Abide in Me
Sermon for August 23, 2015 Proper 16B-RCL
Today
we come to the end of a series of readings from John on the bread of life. Starting
with the feeding of the 5000 and culminating with Jesus teaching in the
synagogue and wrapping it by comparing himself to the manna that God fed the
ancestors in the wilderness. Jesus is
teaching about the incarnation here. God
has come to earth in the form of Jesus.
A God that – in our reading from the Book of Kings is too big to be
contained in the temple – and is there for both the faithful of Israel but also
the foreigners. That same God is sitting
in front of the people and telling them that he – this man Jesus - is the
incarnate God. It is scandalous.
Abide
in me said Jesus. Our readings today all
reflect on a call to trust in God. And
Jesus refines it further with the invitation to abide in God. We probably wonder at the words of the people
“This teaching is difficult; who can accept it.” After all we hear this through a filter that
was not available to the people in the story.
We hear it through the filter of Eucharist. We have – as with so many of our bible stories
– tamed it. We have lost the
scandal. We see this teaching through
the lens of Eucharist. We have turned it
into a passage about communion – a wafer – or perhaps a small piece of bread
and a sip of wine. But it is more. It is about how we are called to enter into
the presence of God – and how that presence within us calls us to action.
On
some levels the scandal could be about the Jewish dietary laws and the thought
about eating flesh and drinking blood – the taking of the metaphor to the
extreme that was the problem. Sure that
may have played a role but I don’t think that is all of it. This comes after Jesus is teaching about
Moses and the bread given in the wilderness.
This is about the call of faithfulness and that the people have turned
away from that call time and time again.
Abide
in God. Do the work God would have us
do. In John’s Gospel there is never a
question that Jesus is the incarnate God.
The very opening takes Jesus genealogy back to the beginning of
creation. Not to a manger with the
animals but to the very beginning of creation. The people are still hoping that
Jesus will be the next Moses – or better yet David – and will lead them away
from their current exile of occupation.
But instead Jesus offers a path of discipleship. A hard path that requires us to do the hard
work. Like our reading from Kings we are
called to recognize the foreigner – those that we don’t like – also have an “in”
to God. It is hard work. And this is a hard passage.
Another
preacher I read said “But “abiding” with Jesus is difficult. Staying with Jesus
and learning from him is a long process. For many, a quick fix would be more
attractive. The crowd was initially attracted to Jesus when they saw him as a
Moses figure -- one who could work miracles and provide political victories. As
they continue with him, they learn that Jesus is not offering an easy victory
but the long road of discipleship.”[1]
After
the physical feeding of the 5000 and the healings along the way Jesus is saying
that it is all about incarnation. It is
all about how the spirit of God – that is bigger than any temple or church –
that fully abides in Jesus is calling for us to abide in it. We are being called by God to be partners in
making the dream come true.
So
how do we continue to abide in God? How
to we continue to follow the incarnate God who ascended into Heaven? We abide in God when we work to bring Jesus
radical teaching into practice. It is
when we work for peace in the world.
Which is hard. We are surrounded
by news reports of people and groups that see the other – any one who doesn’t
look like them – as the enemy and with almost unheard of violence kills that
other. It would be easy to look at the self-proclaimed Islamic State and point
to a group taking an extreme read on their theology and beheading people and
worse. We easily condemn that violence.
But
what about the violence all around us?
What about the multiple shootings inside movie theatres? That violence is being perpetuated by people
just like us.
What
about the incidents that are coming to light more and more that we are far from
a colorblind society? The numerous
stories of black people being pulled over for minor offences that led to
death. The xenophobic rhetoric from some
of our presidential candidates who stir up fear and brand an entire group of
immigrants as “rapists and murderers”. Where is incarnational theology in that?
This
teaching of abiding in Jesus is hard.
And it causes as many to walk away today as it did over 2000 years
ago. But the twelve stayed the course.
“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."” That is why we are
here. To listen – and hear - week after week the words of eternal life. Words
that call us to action. Not just an easy
bit of bread and sip of wine. If we are
truly to follow this Jesus than we have to see the incarnation not only in the
ascended Lord but also in each other – and most importantly in those that
society would dismiss.
We
need to see God in the black person who has been harassed and is angry. We need to acknowledge that anger as being
just and not dismiss it but try to understand it. We need to answer the anger with love. A love that comes from abiding in God and
trusting that it will work. We need to
see those whom society has cast off not just as a class. We need to recognize the individuals who are
craving for God’s Love and our love.
Unfortunately some of God’s children have been so abused that they have
taken refuge in drugs and alcohol and some become violent. But they are still
children of God and, even if we are repulsed by them, we need to try and
recognize their divinity too.
You
see this spirit that flooded the temple in our reading from the book of Kings
is the same spirit that came to earth as Jesus.
It is that same spirit that is God’s gift to the apostles on the first
Pentecost. That spirit is still with us
today. That spirit continues to call us
to abide it God. That Spirit calls us to
be partners in bringing God’s dream of healing and feeding love to earth.
Every
time we open our hearts and come forward to receive the bread of life and the
cup of salvation we are risking letting the spirit into our lives to abide in
us and to sustain us. That is why we are
here. We are here to be fed
spiritually. We are here to be fed
physically. We are here to be
healed. But most importantly we are here
to abide in God and let God abide in us.
But
be forewarned. Put on your seatbelts and
crash helmets! This is a difficult
teaching and a difficult road. The
incarnate spirit has a way of breaking open our hearts. The incarnate spirit has a way of driving us
out of this church and seeing people differently. The incarnate spirit dwelling in us will
cause us to feed the hungry and heal the hurting. When we abide in the spirit we will see the
world differently and we will work with God on bringing his love to our hurting
world. Not just sitting back and
waiting. We can’t wait for God’s angles to come down and sprinkle love
around. No when we walk down the path of discipleship
that Jesus forged we will work to
bring justice and love to this earth in our own time.
There
is Good News.
The
good news is that I see it happening around us.
I saw it Wednesday when we had 25 people scattered throughout this
church hungry for the love of God. I saw
it in the 35 or so people provided a nutritious meal in our parish hall after
the Wednesday service. I saw first hand the
miracle of the loaves and fishes in a meal prepared with love that fed more
than anticipated – and there were even seconds for some of the very hungry. I
saw discipleship in the way difficult people where treated with respect and
love – even when one person had to be asked to leave.
So
you see – it can be done. We can open
our doors and our hearts to those around us who hunger for God. We can
follow the incarnate one. Not only on
this corner but also in ways unimaginable when we work to bring God’s kingdom
of love to earth now. AMEN
