Month: August 2024

14 Pentecost
John 7:37-44 

Jesus, who arrived late to the Feast of Booths, has been teaching at the temple. The people have been trying to decide whether he might really be the Messiah whom they have long awaited. The religious leaders have been preoccupied with seeking to arrest him. Now on the last day of the festival, which John calls the great day of the festival, Jesus stands up in the temple courts and addresses the crowd in a loud voice. And what he says is this:

Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture says, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.”’

It is a statement that seems to come out of the blue, which does not flow from what he has said in the preceding text, or from what the people, the priests and the Pharisees are saying and asking.

But Jesus’ words are far from lacking a clear context.

Consider what John makes a point of telling us. It was the last and great day of the Festival of Booths. This was the festival in which the people built make-shift booths and set up tents on their roof tops, in their inner courtyards, along the streets, and in the fields and open spaces in and around Jerusalem. They camped out like this for seven days, taking their meals and many also sleeping in these shelters. It was a reminder of the journey of their ancestors in the wilderness after the exodus from slavery in Egypt. And it was also a harvest festival, giving thanks for the crops that were dependent upon the rain and flowing streams.

The culmination of the festival featured public readings and speeches in and around the temple precinct. The two most prominent readings during the festival, and especially on that final day were the account of Moses striking the rock and bringing forth flowing water found in Exodus 17:1-6; and the description of the river that flowed from the temple in Ezekiel’s description of a future glorious kingdom found in Ezekiel 47:1-12.

The first reading recalled the time the people of Israel spent in tents in the wilderness, which the festival was commemorating. It recalled how God had provided them flowing, or living water, that brought them life. The second reading was a description of the awaited reign of God, associated with the coming of the Messiah, in which water would flow from the Temple itself toward the Dead Sea, bringing it to life and producing trees of life-bearing fruit all year round whose leaves would bring healing. (This passage is the foundation of the vision in Revelation 22 in which the trees bearing food and healing leaves are the tree of life, and the water begins flowing not from the temple, but from the throne of God himself and the Lamb.)

To commemorate this emphasis on life giving water and its flowing from the temple, water was brought in a great and joyous ritual procession on each day of the feast from the pool of Siloam, near the temple, into the temple and poured into a silver basin until if overflowed to the altar itself.

It is in the context of these readings and this symbolic bringing in of water to the Temple until it overflowed, that Jesus stands up, gains the crowd’s attention, and speaks the words we find in today’s text.

The words Jesus speaks will be familiar to the readers of John’s gospel. They echo his offer to the Samaritan woman at the well from chapter four who was offered living water. Jesus had said to her: ‘Everyone who drinks of the water of this well will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life’ (John 4:13-14).

Similarly, when Jesus told the people during his sermon at the synagogue at Capernaum after the feeding the multitude that he was the true mana from heaven and the bread of life, he also said, ‘whoever believes in me will never thirst’ (6:35).

That is the background to Jesus’ words. But what do they mean?

Let’s take a closer look.

‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me.’

The first reading from the Hebrew scripture read at the festival was about God’s provision of living water in the past, in the wilderness. The second reading from Ezekiel was about God’s provision of living water in the future. Jesus is now declaring that he is God’s provision of living water in the present.

Here Jesus tells us that he is the source of life, the source of water. It is yet another way of telling people that he himself is the God who delivered his people from Egypt. It is God who provided water from rock in the wilderness. It is from the throne of God at the heart of the temple that the river of life flows. And it is from Jesus that living water comes..

And is this statement Jesus also extends an invitation. He extended it to the Samaritan woman at the well. Now he is offering it to everyone. Let anyone who is thirsty come. That is the call which he shouts to the crowds, gaining their attention.

‘And let the one who believes in me drink.’

The ancestors of the people to whom Jesus was speaking did not trust God. They did not believe God when they were in the wilderness. God provided for them both water and food. But God did this not because of their faith, but despite their lack of faith. Now Jesus is calling us to come to him on a different basis. He is calling us to come to him in faith. He is calling us to come and drink if we truly believe he is who he says he is.

‘As the scripture says’

Jesus introduces his next words with this phrase. But we will look in vain to find the precise words that Jesus cites in any particular Old Testament text. This is because Jesus, as was the custom of many rabbis, often cited or referred to several texts at once, giving a general summary and gist of their meaning. And that is clearly what he does here, drawing particularly on several texts from Isaiah and the Psalms having to do with God being the source of life-giving water, and the transforming impact of this water on those who drink of it.

‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’

Firstly, the word most English translations render as ‘heart’ is actually the Greek word for stomach, or bowels. In the ancient world this was symbolic of the seat of emotions and the innermost being of a person. But we don’t think of intestines in quite the same way today, so the word heart is used instead as it better conveys the meaning. But the difference is important. It is not out of the heart that this water flows, but from the middle or the side.

Many have taken this to be an allusion to the water that flows from the pierced side of Jesus, along with blood, which is mentioned only in John’s Gospel (19:34).

If God and the Lamb, as Revelation clarifies the vision of Ezekiel, is the true source of the river of life, then it is the body of Jesus given for us that is the ultimate source of life. For those familiar with John’s use of imagery and metaphor, the allusion here is likely intentional. When we read a few chapters later about water ‘flowing’ from the pierced side or middle of Jesus, John would like the reader to remember the words Jesus spoke on the last day of the Feast of Booths.

Also of note is that this living water is said to flow from the heart of those who have faith. This is reminiscent of what Jesus said to the woman at the well, that the living water he gives would well up within the one who drinks of it, becoming a spring.

Jesus likely has in mind here Isaiah 58:11 which says we will be like ‘springs of living water whose waters never fail,’ and Isaiah 44:3 and 4 which says that when God pours out his Spirit upon us we will ‘spring up like green tamarisks and like willows by flowing streams.’

The point is that the quenching of our spiritual thirst is not an end in itself. Once our thirst is relieved, we become a source (or conduit) of living water to others, pointing them to Jesus.

‘living water’ is what Jesus offers, and what flows from those who believe. It was the term used in the ancient world for flowing water. It is a rich image and another of Jesus’ many sayings with layered meanings. Flowing water is the best and cleanest water. It is the best source of plant growth and life. It implies a source that does not run out.

God’s grace to us in Christ is flowing. It does not run out. It is active and moving and life-giving.

Finally, John adds his own comment on Jesus’ words. He explains that Jesus was speaking here about the Holy Spirit.  His words remind us of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus in chapter three in which water and Spirit are connected. It also draws upon Isaiah 44:3 where pouring water upon the thirsty ground is equated with the pouring out of God’s Spirit.

John is telling us that the life-giving water that Jesus offers, the water that flows into us and through us to others, is actually a description of what God gives us through his Spirit.

In the context of the texts read at the festival, and the daily performance of the ritual or drawing water and bringing it to the temple where it was poured into a basin until it overflowed, made sense to the crowds. Hence we read in the very next verse that when the people heard what Jesus had said many were saying that ‘this must be the prophet’ and others; ‘This must be the Messiah.’

But others were concerned that the Messiah must be a descendent of David and born in Bethlehem to fulfil the scripture, but Jesus was from Galilee of all places.  John was very much aware of the irony of this objection, for Jesus, unbeknownst to the crowd, actually met both of these criteria.

And others still, chiefly the Pharisees and priests, wanted to arrest him.

Jesus’ simple offer of himself as living water was not enough. The people still needed to take up his offer in faith. … We still need to respond in faith. We still need to take up the offer of this living water.

And that is still the choice that stands before us today. Do we reject Jesus as the religious leaders did? Do we quibble over words? Do we find reasons to put off taking up Jesus’ offer? Or do we take up Jesus’ offer and drink from this living water? Do we let it transform us through the power of the Spirit, welling up in us and flowing out from us to others with the good news of what Jesus has done?

Just like two thousand years ago, Jesus stands in our midst and calls us to come and drink the living water that he offers us.

‘If you are thirsty,’ Jesus says, ‘then come to me and drink.’

Amen.

Pastor Mark Worthing
Port Macquarie.

Pentecost 13
John 7:25-36

Have you ever played the children’s game ‘Hide and Seek’? One of our children, when very small, used to close his eyes and assume that if he couldn’t see anyone, then no one could see him. I have seen other children who could not stop laughing while hiding, or would give themselves away by the large bulge behind the window curtains. Good parents, when ‘it’, will pretend to look in several odd places, often bringing forth more revealing laughter, before finding the hiding child.

