How can He?
John 6:51-58 Prov 9 :1-6 Eph 5:15-20
9/3
† In the Name of Jesus †
Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father, and our risen Lord Jesus Christ!
Picture, A bird feeding its young
The video camera pans across the side of a mountain, following a soaring eagle as it hunts for its pray. Suddenly, it dives down into the valley, having spotted its prey. It takes its time, efficiently taking its kill and preparing it.
The camera now fades away, and another camera’s picture becomes visible. This time, the focal point is the side of the mountain, and the camera zooms in, till we see a nest made of twigs, and leaves. A head pops out, a ugly little head, more beak than anything, and soon it is joined by 2 others – beaks pointed nearly straight up, as they yap, and fight for position.
The eagle, returning with part of the pray, already chewed, and prepared for the baby birds’ stomachs, comes, and feeds the young ones. They eagerly await the food and fight over who gets to eat first, taking the very sustenance they need, from the mouth of their parent. Even though we watch such scenes over and over, played out in a thousand different documentaries, they always touch us. They literally receive all the need for life, from the one who cares for them, the one that brought them into the world.
As I look at how our Lord promises, in today’s gospel, to feed us, to quench our thirst, the picture of the eagle feeding its children strikes home. For we are not so different, in our needs, and in our relationship to our God. We depend upon Him, for that which we need to live, the food and drink that will truly sustain us. From He who has given us life, we find the things necessary to live that life. Indeed, we find that life, in Him, is so much more.
For the food He gives, is nourishment indeed, for it is His body.
And the drink He gives, is satisfying indeed, for it is, His blood.
1. Something to chew on!
a. How can He ?
b. The struggle to understand?
c. Christianity without the cross?
d. Another struggle – dependence!
e. Let’s take small steps!
When a pastor prepares a sermon on the Gospel, it is advised that he put himself in the shoes of those who heard the words of the scripture for the very first time. To realize what they heard, and how they would hear it. It is not always easy, for we indeed project that which we know into the text. For example, it is hard to separate today’s gospel reading, about the Body and Blood to be eaten and drank, from what we know.
For example, reading today’s gospel, how can one not think of the Lord’s Supper, where we do eat and drink the body and blood of our Lord and Savior. Or how can not one see the image of the cross, where that Body was given, that we might live, and the blood was spilt, that our sins would be forever removed from us?
Take the Cross, and the Supper, away from the understanding of the hearers, and we being to see their questions, and their struggle. “How can he give us His body and Blood?” What does this mean? How, can becoming a cannibal give us eternal life? Is this a literal thing, or if it is figurative, another one of His parables, what’s the key to “getting” it?
Like many of the things that Jesus taught the apostles, the true meaning cannot be understood at the time He said it. A great example, for it bears on today’s gospel, is found in Mark,
Mark 9:31-32 (ESV) 31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise." 32 But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.
Afraid to ask? I think it would be equally so. I mean, can you imagine Peter, looking down at his fisherman’s knife, asking Jesus, “Uhm Lord, are you sure, uhh, what part do I start with, a leg?” It may seem a bit coarse or crude, but I can see those thoughts going through Peter’s mind!
The figurative meaning, is perhaps a less coarse to take, but it still makes the people uneasy. For the only thing it could mean, is like my opening illustration. That Jesus was encouraging them to be totally dependent upon them. Like the baby birds in the nest, Jesus is encouraging us to become children, to depend on Him for what we need for eternal life.
Side note: As I was writing this line, I loved God’s sense of timing. For what is on my radio – a rendition of How Great Thou art. And that is the point, as Great as God is, He calls us, in Christ, to eat and drink Christ.
2. Is God Trustworthy? Will He nourish us, figuratively?
a. Manna in the Wilderness
b. Luke 22:35
c. Psalm 23, Psalm 122:5-8
d. Every time they repented
I suppose, that as we prepare to do that, we need to see that God does provide that which sustains us. That Jesus is, as God is labeled in the Old Testament – Jehovah-Jireh, the God who provides! We need to realize, that we need His provision, and that He is faithful to provide it. Sustenance that is what we need, both now and eternally.
Eternally speaking, we are far more helpless than the little birds sitting in the nest. There is nothing we can do to feed ourselves food that nourishes that, for any food we could buy, or gather, will not last forever. Even the manna in the wilderness, Jesus points out, provided by the Father to Israel in the desert, did not sustain Israel forever, but those that ate it eventually died. Part of the effect of the sin of mankind, is that we have corrupted nature as well. We are helpless.
There was a time where the apostles, we just as helpless. Jesus sent them out, stripped of everything – no money belt, no extra sandals, no backpack filled with food. Nothing. No staff or sword for protection – heck he even told them not to take a spare shirt! But to go out, and preach that the Kingdom of God was in their midst. That God, in Christ, was there, to redeem them.
In Luke 22:35, Jesus asks them about their journey.
Luke 22:35 (ESV) 35 And he said to them, "When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?" They said, "Nothing."
The lesson, was not that they could go out and share the gospel, that was the command, that led them to places where people were healed, where the possessed were freed, where people heard, and believed. The lesson, was to depend on Jesus, on the Holy Spirit, for all that we need, to live, as people of God.
Manna in the wilderness, food on missionary journeys, deliverance from enemies, His presence always, even healing and deliverance, given to us, as we need. Think of the promises just in the Psalms, those Jesus does sustain us, as we look to Him, as those birds looked to their parent.
3. The next step – literally!
a. Heb 5 – 6
b. The food that never perishes
c. Abide = eating
d. The Core of Christ – the cross, the supper
i. Gal 2:17
Through the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Holy Spirit challenges the Hebrew people. In chapter five, the words compare the people who should have, after all the sermons, after the catechism classes, after the Sunday School classes, to infants, who still need to be bottle fed. There is a next step, provided in the rest of that book – the realization of the sacrifice of Christ, and its completeness. Never again, will the blood of bull and goats be sacrificed, as sin or peace offerings. Never again, will there be a “high priest”, for Jesus the Christ is our final high priest, who offered himself as the final, complete offering for sins, and to recognize the peace that now exists between those who believe, and God.
That is what it means to eat and drink Christ, to know how completely He has satisfied our deepest needs, to be at peace with God, to realize His providence. To be content with looking to Him, always for what we need, knowing that He will use everything, good and bad, to work for our good. Having that confidence then, life changes. For we live by trusting and abiding in Him.
We live, we find our life, living in and with Christ. I love how Luther put it, in a sermon on Galatians,
The question is what Christ is and what blessing He has brought us. Christ is not the Law; He is not my work or that of the Law; He is not my love or that of the Law; He is not my chastity, obedience, or poverty. But He is the Lord of life and death, the Mediator and Savior of sinners, the Redeemer of those who are under the Law. By faith we are in Him, and He is in us (John 6:56).
Or as Paul said to those at the Acropolis,
Acts 17:28 (ESV) 28 for " ’In him we live and move and have our being’;
Jesus sustains us, by His death, and Resurrection, which we are joined with in our baptism. He sustains us, by giving us His Body, and His Blood, primarily on the Cross, and in the Supper He asked to do in faith. Paul says of the Lord’s Supper that we commune with His Body and His Blood, and we know we are forgiven, and at peace with God.
Knowing that we have that, knowing that we have His sustenance provided to us, in Word, and in the Sacraments, we live, not just now, but for eternity. Not just like animals, but as men and women, made in the image of Christ. Made to live, even as He lived. Free from sin to live that way.
Free to live in the peace of God, which passes all understanding, and like an eagle protecting its young, that Peace guards our hearts and minds, as we abide in Jeuss.
AMEN? AMEN!
