Crossing the Bridge

John 6:56-69New International Version (NIV)

56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

Many Disciples Desert Jesus

60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you?62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit[a] and life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”

66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

68 Simon Peter answered him,“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

    In our scripture for this morning, a large group of disciples is following Jesus and he continues his preaching about the bread of heaven.  Jesus tells the crowd “whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.”  Today, we have been conditioned to know exactly what Jesus was talking about but at the time, many of the disciples thought Jesus was speaking quite literally, so they left.  The response to many of the followers was, “this is a hard teaching.  Who can accept it?”  That is question we have gathered here this morning to answer, “Who can accept it?”  I told you last week that God has had a relationship with you from the very beginning.  He has had a relationship with all of us from the very beginning and the words found in the Bible help define and explain that relationship and our experiences give those words context.  This morning, we will try to answer the question of “who can accept the difficult teachings of Jesus?”

    However, the question of “who” is pretty simple.  God is not picky.  All who are more than willing to take up their cross and follow God.  All are invited to partake in the bread and the cup.  Under no set of guidelines or requirements, all are invited into accepting the works of God.  The “who” is not the difficult part of the question the large crowd asked Jesus.  Rather, it was the rest of their question about acceptance.  The truth of the matter is that we live in a world today that does its best to be politically correct, and probably overly so.  Even with all of its faults, this political correctness has helped us to become more accepting of one another.  At the exact same time, society’s acceptance of Christ and his teachings have declined.  We have beat the Bible to death trying to use its words to justify and dispel at the same time.  We have used its words to support and fight against social changes.  It is easy for me to say that despite our differences we should sit down, talk it out and come to a mutual understanding.  Let’s be real though.  The ideals that you hold dear are not going to change.  Someone could come up with the most intriguing and intellectually sound argument possible but if you believe the sky is green with all of your heart, they cannot convince you otherwise.  So in the end, have we really become more understanding of one another?  Have we really done a better job of accepting one another?  

My answer to that question would be that we have made strides but I look at it like this: picture a little creek that runs through the trees.  This creek is about 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep.  You wouldn’t need to make a very big bridge to get a cross it nor would it take much to just cross it on foot.  Fast forward 10 years and with all of the heaven rains, the creek hasn’t gotten any wider but it is now 5 feet deep.  Now, that same bridge would work but it is more difficult to cross on foot.  Probably still possible to get across on foot but more difficult nonetheless.  Fast forward another 10 years of heavy rains.  The creek is still 3 feet wide but now it is 11 feet deep.  Crossing the creek on foot has now become impossible  The banks are too steep and the depth is too great.  However, the bridge still works but now no one is using it.  They all want to cross the creek on foot.  They do not need the bridge anymore.  On the other side of the creek is acceptance, forgiveness, grace and love.  We as a society keep trying to cross the creek without using the bridge.  We may have become slightly better at accepting one another but the way we are doing it is becoming more and more difficult.  Jesus is the bridge and for whatever our reasons may be, we have stopped using him as the way to bridge the gap.  “This is a hard teaching.  Who can accept it?”

So, why have we stopped using Jesus as our bridge?  The disciples listening to Jesus speak that day asked the same question.  And the response of Jesus is still the same to us today as it was them but here is one of the few times that I do not like the NIV translation.  The NIV quotes Jesus as saying in verse 63, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing.”  I don’t think this is totally accurate for what Jesus is trying to say.  The English Standard Version quotes the same scripture as, “It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail.”  I think the latter more accurately fits with what Jesus is saying.  And that is, through the spirit we accomplish things that the flesh is not capable of.  In other words, the spirit helps us build the bridge while the flesh tries to cross the creek on its own, to no avail.  As a society, we do not have to have Jesus but the creek will keep getting deeper and deeper even though we are just as close to the other side as we have ever been.  

The rest of verse 63 goes on to say, “...the words that I have spoken to you are the spirit and life.”  Spirit and life, bread and cup.  The physical bread and cup can keep our physical bodies nourished and strong but it is God’s Holy Spirit that gives us spiritual life.  In perhaps his greatest summation of scripture that I have found to date, William Barclay accurately describes Jesus’ intention here:

The things of the flesh all gain their value from the spirit in which they are done. Jesus alone can tell us what life is, put into us the spirit in which it must be lived, give us strength so to live it.  Life takes its value from its purpose and its goal.  Christ alone can give us true purpose in life, and the power to work out that purpose against the constant opposition that comes from without and within.  

 We can have a purpose without Jesus.  We can live a life without Jesus.  But I am afraid that doing so means the creek will only get deeper and if there is nothing there to help us build the bridge so that we can eventually cross it then the struggle becomes increasingly difficult.  

As I was prepping for this sermon, verse 65 kept my attention.  Jesus says, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”  My initial thought was the this is speaking about predestination.  I thought it was saying that God foreordained a select few so I spoke about it with one of my good friends and this was her response: 

God calls each of us. Jesus said "I will draw all men to myself". Those who refuse have that right. But they cannot come unless called. You can't come to my party unless I invite you. But the invitation of God is in everybody's mailbox. It's actually in our DNA. I think it can be just a statement that says God wants you. He didn't have to do this. He didn't have to call you to relationship and sonhood. But He WANTED you to come. Jesus is the proof and the invitation and the entrance. You can't come unless you're called. But he called us all on the cross to come.

It may be very difficult to accept the teachings of Christ.  It may be even more difficult to build the bridge and then cross it.  Those disciples who turned away from Jesus’ teachings that day were still deeply loved by him.  He knew that this teaching may confuse but he taught anyway.  He loved those people as dearly as he loved the twelve, as dearly as he loves you and I.  He didn’t chase them down the road, ask them to sit down and talk it out to come to a mutual understanding.  I feel like I have quoted a lot this morning but I came across a lot good material this week.  William Barclay says, “Jesus was well aware that some would not only reject his offer but would reject it with hostility.  No man can accept him unless he is moved by the Spirit of God to do so but to the end of the day a man can resist that Spirit.  Such a man is shut out not by God, but by himself.”   Jesus allowed the followers to leave that day.  He didn’t try to convince them otherwise but this does not mean that he didn’t love them.  If we so choose, we can also choose to leave.  That is our right but you won’t and here is why: just like the twelve you too have “...come to believe and to know that Jesus is the Holy One of God.”  You have made the decision to make Jesus your bridge and the spirit, your friends, family, faith and Bible has helped you construct that bridge. As a community of Christians, let's help others build their bridges and cross them.  But if you haven’t made that decision and would like to publicly make it or renew it you may do so as we stand and sing our hymn of invitation #227 In the Garden.  Amen

Invitation to Commune: I am inviting each of you to partake in the sacraments that help feed us spiritually.  The sun (s-u-n) provides every living organism on this planet the energy they need to survive.  Either directly or indirectly, the sun affects every form of life.  Each organism processes that energy differently.  As Christians, the son (s-o-n) is the only source of life but how each of us processes that energy, the life bearing sacraments of the bread and cup, is different.  Each of us process Christ’s love, compassion and grace differently but the absolute truth is that Jesus is the source.     

While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat, this is my body.”  Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them saying, “Drink from it, all of you; this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”   Let us start our time at this table by singing hymn  #420 I Come with Joy