“Jesus’ Big Question”
John 6:56-69
August 27, 2006
St. Paul United
Reverend John A.
Fleming
John Purdy is a Presbyterian pastor
who has written a book whose title is Returning God’s Call. You know me, the title, in and of itself, is enough to make me want to buy it. In his book, Reverend Purdy claims that the
church needs new metaphors to describe our journeys. He says that some of the old ones just don’t
work anymore. The metaphor, soldiers in
God’s army just isn’t as powerful as it once was. I have been the pastor at
Another image Reverend Purdy thinks needs updating is Paul’s image of the church as the body of Christ. Now that I think about it, other than his first image, the one about being in God’s army, the other images seem powerful to me. Personally I think it was a stroke of genius when Paul came up with the idea of comparing the church and the body. We all need one another to make it work.
Reverend Purdy offers a new suggestion, of course. I think it’s a pretty good one. He simply recommends that as Christians, we are hearers of the cal. To illustrate his point, the author remembers growing up in his neighborhood, a neighborhood that was full of children. On any given night the kids who lived there could be found in the midst of a good game of Hide and Seek. John Purdy says they played the game, minding their own business, when a call would come. He would be hiding, but within an earshot of his house. The front door would open. His mother would call out, “John, it’s time to come home.” He admitted that he often pretended to not hear that call. He acted as if it had not happened, as if nothing had happened. To anyone who passed by, John Purdy did not look any different than anyone else. But he was different. He had been called. That meant everything had changed. The first call came from his mother. A more powerful call came later in his life.
Well, the preacher in me likes the idea of us being hearers of the call. I know, I know, it all sounds a little foreign to the lay folk in the church these days, but we have all been called to do something in our lives. The truth is that we have all been called to follow Jesus.
We aren’t the first ones to hear the call, of course. You will remember that all four of the gospel writers tell the stories of how the first followers of Jesus, his disciples, were called. The stories in and of themselves aren’t spectacular. Jesus didn’t call out to them from a burning bush or out of a blinding light. In one case Jesus was walking by the seashore. He saw James and John, the sons of Zebedee, mending their fishing nets. Jesus asked them to follow and they did. They dropped their nets and they dropped their father to follow the itinerant preacher.
By the time we arrive at the end of the sixth chapter in John’s gospel, there is a great crowd following Jesus. The twelve are there, but there are also many more. The sixth chapter opens with the disciples wondering how Jesus will feed more than five thousand who had gathered to hear him. When he took the gift of a small child, two fish and five loaves of bread, everyone had enough. The disciples, along with the crowd, were amazed. You will remember that the crowds wanted to make him a king. Jesus did not want that so he high tailed it out of there. Eventually the crowd caught up with him. They sought him out. Jesus tells them that the only reason they are seeking him is because of the miraculous feeding. Down deep the crowd hoped that Jesus could do more than provide food.
The discussion quickly turned to the crowd asking for a sign, like the one that Moses had given their ancestors. They said, “Moses gave our ancestors manna from heaven.” Jesus quickly corrects them and says that it wasn’t Moses who gave their ancestors that gift. He made sure they knew that the manna was a gift from God. With that said, Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
That was the last sermon from John that I preached. To be honest with you I retreated. I ran to Ephesians. Even though Paul’s counsel to them about everything from anger to drinking too much wine is tough, it’s not nearly as tough as the rest of John’s sixth chapter. It is no wonder that those in the crowd exclaimed, “This teaching is difficult. Who can accept it?”
You see, what Jesus was teaching had to do with who he was. All of his teachings in this chapter had to do with bread and manna from heaven. Jesus closed the talk with the words, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life and I will raise them up on the last day.” Those who eat my flesh? Those who drink my blood? Is it any wonder the crowds found the teaching hard to, ugh, swallow? The crowd knew what Jesus had been saying. They knew he claimed to have come down from heaven. They knew he had said that if anyone wanted eternal life, they would have to accept him. The teaching was tough. The call to discipleship was hard. It demanded that Jesus was the most important thing in their lives. Some in the crowd turned back. They simply could not go that far with Jesus.