I never played hide and seek like that. I took hide and seek, from a very young age, to be a serious competitive sport. I was always last to be found, and often the seekers would be forced to give up. As I grew, my skills at hiding became more advanced. In year six I was old enough to attend church youth group activities. One of our first Friday night activities was hide and seek. I arrived at our large, three level church building with about 40 other eager youth aged 11-14. The game was explained and, apart from the person chosen to be the seeker, we were all sent out to hide. The trick was not to let anyone else see your hiding spot, because once a person was found, they joined the hunt.

I was determined to display my hiding abilities to this new group, so I made my way into the church kitchen when I was certain no one was looking. I climbed up onto the countertop from where I was able to lift a ceiling tile and pull myself up into the ceiling cavity. Once up, I carefully replaced the tile and made my way carefully across the metal beams until I came to the edge of the building. There I pulled a batt of insolation over me and waited. And waited. The groups coming through the kitchen grew larger as most of the youth were found. I grew hopeful as I was determined to be the last found. So I waited. And I waited.

Finally, I heard the voices of my parents and the youth leader calling out my name from somewhere in the large church building. I climbed out of my hiding place, back down through the ceiling tile and onto the counter, then out of the kitchen where I found my parents and a very worried youth leader. Everyone else had left more than half an hour ago. The night had ended and the group had finished with pizza and prayer. This was back in the day before anyone bothered to count children. So only when all the other youth had come out to the carpark did my parents came into the church and the youth leader realised that I had never been ‘found.’

I was told that I should have known the game was over and came out. He could not believe anyone would stay in hiding for over two hours. And, he wanted to know, just where I had been hiding? I said I was in a broom closet. There was no way I was going to give up a hiding place that good.

In today’s Goepel reading we find the Jewish authorities playing something akin to a deadly game of hide and seek with Jesus. They are looking for him to come to Jerusalem for the Festival of Booths so they can arrest him. But when he finally shows up, Jesus hides in plain sight. He openly teaches in the Temple. And the people begin to ask: Isn’t this the man the authorities are seeking? Why are they not arresting him? Anyone could find him. Perhaps they know he is the Messiah and are afraid. Others said, when the Messiah comes, will he do more miracles than this man is doing? Perhaps he is the Messiah.

The authorities tried to arrest Jesus but were unable. Perhaps because of the support of the crowd they couldn’t get near him. Finally, they sent in the Temple police to arrest Jesus. When they arrived Jesus told them that they time would come when they would seek him and not be able to find him.

They wondered what Jesus was talking about. Was he going to play a game of hide and seek with the authorities? Was he going to go into hiding among the Jewish diaspora who lived in Gentile lands?

But Jesus was not talking about going into hiding. He was pointing out that they claimed to be looking for him. And here he was. He was very near. But they could not find him. That is, they could not understand who he was. Jesus had just explained this the crowd, who thought they knew who he was because they knew he came from Galilee. He told them that they might know where he grew up, but they did not know the One who had sent him. Therefore, they really did not know him. They had not yet found him.

When Jesus challenged the Temple police and the authorities who sent them, he was not tipping them off that he was about to go into hiding. Jesus was well aware of their very public failed attempts to ‘find’ him.

When Jesus says the them, ‘you will seek me and not find me because you cannot go to where I am’ (verse 36) he was calling to mind a famous passage from the Prophet Isaiah 55:6”:

‘Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near.’

It was a verse that every devout Jew knew. It was a plea and a warning to not miss the opportunity to make peace with God when he is near.

And God would never be physically nearer to the people or the religious leaders than he was at that very moment. God in flesh stood right there in the Temple courts and taught the people. And, as Jesus had just pointed out, the people did not know him because they did not know the One who had sent him. They were seeking the Messiah. They were seeking God. But they had not found him.

But Jesus would not always be so immediately and physically present among them. There would soon come a time when the leaders of the peple would desperately seek him, not to arrest him, but to find his mercy. But Jesus would no longer be near to them. They had an opportunity unlike any Jewish religious leaders before them to seek and find God while he was near, while he walked among them. But they missed the opportunity. They failed to recognise him. The authorities only wanted to find him so they could arrest him.

