Sermon - Year B, Proper 15
Written and Delivered by The Rev. Mary M. Phelps
Proverbs 9:1-6, John 6:53-59
The book of Proverbs is a collection of short instructions that was used to educate young children. It is filled with easy to remember good advice much like our adages, a penny saved is a penny earned, or haste makes waste. Interwoven throughout the book is Woman Wisdom, the personification of the wise sayings, who reaches out to humans. Even in the male centered society in which this book was written, people saw Wisdom as an extension of God's attributes. She is modeled after Israeli women who were the teachers, counselors, and planners of their households. Throughout Proverbs she speaks with divine authority, and she played a role in creation.
When the early Christians were trying to teach others who Jesus was, they often turned to Wisdom. As they tried to describe Jesus in theological terms they often relied on the Wisdom tradition, and attributed many of her characteristics to Jesus.
Wisdomls advice to us this morning is shot through with pleasure and goodness. She says, "You that are simple, turn in here! To those without sense she says, come eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Lay aside immaturity, and live, and walk in the way of insight." There is a connection between the words of Wisdom and the discourse John continues with us today.
For the past several weeks, John has been talking about bread a lot. John began by telling us the story of Jesus' miraculous feeding of the 5000. He continued by telling us that after the miraculous feeding, the people followed Jesus around the shores of Galilee. Jesus finally questioned the people asking them if they were following him simply to get their stomachs filled, or were they looking for something else? Last week we heard Jesus saying to the people that the bread their ancestors ate in the wilderness was a different kind of bread than he was giving them. Their ancestors ate manna in the wilderness and they died. But the bread Jesus gave the people came down from heaven, if fact, Jesus himself is the bread of life - the living bread of heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will never die. Today, Jesus takes this comparison one step further. He tells us that unless we eat his flesh and drink his blood, we have no life in us. If we do eat his flesh and drink his blood we abide, or remain, in him and he in us. We will never be separated from Christ in this life or the next.
Next week John will wrap up the bread discourse by telling us that many people turned away from Jesus when they heard this lesson that he preached in the synagogue in Capernaum. It was the last straw, Jesus have gone too far out on a limb. He was asking too much, and many turned away from him and no longer followed him.
But that is next week. Let's stay with Jesus, and dig into the meal of bread and wine with relish. Let's try to understand how we are given life by drinking his blood, and how when we consume his flesh we are taking the force of his being into our lives.
Sometimes Jesus' lessons are very clear and straight forward, and at other times they are puzzling and they seem to make no sense. Jesus speaks through concrete, earthly parallels and comparisons when he is teaching about heavenly things. Yet, when we come to this table week after week, we often loose sight of the full meaning of Jesus' parables. Like many of Jesus' first followers we come to be fed looking more for what satisfies us physically and emotionally, and leave before we consciously receive what feeds us spiritually.
As Christians, we worship a God who lives among us; in Jesus he walked as one of us, and through the Holy Spirit God is with us every moment of our lives. There is no disconnection of the God of the physical, earthly world and the God of the spiritual world. This theme is enacted in our sacraments - outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace given to us by Christ as a promise and assurance that we receive that grace. We take bread and wine, things that began as seeds grow in the earth. Over time they grow and change into grain and grapes. We have the ability grind and crush them, and convert them into bread and wine which we bring to the altar trusting that God's life giving grace will enter them. We believe that by consuming the bread and wine God will transform and mold us into people who live the life that Jesus modeled for us.
St. John tells us that Jesus said, "I am the bread of life." John began his gospel by telling us that the Word - God, became flesh - Jesus, and he lived among us. Jesus' whole life was self-giving. He pointed the way to salvation. He lived like us, and he died like us, and he directs us on the path that assures us of everlasting life.
Jesus said, "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." "Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them." Abide, mean to remain together in an inseparable relationship. When we are in this kind of relationship with Jesus he is like the bread we consume - the bread that becomes part of our bodies and nourishes us.
When Jesus gives himself to us, his body and blood, it makes it possible for us to glimpse the kingdom of God. It opens us up to seeing our own limitations, not only our selfish desires and limitations, but those things within us that keep us from believing that we need anything beyond ourselves. We truly come to know that there is life beyond what we now understand and experience. The bread and wine are the food that makes us wise, and gives us a glimpse of the truth. It isn’t like the manna in the desert that kept our ancestors alive for a little while, but it is the bread that keeps us alive forever.
