Why They Left John 6:56-69 Sermon: Sunday 8/26/12
How many Christians does it take to
change a light bulb? Ten.
One to change it, and nine to say how much better the
old one was.
Usually when we imagine the Jesus
story the people are clamoring to see him and to hear him and to follow him and
you get the impression that the crowds grew each day until all the eye could
see were people coming to Jesus. All that was needed was the good news, simple
and bold, and they would come. If this is how it really was, the church-growth people
would love it. If this fantasy could be parlayed into our times, Jesus would
have blow-dried hair and wear a $1000 suit. There would be vast armies of
Christians just to park the cars and there would be parking for everybody and
Christianity would be an unqualified success, success that is measured by
attendance whether it ever does anything good in the world or not. In this
vision, all Christians would be rich and have above average children and would
be always cheerful about everything. No problem except that in today's gospel
reading the people are not coming they're leaving. Not everybody decided to
follow Jesus. Not everybody was happy. Not everything was perfect. Not even for
Jesus. Especially for Jesus. Some were turning away and leaving. Why?
In this immediate context it appears that some
were not comfortable with the body and blood thing. (You know: Eat my flesh and
drink my blood. Still makes us cringe. Everybody probably knows the story of
the little kid in church who heard the priest say the words, blood of Christ
and blurted out in a loud voice, “Yuk!”) We don’t know if this was a hard
teaching because they didn’t get the metaphor or because they did. I read
somewhere that there was a rumor in the early days that Christians were eating
babies that started with taking Jesus literally about eating flesh and drinking
blood. I know, seems incredible but seriously can’t you see the headline in one
of those newspapers people still read today saying VANISHING BABIES BELIEVED TO
BE EATEN AT CHURCH. The rumor was of course founded in ignorance but also in
malice as there were those who wanted to discredit the movement. Those who did
understand what Jesus was saying may have been even more upset because what
they heard was “come and die with me so that you will live.” It is said in a
number of ways. One of the more straightforward declarations simply says: “those who want to be my followers let them
deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me(John 8:34) Paul referred to it as the foolishness we preach.(ICor.1) It seems foolish and it is hard
to accept because it challenges our natural instinct toward self-preservation
and self-centeredness. This was is and always will be a hard teaching,
difficult to accept because it means that those who follow Jesus will give
themselves rather than serve themselves. Life, according to Jesus, is not
gained by taking whatever you can get but by giving all you have.
So, how many light bulbs do we
need?
As many as we want.
And, how many light bulbs does it take
to change our hearts?
All you have.
Of course there were also disagreements among
those who would follow Jesus and how his words would be understood and what it
actually meant people should do and disagreements about who would be in charge
and decide these things. Some left because even Jesus wasn’t the Jesus they
wanted. (They wanted a Jesus who would do what they wanted rather than do what
he wanted.) Disagreement is easy. We do
it all the time. There has to be some disagreement of course until we get it
right but some people just don't like disagreeing or feel that they never seem
to have their way in the decisions and solutions so they leave too. Others are
just disagreeable. (Sometimes they stay.) There are lots of reasons to leave.
We know why they left. Maybe the more important question for us today is Why
did anyone stay? Why are we still here? Why stay when it would be so easy to
leave? Jesus' question of the day is abundantly clear: Do you also wish to go away? Peter's answer is pretty good. To whom would we go? The scriptures tell
us that many left. It doesn't tell us where they went. Did they find something
better than what God had offered in Jesus? Have we? Today we might have a few
more options than Peter. There are any number of paths to follow but the
question is still relevant. It is the question each of us must answer: To whom
would we go?
John Ortberg, writing in the
Christian Century says that Peter's answer
reminds him of Winston
Churchill's famous description of democracy as the worst form of government
except for all the other forms of government that have ever been tried. Peter
didn't answer the question directly like with a plain yes or no. He answered in
the style of his master with yet another question. It is a good question, one
with legs as we say. Where would we go? And why do we stay?
Jim
Wallis writes that when the south African government canceled a political rally
against apartheid, Desmond Tutu led a worship service in St. George's Cathedral. The walls were lined
with soldiers and riot police carrying guns and bayonets, ready to close it down.
Bishop Tutu began to speak of the evils of the apartheid system- how the rulers
and authorities that propped it up were doomed to fail. He pointed a finger at
the police who were there to record his words: "You may be powerful- very
powerful- but you are not God. God cannot be mocked. You have already
lost." Then, in a moment of unbearable tension, the bishop seemed to soften.
Coming out from behind the pulpit he flashed that radiant Tutu smile and began
to bounce up and down with glee. "Therefore, since you have already lost,
we are inviting you to join the winning side."
The
crowd roared, the police melted away, and the people began to dance.
So how many Christians does it take to change a light bulb,
really?
It just takes one who wants to see
the light.
Perhaps we stay because we still
want to know God.