But was Jesus seeking to allude the authorities? Was he hiding from them? If Jesus was playing a game of hide and seek with the authorities, he was doing a pretty poor job of hiding. That is because, unlike me as a youth, Jesus was not trying to remain hidden. Jesus wanted to be found. You might say he was playing reverse hide and seek with the authorities. He was teaching openly in the temple. He was performing the signs and miracles that the Hebrew scriptures said the Messiah would do. He said plainly that he was from above.

And the authorities continued looking for him, failing repeatedly in their attempts to ‘find’ him in order to arrest him.

Losing an adolescent at a church hide and seek event is embarrassing. Losing the chance to find God when he is teaching and healing in plain sight is an epic disaster.

That was the mistake of the Jewish religious leaders of Jesus’ time.

But what about us?

Are we heeding Jesus’ advice?

 Have we heard the words of Isiah?

Are we seeking God while he may be found?

Are we calling out to him while he is near?

Do we see Jesus when he is right before us?

Are we seeking Jesus while he may be found?

Jesus may no longer be physically walking among us, but he is very near to us. He is calling us. And he wants to be found. He wants us to call out to him.

Let us not be like the religious leaders of Jesus’ time. Let us seek Jesus while he may be found and call upon his name while he is near.

Amen.

Pastor Mark Worthing.
Port Macquarie.

Pentecost 12
John 7:1-24

In my last congregation we had a regular stream of people coming into the church off the streets and asking for help. We gave out blankets and jackets in winter and food all year round. Sometimes I would take people across the road to the shops for some particular item. But most people wanted cash, usually $50, for a ticket somewhere or petrol for a car that ran out of fuel just down the road. When I offered to go to the bus station with them or to their car they would get quite aggro as in most cases their was no planned bus trip and no car. They simply wanted cash. We had five or six such people come by most weeks. One week had been particularly busy and by Friday three people had already stopped by who wanted cash. So when about lunch-time a man who had clearly been sleeping rough on the streets came to the door I had become a little impatient. I opened the door and said rather curtly: ‘Listen, we can help with a blanket or jacket or a food voucher, but we do give out cash and do not keep any cash at the church. So sorry, but we are not able to help you.’

The man starred at be for a moment then said. ‘That’s okay. I’ve got enough food for today and a place to sleep tonight. I just wanted to know if you would be willing to say a prayer with me. It’s been a long time since anyone prayed for me and I really need it today.’

I apologised for my curtness and sat him down in the church. I asked him what was going on in his life and then prayed for him. Then returned very red-faced and humbled to my office.

I had judged the man by his appearance. I thought I knew exactly what he wanted. But I had been wrong.

Today’s reading finishes with Jesus’ famous call to not judge by appearances. It reminds me of the time I judged the homeless man at our church door by appearances. And the other times I have judged someone by appearances, and found later how wrong I had been. In this text, Jesus is calling the people to not judge him by appearances.

But what was the context of this call?

The account in chapter seven begins approximately six months after the events described in chapter six of the feeding of the multitude, Jesus walking on water, and his confronting sermon in the synagogue in Capernaum where he told the people that he was the bread of life. We are told that these things took place around the time of the Passover.

Now, six months later, Jesus is still in Galilee and the third of the yearly pilgrimage feasts is taking place in Jerusalem. It is the Feast of Booths, which celebrate the exodus from Egypt and was also something of an autumn harvest festival. The people were all meant to built shelters make of branches, wood, and other materials to remember their ancestors living in tents and shelters after they left Egypt. People in Jerusalem build these shelters in their courtyards or in the streets in front of their homes. Pilgrims, if they could not find space in the city, built shelters outside the city. The festival lasted seven days while people took all their meals and also often slept in these shelters (or booths). The entire city would have resembled an oversized caravan park during the peak of summer holidays with wall-to-wall shelters and tents. And the atmosphere was festive. Also popular with the crowds was going the temple courtyards to listen to various preachers.

It is this festival that Jesus’ brothers ask him to accompany them to, in order to show his followers, especially those in Jerusalem, what miracles he could do.  Their invitation seems to come from a perspective of skepticism rather than faith. His younger brothers seem to be daring him to go to Jerusalem and repeat his miracles if he is who people say that he is rather than hiding out in Galilee. Jesus declines the invitation, saying his time has not come. He says to them, ‘God to the festival yourselves, I am not going to this festival.’ So hie brothers head off and he remains in Galilee.

But then, after they leave, Jesus discretely heads to the festival himself, arriving about halfway through the week.

