“The words I have spoken to you
are spirit and are life.”
Life is such a perplexing
thing.
If you are anything like me there
will have been times in your life and maybe even constantly when you have asked:
“What is it all about?”
“What is the meaning of life?”
“What is the purpose of my
existence?”
These are not new questions; these
are age old philosophical and religious conundrums. They are also incredibly personal and
perplexing questions. They are about
validating who we are and what we are doing – justifying our existence.
As Jesus conversed with the people
of his day in the synagogue at Capernaum about issues of the meaning of life he
makes the claim that those who eat of his flesh will live.
He claims that through his
connection with God, the one whom he called his Father, he offers spirit and
life. It is spirit and it is life that comes to us as a gift.
From the beginning of John’s
gospel John has sought to help his audience to understand that Jesus is the eternal
Word of God through whom all things came into being and who, in sharing in our
existence, affirms the life that we have received as a gift. We do not have to validate or justify ourselves
we are simply invited to live as we were created to live.
It might seem strange then to
think that though Jesus offers this spirit and this life many of his disciples
turned back and no longer went about with him.
They stopped trusting in what Jesus was saying.
Ironically, it also makes sense that
people turn away from Jesus’ message – for when it comes to these fundamental questions
about life and its meaning Jesus shifts the ownership of the question from our
control into God’s hands.
It is God who offers spirit and
life.
It is God who offers us meaning in
our existence.
This is a difficult teaching
precisely because it locates the origins and the destination of our existence and
the meaning of life beyond you or me.
It is also a difficult teaching because
following Jesus and trusting his teaching does not automatically mean that we
have all the answers and complete understanding. In fact far from it!
Many turned away because of the
difficulty of Jesus words and there no doubt the obscurity of them. When Jesus asked his closest followers whether
they too wanted to go Peter responds with great words of hope:
“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.”
“You have the words of eternal
life.”
Not all the answers, not just a
promise of pie in the sky when we die, but the words of spirit and life are the
words of eternal life – life lived knowing the Father and the one whom he sent.
It heartens me to know that even
though Peter makes this grand claim he too denied Jesus when confronted by
Jesus suffering and death, he turned aside.
Yet Jesus’ resurrection overcomes
Peter’s doubts and inspires his faith. Jesus’
resurrection says to us that though we may not understand, though we may turn
aside, though we might struggle to follow: God is offering to us hope.
Hope in the face a complex and perplexing
world.
Hope that might just allow us to
say with Peter:
“Lord, to whom can we go? You have
the words of eternal life.”
It is indeed a perplexing world
and I want to share some random reflections about the world in which we live.
During the week 7 Australians were
arrested suspected of going to join the group ISIS. The war in the Middle East is a disturbing one. The violence is horrific. This last week a scholar of the ancient world
was beheaded and hung from the ruins he had spent his life studying and
restoring. Millions of people have fled
across the borders.
This year 124 000 refugees have
made the shores of Greece. Refugees like
this man and his family. People trying
to escape the horrors of war! Millions
are still on the borders in refugee camps.
Meanwhile in Australia we continue to promote a policy of offshore
detention which incarcerates refugees indefinitely whilst our Government hides
what is occurring in those camps from us.
As distant as we might feel from
such inhumanity of war and suffering our knowledge of these events and the
complex issues that lie behind them can be debilitating.
And so confronted by these issues
we ask:
“Lord, to whom can we go? You have
the words of eternal life.”
During my time away I listened to
the news and watched the debate around marriage continue to unfold in our
parliament. The issue of allowing people
of the same gender to have rights around marriage for some people is clear cut –
for some it is simply wrong, for others its is imply the right thing to do.
Yet, for many it is a more complex issue – an issue of compassion and justice
sitting alongside a commitment to traditional values. There certainly a great deal of vitriol
around the debate.
Yet for me one of the perplexing issues
is that one of the reasons it has been opposed is because of the value of the institution
of marriage. The description of marriage
in the Uniting Church wedding service speaks of marriage helping to shape
society. Despite this ideal there is a
certain naivety about how we value marriage as a society. Fewer people are
marrying and the divorce rate in Australia is still significant. Last week
there was a leak of information from a website called Ashley Maddison which is
website with the invitation “Life is short have an affair”. Around 80% of people who marry live together before
marriage.
The state of relationships and how
we value and respect each other as human beings is at issue in all of this. All
of us understand that intimate relationships can be rocky and difficult.
So we well we might ask as we contemplate
these difficult moral and ethical issues:
“Lord, to whom can we go? You have
the words of eternal life.”
Being sick gives you a lot of time
to think, probably too much time! As I reflected
about my life and where I am think I am heading it also made me think about your
lives as well.
Each one of us here has issues
that perplex us and confront us as we struggle to make sense of things. Some of us are unwell, some are beset by
loneliness, some feel and are a long way from home, many of us wonder what the
future will bring – we all have our personal hopes and fears and dreams and
nightmares. The complexity of our lives
can weigh heavily upon us.
So whether it is the global issues,
the moral issues of our time or even our personal struggles that swamp us the
message of our faith is ‘spirit and life’.
We may now know all the answers
but we stand with Peter and say:
“Lord, to whom can we go? You have
the words of eternal life.”
You know one of the things I most
value about this congregation is our diversity and the constancy of change that
we experience. These things both
challenge and enrich us.
In the years I have been here we
have had people ranging in age from the very young, from infancy, through to
people who have lived for almost a century.
Some of us have more conservative beliefs whilst others might be
considered more liberal or progressive in their views. Some of us grew up in
the Uniting Church, or its forebears, whilst others have come from different
traditions. In the 4 years since I came
here we have probably had people from over 20 countries visit with us and
become members with us, if only for a short time. We are a diverse bunch and sometimes
we don’t always see eye to eye but we come together because I think in the face
of our diversity and the complexity of how we live we trust in God.
We come together and we say to one
another:
“Lord, to whom can we go? You have
the words of eternal life.”
We listen. We look. We hope. We
pray.
And Jesus reminds us to live for
he says:
“The words I have spoken to you
are spirit and are life.”
