John 6:59-69
This is a difficult teaching: who can accept it? You know, I think that line could probably be inserted into the Gospels 30 or 40 times, maybe in every chapter. This particular passage deals with eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood, which is still a difficult teaching. A few weeks ago in my sermon I talked about eating Jesus, and at 9:00 one of the children sitting up front said “Ewww!” Which is probably the closest I will ever get to hearing an “Amen” while preaching in an Episcopal church. But there are many features of Jesus’ teaching which push us beyond our comfort zone. Sometimes that’s because he is asking us to believe something that seems unimaginable, like this bread is my flesh. And sometimes it’s because he’s asking us to do something that seems impossible, like sell all you have and follow me. But always what makes Jesus’ teaching so difficult is that it demands a surrender of ourselves, a letting go of our egos and our need for control. It’s hard to trust that we will actually be better off if we embrace his teaching and follow him.
Let me offer just one example, from Luke’s Gospel, But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat, do not withhold even your shirt . . . Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you do not find those words difficult, if you don’t wonder who can really accept them, then you are a better person than I am. I don’t know if there is anything in Jesus’ teaching more challenging than this — but I am certain there is no teaching more important for our world right now: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
I don’t need to tell you how much rage fills our society these days. There is so much anger and so much hatred all around us. It doesn’t matter where we look or who we listen to: conservatives are angry, liberals are angry Anti-vaccine protesters? Furious. Pro-vaccine advocates? Equally furious. People are getting into shouting matches and fistfights over whether or not to wear masks. And then there are issues of racial justice, gender equality, climate change, voting rights, and the list goes on. Like many of you I’m sure, I read and I listen and I hear so many people who are enraged. And it’s not just people in the media: we all know individuals personally who infuriate us. And I confess to you my own temptation to give into anger and to despise the people I most disagree with.
But then there’s Jesus, the one I hold as my Lord and Savior, telling me to love my enemies, to do good to them, to pray for them, to bless them. I can empathize with those followers muttering, “This is a difficult teaching. Who the hell can accept it?” But it's precisely the hellishness of hate that convinces me that Jesus is absolutely right. When he says in the Sermon on the Mount that anyone who is angry is liable to the hell of fire, he’s not referring to some future punishment after death. He means what’s happening inside that person right now. When we stew in anger, when we hate and despise anyone, we are in hell, cutting ourselves off from the love, joy, and peace of God. And Jesus came to save us from hell, so that we could live lives filled with love, joy, and peace.
And indeed the only way out of hell is love. Jesus teaches this and he lives it. He doesn’t say we shouldn’t have strong convictions or that we shouldn’t stand up for what we believe is right, he just insists that we always do so in a spirit of love and mercy. Otherwise, what’s the point? We’ll just lose far more than we gain. Paul conveys this very message to the Corinthians when he writes, If I speak in the tongues of mortals and angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. Our world has way too much noise. As best we can, we need to speak the truth in love.
So I want to invite you yet again to join with me in following Jesus, and to practice surrendering your ego and to give up the sweet but toxic pleasure of despising the people you most disagree with. Jesus doesn’t ask us to agree with them, just not to hate them. And if you are like me, that will demand awareness, discipline, practice, and prayer. So when you catch yourself railing in your mind against some pundit or neighbor, acknowledge it. Don’t beat yourself up about it, just see it for what it is. Remember that God doesn't want to judge you for it: God wants to help you out of it. So pray for help, ask for the grace to let go of the anger and spite, and pray for the person who is enraging you. It doesn’t matter how you feel: pray anyway. In a similar vein, when you are around people you disagree strongly with, go out of your way to be kind to them, even and especially if they treat you badly. Be the blessing of Jesus to the people you encounter. Put good energy and not bad energy into this hurting world. Choose love, over and over again. And when you fail and fall down — as we all will — get right back up and keep on loving, asking always for the Holy Spirit to flow through you, as indeed she always will.
And if you’re thinking that sounds really hard, I can honestly say that it's easier than we think, if we are just willing to try it. After all, we do worship a mighty God. And the alternative — a life of continuous frustration and anger — is harder on us in the long run and much worse. Far, far better to love, even when it hurts. Love truly is the only way to full life. That’s why, even though I can empathize with those people grumbling about how hard Jesus’s teaching is, I empathize even more with the disciples closest to Jesus. When he asks them if they, too, want to leave him, they respond, Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.
May the Holy One who is Love have mercy on us and on our world. Amen.
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