So what is going on here? Why does Jesus tell his brothers he is not going and send them off without him, then a few days later follows them? Did he change his mind? Unlikely. Did he mislead his brothers? Also a difficult view to hold. Perhaps he meant he was not going just then, though he seemed to imply he was not going. With the crowds looking for him showing up with his brothers, who were at this stage skeptical of who he was, it would have been risky for Jesus to travel with them. And this seems to be born out by the fact that he travels discretely to Jerusalem, only making himself known when he shows up at the temple and begins teaching.

The people were looking for Jesus. Some were for him and others against. Many were asking where he had gained some obvious learning, as he had not studied in any of the major schools in Jerusalem.

And he picks up where he left off when he was last in the city and healed a lame man on the Sabbath (chapter 5).

He picks up the argument from his last visit to Jerusalem, which would have been at least more than six months previously. On that occasion he had healed a lame man and was accused of violating the Sabbath. Because of this the Jewish authorities intensified their plans to kill Jesus.

Now when Jesus returns they are arguing whether about how he could ‘have letters’’ or be so educated and also whether he was a good man (not exactly an endorsement as Messiah) or a fake. Then Jeus reminds them that the authorities are had threatened and are seeking to kill him.

The crowd claims ignorance. Who is trying to kill you, they ask. We don’t see anyone trying to kill you.

Perhaps they were visitors from outside the city who knew nothing of the politics and plotting of the religious leaders. Perhaps others are conveniently feigning ignorance. They respond to Jesus’ claim by saying that it is proof he has a demon. It was their way of saying he was crazy.

Then Jesus reminds them of his last visit to Jerusalem and the temple. One miracle, he says. That is all I did last time. And you were all astonished. Notice he doesn’t take his brothers’ advice and do some more profound miracles. He simply reminds them of what he did last time and how the authorities responded.

He broke the Sabbath, they had claimed.

How hypocritical, he points out. The leaders are concerned about the law of Moses. The circumcise on the Sabbath when if fall eight days after the birth of a male child. And no one complains. They make one part of the body right in accord with the law. But Jesus reminds them that he has healed an entire man on the Sabbath, and the law of Moses is deemed to have been broken.

The lesson?

Jesus says, ‘Do not judge by appearances, but judge with a right judgement.’

His whole talk builds to this point.

Let’s unpack what Jesus means by it.

Who has judged by appearances in this chapter?

First, Jesus’ brothers have judged Jesus by appearances. To them, Jesus appears to be a preacher and miracle worker with much unrealized potential. He is the emerging social media sensation of his day. But he is not managing his talent well. He needs to take the show to the big stage in Jerusalem.

Next, the crowds in Jerusalem judge Jesus by appearances. Some thought Jesus appeared to be a good man. But he was much more than that.

Others, at looking at his claims, jumped to the conclusion that he was a charlatan. But they did not consider that Jesus was legit.

Neither group saw Jesus for who he was. They judged him by appearances.

Then the educated teachers in the crowd asked how Jesus came to appear to be so learned. He was from the academic and cultural backwater of Galilee. So they judged him by appearances. They assumed he would not be well-educated and struggled to get their heads around how a clearly uneducated man knew so much and spoke so well.

When Jesus pointed out that the authorities were planning to kill him some in the crowd thought this made him appear paranoid. So they accused him of having a demon. Which was there way in that age of saying he was crazy. But they had not judged Jesus truly. In fact, they should have known better. Six months earlier Jesus had to leave Jerusalem because the authorities were plotting to kill him. And a few verses after this the same crowd asks: Isn’t this the man the authorities want to put to death?

The Jewish authorities judged Jesus to be a law-breaker because he had healed the lame man on the Sabbath.

And finally, there is us, the readers. Since the beginning of this section we have been judging Jesus for saying he was not going to the festival and then going.  We have been trying to decide if Jesus changed his mind about it being his time, or if he lied to his brothers about his intentions. We, too, have been caught up in judging by appearances rather than looking beyond appearances to see who Jesus is: the one who came down from heaven, the holy one of God.

At the end of a series of incidents in which it seems everyone is making assumptions and judgments about Jesus based on appearances Jesus challenges his hearers and he challenges us: Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.

We all know the dangers of judging by appearances. Like my judging the intentions of a homeless man based on how he looked and how he was living.

