Dear friends in Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Prepare our hearts, Lord, to receive your Word. Silence in us any voice but your own that in hearing we may believe and in believing we may obey your will revealed to us in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Finish this quote for me:
Water, water, everywhere…(nor any drop to drink).
It comes from a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge entitled The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. It’s about a shipwrecked sailor who is surrounded by an abundance of water…none of which would slake his thirst; all of which would make it worse—would, in fact, soon kill him if he chose to drink it.
I mention this famous phrase for a good reason: the people in today’s lessons from both Joshua and John are faced with appreciably parallel problems. They are, in a sense, adrift—either in a land to which they do not yet belong, or in a relationship with God which they do not understand. They face an abundance of options, none of which seem certain to be life-blessing, hope-creating, or shalom-assuring.
Words of death, words of life…
In the Old Testament lesson, Joshua is addressing the twelve tribes of Israel, laying down the law, in fact. The people of God have entered the promised land; they are settling into their various territories; and the word he directs at them is a caution, an alarm, an alert about possible danger ahead.
What do you suppose is the pitfall that he wants them to avoid?
The temptation to worship other gods.And what does he tell them they must do?
Put to death their old gods and worship the living God alone!
That may sound fairly harsh—but it gets even harsher. Five verses later, Joshua does much more than merely encourage the people to honor God . . . he even tries to talk them out of it!!! I’m not kidding: look it up in your Bible at Joshua 24:19-24.
It’s crystal clear, isn’t it? God is neither a puppy nor a kitten—eager to play and happy to receive any attention we can spare from our busy schedules.
God is jealous of our devotion.
God is demanding of our attention.
God will not settle for second place in our lives.
Last week I mentioned C.S. Lewis’ Narnia book, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. The Christ figure in the series is a lion named Aslan—full of love for all creatures, yet ferocious when fighting for their lives against the power of evil. When the children hear that they are about to meet this king of the beasts, they ask if he’s safe to be around. Is he safe? responds their friend. Of course not—he’s a lion! He’s not safe…but he is good.
Such is the essence of Joshua’s message to the people—and to you and me:
God is not safe…but jealous, demanding, and insistent…
yet God is very good
infinitely more committed to us than we will ever be to him…
and God loves us far beyond what we will ever be able to return…
Words of death, words of life…
In the Gospel, Jesus’ disciples have watched the Lord’s star-power plummet throughout this 6th chapter of John. In no time at all, the Lord has fallen from the epitome of popularity into the pit of ill repute. The words of today’s Gospel lesson reveal just how low he has sunk!
From the very beginning of his ministry, Jesus has been at odds with the Jewish leaders. Now he has also alienated the crowds—those whom he miraculously fed, and who, just days before, had tried to make him their king! Today Jesus drives away even many of his disciples…those most closely aligned with, attuned to, in touch with his message of life—his speech in today’s lesson somehow sours their spirits unto death.
What do these former followers tell him? These are hard words…then they turn and walk away. Here we stand at rock bottom with the Lord… and the next thing he says evokes within us a sense of pity for the Prince of Peace. To the few who remain, he asks, Do you also wish to go away?
A few months ago you may remember the worship service when I asked our organist, Rick Bender, if we could play “Stump the Accompanist.” That’s where you get to pick the hymns for the day. And I’m quite proud to say that in all the times we’ve played that game, no one has ever stumped Rick or Marcie—those two are that good and we are well blessed to have them.
But on that day, Rick agreed to play the game—with one condition. “That’s fine,” he said, “as long as we also play “Stump the Pastor” and let the congregation pick the topic for your sermon today!” My memory is a little hazy, but about this I am clear—you all thought that was a great idea!
I also remember that Council Member, Julie Shewman, asked me to address the question, “Why did Jesus have such a lousy marketing program?” And today’s Gospel proves the wisdom behind her question.
Here we see Jesus fall from insider to outcast, from Lord to lackey, from Messiah to pariah, from leader to loser…and his question is also directed at us: Do you also wish to go away? So what in the world (or in heaven) makes these few remaining disciples (what makes us) think that Jesus’ words have any life in them at all?
We all have-been-or-will-be, at times, lost at sea in one of those dark nights of the soul—surrounded by an ocean-ful of words unable to quench our spirits that are thirsting for a word of good news.
And yet…it’s often at these very trying times that some-how in some-way or through some-one, we hear a word from God that puts to death our faltering faith, and starts filling our hearts instead with Jesus’ words of life.
In a sermon, Luther Seminary Professor David Lose cites a quote by Martin Luther. His words are meant to steer us in a direction that will help us during those times when we feel lost or cast adrift. Wrote Luther:
Although [God] is present in all creatures, and I might find him: in stone, in fire, in water, or even in a rope, for he certainly is there, yet [God] does not wish that I seek him there apart from the Word, and [thereby] cast myself into the fire or the water, or hang myself on the rope. [God] is present everywhere, but does not wish that you grope for him everywhere. Search rather where the Word is, and there you will lay hold of [God] in the right way (LW 36:342).
“Search where the Word is”—
it’s exactly what Joshua was saying to the people of Israel,
it’s exactly what Jesus was saying to the disciples,
it’s exactly what the Holy Spirit says today and everyday to you and to me.
And the Good News is that, indeed, we search where the Word is whenever we gather to sing and to pray, to laugh and to cry, to eat Jesus’ body and drink his blood, to share our gifts and receive God’s blessings, to serve our neighbors and study God’s Word. That is what allows us to respond to Jesus’ question with the words of Peter, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Amen.
Pastor Scott Fuller