Sermons

The Tenth Sunday after Trinity
Sunday 20th August at 10am

Lesley Ashton
Readings: Proverbs 9.1-6 John 6.51-58

Over the last few Sundays we have been making our way through chapter 6 of John's gospel. It is a long chapter in which Jesus begins to reveal who he is to the people. At the beginning of the chapter Jesus is feeding the five thousand with bread that will feed their bodies, physical food that brings nourishment and energy to the crowd that is following Him. Jesus is careful that the fragments are gathered, a reminder at one level that food should not be wasted but knowing that soon he will talk about himself as the bread of life. As the bread of life, this bread is most precious and we learn how precious as Christ continues to speak about it in this chapter.

It is the bread that brings eternal life, this is the bread that is Christ's own flesh given so that the world might live, this is unlike any bread that has been given before not even the manna that came down from heaven can compare with this. Jesus said that this is the bread we should be working for, the bread that does not perish, the bread that will satisfy our real hunger, working for this bread is about letting go of our own will and to do the will of his Father.

It is also the bread that is simply gift. God in Christ come amongst us, giving in deep generosity his very self so that we might have life. It is the bread that is come down from heaven, in fleshly form, bread that will be broken and utterly given for our redemption, bread that will bring the life to those who choose to eat and drink the same cup as Christ.

The words near to the end of the Eucharistic prayer 'Through Christ, and with Christ and in Christ' help us to put into words those things that are in some ways beyond words and understanding. They also remind us of the presence of the Holy Spirit and of God the Father, the Holy Trinity into whose company we are drawn through Christ the bread of life.

Christ is the food of heaven, coming amongst us 2000 years ago and whom we celebrate and remember each time we take, bless, brake and distribute bread in a Eucharist service,. Christ is the food that we eat in remembrance of Him and the miracle is that when we do this, we receive in some deep mysterious way by the presence of the Holy Spirit, the life of Christ afresh and we are united through Christ with the Father.

Today we understand in some measure what Christ was trying to explain to his followers, not because we are wiser but because we have been blessed by the power and beauty of the Eucharist.

In John's gospel Christ goes to great pains to try and explain the significance of the bread to his followers. Remember that we have been given a glimpse in the first chapter of John's gospel that Christ the Word, came into a world that did not recognise him.

John writes ' The Word was in the world, and though God made the world through him, yet the world did not recognise him. He came to his own country, but his own people did not receive him'

In the sixth chapter of John, Christ seeks to move the crowds understanding from the significance of bread as food for the physical body to one that gives an understanding of himself. Whilst the people are willing to receive bread to eat they find what he has to say unpalatable. What begins as a scene where people are fed with real bread ends in a situation where the people are scandalised. Jesus has responded to their questions, he has broken open the word of scripture to help them make sense of what he is trying to tell them. They want the bread that Jesus talks about. 'Sir they asked him Give us this bread always.
In last week's reading they hear him say that he is the bread of life that comes down from heaven and their grumbling begins, to them he is Jesus the Son of Joseph, how then can he say that he came down from heaven?

They now hear that the bread that Christ gives is his own flesh and Jesus gives his testimony to the truth. If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life yourselves. The more Jesus says, the more the crowd distance them selves from him. The light is shining in darkness, Christ is making himself fully known and the darkness does not grasp it.. The language of the Lord's Supper, closest to the heart of gospel truth is strange and distant to those in the world.

This is Christ promising to become so close to the world, not making oppressive demands but offering an intimacy with God the like of which people have never experienced before. Who will choose to be drawn into his embrace, who will turn away?

In some ways this chapter in John brings together the most ordinary thing of bread and that which is divine, Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God. In the same way each Eucharist we bring before God that which is most ordinary, bread and wine and then we ask Christ to come into that which is ordinary and it becomes divine, because and only because of his presence.

There are times when we come to his table deeply hungry and we trust in faith that Christ will meet us. There are also times when we come without much preparation or thought, sometimes almost in a routine way and we are suddenly taken aback by the almost unexpected presence of Christ. There are times when we come feeling unworthy or perhaps feeling fearful of how Christ night meet us and we know ourselves to be held in His deep embrace, welcomed and reassured. Then there are the times when we simply come faithfully week by week or as our custom and we come because we know that if we do not come then we are less whole, less complete, less able to live his life in the world.

The Eucharist is something we often find hard to understand ourselves, not easy to articulate even with those who share our faith, far harder to share with those in the world. Yet this is part of its mystery and it is this mystery of the love and presence of Christ that we are drawn into and in which we are held. It is beyond our human understanding, it is deeper than words, it is incarnation. The self giving love of God present in the person of Christ, present in bread and wine, this place of God's total self giving is communion, holy communion, for we meet with a holy God.

Today in this place may you know the mystery of the presence of Christ in bread and wine, come in faith, receive him and be thankful.

Amen

© St Edmund's Church, Roundhay