Where Would We Go?

John 6:56-69   

Rev. Dr. Mary Alice Mulligan

Today, we finish our meditations on the 6th chapter of John. John wrote later than the other Gospel writers, so he was particularly interested in driving home lessons for living faithfully. Here’s a pop Quiz. How many times does the word we translate as “faith” occur in the Gospel of John? Answer: Zero. However, the verb “believe” occurs over 80 times in John, more than in all Paul’s letters combined. One scholar explains, “[For John,] …faith is not something you have but something you do.”[i] We behave what we believe. An obvious way John shows this is in how much he emphasizes, not the crucified flesh of Jesus, but the incarnate flesh of Jesus. Living flesh gives life. Living, not dying, is one of John’s “big ideas.” Those who believe, are invited to live in Christ, participate in his life. Today’s passage continues Jesus’ outrageous teachings, calling us to ingest him. We are to abide in his living existence, to take him into ourselves, his way of living – of unconditional mercy, of self-giving love, and even his eventual surrender to suffering and death. No wonder many listeners slip away sheepishly. From late in the 6th chapter of the Gospel of John, listen for the word of God.  

Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.” Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

People flocked to Jesus because he poured out divine love on each of them. He filled them with a sense of value which changed their lives. They knew their lives could matter in making the world a better place. Today, people are still drawn to Jesus because of his love, his recognizing their value, and his ability to give their lives direction. But just as in the first century, some people claiming to follow Jesus decide his call is too difficult. The trouble is, leaving the group means leaving the company of Jesus. If a person leaves, where can they go for Christian nurture and love?

The Church isn’t perfect. Ask anyone. The church has problems. The book of Acts in the Bible even records a church fight among the very first apostles. Some said before people could join with them, they needed to follow the traditions Jesus grew up following. In other words, they had to become Jewish to become Christian. Others argued that following Jewish law was not necessary; just be baptized and live according to Jesus’ teachings. Obviously, disagreements are part of church tradition.

You know some of the issues that caused battles through the centuries: may women sing in worship choirs? Are ordained clergy the only ones who may drink from the Communion cup? Are divorced people allowed to remarry? A few groups today still refuse to break bread with others, as if some branches of church are somehow not really church. And one group questions whether they can appropriately pray with people in other denominations, because maybe they aren’t really praying to the same God.

But of course, local churches also have squabbles, sometimes resulting in hateful fights and eventual splits in the congregation. Sometimes the “wars” are over issues as stupid as arguing over who gets to decide what color to paint the women’s restroom; sometimes they are as serious as whether believers must stop beating their spouses. Unfortunately, lots of the issues seem more focused on how society thinks people should behave rather than how God does. Very sad. Millennia of arguments are pretty good evidence: the Church is not perfect.

Nevertheless, God created the Church. As frustrating as we must be, still, the church is God’s plan. Scripture reports when Peter first declares Jesus to be the Messiah, Jesus signals the beginning of the Church. “You are the Rock (Petros) and upon this rock (petra) I will build my church.”[ii] Certainly Jesus knew the fallibility of his disciples, yet they are the foundation of the Church. Notice however, Peter could be a foundation stone, but he was not the church alone. One person cannot be the church. Because of our frailties, we need each other to be church together. The church is a community of faith. Jesus promises to give life and Spirit, but those gifts are nurtured and used in our common life of faith. We need each other if we are to be church. Throughout the Bread Discourse, Jesus pointed out that we share together in the broken bread, the body of Christ, and then together we trust we become what we eat. As Church, we become the Body of Christ together, not by our power, but by God’s claim on us. John Calvin taught that we receive the gospel from God, but the gospel is not entrusted to us to keep for ourselves. Calvin believed instead: “…the church is in a supreme degree mastered and claimed by the gospel entrusted to it….In proportion as the good news is imparted to the church it [the gospel] claims the church for its service.”[iii] God has created the church to be a community of faith; but we do not exist for the sake of ourselves. We are not the church if we only exist for ourselves. African theologian, Mary Tororeiy reminds us, “The Church is the Church only if it exists for others.”[iv] Because the church is claimed by the gospel, all over the world, the church is at work. Through the centuries, churches have built hospitals, opened community education projects and other places of care and assistance. Some we know by their names. We know who started Church World Service. The church. And the Salvation Army rescue missions. And Texas Christian University. And millions of other projects. We take into our being the bread of life; we co-mingle our being with the being of Christ, so we enter the world filled with Christ’s power. The community of faith existing in service to the world, is what Jesus had in mind. The church is God’s plan.

So we stick with Jesus. As part of the St. Andrew family, together, we choose to stay connected to Christ. We know from the beginning there have been disciples who drifted away from following Jesus. Leaving means the end of living within the richness of God’s community, losing the sense of connection with God and the sense of purpose that comes from doing good through the church. Meanwhile staying means being empowered by the Holy Spirit to survive difficulties together and to continue following the leading of Jesus Christ.

The secret is, of course, when Jesus leads, we will be moving someplace new, which is often scary. After all, we might be led to do something we’ve never done before. A church consultant warns when a congregation follows Jesus into new territory, we might fall prey to “two destructive illusions… – the fantasy of growth without change, and the fantasy of change without conflict.”[v] A congregation is empowered by God to live in Jesus Christ, but we don’t stay static. If we are alive, we are changing. And any living thing that changes will have conflict. We notice it in our own lives, like when we take on a new responsibility, we naturally have an internal conversation, even conflict, about how to approach it. That happens in the church, too. The conflict may be unspoken – some groups just let one or two people always have their way, but an unspoken (or parking lot) dialogue exists nonetheless. Most change inevitably arouses tension.

But as a community of faith, receiving life from Jesus Christ, we have the resources to express our differences and figure out the best way to move into God’s future together. God has promised to nourish us with everything we need to follow Jesus. Our disagreements do not need to divide us. After all, we live as church to glorify God, but as we live, we discover we are existing in Jesus Christ.

All we need to do is go to brunch after worship to notice there is joy all around St. Andrew, but the church does not exist for our pleasure. The church exists to glorify God in worship and in service to the world. God’s Spirit gives each person gifts which are needed for us to be Church together. Amazingly, everything we need is right here. Look around. Everyone’s gifts are essential – and when someone new walks in the door, we believe that person has gifts we need to be an even more effective manifestation of the Body of Christ. The family of St. Andrew has been brought together by the power of the Holy Spirit to be the Body of Christ, to glorify God and serve God’s world.

So let me say to you individually: St. Andrew United Church of Christ needs you. As part of the church family, you bring gifts. Even if you haven’t formally joined, you still matter to the life of this congregation. Those who have formally joined promise to support the ministry of this church with your prayers, your presence, your gifts, and your service. In other words, you have told Jesus and the congregation, you intend to stay, moving into the future God is laying out before us. Here you strengthen your own faith and the faith of the entire congregation as we grow together in Christ. Why would you go anywhere else? We stick together because we stick with Jesus Christ.  

[i] Douglas R.A Hare, “Exegetical Perspective,” for “John 6:56-69” Feasting on the Word, Year B, vol. 3, 385.

[ii] Matthew 16:18.

[iii] William Niesel, The Theology of Calvin, trans. Harold Knight (Westminster, 1956), 183 (my emphasis).

[iv] Mary Tororeiy, “Voices from the Periphery: Being Church as Women in Kenya,” in On Being Church: African Women’s Voices and Visions, ed. Isabel Apawo Phiri and Sarojini Nadar (WCC, 2005), 169.

[v] Alice Mann, Can Our Church Live? Redeveloping Congregations in Decline (Alban Institute, 1999), 84.