This sermon was delivered to St Oswald’s in Maybole, and St John’s in Girvan Ayrshire, Scotland on the 26th August 2012; both churches being Scottish Episcopal Churchs in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries.
The readings for today are: 1 Kings 8:(1, 6, 10-11), 22-30, 41-43 Psalm 84 Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18 Psalm 34:15-22 Ephesians 6:10-20 John 6:56-69
Our text for this mornings sermon is taken from the Gospel of John Chapter 6 verses 56 to 69.
Jesus said, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This 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.” He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.
When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But 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. And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”
Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Prayer: In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit let these words bring you honour, and free us from all slavery in the name of Jesus, Amen.
Introduction
You must be thinking this is exact same Gospel reading I read out last week, but it is not; although verses 56-58 were repeated from last week. This is a rare occurrence in the bible. Repetition in such a close proximity, within the same chapter; means it is very important or difficult; and in this case it is both.
John 6:60 says “Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, this is a hard saying; who can hear it”; this is difficult teaching; which unravelled, proves to be a crisis of faith for the disciples; and a turning point in their lives.
So far, following Jesus has been easy and exciting for the disciples: watching him perform signs and wonders; delivering great sermons; successfully challenging the authorities; and giving them hope, believing him to "the messiah” that was prophesised; and here they were, right beside him.
This was exciting and happy times, and then Jesus says “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me”. What if someone said that to you, (“eat my flesh and drink my blood”)? I know I would run, muttering the word nutter; … and many of the disciples in front of him did. But Jesus knew what he was doing; he knew that many them would not last the pace, so here, he was separating out the sheep from the goats. You see, it was all or nothing with him, you are either with me, or against me.
Now is this is coincident? The verse which says this, is John 6:66. The three 666’s and that verse reads “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him”.
This is getting interesting. Jesus now turns and asked the remaining disciples the same question, ... the disciples hiding in the bad ground; … but Jesus pulls then out, looks them in the eyes, and bluntly asks them the same question. “Will you eat my flesh and drink my blood”
And he then goes on to say, "Do you also wish to go away?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."
What an answer. I am sure that answer brought a tear to the eyes of Jesus. Where can we go; who else can we believe in?
At this stage in the sermon, I do not know what that means to you, and I don’t think that this is a very poignant moment in your life as it was for the disciples; but listen closely you may catch the drift.
But before we do, I will change the subject for a moment, and talk about the Gospel, which I said last week means good news, and that it is rarely taught.
I was very please to talk with you after the service last week, and how you like it, and how it had given you much to think about; but when I got home, I felt discouraged, disappointed maybe, because, I know you all come to worship the lord, and have done for years; yet the contents of last weeks sermon gave you much to think about. What I am getting at is, how can this be news to you?
What I was teaching last week was the basics: the basics of the New Testament; the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it was as if some of you had never heard it before. This made me think.
You all know I do my best to present the bible in a manner that is can be understand; and sometimes I have to get down to grass roots level to do that, because I believe Jesus did so as well.
Yet I know as a teacher that when you come to some difficult parts, parts that even we teachers do not understand, we have been known to raise the level of teaching to hide our weaknesses. We become more superior, more dismissive and use the word obliviously more than normal to make the listener feel inferior.
Today’s gospel reading is such a text. It is a difficult reading to understand; so I will now attempt to lower this in order to get the message across. I am not saying anyone is thick, God forbid, … I am just saying this is difficult. Are you with me on this? Ok.
In today’s reading, John wants us to hear the words, "abide in me" just as being real as the words "flesh and blood”; and to hear the words, "flesh and blood” as real as "abide in me". "Abide” being a verb which Jesus means to be put into action, meaning he wants us in a dynamic personal relationship, with him.
And this reading challenges us to make a deeper level of commitment with Jesus. Jesus is asking us, to make him the centre of our lives; thereby belonging to God alone; because the words he has spoken to us are “spirit and life”.
I will try and explain this through a true story I heard a few summers ago, this story being promoted by Benny Hinn as an example if I may, … and I truly loved, I hope I can tell it properly because it is so relevant to the Gospel that I am sure you are going to hearing again and again; and I hope you grasp the parallel.
It is a story from the days of slavery in the United States; and the more I hear of such things, the more horrific I realise that world was.
There was gentleman from England who went to America to look for gold in that great Gold Rush period; and unlike many others, he did find gold, and became rich, and decided to return home to England.
