Jesus As the Life Force

Jesus As the Life Force  

Deuteronomy 26:1-11 

Psalm 100 

Philippians 4:4-9 

John 6:25-35 

It is only appropriate to begin with a word of thanks, to Pastor Anne, for generously pulling all of this together. And thanks to the good folks at United Presbyterian for inviting us over for Thanksgiving. We appreciate your welcome and hospitality. At least half of us here understand what it is like to clean the house for company in the middle of the week, no less. 

We live in anxious times. We are fed by the perpetual noise of the for-profit media. The advertising machine did not sputter out of gas - after drowning us all in negative political ads, although by all that is good, holy, and just, it ought to have poisoned itself. The artificial pressure to create the perfect Christmas Season, highlighted by the perfect Christmas gifts, has already kicked into high gear. 

Jesus, who had left the crowds by the cover of night to find a quiet place to pray and get recharged, has been discovered by the hungry crowds and their spokespersons. “How did you get away from us?” they ask him. Jesus responds, “As usual, you are asking the wrong question, worried about the wrong things, and focused on the here and now from your own narrow perspective.” 

The conversation takes place in the gospel of John, Chapter 6. This entire Chapter reflects on the miracle story of the feeding of the 5,000, and the walking on water event for the benefit of the disciples. Now, I am not one that likes to dwell on the miraculous. As a modern person, enamored of reason and scientific inquiry, I occasionally get anxious about the places the miracle stories take me. 

But this feeding of the 5,000 is not a story I can dismiss. It is the only miracle story that appears in all four gospels, and Mark and Matthew each tell it twice! There is no getting around it, this story is at the heart of the gospel understanding of the public ministry of Jesus. 

It helps to reflect on the feeding of the 5,000, the night before the family arrives for Thanksgiving. Did you notice, in all of the different tellings, no one complained about the menu. There were no snide remarks about who brought a purchased side dish and who made their own. And no one complained about the ‘easy’ pumpkin pie instead of Grandma’s famous spiced recipe. 

Most of us gathered tonight are church people. We are the dedicated core of our respective congregations who do not need to be reminded to go to church on Sunday. We volunteer for projects, and accept invitations to be responsible for “church stuff.” We all know that the heart of the congregation, like the heart of a family home, is located in the kitchen, surrounded by the smell of the oven and handy to the coffee pot. Community is built making and serving food, and doing dishes together. 

In a sense tonight is like preaching to the choir. Tex Sample, the renowned teacher of preachers, says clergy should not be afraid to preach to the choir once in a while. I think of Jesus walking on water for the benefit of the disciples in the same way, preaching to the choir. This event takes place in John’s gospel, right after the “Big Meal.”  It honors the extra effort the insiders make to their relationship with Jesus, and it feeds their own hunger to know more. 

Tex Sample likes say, “Go ahead and preach to the choir, because the choir is where a lot of the trouble starts anyway.” Tex might advise a little caution in this situation, where the choir could get to me so easily. 

In the gospel the crowd senses that Jesus is a little put off by their question, so they try to ask a “better” question and get his approval. “What must we do - to do the works God requires?” In this moment, the level of sincerity jumps up. 

We all know these moments, when the tone gets serious. You call your brother - to tell him that your parent’s health has taken a turn for the worse. The chairperson of the congregation shares with the Sunday morning crowd that the Bank is losing patience with late loan payments. A multi-generation family in congregational leadership, announces that they are all moving to the Carolina’s. We all know that change in voice that calls us to take a giant step up to another level of attention. 

Jesus thrives in those teaching moments. The teaching moment is when the crowd turns to Jesus and asks a serious question - that has a direct impact on who they are and what they are to be doing. This is a question asked when they NEED an answer, AND they are ready to hear it. 

Jesus says, “You all need to believe in me and the word from God that I bring.” And they ask, “Do you have a sign from heaven to prove this is really from God? Moses gave the Hebrews manna in the desert.” You know what manna means right? It is Hebrew for, “what is this yucky stuff?” If you recall the story, the Hebrews did not especially like that manna in the desert, until it was a memory - and they were out of the desert. 

One of my favorite characteristics of the gospel of John is how he continually reveals that spirituality is related to the life force in the world and associates it with the God revealed by Jesus. Hunger, compassion, and faithfulness, all reflect the force of life in the world.  

In October we talked about faith like a mustard seed. Tiny though it is, it contains all of the stuff needed, to both sprout, and to develop into a mustard tree. All of the special code is written within the seed. Once the seed sprouts, the seed casing decomposes, and the life force is now in the plant. It grows leaves, collects sunshine and water, and grows and bears fruit - or mustard seeds. 

This is the same life force that causes dandelions to grow and bloom, right in the cracks of the sidewalk. It is a perfect dandelion. It has dandelion leaves, and dandelion roots, and the distinctive yellow dandelion blossom, that soon enough turns to floating wisps that carry the seeds of new weeds - to grow right where you had hoped to grow something more beautiful, or useful. 

Jesus lays claim to being the very life force, sent down from God, to give a rich spiritual life to those who would be willing to claim it. What is a rich spiritual life? 

I am one who believes that God created the world, in ways that are beyond my imagination. I believe the unique code of the life force that every living creature carries, reflects the life of our Creator. I believe, in some way, every created thing reveals the Creator, in some advanced mysterious way, just as the concept of the Trinity tries to put a bow on the complexity of a multifaceted understanding of God. 

As a human and a Christian, I am well versed in the scriptures that lay claim to the spiritual heritage of the Christians, and the Jewish people of faith - whose awareness of their relationship with God has shaped my understanding of creation, the life force in the world, and the Creator. 

The life force in each of us, might even be imagined as not only an image of the Creator, but we might consider our spiritual souls as a bit of that divine stuff. And divine stuff is eternal. And divine stuff, flows from God, and returns to God. While we live and breathe - and do our good and evil - in these lovely, biodegradable bodies, the real stuff of our eternal natures, does not die and cannot be anything but loved by God and reflect the love of our Creator. 

So tonight, we look at each other and look for the spark of the divine - that is always more accessible when people of faith are joined together. We recognize the presence of God - the real stuff of a rich spiritual life - in the love we have for each other. We recognize our divine nature in our normal human desire to feed each other good things - and see the pleasure in each other’s face. We give thanks to God. 

I give thanks to God for the life force that inhabits our biodegradable bodies, though I wish it would wait to degrade until after I am finished using it. I give thanks for the life force that draws us near to Jesus, wanting to get his approval. I give thanks for the spiritual hunger that causes us to ask the questions that go deeper, or raise our attention to a higher level. 

Most of all, let us give thanks to God for a spiritual awareness, that permits us to resist the artificial pressure - to create a perfect Christmas in the model of the ideal Hallmark Moment; but see it in the Christmas season, the light of the eternal. We name and address our hunger for the spiritual food that is preserved within the faith of our parents and grandparents, that we dutifully try to share with our kids and grandkids. 

Jesus fed the 5,000, walked on water to inspire the disciples, and talked with the confused followers. They are trying to comprehend who this Jesus is and what he is about. And those of us who know these stories, still want to be reminded, “What do I need to do to please God?” 

Jesus says. “I am the bread of life.” And we proclaim in all sincerity, “Give us this bread always.” Let this be the bread - in the boxes of food we will deliver to the pantry. Let this be the bread - in the stuffing of our Thanksgiving turkey, or better yet, let this be the bread and butter - of our earnest intentions to love our neighbor, near and far. Amen.