John 6:56-69
Jesus had been invited to preach at the synagogue in Capernaum.
- By most accounts…the sermon was a flop.
- As soon as he finished speaking…the sideways glances began to fly.
- One person scowled…another ground his teeth…others stood shell-shocked by the vivid phrases that lingered in their ears.
- Several listeners were confused by what they had heard.
- The consensus was clear…the sermon was hard to swallow.
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Jesus’ supporters agreed…several of them huddled outside…having one of those conversations that people sometimes have in the parking lot.
- Quiet complaints…muttered beneath the breath.
- When Jesus came near…he did not make things any better.
- He said his words are “spirit and life.”
- That did not smooth out the conflict.
Some grew uncomfortable and began to leave.
- Others stood around not knowing what to do…or whether they should leave.
- When Jesus asked about it…Simon Peter replied: “Lord…to whom can we go?”
- Peter meant that as a rhetorical question…but you and I know…there are many places for people to go.
In her memoir…poet Annie Dillard…says that she left the church as a teenager.
- On Sundays…her father dropped her off at the door and kept driving.
- The building reeked of affluence and pretension.
- By the time she was a teenager…she grew disturbed by the hypocrisy of what she saw.
- A barefoot Jesus depicted in a gold mosaic…the minister’s affected accent and parents who forced her to attend when they did not.
- Her anger simmered and she decided to quit.
One day…the church secretary called to make an appointment for the minister to meet with Annie.
- Her mother asked why and discovered the precocious teenager had written a letter to resign from the church.
- Both parents were appalled.
- Her father suggested she should have slipped away quietly…as many people do…making no fuss.
The meeting date arrived. Annie met with the tinselly minister.
- He listened for a while and said: “This is rather early for you to be quitting the church” …adding under his breath… “I suppose you’ll be back soon.”
- He figured there was nowhere else for her to go.
It was a naive position to hold…then and now.
- People have always been leaving churches.
- Sometimes they leave because of pretentious ministers.
- Others leave because of angry arguments with fellow Christians.
- Perhaps there was a disagreement over a political stance by a church leader.
- Or maybe something terrible happened that was never addressed.
- And sometimes they leave because it is the only day to catch up on sleep…the only available day to rest after a stressful week.
- Plenty of reasons…all too human reasons.
Ceaseless activity often masks a deep unsatisfied hunger at the heart of all our pursuits.
- If anything defines us as human beings…it is our hunger.
- We are creatures who received our lives from the hand of another.
- We do not have the capacity to fill our souls with what they need…we are incomplete.
So where do we go? What can fill our emptiness?
- Our culture would turn such questions into google searches.
- There are websites to meet every perceived human need.
- Our desires are marketed aggressively.
- We sift through empty words and wade through false promises.
Two decades of summers ago…I announced that in an upcoming Sunday our lay people would conduct worship.
- A church member was invited to preach.
- He was well respected by the congregation.
- He had a pleasant speaking voice and a calming presence.
- Best of all…he was incapable of saying no.
Sunday arrived on schedule…the congregation sang and moved through the liturgy.
- At sermon time…the man stood in silence…long enough to initiate a nervous rustle in the pews.
- Then he said: “I have never stood in a pulpit.
- Today I will read to you the words of Jesus from the Gospel of John.
- I will put them in the air and then sit down.”
He began: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
- Again…Jesus spoke to them…saying…I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.
- If you continue in my word…you are truly my disciples…and you will know the truth…and the truth will make you free.
- I am the good shepherd. I know my own…and my own know me…just as the Father knows me…and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.
- I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me…even though they die…will live…and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?
- So…if I…your Lord and Teacher…have washed your feet…you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example…that you also should do as I have done to you.
- Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God…believe also in me.
- In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so…would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
- Peace…I leave with you…my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled…and do not let them be afraid.
- I am the vine…you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit…because apart from me you can do nothing.
- This is my commandment…that you love one another as I have loved you.
- No one has greater love than this…to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.”
He went on like that…reading out of his Bible.
- Then he sat down. Nobody moved.
- The congregation inhabited a silence that nobody felt the need to interrupt.
- There was a clear and abiding sense that Jesus had addressed them personally.
“Lord…where else are we going to go?”
- There are a lot of places we could go.
- There are a lot of other voices we could hear.
- But there is only One whose word gives life.
- It is the Christ…One who says:
- “Those who love me will keep my word…and my Father will love them…and we will come to them and make our home with them.”1
Oh…and by-the-way.
- Remember teenaged Annie Dillard who walked out of her pastor’s office.
- And on her way down the hall…she heard him mutter to himself out loud:
- “She’ll be back!”
- Young Annie Dillard wheeled around…
- Went back into the office and said:
- “What did I hear you say?”
He said… “Oh…I said I presumed that you’ll probably be back.”
- And she said: “Look…this is my life.
- I live my life like I want to live my life.
- I’m not coming back!”
Well…Annie Dillard wrote in her life story:
- “As I write this…I’m 48 years old and I’m back.”