In Jesus Holy Name Pentecost XII August 15, 2211
Text: John 6:68
“To Whom Shall We Go?”
Many shopping malls have within their walls a store called Things Remembered, which offers items that can be engraved to commemorate special occasions. If you have received such a gift, you know what a treasure it can become. People like to remember happy times and significant events.
Memories are precious; they keep us connected to people, places, and events that have shaped us and influenced our lives. Colleen and I have a habit of taking some of our favorite photos of our adventures with our children and grandchildren then making place mates and laminating them. At every family gathering everyone enjoys talking about the memories on their placemat.
John chapter 6 is about memories. Jesus refers to Himself as the Bread of Life. We are to remember Him and His sacrifice for us. Each celebrations of Holy Communion is to both experiences the presence of Jesus and remember His sacrificial death that purchased our forgiveness before a Holy and righteous God.
Chapter 6 began with Jesus physically providing bread for the crowd of 5000 who gathered to hear him teach. His prayer multiplied five small loaves and two fish that a young boy brought for his lunch. When the crowd followed him to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus challenged their obsession with His miracles. They were looking for a healing whenever they became ill. Free lunch whenever they got hungry. He was not the political king they were seeking.
Jesus began to explain that He was the “manna” sent from heaven. He was the true bread of life. He was offering Himself as the answer to the spiritual hunger people desire as the seek peace with their Creator. Whenever Jesus used the phrase: “I Am the Bread of Life”: I Am the light of the world”; I Am the Good Shepherd” His message was clear. “I Am the God of the Burning Bush”.
Every Jewish listener knew that the name for God that was given to Moses: “Yahweh”, “I Am I Am” this is the name of the God of Creation; “I Am” is the God who delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt; “I Am” is the God who appeared to Moses in the burning bush. The religious Jewish leaders also considered the 1st Testament to be the Manna from heaven, the bread of life. When Jesus said, “I am the true Manna from Heaven” He meant: “I am the God of the burning bush standing in your presence.
The Apostle John does not record in his Gospel, Jesus instituting the sacrament of Holy Communion on the night he was betrayed. Instead John records the theology of the Lord’s Supper. Jesus said: “Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness”, (v 49) this gift of God, sent from heaven, provided food that sustained their lives for 40 years in the wilderness.
“I am the living bread that has come down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. The bread is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world. (v 51,52) Jesus went on to say: “I tell you the truth unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and will raise him up at the last day.”
The historical background for the establishment of the Lord's Supper is the Passover. You know the story. Through Moses God visited various plagues on the land of Egypt and Pharaoh. It was a demonstration that the God of Israel was more powerful than the gods of Egypt. In the final plague Pharaoh and the Israelites were warned that the angel of death would pass over every household. family had to put blood from a sacrificed lamb on the doorframe of their house and eat the Passover meal if the first born child and first born animal was to be saved from death. The eating of the lamb and the meal of unleavened bread became the abiding symbol of Israel's deliverance from slavery and death.
These words of Jesus, “ this bread is my body, this cup is my blood shed for the forgiveness of sins” have become so familiar we may miss the radical power they hold. We speak them over the bread and wine each and every time the “church” celebrates Holy Communion. In John 6 Jesus was already speaking future when He said: “I am the living bread that has come down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. The bread is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world.” (v 51,52)
“On hearing this many who followed Jesus said, this is a hard teaching who can accept it?” From that time on many disciples decided to no longer follow Him.”
Rev. John Stott in his book “The Cross of Christ” (68) writes: “the bread did not stand for His living body” in the sense of cannibalism, as those in the synagogue thought when they heard His words. That is why they asked: “How can this man give us his body to eat.” Jesus meant that just as the blood of the Passover lamb in Egypt had saved lives, so “.His body soon to be offered on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins,” will save all who believe in Him.
The wine did not represent nor symbolize His blood as it flowed in His veins but His blood which would be “poured out” on the cross. For He was the perfect lamb of God sacrificed so that we would not be alienated from God’s mercy and love. Later Jesus would ask the disciples to “remember” His sacrificed body and blood in the sacrament of Holy Communion. It is His death that He wants remembered.
