EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2017 I began a new venture as a synodically authorized minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. The ride over the past 3 1/2 years has been an amazing journey of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on July 28, the 10th week after Pentecost. For the summer, we moved to live Wednesday night services, that were simultaneously livestreamed.
This week's preaching text: John 6:24-35
24 So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30 So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."
Message:
So, here we are: The second of five weeks in the gospel of John's sixth chapter. You're going to hear a lot about the bread of life this month.
I'm just curious but is there anyone here among us tonight that remembers a few years back that fad of the "What Would Jesus Do?" bracelets? Do you remember those?
Often the teenagers would wear them around the wrist. They were rubberized bracelets that had the initials "WWJD" on them, which stood for "What Would Jesus Do?" And, of course, the point of those bracelets was to get people to think about what Jesus would do in a particular circumstance of everyday life. They were especially popular among youth groups and teen leaders who wanted their kids to think about living a life more in the footsteps of Christ.
No judgement here. If you've ever had one of those bracelets, or even the bumper sticker, or something else that might have had the "WWJD" acronym, that's OK! ... I just didn't understand the fad, and I didn't know if it was supposed to remind you that while driving in traffic, you were supposed to remember not to give an unseen hand gesture at that person who just cut you off. ... Something like you're on your commute; and this person cuts you off; and you're so angry that you could, you know, shake your fist at them, or maybe something worse. ... But, oh, there's that bracelet, right? ... Giving that person an angry fist shake or maybe the bird, that's not what would Jesus do!
I just never understood the tokenism of the "WWJD" movement. ... I got the inspiration, but just didn't understand the tokenism. Because to me, it felt a little like we expected Jesus to be kind of like a religious ATM. ... An ATM that in the moment of a trivial life circumstance, you get frustrated, see the bracelet, and and punch the ATM. ... Or maybe we should call it an AJM: "Asking Jesus Machine." ... and then outcomes your pad response: "No. don't let your road rage get the better of you and give that driver an obscene gesture." ... Right?
What is that bracelet supposed to remind you to do?
Don't withhold your tip from that coffee barista, who may be performing poorly but you don't know that they have two jobs and they're just getting by.
No Devlyn, you can't get mad at the woman that held up the line trying to pay with a check, holding everybody else up. ... Thanks AJM! Thanks for checking my behavior!
I know that I'm making light of those bracelets, and in its essence wasn't bad. ... It's just really that it didn't ask us to think very deeply about who Jesus is. The movement turned Jesus into some kind of religious ATM. Essentially, insert your life problem here; receive you're easily scripted, Jesus-endorsed answer. ... Easy peasy.
It's almost as if we expect Jesus to appear on command. ... Just like a genie in a bottle. And it reminded me a lot of tonight's gospel text. ... Because, you see, the folks in tonight's gospel text also were looking for an "AJM," ... an "Ask Jesus Machine."
And poor Jesus. ... After the crowds had tracked him down across the sea, and cornered him. ... You know, he had just performed the miracle of "The Feeding of the 5000." ... The people who had witnessed it, woke up to find him gone. And they had to go tracking him done again. And they said, "Hey, Jesus, that was really a nifty little trick back there. ... That thing you did with the loaves and the fish! And you fed all those people!"
But more importantly, the question that they weren't asking was: "What else do you got for us?" That's the question that was going unsaid.
Look at the gospel text. "What sign are you going to give us so that we may see it and believe you?"... As if just the night before he hadn't already established that he was the Son of God. It's as if they thought, "Hey, you know, the loaves and fish thing was really great, BUT you know, we're going to need a little bit more. ... Um, this might be a crazy thought, but you know, we hear our ancestors, they wandering in the wilderness, and got hungry, and they begged Moses for a sign, and the next morning God delivered. They woke up and there was manna. ... Maybe Jesus. Maybe you could do something a little like that. ... You know, just to let us know that you're alright. Just to remind us that you're the Son of God."
Kind of sounds familiar to what we're talking about at the beginning of the gospel, doesn't it? Because that's really all we we're doing with those "WWJD" bracelets. ... Something goes wrong. "Hey Jesus, can you fix this nuisance of a thing in my life? You know, just so that I know that you're around."
Because ultimately, whether it was his followers 2,000 years ago on the shores at Capernaum, or if it's his followers here today, we want Jesus to perform on command so that we can believe in him.
And what is Jesus's response to all of this? ... Whether it was the followers 2,000 years ago, or to those of us today demanding the same thing. He tells all of us that we are missing the point.
"God didn't just drop down manna heaven because your ancestors were hungry. I just didn't divide the loaves and fish to feed the thousands because you are hungry," Jesus is telling us. "You see people, we did these things, these signs that you ask for, so that you would see God among you. ... So that you would see God active in this world."
The problem is that we like to see the signs and the miracles as a demonstration that Jesus is here among us. ... But just like the followers of 2,000 years ago, we have a hard time seeing beyond the miracle. -- seeing beyond the sign -- because really what these signs are meant to show us is the actual presence of God in our midst. Jesus knows this. That's why when the followers ask the question of "What other signs are you going to do for us?" that they're really asking Jesus again for reassurance. ... They're asking Jesus for proof that he is the Son of God, for proof that he is active among them.
But what Jesus and God are asking us to do is to believe, to have faith, that God is in our presence. Because, after all, that is who Jesus is: He is God incarnate.
What he was telling those believers 2,000 years ago is that he is trying to remind them that he's not some genie in a bottle; that we cannot just call on him every time we find ourselves in a jam."
From our test tonight: "Sir, give us this bread." And it hasn't changed with us believers 2,000 years later, but in our own ways. How many times have we said the very same thing? "Yeah, I know Jesus, I know we just did the "Feeding of the 5,000" thing, but what do you have for me today?
And Jesus responds to the believers, not only 2,000 years ago, but also us today, "You believe in me, and you will no longer need the signs. And then you can put away your 'WWJD'' bracelets because 'I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.'"
That is the Good News for this Wednesday, July 28, the 10th week after Pentecost. ... Amen.
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