11th Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 16
Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18
John 6:56-69
"but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
"Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life;"
24:1 ¶ Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God.
2 And Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ’Your fathers lived of old beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.
14 "Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.
15 ¶ And if you be unwilling to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
16 Then the people answered, "Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods;
17 for it is the LORD our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, and who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed;
18 and the LORD drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land; therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God."
56 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me.
58 This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever."
59 This he said in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.
60 ¶ Many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?"
61 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at it, said to them, "Do you take offense at this?
62 Then what if you were to see the Son of man ascending where he was before?
63 It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
64 But there are some of you that do not believe." For Jesus knew from the first who those were that did not believe, and who it was that would betray him.
65 And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father."
66 After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him.
67 Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?"
68 Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life;
69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God."
Grace and Peace to you from Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen
"There was a man who lost every job he had, but one day he got a very simple job in an orange factory. He was told: "Just put the big oranges in this box, the medium- sized oranges in this box, and the smallest oranges in this box." But not long afterwards, he came up to his new boss and said, ’’I quit’"’ ’
"But why?’! asked the boss in amazement.
’’I cannot take it "he replied, "Decisions, Decisions, Decisions!’!"
Yes, decisions are part of life. Decisions are difficult, some are easy, some need to be made in a split second, some need to be made to protect life, some decisions to need to be made now or they will never be made.
All of the different kinds of decision. which we are called upon to make can be seen in the following story:
"On the rugged wave-beaten cliffs on the west coast of Scotland a man was once gathering the eggs of the sea birds which nested there. He had been let down from the top of the cliff by a rope to the ledge where the nests were, but, in a moment of carelessness had let the rope slip from his hand.
As it swung down and out and seaward, and then come swinging in again toward him, he knew that the first swing inward of the rope was his only chance, and that the next swing would be beyond his reach.
With all the powers of body and mind and soul tense and alert, he stood on the edge of the ledge waiting for the rope to come in toward him. Just as it reached the end of its swing, he stretched out his hand seized it and was saved."
He had one chance and he took it and was saved. In our first lesson and in the gospel lesson, people have a chance to be saved, to receive the salvation of God and they had to make a decision.
In the first lesson, the nation of Israel had just finished conquering the new land, Joshua was dying and he wanted to be sure who the people were going to follow, would they believe in the God’s of the Amorites, or would they follow the God of Abraham, Jacob and Moses, the God who had led them out of the land of slavery into this new land flowing with milk and honey.
Joshua had made a decision, he says, "But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!!
Who will you serve?"
In the gospel lesson, Jesus had offended the people by his talk of the Living Bread from heaven, that he was that bread and if anyone eats his flesh they would live.
As it says in the Augsburg sermon series "That is what offended the people.
They were willing to settle for some materialistic miracle. They wanted free bread. If Jesus could supply that they would believe. But when he talked about being the Bread of life and offering heaven to them, they walked away. The are offended at the idea that God would come down from heaven and crawl into OUR akin, die for us and rise again so that he could offer us the gift of eternal life, They are offended at the free offer of salvation."
So Jesus then asks the disciples "Do you also wish to go away?" And good old Simon Peter answers for them by saying,"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.!!
Life is difficult. We ore called upon to make many decisions each day, but the most important one has to do with our relationship with Jesus Christ. Joshua asked his people whom they would follow, and Jesus asked the disciples whom they would follow; and both of these texts are asking you and I, who are we going to follow?? What is our life going to be about? What is life for us??
A poem in the book Girded With Truth written by an unknown author says:
’’What is life? asked a little child as he romped on a golden day. Out of his life the answer came: Life is play! Life is play’
"What is life?" asked the sturdy man...As he toiled through the sun and rain... And the woe in his heart cried out aloud, ’Life is pain’ ! Life is pain "
"What is life asked the old, old man as he gazed on the stars above,....And his wise, wise heart sang joyfully,.... "Life is Christ! Life is love"
Life is difficult because it challenges us with choices, especially the choice of whether Jesus is going to have any control, partial control, or whole control of our lives.
