The Outrageous Mystery of Our Faith!

“Moses said to YHWH, “But, never in my life have I been a man of eloquence,
either before or since you have spoken to your servant.” Ex 4:10

Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B:

 The Outrageous Mystery of Our Faith!

This is the last of 5 weeks in which the church reflects on Chapter 6 in the Gospel of John. 

The chapter began with the 'sign' of the feeding of 5,000 men and the unknown number of women and children. The whole of the chapter has used bread as an extended metaphor to describe both: what it is that Jesus is offering and what is the relationship Jesus wants us to have with him. The text this week (John 6:60-69) presents us with a crisis of faith, a difficult teaching, that will become a turning point for many of the disciples of Jesus. So far following Jesus has had exciting moments as he performed signs and wonders, tense moments when he challenged the religious authorities. Many of the disciples had come to hopes that Jesus was "indeed the prophet who is to come into the world." (John 6:14)

However, when Jesus says: "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides (lives) in me, and I in them" (6:56) he turns the focus on his disciples and on us. It is we who are the "whoever" in his teaching. The question from the disciples; "This message is harsh. Who can hear (stand) it?" and the question from Jesus; "Does this offend you?" are addressed to us. Jesus goes on to say; "What if you were to SEE the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?" As we read this text remember that Jesus is no longer on the hillside with the thousands but with his disciples teaching now in the Synagogue in Capernaum. The number of followers seem to have fallen off but Jesus is uncompromising in the sharing of his truth.

The question "what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? This question should get us thinking about what we have already SEEN in Jesus - or at least to remember what it is that the gospel writer John has SEEN. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... All things came into being through him ... What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people ... And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have SEEN his glory ... full of grace and truth." (John 1:1,3,4,14) John has SEEN and wants us to SEE the Word made flesh, full of grace and truth, light and life. But John does NOT want us to "see" in the simple sense of intellectual understanding. If we were to SEE the Son of Man ascending to where he was before, then perhaps we might SEE who it is who has descended from Heaven and is right here before our very eyes living (abiding) among us. "The Word became flesh and lived (abided) among us."

John wants us to hear the word, "abides or lives" as being as viscerally real as "flesh" and "blood." And to hear the words, "flesh" and "blood," as dynamically real as "abide." Abide is a verb. It not a material substance but a conscious dynamic relationship. But the teaching of Jesus still asks us to make a deeper level of commitment to the reality of who he is for us. Since blood was understood in the Jewish faith tradition to be "the seat of life" and belonging solely to God, Jesus is asking us to make him and those who abide in him the seat of their life, the very centre of their life; belonging to God alone.

John's story started five weeks ago with the crowd of 5000 seeking Jesus after the miracle of the loaves. Now the vast numbers are almost gone. If you count success by numbers, then Jesus seems to be a failure. Even among the Twelve one will betray Jesus - and he knows it. So, at the end of today's passage we find that only Jesus and the Twelve are left. When Jesus says to his disciples "Do you also want to leave?" Peter responds, "Lord, who shall we go to? You have the words (message) of eternal life. We BELIEVE and KNOW that you are the Holy One of God." 

In scripture faith is a verb an action by which we consent and act. But it is also a process. Peter and the others, like us, have faith, but it needs to grow stronger. The faith of the Twelve does not amount to much at this stage of their journey. Jesus' suffering and death will severely test their faith. But the faith they have now is a starting point and the disciples believe in Jesus and have surrendered their past, present and future to him. Jesus, for his part, has something to work with, in the growing faith of his few disciples and in time will send the Spirit upon them to finish the work he has begun. Still, this is not about what mere human "flesh" can accomplish, but about what the Spirit can do with willing disciples who say, as we do by being at the Eucharist, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."

 Jesus in feeding the 5000 and his accompanying words, has asked his followers to make a life-altering decision. He asks them, "Do you also want to leave?" In other words, did they see in him the One they were expecting? They certainly did not have a lot to base their hopes on; he was losing many disciples who were disenchanted with him. Although all the evidence is not in yet, we like the disciples want a deeper life with God and believe, as Peter confessed, "You have the words of eternal life. We (have come to) believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." The words Jesus speaks to us are spirit and life. When Christ is present, life is present. But there will be some who will find it hard believe, find it difficult to trust and bond with him. John wants us to come to believe, to trust him, to have life in him. Not the life of this flesh that ends in death, but the life of the Word that became flesh - full of grace and truth. As we read or hear the words of the gospel this weekend, let us realise that nothing can ever compare to what we have come to believe about the Eucharist, which is the outrageous mystery of our faith.

Looking Beyond the Bread to the Baker!

