Tough Words to Swallow

Text: John 6:22-59

When I was younger, I baked all of our bread. I loved the process of working with yeast, kneading properly, watching the bread rise on the cook stove that I used for baking. But there were lots of bread calamities, too: yeast that didn’t work, bread that got too high and spilled over the side of the bowl. A lot of yeasty bread disasters got buried in our garden. And that’s the problem with real bread. Sometimes it doesn’t bake up properly and when it does, it can get stale or mold.

Our scripture today is not about bread that can mold or go stale. It’s about the true bread of life, God’s perfect love. He who eats This bread will live forever. Jesus is our true bread.

But I think we are hearing a choice here, too — are we going to be the ones who turn and leave after hearing the words of Jesus or are we going to be the ones who confess that Jesus is the only one with the words of eternal life? Do we bail or do we stay until we come to believe and know our savior more deeply?

Staying with Jesus does not come with an easy button. Some of what He teaches us is hard to swallow. Much of it is difficult to comprehend. It is not a quick fix. It’s a life-long process. Many of those disciples who walked right beside Jesus chose not to continue with him. Despite obvious evidence these earlier followers saw during their time with Jesus they still wanted to doubt his work. They did not want to be associated with Him. And you know that Jesus’ mission is still being doubted and missed in this world we live in today. For many, the words we love to hear in scripture are tough words to swallow.

But for us who choose to stay, we know that the only safe place to be is in the will of God. That powerful God is to whom we should go. We hear those wonderfully familiar words in our scripture today. Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

Jesus calls us to Him, to abide in Him and He in us…but I think He is also calling us to use that eternal life that we have already started to live. You know, we always think about the disciples of Jesus with the perfect number of 12. But when He is ready to send them out, Jesus knows there will only be 11. That number 12 reminds us that the first disciples had been chosen to be the picture of the redeemed 12 tribes of Israel. Twelve is a number of wholeness, completeness. Now we read there are not enough and the ones there are don’t believe or understand enough.

This Living Word of God — this scripture we read today — could be talking about us. We choose to stay with Jesus but there is still so much we do not completely understand. But Jesus chose those earlier followers, and He is choosing us each day that we might change the world. He doesn’t say in this scripture “Well, I have to fix the numbers,” or “Let’s make sure you have more faith.” He wants those disciples to go out. He wants us to go out. We know who has the words of eternal life.

But we will try to make excuses — too weak, too old, too young, too sinful, too rich, too poor, too much baggage, too little experience. Ready or not, Jesus wants us to tell others those wonderful words we all know: Words of Life, Words of Love. Jesus is ready to say Blessed are the mundane who can become majestic. Blessed are the dull who can become divine. This Lord we know is a God of abundance and He is ready to walk right beside us. God will use us despite any imperfections we have, despite any excuse we can think up. He wants to bless everyone out of His abundance. And He wants us to make that our mission, too.

So we don’t always get it and some of the teachings we hear seem hard to swallow, but we want to keep walking the path with our Lord and savior. It was Mother Theresa who said, “Don’t try to do great things for God. Do small things with great love.” The kingdom of God is like small things done with love.

Jesus himself did a lot of small things during His earthly ministry. He talked with obscure individuals, He hung out with children. His final miracle before His trial and crucifixion was to replace a sliced off ear. Small things but from them came such greatness. We have no idea what is small and what is great in God’s eyes.

We just want to find opportunities to act with God and for God. We want to become the person God wants us to become—a magnificent person made in His image, someone with the character of Jesus. That’s why we choose to stay and not turn away.

It might seem when we read this scripture that we read implications of failure and rejection. Sometimes we feel those emotions in the church, in the world, in our lives today. But we have to go beyond that and keep hearing the call—choosing to walk with Jesus—and know that the Word of Life is doing its work around us, among us, through us, within us, and sometimes despite us.

Jesus is the one to whom we should go. Jesus is the one who can give us genuine life. He says in our gospel that He speaks words of spirit and of life. And, the mystery of faith is answered by our confession that the Father has indeed drawn us to faith in Jesus and thus to our eternal life.

Lord, to whom should we go? Let us always say as Peter did “O Lord, you have the words of eternal life”. For the Lord will not only lead us and use us in this world to share these words, but He will also protect us and provide for us the space and the peace we need. Living in God’s way lasts forever. That should not be too tough to swallow…