Sermon – St
Anne’s Brown Edge 12th August 2018
What
stories are told in your family? It might be a story of someone in the past and
one that is passed down through the generations. We have one from my
father-in-law and a shilling and what he could buy with it.
The
Jewish people are a storied people and it is probably this recall to their
story that has ensured that they have remained as a distinct people group.
Deuteronomy
11.19
Teach them to your children, talking about them
when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and
when you get up.
With over two thousand
years of our own Christian story we can sometimes forget that we are inheritors
of this Jewish story – that Jesus was a 1st century storied Jew.
Unless we get some
understanding of the story told in the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, we will
struggle to make sense of the New Testament.
I heard it put well
recently in this couplet...
'In the Old Testament the
New Testament is contained and in the New Testament the Old Testament is
explained.'
Today’s Gospel from John
is one such piece of dense writing that can only be fully understood by it
references to the Hebrew Bible.
The passage we heard is
also best understood in the full context of the rather long chapter 6 of John’s
Gospel.
I commend a study of the
whole chapter to put things into context and would recommend that you invite
Tom Wright to help you with his ‘John for Everyone.’
Eating is a key element in
the passage we are considering.
Eating is also a key to
the story from 1 Kings about Elijah after his triumph over the priests of Baal.
And it is about God’s
sustenance, as John chapter 6 begins with the story of the feeding of the five
thousand.
This is developed by Jesus
who argues that people are following him and searching him out because he can
meet their immediate physical needs, and he can and he will, but there is
something much greater here – for man
does not live on bread alone but by ever word that proceeds from the mouth of
God.
John doesn’t have a Last
Supper in his Gospel account, this is one of those places that comes the
closest.
There is also another very
strong motif here, one of the underlying and foundational stories of the Jewish
people, then and now, The Passover.
The time when the People
of God, at that time a rather rag bag mix of tribes and people, but yet Promise
Bearers, going back to God’s promise to Abraham, that through him and his descendants
all the nations of the earth would be blessed, these Promise Bearers are
released from slavery in Egypt.
Now a Prophet like Moses
is here and he will lead a new Israel through the Red Sea into the Promised Land
freed from the slavery of sin and death.
However the key to
appropriating this is to be aligned and totally immersed in the life and death and
resurrection of Jesus.
This is the true symbolism
of baptism where we go down into the water of death and are raised to new life.
And then, like Elijah we
need food for the journey to sustain us along the way.
God provided manna from
heaven to help sustain the Israelite's on their journey through the wilderness to the Promised Land.
Jesus offers the bread
from heaven that is his very self, his very own flesh and blood.
However, if Jesus wanted
to puzzle and deeply offend his Jewish hearers this is one sure way of doing
just that.
Following on from where we
ended in verse 51, Jesus goes onto talk about both his flesh and blood.
53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell
you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have
no life in you.
Blood in particular had so
many taboos around it.
Once again however, we
need to know the story of the Jewish people and this time it is a story of King
David that helps us to understand what Jesus is saying about drinking his
blood.
We read the story in 2
Samuel 23…
So
the three mighty men broke through the Philistine camp, drew water from the
well near the gate of Bethlehem, and brought it back to David. But he refused
to drink it; instead, he poured it out to the LORD,…
This may seem like a
strange thing for David to do, but what he was saying in effect was, that this
water was procured at the risk of these three men, they risked shedding their
blood so David could have water from Bethlehem.
David said he was not worthy
of such a sacrifice but offered it to God instead.
Yet Jesus invites us to
drink his blood shed for us so that we might indeed have the water of life
bubbling up inside of us and never be thirsty again.
Those who align themselves
with Jesus in this way will enter into eternal life – the very life of God both
now and beyond death.
Like some of you I read
the Hope Together Lent Book, ‘40 Stories of Hope’ about prisoners discovering
real freedom in Jesus.
Not all of them, but a
good number are about a person whose family background was dysfunctional. This background had a detrimental and far
reaching effect on many who tell their stories.
However, they discover and
find the joy of becoming members of a new family, the family of God’s people.
Their 'story' can be changed, they needn't be tied or dictated to by their past story, or that of their family. They can begin to live in a 'new story' as they are allied to the ever unfolding story of God's People.
They can discover the rich
delight in knowing that their past sins have been forgiven, that they can
indeed be truly born again.
They begin to walk in the
hope of eternal life that begins now and continues beyond death because Jesus
as conquered death itself.
But what about you and me,
where do we stand?
Has our journey with Jesus
all become a bit casual, a tad tired, maybe it has become more of a habit than
a deep held passion and conviction?
Do you recall the story
Luke tells of a woman anointing Jesus’ feet when he is a guest at the home of a
Pharisee. They take offence at both her and Jesus’ acceptance of the woman’s
actions.
So, Jesus tells a little
story about forgiveness of a debt and then goes on to say…
“Therefore,
I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven--as her great love has shown. But
whoever has been forgiven little loves little."
So, let me ask bluntly,
how much do you love Jesus?
Are you feeding upon Him
daily?
Do you know yourself to be
part of the family of God that is without number across the world and across
the generations?
Do you know that yours
sins are forgiven?
Are you bearing
faithfulness witness to Christ in both word and deed?
If you were to be put on
trial today for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict
you?
Have we settled into a
comfortable rut and expect people to jog alongside us and engage with God the
way we have for years or are we willing to change, adapt and adjust how we do
Church and how we act as the People of God in Brown Edge?
Not for the sake of
novelty, but that many may come to know that Jesus is indeed the very bread of
life, the hope of the world and the salvation of all.
And let’s take a broad
view of what it means to preach – I hope we are not going to take it too mean
that people need to hear a sermon or be preached at – but rather as I said
before, both our words and our actions bear living testament to Jesus as the
way, the truth and the life.
Therefore to pick up the
Diocesan Direction of Travel and the challenge laid down by Bishop Michael,
‘come, let us follow Christ in the footsteps of St Chad, deepening our
discipleship, discovering our vocation and engaging in evangelism.’
Amen
Some questions to ponder...
1) How
familiar are you with the story of God’s people?
2) What is
your own story of your journey to Faith?
3) What
sustains you on your continuing journey walking with God?
4) When was
the last time you invited someone to walk along a pathway towards God?
5) What is
St Anne’s story as part of God’s redemptive purposes for Brown Edge and beyond?
To get to grips with the Big Bible Story check out…
The Bible Course
An 8-session course helping you explore the world's bestseller.
I
had a great time at Countryfile Live at Blenheim Palace and did a stint on the
FCN stall plus had various Farming Community Network related conversations as I wandered around. 
Once back home after a 600+ mile round
trip it was time to get the car loaded for the Shrewsbury Flower Show. After
the gorgeous and yet challenging weather we had been having it was a mixed
blessing to have sunshine and showers during the Show. Overall everything worked out fine for this
our second year at the Flower Show with the Church Tent headed up by a
Shrewsbury Churches Together Team augmented with a few folk from outside. We had Messy Church making juggling balls and
then our Resident Storyteller gave instructions on how to juggle. I was busy
making badges and looking after the garden games. We also invited people to complete our survey
question – ‘What concerns you most about the future?’ Plus we invited people to
write Peace Prayer Ribbons as part of the 100 Days of Prayer linked in with the
Centenary Commemorations of the end of WW1. (www.remembrance100.co.uk)
