John 6:56-69
August 22, 2021
Santo Cena Militao de Santos |
I
know the disciples were talking about the bit
about
eating Jesus flesh and drinking Jesus blood.
But
the whole of communion is difficult.
This
table is difficult.
Yes, there are all the
theological wranglings:
Transubstantiation
or consubstantiation.
Essence
verses being, the true presence,
in,
with, and under all that stuff.
But
hard to understand is not what I’m talking about
and
I don’t think it’s what the disciples are
talking
about it being difficult.
They
mean it’s tough to accept,
I
mean it’s tough to practice in real life.
Gnawing
on everything that Jesus commands is difficult.
This last five weeks we’ve
been reading John 6.
It’s
called the Bread of Life series and it’s
where
Jesus says he is the bread of life.
So
we’ve been talking about Jesus and
food
and eating and communion and Christ’s table.
I did a little overview of
all the places in the 4 gospels
where
Jesus was eating or talking about eating.
I
counted 25 incidences in the gospels where
Jesus was eating with people or talking
about
people eating together.
None
of these are family meals.
They’re
all kind of like dinner parties.
A lot of these meals seemed
to be out in public,
where
others could kind of look in.
They
weren’t private.
And
indeed in the temperate climate
lots
of people ate outside and some say it’s possible that
their
houses were open to the street in view of others.
One seminary professor I
know, who knows
a
lot more about the gospels than I do,
said
that more than that, it’s likely that Jesus
made
a display of his meals to everyone.
Even
more than the gospels tell us about.
That as part of his mission work,
every
time Jesus would travel into a new town
his
gang of disciples would pick a very public
place,
lay
down the giant blanket and the pillows,
pull
out the food and just invite people over.
Jesus
made a spectacle out of his meals.
I was intrigued by this
image. It rang true.
It
was an open and free party.
It
was feeding those who needed it.
And
it was also a testament to those observing:
Jesus
was eating with everyone. And especially
inviting
those who were outcasts from other group meals.
Most
famously with tax collectors and sinners,
who
could more specifically be characterized
today
as mafia strong-arms and sex workers.
Vice
squad targets.
They
all could openly come for food and friendship.
This teaching is difficult.
I grew up in a
denomination that restricted
who
could and couldn’t have communion.
They
were very selective on who could come.
That seemed to be the norm to me.
Only
certain people who belonged to the
denomination
could eat with us.
Only
certain ages, and beliefs,
only
the baptized, only the un-divorced,
There
was a tussle in my church about whether a teenager
who
had gotten pregnant would be allowed to take communion.
I don’t think this is
unusual.
Most
denominations have some restrictions.
Some
are more intense about it than others.
And even in documents we
have about the earliest
church,
they seemed to gravitate to that
kind
of model, putting wide requirements on
who
could and couldn’t eat at the churches table.
At points, I have thought that
was the most
difficult
part about this meal.
That
some were excluded from it.
That
you had to accomplish or subscribe to certain things
in
order to make it to the church’s table.
And
that’s what made it special and sacred.
But in looking at all of those eating events in the gospel,
That
was never the issue for everyone looking in.
Never
once did those Pharisees or scribes say,
“Why does he only invite
certain people to his meals?
He turned several people
away, why did he do that?
If he was really a prophet,
he would have known who
he did not invite to
the meal.”
Jesus was only asked why
so many
of
the wrong people were invited.
They
asked, “Why does he eat with tax
collectors and sinners?
This fellow welcomes sinners
and eats with them.
If this man was a prophet,
he would have
known what kind of woman
that was at his table.”
This teaching is difficult.
So our tables at the ELCA and
some other churches are open.
Meaning
anyone of any denomination can
have
communion at an ELCA church.
And there are many
churches and pastors
who
have taken that extra step to say
that
anyone is invited of any age,
any
denomination, we don’t ask whether
people
are baptized or confirmed or on the right or wrong path.
Everyone
is welcome to our tables
because
everyone was welcome to Jesus table.
And we get guff for that,
we get labeled all sorts of things,
told
that we’re not doing it right or by tradition.
We
get told were lazy and we don’t regard
Jesus
table with enough respect or sacredness.
We’re
told “We need to put more limits on Christ’s table.”
When
what we’re actually trying to do is imitate Christ.
And
be more like what the scriptures repeatedly describe.