 “Moses said to YHWH, “But, never in my life have I been a man of eloquence,either before or since you have spoken to your servant.” Ex 4:10 

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B:

Looking Beyond the Bread to the Baker!

In our gospel this Sunday we read the words from John's gospel (6:24-35); “I am the Bread of Life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty!” This is what John has been try to tell us. It is more than just a summary of the miracle feeding of 5,000. The reference to “never being thirsty” recalls for me the story of Jesus meeting the spiritually thirsty woman of Samaria at the village well (Jn 4:1-42). John doesn’t present us with Jesus-the-magician; John presents us with 'Jesus - heaven come down to earth', or 'eternal life incarnate'. It’s a sign that Jesus is speaking with divine insight. He’s saying, “Listen to me. Let me tell you the deepest truth about what’s going on here. Don’t misunderstand who I AM for you! You’re seeing the sign – but you’re not reading it properly. You look at me and see a miracle worker. That’s not who I am. I am the stuff of life, sent you from God! Don’t have your minds on your stomachs but look more deeply and face the hunger and thirst for Life that is at the very core of you. Then look at me, and you’ll understand!”

We live in a world where two thirds of its inhabitants are starving and the other third has problems associated with overeating. When Jesus speaks of being the "Bread of Life" in John’s gospel, and criticises his hearers for being concerned only with full stomachs, he is not spiritualising hunger, nor is he advocating a focus on the “spiritual” rather than the “physical”. John’s Jesus is, more explicitly than in any other part of the New Testament, God incarnate. The 'Incarnation' is about God’s entry into the human condition and not a flight from it! This gospel can be read to challenge the rich, the well-fed, the powerful and the “haves". Jesus is the "Living Bread" who comes down from heaven who gives and is the life to the world! “Ah,” you might say, “but what sort of life is he giving? Is it the life that comes from giving bread to the hungry, or is it actually some sort of other-worldly life, meant to be lived in another place?” The point of the miracle is about feeding hungry people who have no means of feeding themselves. Provision and salvation Jesus is saying, belong together. Feeding hungry people and enabling them to continue living is part of God's idea of salvation! God it seems is interested in the whole person.

The wonder of the provision of food from heaven as seen in the Exodus passage (16:2-4,12-15) is about God providing what is needed to sustain the life of God's chosen people. When the hungry are fed and the naked clothed; when the poor are given enough and the thirsty given a cup of water, this is A PART of salvation! It is not some sort of “preparatory spadework” for evangelism. And when Jesus feeds the crowd, they do not only have enough, they have far more than enough. There is “something more”. It is this “something more” that Jesus goes on to stress that is the hunger and thirst of the soul. In a materialistic age, this is an important point. And for those of us who are aware of the sense in which the gospel is the Good News of a transformed world order of justice and provision for all, it is important not to neglect this dimension of human existence which is about more than eating, being clothed and having clean water. The Incarnation is about bridging the “gap” between heaven and earth.

Our 1st world culture has been built so that our lives and culture can exclude God. Individually and collectively, many people seem to be cut off from God. The fundamental “gap” manifests itself in injustice, oppression, poverty and death-dealing power or sin. To talk theologically, sin is both a personal and a collective structural problem. The “gap” is the absence of the Life of God. In John’s gospel (10:10) the terms, “eternal life” or “life in abundance” is something we are meant to experience in the here and now. We are created for fellowship with God. Jesus - the Word made flesh, does not only show us what God is like but he shows us what it is like to be truly human. To be human like Jesus is to live in the awareness of being God’s child and of the constant, transforming presence of God in our lives. Abundant life in Jesus is a life that overflows to others. We are made for joy, for love, for hope, for laughter, for deep relating. Yet these type of experiences of God in Jesus and through the Spirit are so often ridiculed as emotionalism or unimportant.

We fail people if we do not recognise the reality of and their spiritual hunger. The signs of the hunger for the "Bread of Life" are evident everywhere to whose eyes are open. Look at the current explosion of spirituality in self-help books, new age psychic fairs, meditation courses and classes on eastern mysticism. Millions of people who have nothing to do with the Church are desperate to make connections with spiritual reality. And yet the Church often fails to help them make a connection between their own deep sense of spiritual hunger and Jesus, the "Bread of Life!" We stand by in embarrassed silence, while people who have found something of significance in the occult, eastern meditation, Buddhism, and yoga. I think the reason for our failure is that we do not recognise in it a mirror of our own deep hunger and thirst for God. We should examine ourselves, lest we like the crowd in the gospel, fail to read the sign of the multiplication of bread correctly. In reality we need to remember that we are nothing more than beggars telling other beggars where to find bread.