There is a story about a little girl who spent a week counting the seemingly endless days leading up to her baptism. On the Saturday evening before the Sunday she was to be baptized, she was full of excitement as she anticipated being able to get what she called "the special bread." When her mother asked her why she called it special bread, the little girl replied that this was the bread that has God's love in it. No wonder Jesus, in his wisdom, calls us to come before God with the eyes and heart of a child. None of the great theological doctrines about how the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ describe it with as much simple and holy truth as that little girl did.
It is in the shadow of the cross, the symbolic tree on which Jesus body was broken and his blood was spilled out, that we kneel, stretch out our arms with palms crossed to receive the gift of bread and wine. When you eat the bread and drink the wine a personal bond between you and God is strengthened. God's life becomes your life, but that is only the beginning.
The church is the people of God. To celebrate the Eucharist there must be a gathering of God's people. A priest is never allowed to pray the Eucharist without the people present. The personal bonding between you and God during to Eucharist is to strengthen you to be like him, caring for all people and the world around you. We, like God, are to be self giving, loving all people and welcoming them to join us at the table.
We are called to emulate Jesus' earthly life. Several years ago it was all the rage to wear cloth wristbands in which the letters WWJD were woven. "What Would Jesus Do" soon became trivialized and lost its meaning. I have always thought that was one of Christianity's dullest moments. There are times in my life and ministry when reflecting on how Jesus would act, or on what he would say, is the wisest and most insightful course of action that I can take.
We open ourselves up to divine guidance when we consciously reflect on what Jesus would do every moment of our lives. We are called to follow in his footsteps, seeking what gives us the courage to reach out to others we might otherwise ignore or be frightened of. It moves us to share what we have with those who have little. It gives us the energy to care when we want to give in to exhaustion. It moves us to tears and action trying to help those people who have no voice or are victimized by exclusion, violence, and discrimination. It moves us to seek wisdom instead of living in ignorance.
I don't understand the mystery of God's ways any better than you do. I am not always clear about what God is telling me I should or should not do. I have a feeling you can say the same thing about yourself. But this I do know, God loves me, and he calls me to live my life, as closely as I can, to the life Jesus modeled for me. I, like you, come to this table with all my brokenness and weaknesses.
We come to this table today to be filled with Christ's life giving body and blood remembering that Jesus said, "My flesh is true food and my body is true drink. Those would eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. And maybe that is all we really need.
Proverbs 9:1-6, John 6:53-59
The book of Proverbs is a collection of short instructions that was used to educate young children. It is filled with easy to remember good advice much like our adages, a penny saved is a penny earned, or haste makes waste. Interwoven throughout the book is Woman Wisdom, the personification of the wise sayings, who reaches out to humans. Even in the male centered society in which this book was written, people saw Wisdom as an extension of God's attributes. She is modeled after Israeli women who were the teachers, counselors, and planners of their households. Throughout Proverbs she speaks with divine authority, and she played a role in creation.
When the early Christians were trying to teach others who Jesus was, they often turned to Wisdom. As they tried to describe Jesus in theological terms they often relied on the Wisdom tradition, and attributed many of her characteristics to Jesus.
Wisdomls advice to us this morning is shot through with pleasure and goodness. She says, "You that are simple, turn in here! To those without sense she says, come eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Lay aside immaturity, and live, and walk in the way of insight." There is a connection between the words of Wisdom and the discourse John continues with us today.
For the past several weeks, John has been talking about bread a lot. John began by telling us the story of Jesus' miraculous feeding of the 5000. He continued by telling us that after the miraculous feeding, the people followed Jesus around the shores of Galilee. Jesus finally questioned the people asking them if they were following him simply to get their stomachs filled, or were they looking for something else? Last week we heard Jesus saying to the people that the bread their ancestors ate in the wilderness was a different kind of bread than he was giving them. Their ancestors ate manna in the wilderness and they died. But the bread Jesus gave the people came down from heaven, if fact, Jesus himself is the bread of life - the living bread of heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will never die. Today, Jesus takes this comparison one step further. He tells us that unless we eat his flesh and drink his blood, we have no life in us. If we do eat his flesh and drink his blood we abide, or remain, in him and he in us. We will never be separated from Christ in this life or the next.
Next week John will wrap up the bread discourse by telling us that many people turned away from Jesus when they heard this lesson that he preached in the synagogue in Capernaum. It was the last straw, Jesus have gone too far out on a limb. He was asking too much, and many turned away from him and no longer followed him.
But that is next week. Let's stay with Jesus, and dig into the meal of bread and wine with relish. Let's try to understand how we are given life by drinking his blood, and how when we consume his flesh we are taking the force of his being into our lives.