As he was awaiting his ship, he thought he would amuse himself by going to a slave market to observe what went on. But he quickly became horrified when he over heard two men in front of him describe one particular female slave, and what they were going to do with her. … To them, slaves were cheap, and so they were to be used. … These men were rich, and besides, who would listen to a slave girl anyway; in fact, … who would miss a slave girl.
The man became angrier and angrier at these two men as they spoke with such derogation, … as he watched slave after slave being hauled into the area with their arms and legs shackled with ropes and chains as if they were animals. … He became angry with the crowd as they jeering and shouted as one slave after another was auctioned off.
Some onlookers would even inspect the 'merchandise,' grabbing disrespectfully at the women, and examining the muscular arms and teeth of the men.
The man watched quietly behind the two men, keeping his anger under control, as they were eyeing up this particular slave girl who was waiting her turn in the queue; … her eyes were filled with fear. She looked frightened, she was in fact terrified.
When the time came she was auctioned, and the two men started aggressively bidding for her, but as the sale was closing, the man suddenly shouted out a bid that was twice the amount the other two had offered.
There was silence for an instance in the crowd, and then the gavel fell as 'sold to the gentleman' was heard. The gentleman stepped forward, and waited at the bottom of the steps as the young girl was led down to her new owner.
The rope which bound her was handed to the man, who accepted it without saying anything. The young girl looked up at the gentleman and spat in his face. Silently, he reached for a handkerchief and wiped the spittle; and then smiled gently at the young girl and said, 'Follow me.' She followed him reluctantly, dragging her heals. As they reached the edge of the crowd, he continued to a nearby area where each deal was closed legally.
The slave girl still angry was then dragged to another office, and more legal papers were given, but these were not papers of ownership they were legal documents, called manumission papers, which allowed a slave to be set free.
The gentleman paid the price, and signed the necessary documents. When the transaction was complete, he turned to the young girl and presented the documents to her. Still spitting and being abusive the gentlemen said, “take these papers, you free to go. As long as you have these papers in your possession, no man can ever make you a slave again.”
"The anger in the girls face turned to a tears, she did not know what had happened, but slowly she said 'You bought me, you paid twice the amount for me, you purchased manumission papers for me and now you wish to set me free? … “You bought me to set me free”?' … As she repeated this phrase over and over, the significance of what had just happened became more and more real to her.
'You bought me, just to set me free?' Was it possible that a stranger had just granted her freedom and never again could she be held in bondage and servitude to any man?
As she began to grasp the significance of the documents which she now held in her hand, she fell to her knees and wept at the gentleman's feet. Through her tears of joy and gratitude, she said, 'You bought me to set me free. I'll serve you forever! I will be your slave”, and as story goes, she did, but not as a slave but through her on free will. And she served that man more, than she ever would, had he kept here a slave.
Do you see where I am coming from now. God purchased us, to set us free. The price he paid for us was far higher than we deserved, … the price was the painful death of his son on the cross. He purchased us, to set us free. We are no more under the bondage or slavery of anyone, we are not owned by this world, we only life in this world because the bible tells us that “Jesus has over come the world”.
We are no longer a slave to Sin and its eternal damnation. The devil himself cannot hold us, because he cannot hold him, him who is living in us.
That is what Jesus meant when he said "abide in me, and I will abide in you". By dying on the cross Jesus paid the ransom to set us free.
Now do you understand Simon Peters answer, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."
What an answer. Does that not put that question in its true perspective; because if we abide in him, he abides in us, and nothing can harm us?
This is the gospel of the New Testament and what ever way we look at it, it will change our lives forever. We are free to follow Jesus because we want to; … not because we have to. Do you follow?
Do you want to go back from where you came? I don’t. Have you accepted God's free pardon and forgiveness? Have you forgiven yourself, because a heavy price was paid to set you free, so why not be free?
Jesus loves us so much, that he paid the price of our freedom so we can live a life knowing that we belong to him; knowing that he is in control, and that he has a plan and future for us. We belong to him and so we are protected by him, and he will preciously guard us from all evil. He will also teach us, and prepare us for the future, and prepare a place for us when his will has been done.
Does that not give us hope for the future? Praise God,
Amen.
Let join me in a very short pray,
Father God,
We thank you for Jesus, in fact how can I ever thank you enough for giving us your son; to die on the cross for us; so we can be set free.
Father let us believe this morning, and for ever more, that we have been set free from slavery; we have been set free from sin and death, and all its eternal consequences.
Father you have bought us, Jesus paid the price, we are yours, and we want to serve you. Where else can we go? We want to abide in you; you the great provider, the Alpha and Omega, and king of all kings.
Amen
