Reflections on "to Whom Can We Go" John 6: 66-71; I Corinthians 15: 12-19

I really enjoyed doing the work on this sermon and preaching it, although it didn't seem to get much of a response from the congregation, at least across the board.  I continue to discover that often when I really like a sermon, it doesn't resonate as well with the congregation.  It makes me wonder if I am at a different place than most of the congregation, so sermons that speak to me do not speak as well to others?  I do find that I like the sermons that are less structured and more free-flow/stream of consciousness, which may be harder to translate to a congregation.  As I mentioned last Thursday, I'd found this text a while ago and have been waiting to preach it.  It was worth the wait for me!

I changed the conclusion for the Sanctuary service (Chapel conclusion is in italics).  The Sanctuary conclusion was better, but it still could be improved.  it makes me wonder if the closing illustration was didn't fit well enough, which threw my conclusion off. 

The C.S. Lewis story came from another minister's sermon (see the footnote).  Typically, I try to go back to the original source when I read a story in someone else's sermon, but this week I didn't have time to go back to the original source.  The minister whose sermon had this illustration is a very fine preacher, and I read his sermons periodically to get a taste of what other ministers are doing (I have several ministers whose sermons I read). I have found his use of illustrations to be very accurate to the original source (this isn't true of all instances when ministers quote other sources), so I trusted him to be accurate.  I thought it was a great story about C. S. Lewis' conversion experience

“To Whom Can We Go?”  John 6: 66-71; I Corinthians 15: 12-19; November 17, 2013; FPC, Troy;

Move 1: “do you also wish to go away?”

a.  The question Jesus asks the disciples hangs in the air.

b.              At first glance, this seems like a surprising time for Jesus to ask this question.

1.  They have just witnessed the feeding of the 5K.  AS John tells the story, the disciples look out at the gathered crowd and realize that it would take 6 months of their salaries to feed the gathered crowds.

But there is a boy with five loaves of bread and two fish.

Jesus blesses the food and suddenly as the food is passed all are fed, leaving behind 12 baskets of food.

The crowds affirm Jesus as a prophet sent from God.

                        2.  If that was not enough, Jesus then walks on water.

The disciples head out onto the Sea of Capernaum.

The darkness of night envelops them and the seas become rough.

They look out of the boat, and there is Jesus walking toward across the water toward them.

3.  Then Jesus tells the people that instead of manna in the wilderness (an allusion, of course, to the lifesaving act of God to feed the desperate Israelites); they have him, the bread of life.  

c.              Pretty heady stuff.

1.      But not enough for some of those gathered around Jesus.

2.      They still have their doubts.

3.      In fact, some have fled the scene.

Move 2:  “Do you also wish to go away?”

a.              As we hear the question from the safety of our sanctuary, we can quickly say “no.”

But it does not take much to imagine joining the followers who have fled.

b.             No one said following Christ was going to be easy

1.                        Paul discussed this with those first Christians in Corinth.

2.                     What it meant to believe in the resurrection of Christ.

3.                  an act of faith that make them either people who will join Christ in the resurrection, or people who are most to be pitied.

4.                  Following Christ means risking who you are for what you believe.

c. maybe you know that feeling.

            1.  We profess our belief in Jesus Christ.

            2.  We face the death of loved ones or share out faith with others who have experienced death and proclaim our belief in the resurrection.  Can you prove it?  Not really, but you believe.

            2.  As Presbyterians we gather around two sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper: 

                        We take water from the sink in the utility room in the lower gathering area, we take bread made by one of our members; we take juice bought at a local grocery story and declare it to be holy. 

                        We proclaim that the Holy Spirit transforms it into the cleansing water of new life and the body and blood of Christ.

            3.  WE turn to God in prayer day after day, week after week.

                        Most of us never hear an audible voice in return for all the prayers we offer to God (and if we run into someone who says they literally heard God’s voice it scares us).

                        Yet we proclaim that God hears and answers our prayers.

d.              I read a story recently about a hotel in the United Kingdom has placed a copy of E.L. James’s erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey in each room instead of the Bible.  Defending the switch, the hotel manager said, ‘”The Gideon Bible is full of references to sex and violence, although it’s written using more formal language.  E. L. James’s book is easier to read.” Guests who would like a Bible can ask for one. Christian Century, September 5, 2012 (9).

1.      There is nothing easy about following Christ.

2.      No wonder several in the crowd have given up following Christ.

3.      No wonder Jesus asks the remaining disciples, “Do you also wish to go away?”

Move 3:  Peter answers with his own question: “to whom can we go?”

                        a.  Not a question asked with a lot of confidence or certainty.

1.      Less of a question than the desperate plea from one who knows the world and has met and seen the power of Christ.

2. Peter reminding us that they’ve been touched by the Son of God, nothing else will satisfy

4.       “I’m tired of playing by that dull and pedestrian set of rules, which has everything to do with a litigious, factoid-hungry culture and nothing to do with following Jesus. I don’t come to church for evidence or for a closing argument. I come to experience the presence of God, to sense the mystery of things eternal, and to learn a way of life that makes no sense to those stuck sniffing around for proof. .” Lillian Daniel, when “Spiritual But Not Religious” Is not Enough (166).

b.  There are lots of choices we can make in life, but once we choose to follow Christ, once you say “I believe,” you set your life on a course that leads you to Christ.

           

1. C. S. Lewis may be the most well-known convert to Christianity of the twentieth century.  The last thing Lewis wanted was God.  When he finally did come to God it was only grudgingly.  He describes his conversion:

                        You must picture me alone in that room… night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of [the One] whom I so earnestly desired not to meet.  That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me… I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed:  perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.”  C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy:  The Shape of My Early Life (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1955), 228-229; this reference was found in Rev. Patrick Willson’s sermon “Let My People Go….for What?” preached at FPC, Albuquerque, NM, July 14, 2013).

            2. We often think of becoming a follower of Christ as if it is the magical change that might take place in or a Disney movie.

            2.  But in C. S. Lewis, in Peter, we discover reluctant disciples who have discovered that they have other option but to follow Christ.

c. Make no mistake.  You are invited

1. Not to certainty.

2.      Not to some fairy tale life.

3.       But you are invited to be touched by the Christ.

4.      To give your life over to him.

5.      To discover the one who offers you what no one and nothing else in the world can offer.

Conclusion:  Alyce McKenzie shares the story of worshipping on a communion Sunday as a visitor at a church.

This particular week people were bringing nonperishable food items and medical supplies forward for "Christmas in July" to restock local food pantry and shelter supplies. Here they came, one with a box of macaroni, another with a box of Band-aids, to place before the altar before kneeling at the railing to receive communion.

Bringing gifts that reflect their discipleship to the Table to meet the Resurrected One whom they follow.

As they filed toward the front, a small child, maybe three years old and judged too young to commune by his mother, was seated on her lap in the second row. A question popped into his eager young mind, and being a child, he had the good sense to shout it out. "Mommy, where are all the people going?" "Shhh," she said. But he would not be shushed. "Where are all the people going?" he demanded, even more loudly. She clamped her hand over his mouth, but not before he cried out "I want to go too!" (http://www.patheos.com/Progressive-Christian/Jesus-Journey-and-Ours-Alyce-McKenzie-08-20-2012.html)

Conclusion:  When Jesus asks, “Do you also wish to go?” we can only join with Peter to ask in return “To whom can we go?” and to share in the answer Peter discovered, “To no one, but to Christ.”

Even the three year old senses that question Peter asks, “to whom can we go” is answered with “No one, but to Christ.”

Amen.