Sometimes Jesus' lessons are very clear and straight forward, and at other times they are puzzling and they seem to make no sense. Jesus speaks through concrete, earthly parallels and comparisons when he is teaching about heavenly things. Yet, when we come to this table week after week, we often loose sight of the full meaning of Jesus' parables. Like many of Jesus' first followers we come to be fed looking more for what satisfies us physically and emotionally, and leave before we consciously receive what feeds us spiritually.
As Christians, we worship a God who lives among us; in Jesus he walked as one of us, and through the Holy Spirit God is with us every moment of our lives. There is no disconnection of the God of the physical, earthly world and the God of the spiritual world. This theme is enacted in our sacraments - outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace given to us by Christ as a promise and assurance that we receive that grace. We take bread and wine, things that began as seeds grow in the earth. Over time they grow and change into grain and grapes. We have the ability grind and crush them, and convert them into bread and wine which we bring to the altar trusting that God's life giving grace will enter them. We believe that by consuming the bread and wine God will transform and mold us into people who live the life that Jesus modeled for us.
St. John tells us that Jesus said, "I am the bread of life." John began his gospel by telling us that the Word - God, became flesh - Jesus, and he lived among us. Jesus' whole life was self-giving. He pointed the way to salvation. He lived like us, and he died like us, and he directs us on the path that assures us of everlasting life.
Jesus said, "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." "Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them." Abide, mean to remain together in an inseparable relationship. When we are in this kind of relationship with Jesus he is like the bread we consume - the bread that becomes part of our bodies and nourishes us.
When Jesus gives himself to us, his body and blood, it makes it possible for us to glimpse the kingdom of God. It opens us up to seeing our own limitations, not only our selfish desires and limitations, but those things within us that keep us from believing that we need anything beyond ourselves. We truly come to know that there is life beyond what we now understand and experience. The bread and wine are the food that makes us wise, and gives us a glimpse of the truth. It isn’t like the manna in the desert that kept our ancestors alive for a little while, but it is the bread that keeps us alive forever.
There is a story about a little girl who spent a week counting the seemingly endless days leading up to her baptism. On the Saturday evening before the Sunday she was to be baptized, she was full of excitement as she anticipated being able to get what she called "the special bread." When her mother asked her why she called it special bread, the little girl replied that this was the bread that has God's love in it. No wonder Jesus, in his wisdom, calls us to come before God with the eyes and heart of a child. None of the great theological doctrines about how the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ describe it with as much simple and holy truth as that little girl did.
It is in the shadow of the cross, the symbolic tree on which Jesus body was broken and his blood was spilled out, that we kneel, stretch out our arms with palms crossed to receive the gift of bread and wine. When you eat the bread and drink the wine a personal bond between you and God is strengthened. God's life becomes your life, but that is only the beginning.
The church is the people of God. To celebrate the Eucharist there must be a gathering of God's people. A priest is never allowed to pray the Eucharist without the people present. The personal bonding between you and God during to Eucharist is to strengthen you to be like him, caring for all people and the world around you. We, like God, are to be self giving, loving all people and welcoming them to join us at the table.
We are called to emulate Jesus' earthly life. Several years ago it was all the rage to wear cloth wristbands in which the letters WWJD were woven. "What Would Jesus Do" soon became trivialized and lost its meaning. I have always thought that was one of Christianity's dullest moments. There are times in my life and ministry when reflecting on how Jesus would act, or on what he would say, is the wisest and most insightful course of action that I can take.
We open ourselves up to divine guidance when we consciously reflect on what Jesus would do every moment of our lives. We are called to follow in his footsteps, seeking what gives us the courage to reach out to others we might otherwise ignore or be frightened of. It moves us to share what we have with those who have little. It gives us the energy to care when we want to give in to exhaustion. It moves us to tears and action trying to help those people who have no voice or are victimized by exclusion, violence, and discrimination. It moves us to seek wisdom instead of living in ignorance.
I don't understand the mystery of God's ways any better than you do. I am not always clear about what God is telling me I should or should not do. I have a feeling you can say the same thing about yourself. But this I do know, God loves me, and he calls me to live my life, as closely as I can, to the life Jesus modeled for me. I, like you, come to this table with all my brokenness and weaknesses.
We come to this table today to be filled with Christ's life giving body and blood remembering that Jesus said, "My flesh is true food and my body is true drink. Those would eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. And maybe that is all we really need.