What Offends You?

What offends you?

1 Kings 8:[1, 6, 10-11], 22-30, 41-43
Psalm 84
Ephesians 6:10-20
John 6:56-69

©2024 The Rev. Seth Olson

This sermon was preached on the 14th Sunday after Pentecost at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Apostles. A video of the sermon may be found here.

Holy God, let my words be your words, and when my words are not your words, let your people be wise enough to know the same. Amen.

What offends you? Billionaire CEOs paying fewer tax dollars than public school teachers? Lenders providing predatory loans to people whom the big banks know cannot pay them back while charging an exorbitant interest rate? Athletes pumping themselves full of equine grade steroids? Or maybe what offends you is simply a piece of bread. We have reached the end of the five consecutive Sundays making our way through Jesus’ “Bread of Life” discourse in John. At this point, Jesus said something that made the remaining crowd so angry, so belligerent that only twelve remained afterwards. But, what is so offensive about what Jesus said—what is so offensive about bread?

We have to go back to the beginning of this series of lessons. First, many came who were physically hungry seeking sustenance through the miracle that Jesus performed in feeding the 5,000 men/10,000 people. Many followed him not particularly caring about what he was teaching, but simply seeking more food. Some others in the crowd simply wanted to see Jesus perform more tricks, as though he were some sort of magician at a kid’s birthday party. As this story unfurled the religious people of the day wanted to see a sign like the ones that Moses performed in feeding the Israelites in the wilderness. Jesus reminded those seeking a similar miracle that the Father, not Moses, sent down the bread and that the manna did not lead to everlasting life. We will return to Moses in a minute.

Last week, we heard Jesus compare himself not to a religious leader, but to a new bread that will make one live forever. He even went as far as to say those who do not eat his flesh and drink his blood will not have life within them. So, one has to eat Jesus to live. Now, no one really likes a biter, and out of context, Jesus’ odd invitation to “eat me” sounds like words from the rebellious cartoon character Bart Simpson and not the Son of God. Because truly, the invitation to consume Jesus had to be what was so offensive to even those who had begun following after Jesus. And yet, I believe those who heard Jesus had an even bigger stumbling block than mis-interpreted cannibalism.

Jesus said, “Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?” Now why would this be offensive Jesus? What does the possible ascent of the Son of Man have anything to do with the stumbling block that is eating his flesh? Jesus put his finger on a nerve that drove away would-be disciples and religious people causing them to proverbially take their toys and go home. What is more offensive than an unequal economic system, greedy banks, cheating athletes, and even anthropophagy (yes, there is a synonym for cannibalism)? It is not bread; it is someone who says that she or he is God. Blasphemy! Those who walked away from Jesus could not believe that he was the Son of God. Some even reminded him, “You are the son of Joseph,” a few verses back. This was what was so offensive!

The Church has officially been affirming the dual nature of Christ Jesus—that his humanity and his divinity are united as one—since the early Fifth Century (though the Early Church knew it before then). If we have said that Jesus is fully divine and fully human for more than 1500 years, then the absurdity of that statement and the reality that it represents may have lost its impact. And yet, Jesus himself seemed to disavow the human part of who he was, as he said, “It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless,” or more closely to the original, “The Spirit is giving life, the flesh profits nothing.” (We see why the Church could not completely get behind this for some years.) Jesus wasn’t disavowing his humanity here though, he wanted those still within earshot to know life beyond physical bread. If your mind is spinning a little bit, you are not alone, this is theologically sophisticated material. Perhaps returning to Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness would be helpful now.

You may recall from the Book of Exodus, or the song “Pharaoh, Pharaoh,” the People of Israel escaped from Egypt. “Well me and my people goin' to the Red Sea, With Pharaoh's army comin' after me. I took my staff, stuck it in the sand, And all of God's people walked ‘cross dry land.” Once through the sea there was a forty year delay in actually making it to the Promised Land. In the meantime Moses and the people were stuck out in the wilderness. The people grumbled about there not being food, and when God provided manna and quail they grumbled about the menu options. In their desperation the people even said to Moses, “Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” We know that eventually they reached the land of milk and honey after Moses’ death.

In John’s Gospel account Jesus was the manna that came down from heaven. Except here Jesus was not just the bread of life, but also the Word of God. These two are intricately connected, as the Word acts as the life-giving force. Jesus said, “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life!” And yet, just like the grumbling Israelites in the wilderness there were those who moaned receiving the Word of God. This is an exceedingly difficult truth to accept—Jesus is the Christ through whom Creation came to be, he’s the Bread of Life that provides sustenance for the journey. Even Jesus seemed surprised when twelve remained, “Do you also wish to go away?” in response Peter asked, “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.” This faithful remnant was feasting on the Word! They knew that though they were physical creatures, they had found the everlasting spiritual food.

I could say, let us all feast on the eternal Word like these disciples and it would be neat and tidy, but that is not the end. We may be two thousand years removed from the stumbling block that is the fully human and fully divine Jesus, but we believe something even more offensive today. 

Even in today’s world of outrageous headlines we believe something that can trip up so many. As strange as it sounds, if we are to follow Jesus, then we must give our whole selves to the ultimate reality that God loves us so much that God chose and continues to choose to send His Son, the Bread of Life, the Word of God to come and dwell with us. He comes to us, so that we might feast on Him and enjoy eternal life! This is not some sort of metaphor or hocus pocus, nor is this a story from a long time ago. This is the truth: All of us are the Body of Christ. We are One Body in Christ for we all partake of the one bread and we share in the same cup. You are Christ; I am Christ; we are Christ. 

Does this offend you?