Now I want you to see this. In the sixty-seventh verse Jesus asks, “Do you also wish to go away?” That verse is one of the very few places in John’s gospel where Jesus asks a question where the narrator doesn’t turn right around and say something like, “He already knew the answer” or “He asked them this to test them.” In this moment, recorded in the sixty-seventh verse of John’s sixth chapter, a vulnerable Jesus wants to know if his disciples want to leave. His question sounds like anyone who has been a pastor or a leader in a ministry where there is rejection despite best efforts. Do you also wish to go away? I want you to see this. Jesus’ question is a discipleship question. It is a question that I want us to spend a few minutes answering this morning.
You know I guess there is a real temptation to go away. Some of us may even feel tempted to do that these days. A couple of months ago I was having lunch with some minister friends of mine. There must have been six or seven of us sitting around the table. We were all in our early thirties. One of us asked, “Do you think you will be a pastor all of your lives, staying in the church until you retire?” None of us raised our hands and said that we would. Wow! Now for me, I do think that I’ll do this all of my life. I have told you before that I have only had two jobs in my life. I have worked in the church and I have mowed lawns. I think it is too hot to mow lawns. I will stay in church work!
Why is the temptation so great to go away? Now you know that this isn’t just a question for those folks who work in the church. This is a question for all of us. There is a great line in the twelfth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Roman Church. There Paul writes, “Do not lag in zeal. Be ardent in spirit. Serve the Lord.” Some folks come to the church literally on fire. They have some kind of a great experience. They have a heart warming experience. They have a conversion experience. They come to the church after that wanting to be involved in everything. If the church doors are opened, they are there. If there is a ministry to be involved with, they are there. They are a preacher’s dream. Sometimes they go away. Why? What happened? Where did they go? Sometimes people go away because they have this great religious experience. They want to get involved and they do. But there is no depth and that can be a problem.
Do you also wish to go away, asks Jesus. It may be like the people who came to their pastor with the news that they were leaving the church. They were heading to another church. The pastor thought he had done a good job with them. He knew them. They were involved in many things. Since he had a good relationship with them, he asked, “If you don’t mind me asking, why are you leaving?” The husband looked over at his wife; she looked back at him. He answered for both of them when he said, “Well, we just don’t feel like we are getting fed here.” Those words will upset any preacher. You are not being fed? What do you mean? The pastor spoke with his mentor. He told him what happened. He asked, “What can I do to get them back?” His friend said, “Nothing. There is nothing you can do. They are gone. But here is what you must do. You must teach your church members to feed themselves. They must know how to study God’s word for themselves. You cannot feed them all by yourselves. Besides that, eating once a week is not nearly enough.” How many of you will eat lunch today, but not eat again until next Sunday at noon? That is what I thought.
I cannot say this strongly enough. We have to be involved in spiritual disciplines. We must study our Bibles. We must have a good prayer life. We must have good stewardship habits. We must have meaningful conversations with Christian friends. We must engage ourselves in the things that make us more attentive to God’s claims on our lives.
It is a haunting question, “Will you
also go away?” As a pastor, my real fear
isn’t that you will leave here for another church. My real fear is that you won’t do the hard
work that is spiritual growth. John
Wesley, the founder of our church put it this way, “I am not afraid that the people
called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or
Look at what Peter says when Jesus asks his question. He speaks for all twelve when he says, “Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Peter, well he is just as offended as everyone else. Of all the disciples, he is the one who stands up for the traditions. He keeps the laws. He follows the rules. But where is he to go? As confusing as it is, Peter has seen something in Jesus he cannot turn away from. He will not give up on the truth he has found. He will not go away from the life he has been led to.
One of my favorite stories to tell (I have told it here) is the one about the woman whose husband suddenly died. His funeral was on a Saturday. The next morning she was in church. Her pastor was greeting people. He scurried up to her. He was surprised to see her. He said, “I didn’t expect to see you here this morning.” She answered, “Where else would I be? Today I need my church more than ever.”
It is a haunting question, “Will you also go away?” Where would we go, Lord. You have the words of eternal life. Let us pray.