Judging by appearances is never a good idea.

But Jesus is specifically cautioning not to judge him by appearances. He reminds us who he is and from where he has come. He is truth. He is life. He is the bread of life. He is the one who has come from above. He is the creator himself.

But the people of his day saw only a carpenter from Nazareth. They saw only a trouble-maker. They saw only someone who was not careful about the finer points of keeping the Sabbath. They saw only a good man. They saw someone who must be crazy. And in doing so they missed who was standing before them.

Today we also judge Jesus. He appears to be simply a good teacher. He appears to be someone who was simply a very good person. Perhaps he appears as someone who expects to much of us, or who wants to meddle in our lives. Maybe we judge him based upon all the paintings and images of Jesus we have seen in Sunday School books and other religious art. So meek and mild and gentle and harmless that he really doesn’t merit much attention in our rough and tumble world. Or maybe we judge him according to hellfire and brimstone sermons we remember from our youth, and cower at the mention of his name. Maybe he appears as another riddle to solve. Maybe we are too caught up trying to judge such questions as did he or did he not deliberately mislead his brothers about his travel plans.

There are so many ways that we, like the people in Jesus’ own day, judge him by appearances.

But Jesus calls us to look beyond appearances. To look beyond our assumptions, our prejudices and our fears. He calls us to judge him truly. He calls us to recognize who it is who stands before us and calls us to himself.

Amen.

Pastro Mark Worthing.
Port Macquarie

11 Pentecost
John 6:60-71

Today’s Gospel reading is the final section of chapter six of John’s Gospel. As the entire chapter is interconnected it is worthwhile to refresh briefly what has already occurred over the previous, eventful 24 hours in the life of Jesus that this chapter narrates.

In scene one, you will recall, Jesus is with his disciples on the Eastern side of the Sea of Galilee. Pilgrims are making their way to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. It is these families that form much of the large crowd that gathers to hear Jesus teach. When it becomes clear that the crowds are hungry and have nothing to eat, Jesus feeds upwards of 20,000 with five barely loaves and 2 fish provided by a young boy. In surpassing the feeding miracles of Elijha and Elisha are well as recalling the feeding of the people of Israel in the wilderness with mana, Jesus highlights that he is the long-awaited Messiah – and more.

In scene two Jesus sends his disciples in their fishing boat back across the Sea to Capernaum while he remains behind. When a big storm comes up as the disciples are rowing against the wind and waves in the middle of the sea and in great peril, Jesus comes to them – walking on the water – and brings them suddenly and safely to their destination. By showing his power over the wind and the waves, and by surpassing Moses and Elisha, who simply parted water, Jesus again shows that he is not just the Messiah but the one who commands the seas because he is their creator.

In scene three Jesus has arrived the next morning at Capernaum on the other side of the Sea of Galilee with his disciples. He goes to the synagogue, and is soon followed there by some of those who had experienced the feeding of the multitude, and who hac taken boats across the sea the next morning after the storm had subsided. They ask Jesus how he had gotten there before them, as they knew he was not on the boat with his disciples. The words of Jesus that follow are part of his teaching in the synagogue with based on the two Scripture texts for that season of Passover, one from the Pentateuch and the other the Prophets. The Pentateuch text was about God feeding the people mana from heaven. The people wonder if Jesus will feed them again. Or provide food every day, like in the time of Moses. Jesus explains that if they are looking for mana, or bread from heaven, then they need look no further. He is the bread from heaven. Then he says the shocking and astounding words that those who eat his flesh and drink his blood will have eternal life. For John’s readers, decades later, this will make sense in light of the regular celebration of the Lord’s Supper. But for the congregation that day in the synagogue in Capernaum, it was a shocking statement.

In the final scene in this series, which we have just heard today, Jesus appears to have left the synagogue and is now speaking to his disciples. Many who were following him have walked away. What he said was simply too radical and crazy. The disciples are arguing among themselves about what Jesus means and how they should respond. Jesus knows what they are talking about and challenges them: ‘Are you also planning on leaving me?’ he asks.  It is a confronting question. And it comes on top of perhaps the most eventful 24 hours they have spent with Jesus.

It is at this point that Peter makes his famous confession of faith in Jesus. It is this confession that draws together not only this scene, but the entire sequence of miracles and teaching of Jesus in this chapter.