But the world is more
comfortable with us when we’re exclusive
and
restrictive and make strong lines of demarcation
between
“them and us”.
But
we knew before we started,
that
this is teaching was difficult.
So we might all be onboard
with this,
we
might actually be okay with opening our tables
and
eating with mafia thugs and sex workers.
And
even people of another denomination or no denomination at all.
We
might be okay with that kind of openness.
And
the party-like atmosphere.
But
this table is not just a party.
It’s
not all just fun and festivities.
At this table, on the
night in which he was betrayed
Jesus
took the bread and the wine and he ate.
He
ate with the one who denied him.
With
the ones who ran and hid when the going was tough.
And
he ate with the one who would betray him
and
turn him over the authorities and have him killed.
And
nothing feels worse than friends who turn on you.
But
Jesus ate with all of them none the less.
I don’t know how I would
feel about that.
Eating with
people who betrayed me and did me harm.
This is teaching is really difficult at times.
There was an Anglican priest named Father Wiggit
who ministered to the
political prisoners
in South Africa in the early 1980’s.
To remind people, in South Africa there was brutal,
blatant,
cruel, and non-optional
segregation and racial brutality
against black people in South
Africa by
the Dutch and British
colonists who settled there.
Black people were arrested, starved,
tortured,
and killed for minor
infractions like speaking
up against the government, or walking in the wrong
neighborhood.
Many were also imprisoned in horrible
concentration camps for
decades.
speaking out against
apartheid and
he was held in work camps from
1962 – 1990.
Father Wiggit told this story:
Every week he would come and
share
communion with the prisoners.
A few of them would sit
around a little table in a nasty room,
and there was always a prison
warden who was assigned
to come and observe the
proceedings.
The guard would just sit
there during the service stone-faced,
and make sure that there was
no ‘suspicious’
activity happening, no secret
information shared.
Father Wiggit did this for
years at this camp
with the same warden
watching.
In 1982, Nelson Mandela had already been in various prison
labor camps for 20 years.
And he was transferred to the
prison that Wiggit served.
The first time that Nelson
Mandela was there,
he joined the prisoners for
communion.
Father Wiggit started the
communion liturgy and
Mandela stopped him. He yelled
out to the warden
and asked him if he was a
Christian.
The warden said “yes” and
Mandela said,
"Well
then, you should be over here.
Take off your hat
and come join us.”
And the guard took of his hat and joined them.
Father Wiggit
said he had never thought of inviting the warden,
He said he just saw him as an apartheid functionary.
He said he saw his face change.
He was not the cold guard he had been for so many years.
Mandela saw him as a brother in Christ and invited him to the
table.
It made all the difference there.
Mandela lived the teaching of Jesus.
He gnawed on the whole body of Christ.
Not just part of it.
This is
difficult teaching.
Wherever this table is, in a church, or living room,
or on a lap in a nursing home,
or in a visiting room of a prison:
This is Christ’s table, it’s not my table,
it’s not the church’s table,
and it’s not even the ELCA’s Table.
It’s always Jesus table.
It is to be made ready for those who love him
and those who want to love him more.
This is Jesus
table, Jesus is our host
and so it is always Jesus guest-list
that we have to honor.
Every time we
have communion together
and we open this table up to everyone,
and share Christ’s body and blood with
anyone that might drift in, any one that might
care to join us (and some that might not care at all)
we make a testament and a witness to
the depth and breadth of God’s love and forgiveness.
We sit across
the table and share this sacred
food with our enemies, those that don’t share,
that don’t believe our struggles or opinions.
Those who don’t understand us or agree with us.
Those who betray us and deny us.
Even those who keep us captive,
and who treat us and others with great injustice.
And when we do it, we are saying this is how God is.
This is Jesus Christ the Bread of life.
This is
difficult teaching.
But like Simon Peter said to Jesus,
“Where else are we gonna go?”
Jesus has the words and the ways of life.
The way to change the world.
This food that we share keeps us coming back.
This is body of
Christ, this is the bread of life.
The sacred meal that we join together to share.
The meal that we ingest, gnaw on,
that becomes a part of us.
This has the power of reconciliation,
the power of forgiveness.
The power to help and to heal.
The power to bring us together and erase divisions.
As difficult as this teaching is,
This is living bread from heaven.
This is Jesus Christ
And he has the words of eternal life.