Love Speaks
“Love Speaks”
Ephesians 4:1-16 John 6:24-35
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year B, August 1, 2021
First Presbyterian Church, Sandpoint, Idaho
Andy Kennaly, Pastor
Jesus says, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” Remember, the word, “believe” means more than agreeing to intellectual ideas, it is more than a mental exercise or a moralistic framework that we adopt. Deep inside us there is a hunger, a longing that only the Divine can fill. We spend much of our lives trying to fill that void with other, lesser things and our world is littered with the debris of distraction. Materialism, consumerism, militarism, racism, and lots of other “isms” try and defend our mind’s limitations. We circle the wagons in our self-righteous life trying to fend off the unknown. Trusting with our whole being, a movement as deep as our soul, is a tall order. No wonder Paul tells the Ephesians that he “begs” them to do something most people are not inclined to do; he “begs” them “to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.”
To imply a calling is to suggest that we are not in charge. A calling comes from someone or someplace to do something larger than ourselves. This is a tough sell in Western Culture, even back in Paul’s day. Especially given our value toward rugged individualism, pulling oneself up by bootstraps, and staying independent to the point where the word, “Socialism” takes on an evil tone in most peoples’ hearing, heaven forbid we be social creatures and function as a society to help one another live better lives! But the Church is a society, a covenant people, and individualism is not the gospel. Paul’s plea reminds us that we are a people called, called into something broader that can include because we have been included. This higher calling toward our better nature involves “all humility and gentleness, patience,” and “bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” This calling is not our natural inclination, and our biases contradict the very freedom we know, deep down, would be much more satisfying. We need God’s help to answer this call.
The very relational structure of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Trinity, dance and flow with energy and a bond that calls us toward Oneness with all things, seen and unseen. Unity of God, the bonds of love: Love speaks not always with words but through the power of Life itself, our very lives. Whether we realize it or not, we are involved, and called, in and through Love. It is for this reason, that God is, we are righteous, gifted in Christ with the grace and peace of our Lord. It is because God sustains the power of life that Jesus says, “I am the bread of life,” and this bread satisfies our deepest hunger.
Donna Schaper talks about stripping furniture. It’s a good illustration to remind us that although life gets complicated and sometimes, we are our own worst enemy; at our core God’s Love remains, calling to us. She says, “The first thing people do when restoring old chairs is strip – strip right down to the bare wood. They do this to see what the original might have looked like and to determine if the thing is worth doing over. They strip away all the years of grime, the garish coats of paint piled one on top of the other. They get rid of all the junk that's been tacked on through the years and try to find the solid, simple thing that's underneath. She says, “I'm like an old chair needing that stripping process. Every now and then I have to take a really hard look at the illusions I've built up in myself and my society...all that keeps me living off center too long. It's hard to let God forgive me. I have to discover the original under all these coats I've added, strip away all the cynicism and anger I've built up, get rid of the junk I've taken on, defy my disappointments, and find what is real again.” ( Donna Shaper, Stripping Down San Diego: LuraMedia, 1991).
By the time John’s Gospel came together the followers of Jesus had developed a Christology. Many times in this Gospel, when we read the name “Jesus,” John shares Christ in action. Read Jesus the name, it means Christ the title. Like when Jesus says, “I am the bread of life,” this is reflective of the Great I AM, of God Almighty. The Christ, second person of the Trinity, is this bread given to the world. The crowd follows Jesus because they want free food and yet he offers them so much more on a deeper level. He says, “My Father is right now offering you bread from heaven, the real bread. The Bread of God came down out of heaven and is giving life to the world.” (Eugene Peterson’s, The Message Bible).
This is why we're righteous. Because God is active, God is with us, God claims us, God calls within us, through Christ, and restores the original image of God we are created to be. We are God's beloved, in Christ, freed from sin through Christ, captured by God's divine generosity, filled with living Presence.
Years ago, a TV show about severe weather shared a story about a couple that were caught in a flood. A river had gone over its banks and now the river was over a mile wide. They were trying to get out of the area, but then their car got stuck in some moving water.
The water kept rising inch by inch very quickly and it wasn’t long before their stranded car was totally under water and they were standing on the roof, holding on to each other. The water kept going up and soon they were mostly underwater too. But the top parts of their bodies were still out of the water. They stood on the roof of that car, in the cold water of a swift, flooded river, holding on to each other for dear life for hours and hours.
Finally, a helicopter, but it didn’t see them. Then it got dark. Helicopters with spotlights shined all around them, but never on them. Then morning came; they are still standing in deep water on top of their submerged car. Hours go by. Nobody sees them. Then, just as a helicopter crew finally spots them, they slip off the car. Their weakened bodies fight the current, try to stay afloat. Every ounce of strength is needed just to take each breath.
Standing on a car neck deep in water, any kind of contemplation about your place in the universe is very brief. You know your place in the universe. Your need for self-esteem and other higher functioning needs are secondary to the simple task of surviving another hour.
Sometimes we approach Jesus thinking we know what our soul needs. We come before God and put in our order. And sometimes when we feel stranded, we expect the first helicopter to come and get us out, no fuss no muss. The less struggle the better.
But when we face suffering, when we have deep, ongoing resentments, when we don’t get what we order in life, then we get confused, or angry, or feel that God is distant. But all the while Jesus stands at the door, waits for us to open it. Waiting for us to come with our hungers, our needs, our misunderstandings. And Jesus wonders if we’ve come because our bellies were full, or if we’d finally recognized the miraculous signs of life in the midst of death, of rescue in the midst of struggle, of bread that you eat and never get hungry again. He wonders if we recognize who he is and what he offers to us. Not what we think we need, but what he knows we need; to fill that space, deep down inside, with the Christ; the untarnished Divine Presence living as our life, our True Self in Christ. It does take, like Paul says, “humility, patience, gentleness,” and many other gifts of the Spirit, to live life in ways that are worthy of our calling.
In the week ahead, let’s allow Love to speak. More than words, Love calls to our hearts. May we welcome the message and receive what our soul perceives from within as the Living Christ changes us from the inside. Thanks be to God for love’s humble vulnerability calling us as One. Amen.