Often Christian churches can hold all sorts of strange doctrines and practices that can keep hungry and thirsty souls from life giving spiritual food. And the danger is that they distract and prevent needy people coming to experience Jesus Christ. They sometimes seem to obscure and “lose” Jesus! Our passage from John's gospel challenges us to do good theology. Good prayerful spirit-directed theology has to do with life – the life of faith and the life of the world. Good theology provides answers to our ongoing hunger and thirst for God. It is interesting that John gets the passionate about faith when he is at his most “theological” best – which means most deeply aware of God's grace! Because at the end of the day, grace is what this all about: a God who answers hunger and thirst with a gift that is far more wonderful and life-giving than we can ever possibly imagine: the gift of Jesus. This Jesus is not a dry, academic theory but "Living Bread!" And we are invited to come and eat and drink … if of course, we are hungry and thirsty in the first place! Amen.

Night Time Talk about Day Time Truth

Torah

“Moses said to YHWH, “But, never in my life have I been a man of eloquence,

either before or since you have spoken to your servant.” Ex 4:10

Lent 4B: Night Time Talk about Day Time Truth

We are half way through Lent, but our Scriptures are looking ahead to Good Friday, when Jesus the “Son of Man” will be “lifted up.” The phrase 'lifted up' comes from the Book of Numbers (21:4-9), when the Israelites grumbled against Moses in the desert they were punished by bites from poisonous snakes. To help them God instructed Moses to make a bronze snake and place it on a pole and “lift it up.” Anyone bitten by a snake needed only to 'look' at it to be healed. That healing snake on a pole prefigured Jesus Christ and became a symbol of salvation. As Jesus says to Nicodemus in the gospel for this Sunday (John 3:14-21), “The Son Of Man must be 'lifted up', so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” John uses "looking” as a symbol for faith. So, to “look” on Jesus is to have faith in him and to “have eternal life” (eternal life is in - the present tense - for the believer it begins now).

Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night. Possibly, he wanted a quiet time with Jesus. Maybe because he did not want others to see him associate with Jesus or maybe he is a symbol of the world in darkness to the truth of who Jesus is. Nicodemus seems to have accepted the light offered to him because later in the gospel he will speak on behalf of Jesus and purchase spices for his burial. This great conversation is filled with faith and judgment. God is making a revelation to the whole world, that everyone, who “lives the truth” and “comes to the light,” will eternal life. The passage reflects the experience of the gospel writer’s community. Not everyone responded to God’s grace and accepted the offer God made in Jesus as “people preferred darkness to light.” John's time seems to be a lot like our own. This would have caused discouragement in the early Christian community, just as similar discouraging events cause pessimism and discouragement in the church today. However, Jesus is the light to the world and his life a revelation of God to all. We believers, are to be light bearers whose deeds bear witness to truth and God.

John has a tendency to use words and phrases that have double meanings. The term “lifted up” refers to his death on the cross. It also means his resurrection from the dead and his being raised to glory at God’s right hand. So, those who look to Jesus upon the cross are not only healed of sin, but receive the same eternal life that Jesus has now. John also provides us with the famous verse, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but have eternal life.” Believers repeat this phrase not as a slogan, but as a word of truth and assurance. When we have sinned, or realize our deeds have not reflected the light of God, this verse offers prayerful assurance for us. It is a prayer of confidence in God’s love and assurance that we can be forgiven, not through any merit of ours, but because we can look upon the One who was raised up on the cross and so we can come out of the darkness of sin to the light of Christ and his love.

Our daily headline news affirms, that many choose deeds of darkness, yet, God’s love without limits is there for an undeserving world. God does not just love the good people of the world, or the chosen over the rest. Jesus’ life, death and resurrection is for all the world. If this is true then we cannot look upon anyone as unlovable, for they have been embraced by Christ as he stretched out his arms on the cross. Even those who openly reject him, or are preoccupied by their own ego plans, are still loved by God. Like the Israelites in the desert who turned their back on God and suffered correction. God still loved them and offered them healing if they 'looked' upon the serpent Moses raised up on the pole. 'Looking' implies seeing with the eyes of faith. So with faith we look at an image of Christ on the cross to see the way God sees and loves. We can see the unlovable and sinners with love. We can see hope in situations that others call hopeless. We can see Christ in the stranger and the neglected. We can see eternal life in our sacramental rituals: the pouring of water (Baptism), the breaking of bread and shared cup of wine (Eucharist), an anointing with oil (Sacrament of the Sick) and a word of forgiveness (Sacrament of Reconciliation). We can see because Christ was been lifted up on the cross. The cross continues to reveal God to us, as one who shares our joy, pain and our death. God has joined us in our lowest moments of life to raise us up to newness of life. Jesus, has been “lifted up” and NOW we look upon him for “eternal life” which has already begun for us.