Pentecost 13-St. John 6:51-58

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son,+ and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

‘The Jews therefore began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”’ (V. 52)

It is a strange claim that is made here by these Jewish hearers of Jesus’ words. As we know, Jesus speaks to them of the coming institution of the Lord’s Supper. We understand this because of our instruction in Lutheran doctrine as written for us in the Scripture and our Confessions. These people here ought to have seen this. After all, they had the whole Old Testament, which as Jesus tells us at the end of St. Luke; this speaks entirely of Him.

Sadly, as I mentioned last week, these people did not have ears to hear.

They could not make the connections from what Jesus said to what their own lawgiver, Moses and all the prophets had spoken to them over the past centuries. Those words that they had learned in Hebrew school and heard read each week at Synagogue. Their hearts were sadly hardened by their sin against the true faith. They had been lead too long by false shepherds to hear the True Shepherd when He came (Ezek. 36:1-31).

It is a strange claim that is made today by certain politically left extremists. There are some who have chosen not to eat meat for one reason or other that consider the eating of meat by others to be cannibalism. It is the eating of meat that these people consider to be cannibalism. This is because they view animals as being on the same level as humans. All of this is unnecessary and even contrary to Scripture. The Father makes it clear that the animals are our inferiors in the order of creation. They were created for our enjoyment and to serve us (Gen. 1-2). As well, since the Noahaic covenant after the flood, animals have been given for us to eat (Gen. 9:2-4).

It is the same claim as we hear made in our Gospel lesson against Jesus.

‘The eyes of all look to Thee, and Thou dost give them their food in due time.’ (Ps. 145:15)

This is a passage from the Psalms that these Jews would have known well. It speaks to us of the food given to feed our bodies. This is the kind of food given at the beginning of this sermon of Jesus with the feeding of this multitude. Jesus filled their bodies first, then He fed their minds and souls.

That is the other part of this passage. All creatures look to the Father for their food to be given as needed. In our case, this does not simply refer to food for our tummies. This also refers to spiritual food. This is the sort of food that Jesus now speaks of to us in our lesson.

‘Jesus therefore said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."’ (Vv. 53-54)

Jesus again becomes more and more blunt with these people. He does this that He might break through their hard hearts and bring them to the faith. This was not to be, as you know. They did not come to faith that day but abandoned their following of Jesus. They may have return to follow Jesus later on, but we do not know. It is as if Jesus is saying, “How indeed, it may be eaten, and what may be the mode of eating this bread, you are ignorant of”. Nevertheless, Jesus continues to tell them that this is a sacramental, spiritual eating of His body and drinking of His blood.

This is the eating of the Sacrament of the Altar, as we know. This had not come yet so even Jesus closest disciples, the Twelve, would not have fully understood these words if at all. They stuck with Him regardless of how much they understood of His words.

To be sure, Jesus did not speak these words to corpses but rather to living men. As well, Jesus did not speak these words to those ignorant of the Old Testament Scriptures. Rather, Jesus speaks these words to the men of the community. Those who would have been in the best position to know and understand the Word of God.

Yet, none of them did.

These were the people who went out after all the false christs who appeared before the coming of the true Christ, Jesus the Son born of Mary. They were used to fantastic claims but this one beat all! This was beyond what any others had claimed before the True Messiah. There is a reason though that Jesus does not simply say that those who eat and drink of Him shall have eternal life. Jesus did not want anyone to misunderstand again and think that those who do this will live forever in this body. So, He adds the last part, ‘“I will raise him on the last day”’. This makes it clear to us that yes, we will be truly alive if we eat and drink Jesus’ body and blood. No, we will not forever live in this life. We will still die like all others.[1]

This means in practice for you and me that in spite of our being sinners, Christ lives in each of us. After all, each of you has eaten your Lord’s Body and Blood in faith. Because of this, you are in Christ as Christ is in you. So, you live because of Him who lives in you.[2]

‘“For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.”’ (V. 55)

This takes us back to the miraculous meal, which began this whole discourse of Jesus. At that time, when Jesus had the people sit down in ordered groups; He fed them bread and fish. Now, Jesus tells them what the true food and true drink is. It is not that kind of meal that they had just taken part in. It is this mystical, sacramental food and drink of which Jesus now teaches them about.

Now Jesus continues on to explain how this could be. He has told them what is the reality. How a person is given eternal life. Now Jesus tells you and me how each of us receive this thing that Jesus wishes to bless us with.

