Pentecost IX

Pentecost IX Proper 13 Whoever comes to me.

People who heard Jesus preach, people who really listened to what he said, were more often than not offended.

Jesus refused to allow other people to define his plan, his purpose and his person. His constant prayer was: Heavenly Father not my will but your will be done. Because that prayer formed his every choice, Jesus never separated from the Father. Because he never separated from the Father he never sinned. Because he never sinned he never lived with the recycled pain of suffering, shame and guilt.

After the miraculous feeding of the five thousand the people wanted to make Jesus king. Consider what that meant. There were no elections in the ancient world. There was no easy way to change the ruler. Rome recognized one principle in its imperial rule: survival of the fittest.
Most offices of government in the Roman Empire were civil service positions governed by Roman Law. The top position was the one office open to any who could seize it and hold it. All senators in the Imperial Senate were emperors in waiting. They waited to perceive any sign of weakness, indecision or failure in the reigning Emperor.

For a Roman- a weak emperor was a sign for assassination or civil war. The one thing the Roman Empire did not reward in its aristocracy was weakness. If you challenged the emperor and won, popular belief attributed your success to divine approval of you intelligence and strength. If you challenged the emperor and lost, every one expected you, your family, your friends and your supporters to commit suicide as the last act of self responsibility for your failure. Otherwise, the winners executed the losers.

Jesus did not come to this planet to over throw governments, fight wars, enrich one group at the expense of others or to follow the darwinian path of power and dominance. Jesus came to earth to re unite a lost, broken and desolate humanity to God, to each other, and to itself.
Jesus refuses to become the person the crowds want him to become. Jesus refuses to alter his Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation for a substitute plan of conquest. Jesus held fast to his purpose to be the steadfast holy love of God in human flesh.

It is in this context that Jesus states: whoever comes to me will never be hungry. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

I am the bread of life.

The crowds did not understand. Jesus was telling them, what you seek most is not what you need most. The means by which you seek will not even accomplish your very narrow and short sighted goals. If you are focused only on power, pleasure, position, prestige and pride you will lose everything of value.

If you seek first what God offers, you will gain all things necessary for your health and happiness and far more than you can imagine. What God offers is not a program, or a will to power. It is not conquest and control. It is not even limited to a set of laws, rituals or spiritual discipline. What God offers is a personal relationship with the personal God who has come to earth in the person of Jesus Christ.

This is what offended so many people who heard Jesus. It is why eleven of the twelve apostles were executed and the twelfth was exiled. It is why so many governments persecute, suppress or attempt to marginalize the Christian Faith.

Jesus’ message to his generation and to all generations is unique and startling. Jesus says: I am the bread of life. To do the work of God means to believe in me for I am the one whom God the Father has sent into the world to bridge the gap between sinful humanity and the Holy God. I am the one who can and will restore all things to their original beauty, their original purity, their first love.

Jesus never presented himself as one religious option among many. He never said he was offering his insights about God. He very clearly stated that He came from God the Father and brought forth the plan and purpose the Father had given him.

C.S. Lewis once wrote that Jesus doesn’t leave us many options about his person or his teaching. Jesus clearly states: I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will live. Jesus did not direct people to a religious program or a methodology or a specific discipline. He said: Come to me.
What options did that leave the people of Jesus’ day? They ascertained that there were only two options. Despite all of Jesus’ miracles, healings, compassion and concern- if he was not telling the truth he was committing blasphemy by claiming to be the way, the truth and the life. It he was telling the truth- then the unthinkable had become real. The one God had some how taken human form and was now in their midst calling them into a new relationship with Himself.
We all know how the story evolved. No one could accept the reality that God had permanently united his divinity with our humanity in Jesus Christ. Jesus’ enemies arrested him and executed him. As Jesus was dying they called to him partly in anger and partly in fear: if you are truthfully the Son of God as you claim, then reveal the divine power to command and control. Become the person we want you to be. Do the things we want you to do. Then, we will repent and follow you.

Jesus cannot and will not allow himself to be redefined by any one. Jesus is the fullness of the co-eternal logos, the Word of God, in human flesh. Jesus cannot and will not allow himself to be redefined as a prophet, seer, teacher, moralist or any thing else because the stakes are too high. The stakes are the salvation and sanctification of souls.

Jesus did not accept the pain and torment of crucifixion to become a martyr for a cause. He accepted crucifixion in order to conquer death on our behalf. In his conquest of death Jesus experienced the desolation of all souls in their separation from God. He experienced it, transformed it by the power of steadfast holy love, and now offers us the opportunity to experience that transformation.

That offer is the moment of grace that comes to us as we hear the word of God spoken to us. The Father has sent the Holy Spirit into the world to speak to all people everywhere the simple and powerful message: God is real, God is love, God is personal, God is Jesus Christ. The issue is not that God has not spoken. The issue is that people do not listen.

That offer comes to us in the blessed sacrament of the altar whereby Jesus infuses his own body into our body and his own blood into our blood. The blessed sacrament is a divine transfusion of eternal life into our very bodies and souls. It is the most amazing and most valuable gift God gives us. It is life.

The sacrament is not insurance for a future reward. The sacrament is the present reality of Jesus offering to transform our minds, hearts and wills here and now. Eternal life is not about what happens after you die. Eternal life is not about the quantity of existence. Eternal life is about the quality of life you experience here and now. Eternal life is a relationship with the infinite and eternal God through the living Lord Jesus Christ.

What do you labor for? Where do place your time and attention? How do you spend your limited energy? What do you spend it on?

Jesus speaks to us today and says: do not work solely or even primarily for pleasure, possession, power, prestige or pride. As you need these things you will acquire them. There is nothing wrong with the things of this world. But, things cannot feed the soul. Power cannot bring more life. The things of this world are all about power and possession. They are all about quantify of existence.
What God offers is a life transforming relationship in Jesus Christ. Place your time and effort into cultivating that relationship. Re order your priorities to make your relationship with Jesus Christ first. By doing that you will find that you have chosen a way of living that is all about the quality of life. It is a way of living that is about daily renewal and transformation in divine love and holiness.

Eternal life begins now. Eternal life is Jesus Christ. The stakes are too high to play games with our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation. Jesus knew this truth. Jesus lived this reality. Jesus died so we could receive this new way of living.

Jesus says to us today: my gift to you is the bread of life, eternal life. I will give this gift with out condition and without reservation to whoever comes to me.