Not too long ago, my wife and I had the opportunity to visit the battleship USS Missouri, which is now anchored off Ford Island in Pearl Harbor. Our tour of "Big Mo" ended at the place on the deck where General Douglas MacArthur accepted the unconditional surrender of the empire of Japan on September 2, 1945. This historic event ended the hostilities of World War II in the Pacific theater.
The signing of that treaty happened before my wife or I were born, but the events symbolized by that treaty shaped the world into which we were born and in which we now live. An event that happened more than 70 years ago still has significance. We still enjoy the freedoms secured by the heroic service of our parents and grandparents. So it is with the Sacrament of Holy Communion. When we participate in the sacrament we are remembering the forgiveness secured by the death of Jesus on Calvary.
But there is more according to Jesus than just remembering there is the promise of eternal life and His indwelling presence.
In the first Passover in Egypt, the Israelites could not be spectators. They had to participate in the meal, in the sacrifice of the lamb and the placing of blood on their door frames. So neither can we be spectators when the bread is broken and blessed and the wine is blessed and shared.
I grant that this sacrament, these words of Jesus are a mystery, no different than the incarnation, that I accept on faith. Jesus said: “Whoever eats my body and drinks my blood”, is a full participant in His death and thus receives the forgiveness and eternal life offered by His blood shed on the cross. Martin Luther explains the mystery this way: “Jesus is present in, with and under the bread and wine. It remains a mystery
There were some in the synagogue who heard these words of mystery from the lips of Jesus and they turned away. They chose denial.
In the eyes and ears of this generation's politicians, deny is a four letter word that should never be inserted into any speech or public proclamation. That word can get you unelected. That's why they promise a chicken in every pot and two American-made, full-sized electric vehicles in every garage.
They promise to offer guaranteed income even though the Apostle Paul reminds Christians to work with our hands that we might be a blessing to others. They promise to preserve the environment even as they relax controls on pollution. No, sir. No one will have to deny himself again in this utopia that will be brought about as soon as they are elected. Such is the promise. And that is why, no self-respecting servant of the people will ever use the word deny--at least during an election year.
Deny is a four-letter word that God believes in. The God of the burning bush, in His great plan of grace to save humanity from our broken commandments, denied Jesus His heavenly throne and sent Him to the earth for 33 years. While here, every moment of every day of every week of every month of every year, He denied every temptation that came His way. He fulfilled the law for us.
After His trial before Pilate, He could have denied the soldiers their job of nailing his hands and feet to a wooden beam. He did not. While dying of thirst, suffering from the suffocation of crucifixion, He could have called 10 thousand angels and denied death its grip on His broken body. He did not. Why?
Because a holy and righteous God, in the person of Jesus Christ substituted Himself for us so that we would no longer be alienated from His love and eternity in heaven. We are to remember and be participants in His body and blood in the sacrament. It is the security we need as He lives in us and we in Him through the mystery of the sacrament.
In his book The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart, Charles Swindoll relates the story of an eight year- old Kenyan girl, Monica, who fell into a pit and broke her leg. Mama Njeri, an older woman, seeing what had happened, climbed into the pit to rescue Monica. But hiding in the pit was the most poisonous snake in Africa. The snake bit both Monica and Mama Njeri.
Both ladies were rushed to a medical center; Monica improved, but tragically, Mama Njeri died. A nurse missionary explained to Monica that Mama Njeri was bitten first and thus received all of the mamba's poison. When the snake bit Monica, it had no poison left. The nurse went on to explain that Jesus had similarly taken the poison of our broken commandments so that we can have peace with God. Monica understood and became a follower of Jesus.
When many of those Jews who were hearing the words of Jesus and thought them too harsh, deciding to no longer follow Jesus. Jesus then turned to the twelve and asked: “What about you? Will you leave also?” Peter answered: “Lord to who shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” “We know and believe that you are the Holy One of God.”
