THE TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
Joshua 24:1-2a,
14-25
Ephesians
5:21-33
John
6:60-69
Year B
A story is told about Bishop
Fulton Sheen – popular Roman Catholic bishop who had his own show in the early
days of television. In
What with all the turmoil in
the church these days many people are fretting more about how we’re going to get
to next week, never mind heaven. Where are we headed? What, if anything, will
save us from disaster? It feels like Woody Allen’s statement of, “One path leads to despair and utter
hopelessness, the other to total extinction. Let us pray that we have the wisdom
to choose correctly”.
Today’s Old Testament lesson
reminds us that things weren’t ever easy when it comes to following God. Nor
were things like right and wrong, truth and falsehood, always simple or clear
cut. Today Joshua claims to know who God is when he makes his speech at Shechem.
It’s tempting to forget the fact that he walked through a lot of blood to get
there. He and his army wiped out the Canaanites, the Hittites, and a host of
others, making sure there was not one living soul left - all in God’s
name.
Yet, he tells the people
gathered around him that God will never forgive their straying ways; even if they turn
back to the Lord. But the people say never mind what Joshua says; they are
willing to place their bets on God. But people don’t always feel that way when
it comes to the church. Should we stick it out or should we leave – and where
would we go? I hear those questions a lot.
The Disciples found themselves
in a similar situation today. The sixth chapter of John is full of statements
that were offensive to those who heard them. Last week Jesus took the offense to
its highest level when he spoke of the necessity of eating his flesh and
drinking his blood. In Greek he uses the word “chomp” or “gnaw”. Those still sound like nasty
words to us; let alone what they must have sounded like to first century Jews
who had grown up knowing it was forbidden to even think of such a thing; let
alone be commanded to do it. Perhaps they forgot that the Hebrew idiom “flesh
and blood” meant the whole person.
One can almost feel the tension
as people turned and walked away; leaving only Peter and a few others. The
silence must have been deafening, broken only by Jesus’ words of, “Do you also wish to go away?” Perhaps
they did. No doubt they found Jesus’ words just as offensive as everyone else,
but something caused them to stay. Perhaps Peter had struggled too long already,
left too much already. It must have been the same for the others. The only thing
we know for certain is they couldn’t go back, couldn’t turn away from what they
had found. They simply could not walk away from where God had led
them.
As the stakes got higher the
group got smaller. Jesus had kicked the basis of their relationship up a notch.
And relationship is, in the end, what this is about; our relationship to God, in
and through Christ, and our relationship to one another. Even Paul’s words today
are about relationship.
While Paul’s words may seem
chauvinist he was, in fact, pushing the envelope of what was accepted truth in
his time. The whole subject of human rights only emerged in Western history
during the Enlightenment. They were of no interest in antiquity. Honor killings
of women and young girls that horrify the western world today were accepted
practice in Paul’s day. So what we often miss in Paul’s words is the fact that
he sees the uniting of man and woman; mind; body and spirit in marriage; the
completeness of that, as an analogy for Christ and his church. He says the union
of man and woman in heart, mind, and body, is a deep and holy mystery. It is the example of the fullness of
relationship that God intended. When any part of that relationship; mind, heart,
or body, is impaired or broken, ALL of it is affected and less than
whole.
It is the same between Christ
and his church. Entering into the holy mystery of Christ’s presence and
reflecting that to the world is what the church is supposed to be about. Paul
Tillich once said that the saint is a saint not because he is good according to
anyone’s judgment, but because he is transparent for something that is more than
himself. Being a person of grace, a person in whom the Holy Spirit makes a
dwelling, is always worked out in the fullness of our humanity; flesh and blood.
And it doesn’t matter whether we are laity, bishop, priest, deacon, or street
person.
Thus the yardstick about who we
are as the church is always measured by asking the question, how are we doing at
reflecting God’s light and presence in this world? Because that is how the
church has always made a difference. It will continue to be how the church will
make a difference in the future. When all is said and done, that is how the
Kingdom comes near and touches us; always has and always will. And whether we
talk about conflicts in the church in 1054, 1559, or 2006, nothing will change
that truth.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “Christ takes hold of a man in the centre of his life”. It is never
at the perimeter of existence that God takes hold of us, but always at the core of our being;
individually and collectively as the church. That can make for a bumpy ride –
and some will walk away.
Barbara Brown Taylor writes:
“I hear it all
the time. ‘If my church votes the wrong way on this issue, I am leaving.’… Or,
‘I don’t go to church any more. I couldn’t take anymore of the 1) hypocrisy 2)
sexism 3) liberals 4) conservatives 5) fundraising 6) lousy preaching 7) fill in
the blank….If you become an Episcopalian, you get a national church heavy with
all the usual bureaucracy. You get bishops who will not ordain women and people
who still want to fight about the 1928 prayer book. You also get liturgies so
lovely they take your breath away, and a commitment to common prayer that puts
all our divisions to shame.”
She
wrote those words in 1999.
Scripture doesn’t tell us about those who walked away
from Jesus. Some would have gone back to their previous occupations, praying in
the synagogue, going to the Temple at the appointed times, sacrificing their
animals and adhering as best they could to the 613 laws that Judaism laid upon
its people. Perhaps some wandered into the great urban centers and became
interested in the Mystery Religions or wandered into the footsteps of the Stoics
of the day. No doubt most had a quiet life, a peaceful death. We do not
know.
We
only know about the few who stayed. They were in for a rough ride. They were
slammed up against the wall at Jesus’ passion and death. They lived their lives
in hiding and fear, but they were also privy to the resurrection. It turned
their world upside down. From it they erupted as fearless apostles. If anything,
the world they entered after Jesus’ resurrection was even more dangerous than
the one they had known before, because those with power would go to any length
to stamp out the flames ignited by Jesus’ resurrection. And all, save one, were
martyred for refusing to deny what they had witnessed in Christ’s resurrection.
Apparently what they found was worth dying for.
When
religion get us down we need to remember Jesus never made any claims about
‘religion’. He only made claims about the God who sent him. There are always
things that will offend us. There are sincere people who do not see everything
our way. But make no mistake. We need one another to accomplish God’s purposes.
According to the Gospel of John the last words Jesus
spoke from the cross were, “It is
finished”, “It is accomplished”.
What was accomplished by his life and death is still a mystery; the Christ of it
beyond our finite intellect. We can only know the flesh and blood of it – the
God in him moving his swollen lips in forgiveness. What was accomplished was, at
the very least, a hope to live by, a mystery to drop to our knees before, a
dream of holiness and a light to make bearable all our nights and darknesses.
That is what the church – the flesh
and blood of it - is called to show
forth – and nothing less.
AMEN
The Rev. Virginia L. Bennett,
D.Min.
St. Andrew’s Episcopal
Church
Edwardsville,
Illinois