“A Mouthful of Grace” Text: John 6:53-68
Elpis Christian Church
August 23, 2009
Tony Campolo tells a little story I like that speaks to me about the kind of relationship we ought to have with Christ. In his book LETTERS TO A YOUNG EVANGELICAL he says, “…all spiritual development begins with prayer. Most Christians think that there’s not much involved in the art of praying – you just tell God what you need and want. Regrettably, most of us never get beyond that kind of praying.” And then he tells of how one night his seven-year-old son came into the living room and said, “I’m going to bed! I’m going to be praying! Does anybody want anything?”
Ouch. That hits a little bit too close to home, doesn’t it? Even as a firm believer in intercessory prayer I realize that too often – even my motives are good – I too often come at my relationship with God the way Campolo’s little boy did. It’s all about me – what I need, what I want, what I’m confused about, what I’m upset about – even what I’m happy about – and so, want more of. What kind of meaningful relationship lasts very long with those as the ground rules? No – we are challenged – and blest – to search for something more and offer and receive something far more in relationship to God.
Bishop N.T. Wright, in his book SIMPLY CHRISTIAN: WHY CHRISTIANITY MAKES SENSE, says it well. He says,
“…it would be a mistake to give the impression that the Christian doctrine of God is a matter of clever intellectual word games or mind games. For Christians it’s always a love game: God’s love for the word calling out an answering love from use, enabling us to discover that God not only happens to love us (as though this was simply one aspect of his character) but that he is love itself. That’s what many theological traditions have explored as the very heart of God’s own being, the love which passes continually between Father, Son, and Spirit. Indeed, some have suggested that one way of understanding the Spirit is to the see the Spirit as the personal love which the Father has for the Son and the Son for the Father. In that understanding we are invited to share in this inner and loving life of God, by having the Spirit live within us.”
Wright continues,
“Some of the most evocative names and descriptions of God in the New Testament are ways of drawing us in to this inner life. ‘The one who searches the hearts,’ writes Paul, ‘knows what the Spirit is thinking, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people according to God’s will (Romans 8:27). ‘The heart-searcher’ there’s a divine name to ponder.”
“And it’s all because of Jesus. Once we glimpse the doctrine – or the fact! – of the Trinity, we dare not slide back into a generalized sense of a religion paying distant homage to a god . . . .Christian faith is much more hard-edged, more craggy, than that. Jesus exploded into the life of ancient Israel – the life of the whole world, in fact – not as a teacher of timeless truths, nor as a great moral example, but as the one through whose life, death, and resurrection God’s rescue operation was put into effect, and the cosmos turned its great corner at last.”
What a powerful statement to ponder and digest.
“God’s rescue operation – was put into effect – and the cosmos turned its great corner at last.”
Our relationship with God isn’t about “getting more stuff.” It’s about being filled to the core with what we need, what we desire, what we love. And it’s about being given the opportunity to pour out our heart and soul in return. It’s praising and thanking and loving and asking and complaining and learning and wishing and dreaming – all rolled into one. Or, it’s just one more religion among man’s many religions.
I think that’s what Jesus was getting at when we talked about eating his flesh and blood. It’s no wonder it shocked people – horrified them really. It’s no wonder sounded blasphemous. It’s no wonder it scared people. Because it painted a picture of a life in relationship with a living, powerful, loving, sacrificing God instead of one that floated around the clouds or hung out at the Temple munching on sacrificial lambs. God, so Jesus said, wants to be inside of us at our core. And we are invited to take Him in.
To stick with the analogy of eating – Jesus invites us to take new life, bread, refreshment- and eat and drink deeply of it. He invites us to take a big mouthful of grace – and swallow it whole – and savor its taste. That’s God – not an old man, seated on a throne, in the heavenlies. And, as Wright says so well, the vehicle for this – the way we move from some abstract religion to deep, meaningful, sometimes painful, but always life-giving relationship, is through Jesus.
“I tell you the truth,” He says, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood; you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.”
Now, of course, for us and many Christians, talk like that conjures up images about the Last Supper or the Communion we share each week. But I think if we get too hung up on how that mystical communion takes place – we will miss the miracle of it all. I don’t want to sit down at the table with God and analyze the bread and the cup. I want to taste it and enjoy it and give thanks for it. And then, filled with the warm grace that comes from having supped with God – I want to go out and tell some other poor, starving soul where to get some nourishment.
What a different image that is, what a different picture that paints in my mind, than that of a little boy, running off to his prayers, saying, “I’m going to bed! I’m going to be praying! Does anybody want anything?”
Well meaning as he was – in that little boy – we see a snapshot of the whole problem. It’s why so many turned their backs on him right at the very moment he was offering them everything, the whole bag of tricks. We – I mean people as a whole – have hard time accepting grace. As much as we need it – we have a hard time just sitting down at God’s table and communing with him.
Oh, we might take a morsel here and a morsel there. In our worst moments we might we might even demand more of one particular item. But to just sit and enjoy God’s company. To listen to His stories and see how they speak of our lives – to ask questions and wait for the answers – to recline against God’s loving bosom, as the “beloved disciple” did – and take in the fleeting moments of reflection and love – that’s what we have a hard time doing. Rather, we grab something from the table – like a piece of half-cold pizza, as we run out the door. “Thanks!” we might call out – though often, we don’t even to that. We are busy after all – we have places to go and things to see and much to accomplish. And so we leave the full laden table behind. And more important, we leave our Host behind. And we leave our meal behind that He so lovingly offers – Himself.
Don’t fall into that trap. Instead, be like Peter – who when asked if he too would fall away – answered, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
In a couple of weeks I’m going to be starting a new sermon series. I’m calling it “Thirty in Thirty.” And it’s going to take us, in thirty weeks, through the scriptures. It won’t, I hope, become a dry recitation of Genesis, Leviticus, Chronicles, Revelation, and all the rest. I hope instead it will be an opportunity to feast on God – in relationship to Him – as we take time to taste everything He so lovingly offers us. So often, though we might respect it deeply, we see the scriptures as dry bones. Well, I want to ask – as God asked Ezekiel, “Son of man, can these dry bones live?”
Or, to stay with our analogy of a feast – I want to say, let’s stay awhile at the table with God. Let’s taste here and there, this and that, let’s drink deeply and chew carefully, and swallow all the God wants us to have. And then, full and satisfied, let’s talk with God about it all.
After all – when we are hungry and tired and need refreshment – who else offers what God offers? “To whom would we go?”
• Internet community?
• The fashion magazines?
• The rock stars?
• The superstars of sports?
• The politicians?
• The psychiatrists and motivational coaches?
• The fitness gurus?
• The movie stars?
“To whom would we go?”
God – God alone offers us the words of eternal life.
Eat well.
Comments