Some attempt to take the easy way of life, the path of least resistances, so to speak as seen in the following: "Once there was a little girl who met a hobo as he was walking in a park. Becoming fascinated with this strange man she asked, ’How do you decided which way to go?’ With a twinkle in his eye and a grin on his face, the hobo replied,’ I always travel with the wind to my back!"
He always took the easy way and many take the easy way when it comes to following Jesus. They simply stay with him when it is the socially accepted thing to do, or when at is convenient, or when they feel no challenge, but when it starts to become challenging, or demanding, or other things or people, or events are more exciting, then they turn their hacks to Jesus, and follow the easy wind of life.
They let the wind of life blow them around instead of letting the breath of God through His Holy spirit blow the love, the mercy and the forgiveness of Christ into their lives.
But not only do people pick the easy way, there are many who are just plain indifferent to life as seen in the following: "In his play A Thousand Clowns, Herb Gardner has a scene in which Arnold, the conformist who has sold his soul for $30,000 a year says of himself to his brother Murray, who hasn’t sold out yet: "I’m willing to deal with the available world, and I do not choose to shake it up, but to live with it. There’s the people who spill things and the people who get spilled upon. I do not choose to notice the stain, Murray."
In order words, Arnold wants nothing to do to with anyone or anything in life except for his $30,000 a year. The brokenness, the injustice, the unfairness, the cruelty of life has passed by him as water rolls off of a duck’s back. Arnold is indifferent to life. As long as none of that stain falls on him, he is happy. He doesn’t enjoy or get excited about life at all.
He doesn’t partake of the living bread of heaven, he doesn’t know of the love of Christ, or the joy of reaching out a hand to help a neighbor, or taking a risk to see that some measure of comfort, peace or fairness is brought into this stain filled life. He is plainly indifferent.
Then there is the one who is really fooling himself about the kind of life he thinks he is living, he is the one for one reason or another says to the Lord, "Yes, Lord, I am leaving, see you later, but I’ll be back, but does he?" as a Pastor says "If your congregation is like mine it starts right after confirmation , it goes like this: He gets a part-time job that involves Sundays. First a few Sundays, then most Sundays. Then it is getting money for the car, then it is late night dates so it is convenient to sleep in on Sunday mornings. Then after high school graduation, its off to college or work. Then Sunday morning becomes the only day of the week with no so-called responsibilities, so he either sleeps in or sleeps just a little later, then finds other things to do, like the golf course, or fishing, or biking, or whatever. And finally the language to the Lord changes so subtly, now it is : "See you later, Lord " Yea, I want to leave you, too!! I am not coming back’ ! !" This starts out so innocently, a few missed Sunday here, a few missed Sundays there’ then a whole string of them,then other things, or people crowd for that Sunday morning time, then, then the Lord is lost, maybe to be found again one day, but maybe to be found never again.
The choice the decision was made so innocently to turn his back on the Lord, the promise was made so faithfully to come back. but it was never fulfilled for so many.
But Jesus as did Joshua calls his followers to take the difficult path, will you forsake me for the easy life, Jesus asks his disciples, will you forsake me for fame, for riches, for indifference.
Or will you follow me in a life which calls for sacrifice, service, love, involvement. A life which calls for a relationship, a friendship, a partnership with me in all areas. This difficult choice, this difficult decision can be seen in the following story which many have been involved in: "The boys are in the school yard choosing us sides for a ball game. The captains have been chosen and they ore in the process of selecting teams. One of the boys is on a spot; he must choose between his best friend and a much better player. All eyes are upon him as he looks the other boys in the face. If he picks his best friend, his team will suffer and may even lose. If he picks the best player, his friendship is in jeopardy. What shall he do?"
In many ways that is the dilemma which each of us face in our relationship with Jesus. Do we choose between winning, success, fame, fortune, being on top, or do we choose our best friend, Jesus Christ? Does our relationship with him come before everything else in life? Does our relationship with Jesus come before our material success, does it come before being the most popular, does it come before winning? Does our relationship with Jesus help us to be able to sacrifice, to say loud and clear I love Jesus more than all that the world tells me to love??
Joshua said "but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
Peter said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life;"
What do you say today?
Amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale August 18, 2003