This is how we receive this eternal life. We eat Jesus’ body and drink His blood. This is how we are made to dwell in Jesus. This is how Jesus comes to dwell in each of us (cf. 1 Cor. 11:27). As we eat of the One loaf which is Christ, He comes to make His home in you by His Holy Spirit. So, each of us who eat faithfully receive blessing and eternal life through Christ (Eph. 1:7).[3]

‘Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! … To Him be the glory forever. Amen.’ (Rom. 11:33, 36)

What great gifts each of us has been given because we have been brought to faith by the power of the Holy Spirit (SC II: 3rd). For the riches of our faith, not simply those given in the Sacraments, which are primary. Those gifts are forgiveness of sins, salvation from sin death and the devil, and eternal life. There is more of the gifts of God. We also praise our gracious God for all the many gifts given to each of you and to me and to all the Christian faithful (Eph. 1:3-10) because we are now washed and made clean and adopted as Sons of God (Gal. 4:4-7). We who believe on every word which comes forth from the mouth of our God (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 4:3-5) and has been recorded for us in the Bible. The faithful will not turn aside to cleverly devised myths at the end. Rather, you will endure until the end, clinging to the truth. We have received the inheritance of heaven! ‘To Him be the glory forever’ indeed.

We as Christians do not foolishly think that our blessed Savior speaks of earthly cannibalism. Instead:
‘We all know, we who possess complete faith in Christ,
That as we approach eager for the mystic bread
And in addition take the cup of salvation,
If we are of pure heart and without dissimulation
We are all participants of the flesh and blood
Of Christ with faith in Him, and we hope
From this a life like that of the angels;
For, in very truth, the body of the One who suffered,
The very holy Body of Jesus Christ is
The heavenly bread of immortality.’[4]

All this poetry is simply to say, unlike the crowds that day, your heart and mine has been made whole. We now have had our stony hearts removed and replaced by living hearts (Ezek. 11:17-21). We have ears to hear what Jesus seeks to teach.

This passage illustrates for us what the reality of the holy Supper is for us. We are the slaves of the master who have been invited to a feast. This is the first remarkable thing. We all know that if we hold a dinner party and hire workers to serve the food and the drink, it is assumed that they would not be eating. No matter how long the party lasts, only the invited guests are allowed to eat. It is not the place of the hired workers to join in the party. So it is also with our master and us. Yet, it is still reality that this feast has been put on by our Master for you and the food He provides is Himself.

Who among us would dare eat with his master? Yet, here Jesus says to us ‘“As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me.”’ (V. 57)

Jesus is saying to us, “When you eat Me, you eat life. When I am eaten, I nourish without diminishing”. Jesus is not killed in order to be eaten, but He brings life to the dead.[5] So, when we celebrate our Lord’s Supper we eat Christ and we live. We have life, forgiveness and salvation given to each of us because of Him (SC IV).

In Jesus’+ Name. Amen.

[1] NPNF 1 7:172-3.
[2] ACCS NT vol. IVa p. 240. Philoxenus of Mabbug, On the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
[3] Ibid. St. Augustine Tractates on the Gospel of John 26.17-18.
[4] Ibid, p. 243. Romanus Melodus, Kontakion On the Multiplication of Loaves 13.1-3.
[5] Ibid, p. 242. St. Augustine Sermons 132.1.

Response to the ELCA decision from Concordia Theological Seminary

For Immediate ReleaseAugust 26, 2009

Concordia Theological Seminary Responds to Actions at ELCA ConventionFORT WAYNE, IN (CTS)

‹As Christians in an ever-changing world it is imperative that we be ready with a response when those changes are contraryto God's word. The Rev. Dr. Dean O. Wenthe, President, ConcordiaTheological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN, stresses that we must also make that response with clarity and charity. A video of Dr. Wenthe's response to actions at the recent convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) may be found at the seminary's website, www.ctsfw.edu<http://www.ctsfw.edu/> .³

Concordia Theological Seminary, with the Christian church throughout history, confesses the sanctity of marriage as a union between a man and a woman God's gift of marriage at creation is a beautiful and abiding blessing upon all of humanity. Similarly, we believe the living and healing voice of Jesus through His prophets and apostles Sacred Scripture when He calls us to fidelity in marriage and warns about the harmful and destructive impact upon human beings when adultery, promiscuity, or homosexuality are practiced. In departing from two thousand years of Christian teaching and practice as well as challenging the majority of present day Christians, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has exhibited sectarian behavior that saddens a large spectrum of the Christian community.We pray that the Lord will strengthen those who remain faithful to His healing Word and recall those who have so tragically abandoned that Word and its healing and absolving Truth. Please also consult President Kieschnick¹s address to the ELCA ChurchwideAssembly as posted on the LCMS Website at www.lcms.org<http://www.lcms.org/> .² (Dean O. Wenthe, President, Concordia Theological Seminary, August 25, 2009)

###The mission of Concordia Theological Seminary is to form servants in Jesus Christ who teach the faithful, reach the lost, and care for all. For additional information on educational opportunities and events at CTS please e-mail PublicRelations@ctsfw.edu or phone 260-452-2100.

