Jesus says.
Jesus turns to the twelve apostles.
They are the apostles in training,
the church’s first pastors.
Are you going away too?
Everyone else seems to be leaving, going away.
Are you going to leave, too?
Is this too much for you to bear?”
He asked them.
Peter speaks to them all,
as he is often warned to do.
He says,
Lord, to whom shall we go?
Where else are we going?
You have the words of eternal life.
Even when your words sound confusing,
you, Jesus, have the words of eternal life.
Even when they stretch our reason,
senses, imagination to the snapping point,
you have the words of eternal life.
No one else does.
There have been many wise men and women in this world.
There have been many great philosophers,
poets, leaders, scientists,
but only one has the words of eternal life,
and they are his words for you today.
Blessed are you.
The Father has drawn you.
the Spirit has birthed you, the Son has redeemed you.
These are His gifts for you.
You receive His words, you take His body and blood,
and they are with you wherever you go,
to work, to your home, and even to your grave.
And He will raise you up on the last day.
In the name of Jesus. Amen. May the peace of God which passes all understanding
keep our hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Let us pray for the whole Church of God in Christ Jesus and for all people
according to their needs. Father we thank you that you have sent the great Good
Shepherd who has compassion on his flock. In his name we lift up our prayers to the
family of God, for every nation, tribe, people, and language, and for all those
who hunger for the true bread of life. Lord, in your mercy, grant us always, O God,
to work for the food that endures to eternal life. Bless the ministry of this
congregation in our community that many may embrace Jesus as the Christ and
believe that he is the true bread of God who has come from heaven. Grant that we
would never hunger or thirst for anything but Christ and his righteousness.
Lord, in your mercy, grant true unity in place of disunity, harmony in place of
disharmony, and peace in place of violence, that the spread of your gospel
may continue unhindered and the spirit of love abound. Lord, in your mercy, by your
Holy Spirit, change our old nature into your new creation in Christ. Enable us
to cling to your word and sacraments, that we may put aside the cravings of our
sinful flesh and be clothed with your likeness and true righteousness and
holiness. Lord, in your mercy, protect your people, O Lord, from the impurities of
this world. Save us from the violence outside ourselves and from hardness of
heart within, by your righteous governance,
preserve and guide the leaders of our nation
as they execute justice in our land.
By your Holy Spirit, change hardened hearts
with the gospel that true peace may be established.
Lord, in your mercy, bestow your power
of healing upon the sick, especially Bernice, Jordan,
Howard, Yvonne, Frank, Freda, Cindy, Dan, Edmund, and Margaret, then in accordance
with your will they may give thanks to your name. Give your spirit of hope to
the depressed, the lonely, and those who mourn the death of loved ones. Strengthen
their faith and assure them of your presence in all circumstances. Lord in
your mercy. You continually feed your people, Lord God, not with what we want
but with what we need. You give us bread and meat to nourish our bodies. You also
feed our souls with the very body and blood of our Savior, the true manna from
heaven. Give us gratitude for your inestimable gifts and turn
away all grumbling. Lord, in your mercy,
Amen.
Within the fold of your tender care, O Father, we entrust these petitions to you, that you
might hear us, teach us your word, and feed us with the bread of life, even Jesus Christ
our Lord.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Please rise.
The Lord be with you.
and also forgive you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God.
It is right to give thanks.
It is truly good, right, and salutary
that we should at all times and in all places
give thanks to you, O Lord, Holy Father,
almighty and everlasting God,
for the countless blessings
you so freely bestow on us and all creation.
Above all, we give thanks for your boundless love shown to us when you sent
your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, into our flesh and laid on him our sins,
giving him into death that we might not die eternally. Because he is now risen
from the dead and lives and reigns to all eternity, all who believe in him
will overcome the sin and death and will rise again to new life. Therefore, with
angels and archangels, with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify
your glorious name, evermore praising you and saying,
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts,
Our Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread.
And when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples and said,
“‘Take, eat, this is my body, which is given for you.
“‘Do this in remembrance of me.’
“‘In the same way also he took the cup after supper,
“‘and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying,
“‘Drink of it, all of you.
“‘This cup is the New Testament in my blood,
“‘which he shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.
“‘This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.’
The peace of the Lord be with you always.
Please rise.
May this true body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ strengthen and keep you
in the one true faith, the life everlasting.
Go in peace, amen.
Amen.
Amen.
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
Lord, I have seen the glory of your redeeming grace.
Now I’m truly glad in heaven’s eyes,
glad to hear our holy hymn.
The glory of your redeeming love,
my chosen Israel.
Let us pray.
We give thanks to you, almighty God, that you have refreshed us through this salutary
gift and we implore you that of your mercy you would strengthen us through the same in
faith toward you and in fervent love toward one another.
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord who lives and reigns with you and the
Holy Spirit one God now and forever. Let us bless the Lord. The Lord bless you and
keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord
look upon you with favor and give you peace.
