“Do You Also Wish to Go Away?”
John 6:56-69
May Grace and Peace of Jesus Christ be poured into the hearts of the people in this sanctuary!
Let’s assume that you have been blessed with a very good life, both spiritually and physically. Job was wealthy and had a wonderful family, wonderful spouse and children. However, due to Satan, he lost his wealth, his family, almost everything.
Not only that, he contracted a terrible case of leprosy. Three friends initially visited him to comfort him, but in reality, they argued that he must have done something wrong because he lost his wealth, health, and family. In other words, his three friends talked about Job’s misfortune.
Assume that you were like Job, but in your case, you were visited not by three friends, but assume that you were visited by Anpanman. And think about what he said, “My head is made of anpan (sweet red bean paste bread), please eat my head, anpan, and this will help you spiritually and physically.” So what do you do? Do you eat anpan, the head of Anpanman? or Do you leave Anpanman since you cannot believe what Anpanman said.
Let’s put aside the story of Anpanman and talk about the Gospel text today. According to the lectionary, we have been reading John Chapter 6 for the last several weeks. (We also read Chapter 14 due to the Peace service last week.) Jesus and his disciples healed the sick and, in the beginning of Chapter 6, Jesus fed 5000 with five loaves and two fish.
Therefore even more people followed Jesus. However, in the middle of chapter 6 and after, John talks a lot about when Jesus said: “I am the bread of life from heaven. Who eats the body of Jesus have eternal life.” Upon listening to this story, many people in the crowd started to say, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?”
Then, many followers stopped following Jesus and left him and his disciples. Then, Jesus said, “Among you there are some who do not believe. For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”
These words spoken by Jesus, as I explained two weeks ago, Salvation should not be thought of in terms of predestination, In other words don’t think that God already decided who would or wouldn’t be his followers. Whether or not people become believers of Christ is not because of humanity’s power or hard work but whether or not people take God’s grace and mercy, forgiveness and love that have been always given to us. Stated another way, Salvation is based on whether or not you receive the bread of life, Jesus.
After Jesus acknowledged that people left, he asked his disciples this question, “Do You Also Wish to Go Away?” Then Peter answered him perfectly, “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.”
However, as many of you know, Peter and other disciples run away from Jesus and left him on the Cross when he was crucified on Friday. Then on Sunday, God raised him and Jesus breathed the Spirit into the disciples forgiving them.
I briefly reflected on the Gospel, but what is God’s plan for us today? What is the Lord teaching us or asking us to do this morning? I feel like the Lord is asking us “Do you also wish to go away?”
Every time, after Communion, many pastors and priests say, “May the body and blood of Jesus Christ strengthen you and give you eternal life.” This teaching is really difficult and people wonder who truly understand this concept? If you are talking about the world of anime, you might understand this, using the example of Anpanman. While I was talking about the bread of life concept, one person in a Bible Study in Torrance many years ago suddenly said, Christians “copped” Anpanman. Of course it’s the opposite, I believe, Takashi Yanase, the author of Anpanman, was a Christian and “copped” the details of the Anpanman story from the Bible.
In real life, I acknowledge that the Christian teaching of “the body and blood give you eternal life.” is difficult to accept. However, think about Jesus who lowered himself and emptied himself trusting the Father up until the crucifixion, and being buried. God sacrificed his son, because God loves all the people He created, and God resurrected his Son to forgive all of humanity’s sins.
Reflecting upon the love shown on the cross, reflecting on the body and blood of Jesus revealed on the cross, aren’t all of our sins also crucified because of Jesus. Our sins are cleansed each week, so do we not feel made anew? Because of this fact, we won’t abandon God and we gladly follow Jesus. Amen.
Pr. H. Adachi
