Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost - Proper 14
August 12, 2012 - Pastor Adam Moline
1
Kings 19:1-8 Ephesians 4:17-5:2 John 6:35-51
Grace, mercy and
peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Amen. Our text today comes from the
Gospel lesson just read, especially these words, “No one can come to me unless
the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last
day.” Thus far our text.
Dear friends in
Christ, last week Jesus said the words that begin our text today. I am the bread of life; whoever comes to
me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. So
come to Jesus, come and eat, come to me you who are weary. Come to me, Jesus says. Come to Jesus. But how?
What must you do to come to the bread of life? What must you do to eat and be satisfied
forever? How do you, a poor miserable
sinner, come to Jesus, the bread of life?
There’s all sorts
of answers to the question out there in our world today. There are people who say, “To come to Jesus,
all you need to do is be holy, after all Scripture says, ‘Be holy, as I the Lord your God am holy. (Leviticus 11)’” This sounds nice, doesn’t it? And it is scriptural after all – Be
holy! Stop swearing, stop lusting, stop
stealing, stop sinning period. Be
holy! But when we examine ourselves, we
pray to God that this isn’t the way to come to Jesus, for we have failed. If we’re honest with ourselves, we see that
despite our best efforts at “holyizing” ourselves, we still lust, steal, and
sin. We aren’t holy, but still unholy
sinners. For scripture says, “There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together
become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Romans 3)
How do you come to
Jesus? Lately there have been more and
more people saying “the way to come to Jesus is love.” Just love everyone, and ignore what they are
doing. Don’t criticize someone, don’t
yell at someone, don’t concern yourself with what they are doing. Ignore their shortcomings, and just take them
for who they are. Judge not! Just love.
But we fail at this as well. We
don’t really love everyone, we have all sorts of people we don’t even
like. And we can’t, as good Christians
just ignore those who sin around us in the name of love. Even Jesus told sinners to “Go and leave your
life of sin.”
So how do you come
to the bread of life? There must be some
way! Is there a special prayer I should
say? Do I need to accept him first? Do I have to give money to the church, do I
have to be buried in the right cemetery, do I have to come to church every
week? Do I have to have more good than
bad in me? Do I have to love, do I have
to be holy? What must I do, because no
matter what I try, I seem to fail, again, and again. What must I do, tell me, and I will.
Dear friends of
Christ no! You can’t came Jesus by your
own reason or strength, and you can’t believe in him by your own doing. As Christ himself says in our text, “No one
can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”
It is the work of
Jesus to be drawn to God. It is the work
of Jesus to come to the Bread of Life.
It is the work of Jesus – entirely, completely and totally. You don’t provide one ounce of help to God –
you are too sinful. You don’t have to do
this or that, you don’t have to be holy.
Your walk up to the communion rail to receive the body and blood of
Jesus doesn’t even earn you forgiveness.
It’s all Jesus. It’s all his work. It’s all his concern and care. Jesus is the one who draws you to himself, who
reels you in.
In our text, Jesus
himself uses a great illustration to describe this – manna in the wilderness –
bread from heaven. The people of Israel
were 40 years in the dessert, without crops, without the normal means of
sustenance. But they ate all the same,
for God gave them bread from heaven and quail.
Manna fell from the sky. The
quail flew into their camp to be eaten.
The people didn’t do anything, God was the one who did the work. God came to them, God drew them in.
So too with
you. You too are brought to God. You are drawn to Jesus, and as Jesus says in
our text, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.
And I will raise him up on the last day.”
Jesus brings you into the faith, he does this through Holy Baptism. There in water you already died, drowned in
your sin and were raised up with Jesus into new lie. Baptism connects you with Jesus who dies on
the cross, and raises again.
Then God draws you
in further, as you come through your childhood and learn the faith, as the head
of your household teaches it faithfully to the family. You are brought weekly to church, you are
taught in Sunday School and Confirmation – all that Christ has become the
salvation from sins in his death and resurrection. God leads you further, confirming you in your
faith, and bringing you to the altar, to eat the very body and blood of Jesus
that suffered on your behalf, to take his glory and forgiveness into your own
mouth to eat for forgiveness of sins.
And anyone who eats this bread, he will live forever. Bread for the life of the world.
Dear friends, Its
not you, its not your work, but it is all the work and glory of Jesus Christ on
your behalf. Crucified and risen, to
take away the sin of the world. Its
Jesus on your behalf. The bread of life
for you.
Now, people will
grumble and tell you your silly for believing this. They will mock you and tease you, even hate
you. It happens even to Jesus in our
text. But do not fear, the words of
someone taunting won’t stop God from drawing you, from reeling you in. The hatefilled words of the world can’t
prevent Jesus from coming to you to give you forgiveness. Its there, evermore drawing you in through
God’s own words and sacraments. Its
bringing you into heaven.
I am the bread of
life, Jesus says. No one can come to me
unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on
the last day. Amen.