HT: Rev. Matt Harrison

Political Rallying Cry

What was the last part of President Obama's rallying cry throughout the election season this past year?

"Yes, we can!"

What is Bob the Builder's rallying cry everytime there is a problem to be solved?

"Can we fix it? Yes, we can!"

Don't you think it is a bit strange that the President seems to be taking his tag lines from a children's video series?

Red Potatoes a la Grandma P.

This is a recipe that, as far as I know, my mother came up with on her own. I am very thankful that she did because it is a very yummy way to cook potatoes. Of course, some will balk at the butter in the recipe, but then they can chalk it up to a caloric splurge.

This recipe is beautifully simple. All that is needed is an onion or two (the more the merrier for this family!), a couple red potatoes, butter, a corningware dish (ours is like the one on the right) and a piece of tinfoil.

First, halve the onion and cut it into ribbons. Then scrub and cut the potatoes. Make them as small as you like. The smaller the better as they then cook faster. Add about four tablespoons of butter to the dish with the potatoes and onions, cover with tinfoil and place it in the oven along side your roast or pan of chicken for about 30-45 minutes.

ELCA to allow practacing homosexuals to be ordained as Clergy

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States, has voted to allow homosexuals in committed relationships to be ordained. This is contrary to holy Scripture. The Lutheran Church-Canada has provided a very good public statement which you can read here.

One interesting side note, as the ELCA chose to go against God's holy word, there was some rather interesting weather going on outside the convention center. That storm occurred while the convention was going on and damaged Central Lutheran Church just up the street from the convention hall. That tornado was, to say the least, an interesting coincidence.

Pentecost 12--St. John 6:41-51

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son,+ and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

‘“I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.”’ (Vv. 48-50)

Jesus, as He states for us quite plainly here, is the bread of life. As He will finish, Jesus’ flesh is given for the life of the world. This is quite different from the breads of our world given for this body to consume. After all, if you eat a slice of bread, whether plain or with something on it; you will eventually become hungry again.

During the siege of Leningrad, during the Second World War, the situation became so dire, the populace made due with bread from whatever they could come up with. When the grains ran out or became rancid from age, they instead made bread from anything. They even made and ate bread made from wallpaper paste and sawdust. As you all understand, there is no nutritional value to such bread. Thus, thousands starved to death for lack of true bread.

This meager diet afforded the people trapped in the city nothing from which to sustain their body and life.[1]

Similar things occur in our own day and even right now. Many of the people on the island of Haiti are so poor they eat mud pies so that their bellies are not always empty. In this case it is a bit better, the mud is mixed with a bit of water, butter and salt, but it is still only a meager thing to be consuming.

It is still a meager diet afforded these many people. They are trapped on that island with little to sustain this body and life.[2]

Jesus does not simply fulfill the events of the Exodus by being the One Moses pointed forward to by recording the flight out of Egypt. Christ also came in fulfillment of Micah’s prophecy to nourish us to a spiritual strength that will never know death. ‘And He will arise and shepherd His flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD His God. And they will remain, because at the time He will be great to the ends of the earth.’ (Micah 5:2-4) Christ, the Good Shepherd, feeds His flock in the very strength of God Himself. Jesus gives us living bread from heaven (cf. V. 50).

Contrast the people of Leningrad and the people of the island nation of Haiti with the prophet from today’s Old Testament lesson. Elijah, in this passage, is depressed. He is thinking, “Oh, woe is me! I am the only one left. I am the only foolhardy nut willing to follow the true God. Look where it has landed me. I am hunted by the king and the queen and they wish my death. I am wandering in the desert and it would be better if I were dead.” So what does he do? Elijah asks God to take his life! This is the great prophet Elijah? The prophet par excellence? This is the greatest of the Old Testament prophets with Moses? This is one of the two who appear with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration (St. Mk. 9:2-9)?

Yes! It is the same prophet! There is only one Elijah in the Bible. This is the same one considered in that light and given such honor.

We should look again at that passage from 1 Kings. What does God do for Elijah? Does God kill him, or does something else happen? Our gracious God knew that Elijah was truly depressed and in need of healing. God also knew that this was not really Elijah’s wish. In other words, God knew the man better than he knew himself. So, God grants what Elijah needs, not what wishes for. This does not mean the same will happen for all of us who are depressed. It does not even mean that Elijah never again experienced such a thing. All that is meant by God’s response of sending an angel to Elijah with a baked cake and a jar of water is that ‘the Lord will provide’ (Gen. 22:8).

