Are You In?

Sermon as Preached at Lambs UMC 8/26/12

Scripture- John 6: 56-69



The all-in moment, it’s the most exciting moment in a game of poker. It is when a player believes that their hand is so good, that they are willing to risk everything that they have on it. If you win, you double your money, but if you lose, you lose it all. The all-in is one of the riskiest, gutsiest, and boldest moves in poker. You see, it is possible to have a good hand yet bet much more conservatively. You good bet the minimum, you could raise the minimum, you could even risk half of your chips; all of these options if you won would still increase your earnings and if you lost you would still have the opportunity to win it back. Not with the all-in, if you lose, its over. So why would someone ever risk going all-in? Well, some people are just that bold, others are completely bluffing and hoping that by going all-in they would scare everyone else into folding, but as is the case in many instances, some are forced into making that tough decision. Another player may bet all that you have and you have to as Kenny Rogers says, “Know when to hold ém and know when to fold ém. At that moment you must decide what is best for you. At that moment, you must answer the question, are you in?

            In our passage today, the disciples are faced with a similar all-in moment. About a month ago we talked about the miracle of Jesus feeding the five thousand with only five loaves of bread and two fish. So many people had witnessed this and were amazed, and after the feast the disciples got into their boat and went to the other side of the sea. During all of this we also see the miracle of Jesus walking on water out to the disciples; joining them as they crossed to the other side. Our passage today picks up right after this event, in fact it was the very next morning. The crowd that had been fed the previous day went to look for Jesus, knowing that the disciples had took the only boat across the sea, but when they could not find him, they realized another miracle had taken place, so they got into their own boats and went across the sea in search of Jesus. When they got to the other side, they found Jesus with his disciples, and Jesus began to teach both the crowd as well as his disciples.

            So far this seems like a rather peaceful story, a story that does not involve much drama, however as Jesus began to teach, or preach may be a more accurate word, the crowd began to grow a little restless. Jesus started to make some bold statements that some in the crowd did not want to hear. His preaching was  controversial, and it began to anger many of the people who were listening. So what was Jesus preaching about? Was it sex, or money, or politics? No, Jesus’s message was about bread. Bread?! Bread, how can bread be controversial, how could bread make so many people so mad, how could bread lead to an all-in moment? Let us dive into what Jesus was really saying.

            By talking about bread, Jesus was hitting on the critical topic of life. Let’s not forget, that there were no grocery stores that you could drive down the road and buy whatever food you wanted when you needed it; no this was a time where wondering where your next meal would come from was a common worry for many of the people. Bread was then almost analogous with life, because when Jesus spoke about bread, the people would have been thinking about nourishment and sustenance.

The crowd that he was speaking to would have also had another image pop into their heads. Most of the people in the crowd were probably Jewish, since after all the whole reason for the miraculous feeding of the 5000, was so that they could celebrate a Passover meal. So when this crowd heard stories of bread, they would quickly be reminded of the Exodus story. While Moses and the Israelites were wandering the desert after escaping from Egypt, many of the people became hungry and began grumbling and complaining about the hunger, so much so that many even question whether or not they would have been better off as slaves in Egypt. The Lord heard their cries and provided for them, with Manna, holy bread that fell from heaven and fed the Israelites in the desert. As Jesus talked about bread, there is no doubt that the most of the crowd had this story floating to their head.

As this was going through their minds, they heard Jesus saying, “I am the bread of life., Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.³⁶But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. He continued to say, “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away;³⁸for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.³⁹And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.⁴⁰This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.” When the crowd heard this, they were like wait a second, isn’t this the son of Joseph of Nazareth, you know the carpenter, and now he has the nerve to say that he is the bread of life, that he is the Son of God? Jesus just continues to preach and saying, “⁴⁷Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life.⁴⁸I am the bread of life.⁴⁹Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.⁵⁰This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

So here you have the crowd, listening to all of this from Jesus, and I can imagine that there are two common responses. First there are those who are angered and offended about what Jesus has said. He had taken a story that they loved and cherished, that is the story of the manna from heaven, a story that is very important to their religious beliefs, and he has hijacked it to say that he is the new bread from heaven! Not only that but he talks about how our ancestors who ate the manna still died, but he claims that he brings eternal life! This man is a heretic and a blasphemer, and deserves to be punished for the atrocities that he is speaking against the Lord. You can almost feel and understand their rage at hearing Jesus ‘proclamation.

On the other hand I can imagine that there was another group that heard what Jesus said and simply responded with, “say what?” Did this guy really just  say that he was bread from heaven? No way, now he says that we must eat this flesh. This guy is sick, are we supposed to become cannibals, does he want us to kill him.” Even if he being metaphorical, he is still claiming to be God.  This guy has a few too many screws loose for me, He’s crazy and whoever listens to this and believes it must be crazy as well. Putting yourself in their shoes it is also easy to see how many could have heard Jesus and simply believed that he was crazy.

            Because of all of this many of those who heard Jesus began to question Jesus. Some said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?”⁶¹But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you?⁶²Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?⁶³It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.⁶⁴But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him.⁶⁵And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”  Jesus did not only answer the question of his followers, he made his stance stronger. Jesus laid out an ultimatum to those who listened, either follow me and have eternal life, or reject me, don’t believe me and die like your ancestors. Choose my flesh, the flesh full of spirit and life, or chose you own flesh which will wither and rot. Many heard this statement and left, this great crowd who had just yesterday saw Jesus feed five thousand with 5 loaves and two fish, left because they were not willing to follow him, they were not willing to abide with Jesus.

And so now Jesus turns to his disciples, knowing that even amongst the twelve of them there had been complaining and unbelief, and asks them, “Do you also wish to go away?” Do you also wish to go away, this is it, this is one of those defining moments of the disciples of Christ, Jesus has just laid before them the option of following him, of partaking of the bread of life, a difficult and confusing option, an option that had already caused a large crowd to leave Jesus, and now they can either join the crowd and leave or they can follow Christ. This is that all in moment. They must now decide whether we should stay or should we go?

Finally Peter answers with a meager but powerful response saying, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.⁶⁹We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” All in. Peter’s response is powerful in the fact it does not come out of a well of confidence, it is not a triumphant declaration of the divinity of Christ, but instead Peter’s response comes in the midst of despair, of fear, and of doubt. Peter recognizes the state of his life and the state of his soul, he understands that he is a broken and sinful person, he recognizes that death has a stranglehold upon his life, and yet here is this man who is offering me freedom from sin and death, if I follow him and abide with him. I have seen the love and justice of this man as I have journeyed with him, and I have seen many miraculous things done by him. I really have no choice but to believe that this man is God, and therefore I have nowhere to go other than where he leads me.  To whom can I go? You have the words of eternal life. Peter avoided the temptation to leave, Peter overcame his fear and doubt, simply by acknowledging that there is nowhere else to go.

            So this morning I will ask you all the same question. Are you in? Do you also wish to go away? Are we going to see the massive crowds leaving the word of God and join in with them? When the word of God speaks to us in a way that is painful or says something to us that we don’t want to hear, are we going to ignore it and turn around and leave. Are we going to refuse the flesh of Christ, the bread of life, that bread that we here at Lambs get to partake of monthly? Are we going to say no to that feast, that holy food that nourishes our souls? Are we going to feast on the word of God, or will we deny the invitation to let Christ into our hearts? If we do, I have one simple question, to whom will we go? Who can give us what Christ has given us. Who can give us the bread of life? Who else will give up their flesh, for the sake of our souls? It’s that all-in moment, you can feast on the bread of life, or you can you can fold. It’s your call, Are you in?