Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 4 August 2024.
• First Reading: 2 Samuel 11: 26 – 12: 13 (Nathan rebukes David)
• Epistle: Ephesians 4: 1-16 (Unity and maturity in the body of Christ)
• Gospel: John 6: 24-35 (Jesus, the bread of life)
It is quite unnerving how as we sit in the comfort of our homes, the slightest upset can reduce us to a boiling rage.
It might be TV accounts of people being abused, killed or just treated as playthings by those in power. It could be some online system which keeps generating error messages, whose instructions are confusing, if they are there at all and we are left in an unending loop –or perhaps some other slight or insult.
But the rage boils away and the slightest provocation sets it off. The IT system is intractable, its operators inaccessible and its results incomprehensible. Is this really how it works?
But then look at King David. Caught at it with Bathsheba and publicly denounced by the prophet Nathan. He could have squirmed and manoeuvred, made excuses or blamed the system. Instead he acknowledged his sins and begged forgiveness – in public.
And God was gracious: ‘The Lord has put away your sin.’ David would have to live with its consequences and there would be trouble in his house thereafter but the sin itself was forgiven and his life was not at hazard.
For many in our age the kindest response to such sinning is to ‘Lock ‘em up, throw away the key and go then easy on the bread and water.’ No forgiveness: only revenge and perhaps some scapegoating for our own sins and temptations.
Yet according to Jesus all sins are forgivable – except those against the Holy Spirit, and this I understand to be sins against our own salvation, in that by denying that then we deny ourselves our eternal lives. Maybe this too is an area where further understanding is needed.
But King David did not get away with a tap on the wrist and ‘Don’t do it again.’ It was more serious than that and yes, he would live with its consequences.
But maybe this sense of mercy is also something that we find difficult. It is easy enough to make our excuses and look to blame others for our sins. But how easily will we really accept the repentance of others, whether these are sins against the use of money or power, against the bodies and souls of others, or indeed sins against reality?
Jesus definitely had His answers. Yes, there were the miracles, the signs and wonders, which were dramatic and entertaining but whose purpose was to point beyond themselves.
Then there were the parables – some quite easy to comprehend, others more demanding, even obscure. But at least they challenged the thinking and the assumptions of their hearers.
Then of course there were the disputes with the Scribes, Pharisees, lawyers, and other leaders in the faith of Israel. The points scored, the opponents discomfited, the upending of the assumptions so readily held. All good clean fun.
But the centre of His ministry, which John stresses above all else, is Jesus Himself.
It is His I AM sayings. The I AM of God who revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush. And so here, Jesus brings it back to a simple I AM declaration:
I AM the Bread of Life. Compared with this bread there is none other and compared with this life there is definitely nothing else.
This is life far beyond existing, breathing, eating and procreating. This is life lived and known in the light of God. It is life that celebrates and rejoices in the things of God and where God is the foundation of all else that is.
It is life that draws His self-giving love into all relationships. It is life that feeds beyond bodily satisfaction and extends to receiving and perceiving the mysteries of God as they are given to us.
It is life that defines all else that is, and around which all else revolves.
It is not just that Jesus’ is a life among others – other philosophers, religious leaders or people of good will and good works.
Rather it is a life that gives meaning to all else that is. And yet it is there for us to receive and to live. And no there is none other that I know of that comes even remotely close to it. Certainly none other that is a meaningful alternative.
Paul takes this a stage further as he instructs the church in Ephesus. Its life is defined by their relationship with Jesus and it is shown by their relationships with one another.
Take Jesus away and the fellowship – the church – disintegrates. There is nothing there. Make Jesus the centre and then they come together to celebrate that new unity that they share: One Lord, one faith, one baptism – one body, one spirit, one kind of understanding and receiving the forgiveness of God.
One new basis for life and its priorities, its loyalties, its aims and celebrations.
Yet all of this is founded on the I AM of Jesus. There is no other foundation, no other dynamic in relations with God or one another.
With it, we begin to enter the ministries of the Holy Spirit to which we are called and in which we are empowered. Whether it is in setting the foundations of the fellowship or building upon them. All given to proclaim the I AM of Jesus Christ.