And this is what Peter says in response to Jesus:

‘Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God!’ (verses 68-69).

Many of you will be familiar with the first part of Peter’s confession. These words are traditionally song in the Western liturgy before the reading the Gospel. Singing these words of Peter before we hear the Gospel reading remind us that it is in the words of Jesus that we find eternal life.

But what is Peter actually saying?

The context of his confession, remember, is the shocking and confusing teaching of Jesus that he is the bread from heaven, and that only in eating his flesh and drinking his blood can we have eternal life. At best it was an impossible statement.  But claiming to be from heaven was claiming deity, which was blasphemy. And talking about eating his flesh and drinking his blood – well, we don’t even need to start to explain the problems associated with these words. So it is no surprise that many who had begun to follow Jesus now decide that they had had enough and leave.

When Jesus sees that his inner circle of twelve are also concerned and confused by his words he does not come to them to explain what he meant. He doesn’t try to salvage the situation and get them back on side. Instead, he asks them if they, too, now plan to leave.

And it is to this that Peter responds: ‘Just where would be go?’ asks.

Some years ago my wife and I were travelling in the rural South Australia and decided to spend the night at a small caravan park. We asked the woman at the park office where she would recommend we eat tea that night. The local hotel, she said, just down the end of the main street. Is the food good there, we asked. It’s okay, she said. What are our options we asked. Well, if you want to wait ‘til morning there’s a café across the road. But if you want to eat tonight, there’s just the hotel.  So the hotel it was. There wasn’t any other option.

That’s perhaps a bit how the disciples felt. At the moment was Jesus was offering was looking very difficult. But there was no other choice. There was no other way to peace with God and eternal life. Jesus was their only option.

It was no longer necessary for the disciples to have an explanation from Jesus about what he meant or what he was doing for them to stay with him. They were committed to him. They knew who he was and what he offered. They understood, at last, that they do not need to understand everything he says in order to trust him.

This confession from Peter is a confession of true faith. The disciples do not choose to continue to follow Jesus because he has persuaded them by force of argument. They do not choose to follow Jesus because what he says makes sense. They do not choose to follow Jesus because he feeds them. They do not choose to follow Jesus because what he says impresses the crowed.

They choose now to follow Jeus even when what he says is confusing and impossible. They choose to follow Jesus even when others fall away. They choose to follow Jesus because they trust him.

And the reason for this trust can be seen in the second part of Peter’s confession: ‘We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.’

There is something of a parallel to this account in John in the synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. In these Gospels Jesus asks the disciples who they say that he is, and it is again Peter who speaks for the twelve and says, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.’ It is a strong confession of Jesus as Messiah.

But what we have in John’s Gospel is a much stronger statement. Consistent with the theme that has been running through his Gospel, John wants to make it clear that Jesus in not just the Messiah. He is God himself. And this confession of Peter shows the conclusion to be drawn from the two big miracles they had just witnessed as well as from Jesus’  claim that he himself was the bread from heaven.

Jesus, Peter confesses, is the Holy One of God. Only God is holy. Peter is saying that the disciples have come to not just believe, but to know, that is, to be certain beyond any doubt, that Jesus is God. And it is Jesus alone and his teaching that offers them eternal life.

There are no other options.

So for Peter and the disciples there is no choice.  No matter how difficult things might be, no matter how difficult Jesus’ teaching might seem, how can they do anything other than follow him.

Peter’s words demonstrate what true faith looks like. Last week we saw in the previous text that many of those who were in the synagogue that day in Capernaum wanted to follow Jesus in the hope that he would continue to feed them, providing for their physical needs. Another group wanted more miracles. They wanted to be entertained, to be constantly amazed as a condition of following Jesus. But Jesus pointed out that that is not what true faith in him looks like.

Peter’s confession that shows us what true faith looks like. It is believing and knowing that Jesus is the Messiah. That Jesus is God and Creator. It is trusting Jesus so completely that we will follow him no matter what happens. Our faith does not depend on his feeding us. It does not depend on his providing always more miracles. And it does not depend on our ability to understand what he is teaching or doing. Our faith simply depends on Jesus, and our unconditional trust in him.

‘Lord, to whom else could we go. You alone have the words that bring eternal life. You alone are the Messiah, the Holy One of God.’

Amen

Pastor Mark Worthing.
Port Macquarie.