So, what happens after Elijah is fed in this manner? He went in the strength of that food for forty days, until Elijah reached the mountain of God, Horeb. What we must realize is that the journey to Horeb does not normally take as long as forty days. Rather, it took Elijah forty days because he was alternately wandering and hiding due to his despondent condition.

Christ, the Good Shepherd, feeds His flock in the very strength of God Himself. Jesus gives us living bread from heaven (cf. V. 50).

All this is to point out to us what is going on here at this point in St. John’s sixth chapter. The people have grumbled among themselves, thinking, ‘“Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?”’ (V. 42)

Jesus can be the bread from heaven because He is the One who has come down from heaven. This is the kicker. Jesus does not tone down His sermon when the people start to grumble. He does not tell them in regard to the previous verses when He was talking about people gaining life from eating His flesh and His blood (Vv. 31-40), “Well, I did not really mean it that way”. No, in fact, as we hear in this lesson, Jesus gets more and more blunt the more His listeners’ grumble about what He is saying.

We all know this Gospel well enough to remember what happens next. So many leave that the only ones who appear to still be hanging around Jesus are the Twelve. Jesus then behaves a bit like Elijah. After all, at that point, Jesus asks the Twelve, ‘ “You do not want to go away also, do you?”’ (V. 67).

Jesus begins this intensification of His sermon by telling these people something else they would not have wanted to hear. Jesus after all states, ‘Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him on the last day.”’ (Vv. 43-44) All of these people had been taught that they could do something to merit salvation. They understood the ancient faith to be such that they did their part, God did His part, and the people were rescued from their sin. We know this to be the case. We know and trust that it is God alone who is doing the work. We cannot help (St. Jn. 15:16; Eph. 2:8,9; SC II: 3rd pt.). This is how you and I are taught. These Jews had not been taught this. They had been taught that they could help God.

It is an easy trap for us sinful humans to fall into. It is a trap that both you and I can easily fall into. It is so easy of a trap for the devil to lay because it plays on our own sinful pride and desire to be like God. This is exactly the sort of thing you and I want to believe. We want to think that with my reason and strength I can believe in God and come to Him. Dr. Luther makes it plain what Scripture thinks of that line of reasoning. ‘ “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”’ (St. Mk. 1:15) This is what Jesus tells each of us. Even us Christians who still walk through this veil of tears (Ps. 23:4).

‘From the Father forth He came
And returneth to the same,
Captive leading death and hell—
High the son of triumph swell!’

(The Lutheran Hymnal 95:4)

‘“I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread also which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh.”’ (V. 51)

This portion of Jesus’ sermon in this chapter ends with this statement. These words of Jesus lead the people into confusion. They betray their infantile faith by what they say in response. Their response is to wonder how this cannibalism could be. As you and I know, Jesus is not referring to cannibalism but to a spiritual eating and drinking in the Sacrament. When the people respond in this way, Jesus’ answer is to state the same thing we have heard this morning again. He is just as blunt that time as this.

If the people had had a mature faith capable of understanding what Jesus was telling them, they would have shouted the message from the rooftops. They would not have stopped unless forced. Unless they were bound and gagged, so wonderful is this message for sinners like you and me.

Yet, these people do not have eyes and ears of faith. They could not and would not hear what Jesus sought to teach them. Jesus tries again and again to get through to their stubborn hearts of stone. May we never be found with such hard hearts.

The rejection that this sermon brings to Jesus is a foretaste of the spiteful rejection by the High Priest Caiaphas and the other Jewish leaders later at Jesus’ trial.

Praise be to God that the Holy Spirit has caused true saving faith to grow and flourish in your hearts and my heart. What eternal benefits each of us enjoy because of Jesus! Jesus gave His flesh, His life as the payment for all the sins of all people of all time. ‘In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses [sins]’ (Eph. 1:7). Oh, praise the bread of life, our Savior Jesus Christ![3]

In Jesus’+ Name. Amen.

[1] Encyclopedia of Sermon Illustrations, pp. 65-66, section #270, CPH.
[2] http://kstp.com/article/stories/S438329.shtml?cat=1&v=1
[3] Sermon Studies on the Gospels: Series B, Northwestern, p. 290.

Hubble Ultra Deep Field--Remember your Creator

Hubble Ultra Deep Field

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This is a truly amazing video. It is humbling as the commentor states that there is so much revealed by the Hubble telescope when pointed at a patch that appears to be only black. I do not agree with all the assumptions of this video but it really emphasizes the vastness of creation. It also reminds us how much God loves us that when the universe is so amazingly vast, we are still the crown of that creation and given dominion over it according to Genesis chapters one and two.

Go, listen and marvel at our wonderful loving God.

HT: Kim Komando and my Father-in-law.