The Truth Always Flusters the Faithless

Pentecost 13

August 23, 2015

John 6:51-58

The Truth Always Flusters the Faithless

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Today we hear Jesus continuing with His Bread-of-Life sermon. He started preaching after He fed the 5,000 with five barley loaves and two fish. After He fed their stomachs, He began feeding their souls, saying,

“I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.” (John 6:51)

Since Jesus was such a good preacher, His unbelieving hearers didn't know what He was saying. They heard what He said, but they refused to understand His meaning. And His meaning was that to truly be alive in this world and in the world to come, they needed Him. He was saying that because of His mercy, He would give them Himself.

Jesus reveals throughout the Scriptures that He gives Himself to those who need Him and He does this giving in three ways.

He gives Himself to us through words and water.

He gives Himself to us through words spoken aloud.

He gives Himself to us through words and bread and wine.

These are the 3 different ways of giving the very same forgiveness. They are called Baptism, Absolution, and Communion.

The unfaithful, that is, unbelievers, reject all these ways—and all of His forgiveness—because they reject Jesus Himself. By rejecting Jesus, they can continue to lie to themselves that they are just fine.

They are nice people. They pay their taxes.

They don't step out on their spouses.

They open doors for little kids and pregnant mothers.

They feel bad when someone fatally crashes into a semi-trailer.

You know and have met lots of people like this. You can have long conversations about kids or the weather or sports with them. But when the conversation gets into more substantial areas that are in the news, then you have to look out.

For example, even hinting that Planned Parenthood is not a stellar organization can bring out the claws. Or even hinting to someone that their loved one is in heaven, not he was a nice guy, but only by the mercy of Christ, can offend as well.

When you tell the truth to the unfaithful, it will always fluster them. The unfaithful around Jesus become flustered when He—that most excellent preacher—truthfully said that He is the living bread that brings life forever. All those outside of the Church and many within reject Jesus' words, saying,

“How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” (John 6:52)

Unbelievers who refuse to see their own sin will never grasp Jesus' promise of life through Himself. They have no sin; they need no Savior. At best Jesus is a nice guy who they'll tolerate as long as their version of Jesus stays on easy topics: cute kids, nice weather, sports teams. Or love, love, love. But if the real Jesus shows up and preaches love and sin, then this Jesus must be silenced.

Even Christians get flustered with Jesus' words here.

“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:54)

They like part of this truth. They like Jesus in an abstract way. To them Jesus is an idea and they embrace this idea and accept Christ into their lives. And the idea is more or less: Be nice like Jesus.

Strangely these folks boast of their literal understanding of the Bible. (They say that they take word for word.) But sadly they will only accept Jesus' words here as figurative words. They like the idea of Jesus as bread. They like that picture. So do we.

Indeed Jesus was speaking figuratively here. But He was also speaking literally. His words cannot but focus our hearts and minds on the Sacrament of Holy Communion.

We take Christ seriously. When He speaks using pictures, we rejoice in His vivid descriptions. When He speaks literally, we rejoice in the reality and perspective that only He can provide. And sometimes He does both.

Little ones who receive Baptism and the Words of Christ in church and at home are receiving the Bread of Life, Christ's own flesh. Then when they live a little longer, they also receive the body and blood of Christ through Holy Communion. So little ones to Him belong. And to Him belong also all the faithful to whom Christ has given the Bread of life.

We get this only by faith, by trusting in Jesus' words. And Christ is the one who gives us trust and understanding of realities that go beyond all understanding. This is why preachers end their sermons with these words:

And the peace of God, which goes beyond all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)

We eat Christ's flesh through hearing the Word of God and receiving the truly present living Bread in Communion.

The unfaithful will always be flustered by this truth. Even many of the faithful struggle with these words. Perhaps even you struggle to flee from doubt.

When you become flustered, there is only one thing to do. Listen again to Jesus' promise that you indeed belong to Him.

For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. (Romans 8:14-17)

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. Alleluia! Amen!