Proper
16 :: Joshua 24: 1–2a. 14–18; Psalm 34: 15–22; Ephesians 6: 10–20; John 6: 56–69
This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, by Fr. Gene Tucker
on Sunday, August 26, 2018.
“THE COST OF
DISCIPLESHIP”
(Homily
texts: Joshua 24: 1–2a, 14–18 & John 6: 56–69)
“Because of this, many of his (Jesus’)
disciples turned back
and no longer went about with him.” (John 6: 66)
and no longer went about with him.” (John 6: 66)
This
Sunday morning, we come to the end of a four-Sunday series of Gospel readings
which have focused on the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel account. (I will
confess that I find great riches and great delight in this Fourth Gospel….frankly,
I think we could spend a good deal more time in this book than we do as we make
our way through the lectionary cycles, so whenever we have the opportunity to
immerse ourselves in John’s writing, it is cause for rejoicing.)
Since
we’ve come to the end of this series (next week, we’ll return to reading from
the Gospel according to Mark), let’s recap where we’ve been these past Sundays.
The
chapter opens with the feeding of the crowd of about five thousand people. We
remarked at the beginning of this series that this miracle is recounted in all
four Gospel accounts. As a result of Jesus’ provision of food, the people want
to make him king. (I can’t resist speculating just a little about their
motives. Perhaps their thinking went something like this: “This guy has given
us food. Wouldn’t it be great if he were running things? Just think, we’d never
have food shortages, and maybe we wouldn’t have to work so hard just to
survive. Maybe, even, this guy could do something about those awful Romans,
while he’s at it.”)
My
speculation aside, Jesus is aware of their thoughts, and so He leaves them.
(Verse 15)
Jesus
directs His disciples to get into a boat and cross the Sea of Galilee. They are
headed to Capernaum. During a storm, he comes walking to them on the sea at
night. (Verses 16 – 20)
But
some of the crowd who had been present at the feeding of the multitude found
Him in Capernaum. There, the conversation about feeding resumes. Jesus tries to
get his audience to move away from their literal conception of what had
happened to see the eternal purposes of God which are at work in Him. He begins
to talk about “bread from heaven”, but His audience thinks He might be
referring to the manna in the wilderness. Jesus has to remind His audience that
it wasn’t Moses who gave their ancestors the manna, it was God. (Verse 32)
The
conversation takes yet another turn when Jesus makes this statement “I am the
bread that came down from heaven.” As things move along, then He tells them
that the bread which He will give for the life of the world is “my flesh”,
(Verse 51) adding that those who “eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal
life…” (Verse 54)
This
brief synopsis brings us to today’s reading.
Many
say to Jesus, “This teaching is difficult, who can accept it?” (Verse 60)
If
we were to put ourselves into this picture, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine that
many who were listening were also scratching their heads in wonderment and
disbelief. Frankly, if I’d been standing among that crowd, listening to the
Lord, I suspect I’d be doing just that. Perhaps many of us would.
The
Lord’s teaching provokes His first hearers in Capernaum and the Lord provokes His
hearers today, you and me.
We
might scratch our heads in wonderment and, perhaps, in disbelief.
For
the Lord is provoking us to come to the point of decision about who He, the Son
of God, is. He is provoking us to realize what it means to be a follower, a
disciple, of Jesus.
We
see from this morning’s reading that many turned away, and made the decision
not to follow. Perhaps the cost was too high. Perhaps they couldn’t see the
eternal realities that lie within, but beyond, the physical and literal
realities of the bread which the Lord had provided them. (Of course, as we have
mentioned in previous Sundays, the Lord’s words are intimately connected to the
Eucharist. This truth will be confirmed in the passage of time, following the
Lord’s death and His resurrection.)
We
come, as those people of old did, to a point of decision. This point of
decision is framed very well by Joshua’s words, heard in our Old Testament
reading this morning: “but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
(Joshua 24: 15b)
Fortunately,
not everyone turned away that day.
Jesus
turned to the twelve original disciples and asked, “Do you also wish to go
away?”
Peter’s
response is this: “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.”
Peter’s
response is worth looking at in detail. Notice the order of the progression of
the faith of those original disciples: First, Peter says that they have come to
believe. Then, he says, they have
come to know.
Believe,
and then know.
The
progression of faith quite often follows this pattern. It is well summarized in
this saying (which I can only attempt to paraphrase):
I
believe in order that I may know, and I know in order that I may believe.
Believing
that something is true is the first step, quite often, on the path to knowing.
We put ourselves into the position of trusting that something is true, even
though we may not know exactly and fully why that it is true. (After all, we
are dealing, when we are dealing with the things of God, with mystery.) And so,
as we make that step in faith, the Holy Spirit confirms in us what is true and
what is congruent with the nature and will of God.
Our
knowing allows for further belief.
One
final comment is in order: There can be
no discipleship, no following the Lord, without sacrifice. Essentially, this is
the step that those who turned away from the Lord refused to make. For if
they’d chosen to follow the Lord, their lives would have taken a different path
that it otherwise might have. To follow the Lord means that we must acknowledge
that the Lord’s ways are better than our ways. And so, we are called, as
followers of Jesus, to surrender our wills and our desires to His will and His
desires for us.
To
do so is to find the fullest and greatest meaning of life, nothing less than
that.
Our
prayer might be simply this: “Lord, help me to believe, in order that I might
know. And then, confirm my knowing, that I might believe more deeply and more
fully. In all of this, mold and shape me into the disciple you want me to be”
AMEN.
