This Sunday's gospel continued our weeks-long look at John, Chapter 6 wherein Jesus explains that he is the Bread of Life, the giver of eternal life, the true gift from the Father. His speech this week confused his hearers, as he talked to them about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. Having not had any First Communion classes, this idea left his hearers giving responses ranging from, "What???" to, "No way!!!" to, "Ewww...that's gross!"
Talking about communion would have been one way to go with this sermon. I opted not to go in that direction. In my experience, those discussions are better in a classroom than in a sermon, as they can be true discussions instead of a mostly-one-way speech. Besides, Jesus' followers hadn't experienced the sacrament of communion yet. There must have been something more to the lesson.
Sometimes you find extra meaning in the gospels by delving into specifics. But often when a passage seems confusing (or just gross, like this one) you can find meaning by getting a little more general. Jesus wasn't talking about his flesh and blood in an isolated, abstract sense. He was contrasting himself--his body, his being, his purpose--with everything that had come before. His hearers thought they were all set because they were of the holy Jewish heritage. God had fed them personally in the wilderness, given them the gifts of Law and land. They thought they came ready-made for eternal life. Jesus was trying to help them understand that eternal life didn't depend on them, but on God. This is true no matter what your heritage, tradition, or gifts.
The world teaches us that our gifts and talents are everything. LeBron James plays basketball well. You and I don't. Therefore he's on the Olympics team and makes millions of dollars a year selling shoes and playing for the Miami Heat. We don't do any of that. The folks who make the cut on American Idol get to sing in front of millions. Everybody else just has to watch. Some people are considered good teachers, good spouses, good parents, good workers. Most of that assessment happens based on their internal gifts/qualities...or at least that's what the goodness gets blamed on.
The problem is, centering our lives around any of these gifts leads to their inevitable end. LeBron James will turn 40 someday. He'll not be able to play in the NBA anymore. If his whole life is based on his ability to play basketball, what will happen? How easy is it for those American Idol singers to turn into self-centered prima donnas? How fulfilled and happy and secure will their lives be then? For that matter, what happens to all of us when we stop concentrating on our daily tasks--and serving people through them--and start concentrating on how good we are at doing those daily tasks?
The world tells us that our gifts and talents determine our destiny, but the world is also in the business of lifting people up and then tearing them down. That's exactly what happens to us if we depend on anything besides God to center us.
The world and eternal life are centered on something beyond us...beyond any of our gifts and abilities. Seeing that--living a life beyond the self-centered outlook that the world encourages--is our key to developing our gifts fully. When we live for something beyond ourselves our gifts and talents take on significance beyond ourselves.
Most future pastors go to seminary thinking that they know how to do this job, that they are qualified for it. The first thing that happens there is you have to learn Greek...a dead language made up of a bunch of weird squiggles. Nobody outside of the seminary context knows Greek. Who would need it? So immediately you're reminded that you don't know jack.
After Greek they turn around and make you learn Hebrew, the other original Biblical language. Hebrew has even weirder squiggles than Greek. It has no vowels. You flounder again. Once again, you don't know.
Then they put you into classes where professors say different things about the Bible than you thought. Then they put you into discussion groups where fellow students say different things yet. Wait...you guys know? But I thought I knew? But we're each saying something different. Does any of us really know?
What you end up with, if you're lucky, are pastors who understand that they don't know. They don't carry God in their back pocket. No matter what their tradition or heritage, gifts or talent, truly knowing is beyond them. They have to seek and listen, learn and understand. It's not internal, it's about God.
What you end with if you're not lucky is a pastor who fights against all of this, stubbornly pretending that his or her way is the only way...that what they came in with really was sufficient and they need nothing else to proclaim the Word of God.
Which do you suppose are the better pastors?
This also applies to farmers and teachers, business folks and police officers, politicians and artists and everyone in between. What does your life center around, you or something beyond you? And if it's something beyond you, is it the eternal and loving God who brings your gifts to full flower or is it something else that's only going to fade and let you down?
The answer to these questions will not only determine how well you understand God, but how well you understand life. It'll also determine how well you're able to treat the people in your life and how big of a difference you're able to make in the world. Is union with God at the center of your existence and everything you do or does another bread seem more tasty? No matter how good that other thing looks, how centrally it holds sway in your life, it can never be what it's meant to be unless God shows through it and through you as you pursue it. That's important to remember as we go about our daily tasks.
--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)
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