John 6:56-69
56Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” 59He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.60When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This word is difficult; who can hear it?”
61But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? 62Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. 65And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”
66Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 67So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” 68Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Luke, chapter14
Jesus told this parable: ‘Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. 17At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, “Come; for everything is ready now.” 18But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, “I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my apologies.” 19Another said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my apologies.” 20Another said, “I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.”
21So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, “Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.” 22And the slave said, “Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.” 23Then the master said to the slave, “Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled. 24For I tell you, none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.” ’
This too, is a difficult word.
This is the fifth and final week spent circling around Jesus’ pronouncement that he is the Bread of Life, the incarnate word that feeds and sustains – much like the miraculous manna that brought the ancient Israelites through the barren wilderness. Bread that came down from heaven, they were fed from God’s hand.
This bread that is Jesus’ body has also come from God as gift and sign. The sign of God’s abiding love for the world.
There have been grumblers all along, we are told – mostly among the Jewish temple leaders who believed it is blasphemy to claim to be of God, to be one with God. The fact that Jesus is talking about the necessity to eat and drink his flesh and blood almost doesn’t matter to them. It comes as a secondary scandal.
But what we have noticed last week and this, is that others are now falling away, too. Even – as we have just heard – many who were disciples, followers, students. The twelve remain, but among them is Judas, who will betray Jesus, and Peter who will deny him, and the rest who run away (although they do come back).
So, the sun has gone under a cloud. The winnowing of believers has begun. At the end of Jesus’ life there are just a few left.
And, that, too, is part of the mystery of the gospel. Jesus is the Word of God, the Wisdom of God who calls and invites all the world to a feast. As we know from our own circle of family and friends, not everyone responds to the invitation. In fact, many do not. God gets ghosted.
That has always been the case, from Genesis on throughout the Bible and out of the Bible into our lives. The call goes out, the word of welcome and promise, of hope and belonging is spoken, but many turn away. That observable fact is what motivates a lot of the gospels’ content. In John, the first major character we meet is Nicodemus – a pharisee who believed he knew and loved God, but couldn’t quite make sense of Jesus. A character of ambiguity, he does come back at the very end to help bury Jesus’ body. The next story is of the Samaritan woman – an outsider in every way – who is mystified, but comes to believe. These two stories set up the dynamic of doubt and belief that flows throughout the gospel. Even within Jesus’ inner circle, even at the very end, there is doubting Thomas who needs to see and touch, not only hear in order to believe. Matthew, Mark and Luke explore the question with Jesus’ parables, such as the sower of seed who scatters seed on good and bad and hard packed and rocky soil waiting to see what will grow, knowing much of it will not. The story of the banquet is another version of the same dynamic. The invitation goes out, but the invited guests are too busy: fields to see, animals to tend, family obligations… stuff to do, not that hungry now, thanks anyway. “Please make my apologies”, they say.
Early Christians wondered why their stump speeches and leaflets and door knocking had such limited success. Why is it that this word of God has such creative power, and yet is so … ignorable? We baptize our children not knowing if faith will develop, or what life circumstances will draw them toward God or possibly send them away. We baptize in faith and hope that the Spirit will do her work, that, like seed growing deep in the soil, faith will blossom in due course, in the fullness of time. But we don’t know.
This bread discourse tells us that faith is a relationship with God, and with others. We know that relationships take work, some degree of consistency in showing up seems to be required, of being attentive to the needs and ways of the other, time spent listening. Faith, like relationships, is not a static, once and done thing. It changes, ebbs and flows. Sometimes we hear the Word clearly and – often – it gets muffled or muted altogether. In John’s gospel, the word “abide” is used well over 20 times. “The Word was made flesh and abided among us.” It is what Jesus most presses on his disciples – “Abide in me as I abide in my Father.”
56Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 60When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This word is difficult; who can hear it?”
I think the abiding is what makes his word hard to hear, not the eating part. Abiding with another requires one to give up many aspects of self-determination. Think of when you brought home a puppy and what that new relationship required of you, or your first year of being coupled and sorting out responsibilities and schedules and how to be together as individuals, or the first 6 to 9 months of being a nursing mom, when even your body is not really your own – and these sacrifices are all done for love! Abiding with Jesus in God is an invitation to dive deep and give it all up. That is a hard invitation to accept.
But, the faith relationship is also communal. We gather to practice abiding, to compare notes in trusting God, to share our efforts at faithful following, and to support those who are struggling. Jesus didn’t just choose one super disciple who could absorb all the wonder; he choose a dozen men, and we know there were a number of women hovering in the inside ring, feeding them, leaning in, listening to the Word. They all had each other to bounce the word around. Faith is personal, but not private; it is held between us, held in our and other hands and hearts, ebbing and flowing, waxing and waning.
Jesus asks if they want to leave, to give it up, if the word is too difficult to accept, and Peter has this wonderful line to deliver. “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe in you as the Holy One of God.” They are in it for the long haul. They are willing to throw in their lot with this crazy, remarkable, compelling man they can’t quite get the measure of. They have heard the word, felt the word live within them, take up residence in them, and they trust him, whom they can’t explain, often can’t comprehend, but who speaks a word of God that gives life.
That is the best we can do for ourselves and for our little ones, too. Make connections, show up – to a community of faith for the benefit it brings to you and for what you might offer others, show up in life for the causes you care about, be available to a word from God through prayer and through the nudgings of those you trust, expect your relationship with the holy One to grow and change – knowing growth is often uncomfortable and sometimes unwanted.
These scripture readings tell us that faith is not a given. I still find that a difficult word, something to wonder about. It’s not a matter of simply deciding to believe, but it does still requires us to choose, to be present to God, even as we are continually invited to abide in the fellowship of love. It seems to be an on-going enterprise for God’s spirit, and open-ended option — and there is hope in that for all.