Friday, June 1st, 2007
John 16:12-15 (Contemporary English Version)
12 I have much more to say to you, but right now it would be more than you could understand. 13 The Spirit shows what is true and will come and guide you into the full truth. The Spirit doesn’t speak on his own. He will tell you only what he has heard from me, and he will let you know what is going to happen. 14 The Spirit will bring glory to me by taking my message and telling it to you. 15 Everything that the Father has is mine. That is why I have said that the Spirit takes my message and tells it to you.
It’s Trinity Sunday this weekend - the Sunday after Pentecost is celebrated. I’ve been asked to preach at my local church, tying in my work on the missional church. I’ll be preaching from John 16:12-15 in which Jesus talks about being sent by the Father, and sending us the Holy Spirit. The Father sends the Son. The Father and the Son send the Spirit. The Father, Son and Spirit sends us into the world. So how do we send?
I thought this might be an opportunity to expand on the theme of ‘Missio Dei’ - the missional nature of the Triune God.
“Missio Dei” is Latin for the mission of God. Over the last sixty years there’s been a lot of discussion among missionaries and church leaders about mission belonging to God, not just the church. God is actively involved in the world - a missionary God.
Jügen Moltmann, a German theologian, wrote in his 1977 book, “The Church in the Power of the Spirit”, “It is not the church that has a mission of salvation to fulfill in the world; it is the mission of the Son and the Spirit through the Father that includes the church”.
So how does all this affect anyone? Or is it just some theology for professional theologians to enjoy?
Getting our focus on the mission of God helps us rethink what mission is about. God’s mission in the world is a lot more than the 33 years of Jesus’ life. It’s certainly involves a lot more than the last moments of his life, death and resurrection. If we take seriously God’s involvement with the whole of creation we’ll be looking to take part in that. If we believe that God is still active in the world today through the Holy Spirit, beyond the church, we’ll be looking for signs of that and joining in. Is God involved in the passionate movement around the world to address global climate change?
Entering into the mission of God helps us realise the importance of relationship building. Jesus in the Gospels talks about being sent and sending in the context of relationships of confidence, trust and transparency. Mission for Jesus was not just about projects that needed to be completed. It was about who he had come from, who he was going to. I work with a team of mission planners who ask the ‘who questions’. Our first two questions, before looking at strategies, are “Who Will Go?” and “To Whom Will We Go?” Maybe we also need to encourage the question, “Who sends us?”
Missional communities need missional leadership provided by people who can commission and resource community members. In my work for Vision for Mission, in the Uniting Church in Australia, I’ve become involved with ‘U-Turn’, a resourcing movement designed to kick-start small missional groups. We’re encouraging people to start small groups that involve at least three people from outside, meeting at least eight times a year. Vision for Mission is providing $100 per group that starts in Queensland. We’re putting the funding directly into the accounts of local congregations so that they can be part of the commissioning. It’s a risk I know. Some Church councils may not get the point of some of the groups and slow up the process. But the process of sending, commissioning, is transformative in itself. It means that local groups of people are reflect the missional nature of God, sending and being sent.
Here are the first two questions put together for our missional planning process:
Who Will Go?
Who are we? What is our capacity to engage the community around us? Where are our energy levels? How motivated are we to engage in mission? What are the physical, human, spiritual, property and financial resources we have at our disposal? Identify local champions who will drive the mission process.
To Whom Will We Go?
Look locally for specific people groups and subcultures. Know and understand your target community in terms of demographic, and community needs and resources. Who are the gatekeepers and stakeholders in this community? What social/justice/spiritual needs and opportunities are there? What will frustrate or prevent us reaching our target group? How will our community change over the next 2-5-10 years? What is our purpose in going?
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Saturday, August 12th, 2006
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
So 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. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”
John 6:51-58
Cannabilism and the Early Church
The first thing that comes to my mind when reading this passage is how the early christians were often accused of being cannibals by informers and the Roman authorities. And reading this text it is not hard to see why people might think this!
‘Eat my flesh and drink my blood’ sounds more like something from some dark ancient religion than from our western churches. In fact, I think that we (that is those of us who spend far too much time in churches) often forget how offensive and hard to understand phrases like this can be. So often if someone asks what this means we just say ‘it just means communion - where we drink grape juice and eat a piece of bread and remember Jesus and what he did for us’ - certainly sounds a lot less offensive - but perhaps that is the problem - we have taken something that is meant to be challenging and offensive and turned into a nice little ritual where we can feel good about what Jesus has done for us.
Jesus… hero one day … whacko the next
To gain a better understanding of this passage we need to briefly recount what has just gone before (John ch 6 version according to mc)
* Jesus and large crowd in wilderness
* Jesus feeds crowd from 5 loaves and two fishes (from small boy)
* People like Jesus!
* People want to make Jesus King
* Jesus runs away … goes to other side of lake (transport method: walking on water)
* Crowd goes looking for Jesus and finds him
* Jesus says ‘you want me because I gave you free food … try this for size ..’
* Jesus talks about ‘true bread from heaven, which after people eat are never hungry’
* Crowd says ’sounds great! what do we have to do to get this’
* Jesus says ‘I am the bread of life … I come from heaven … come to me and believe in me’
* Crowd says ‘who does he think he is? We know his parents!’
* Jesus says ‘I am living bread you must eat of me’
* Crowd says ‘how can we eat your flesh? what are you talking about?’
* Jesus says ‘eat my flesh (not shorts) drink my blood’ (today’s passage)
* Crowd says ‘this guy is nuts!’ and leave
Soooo typical of Jesus. People like him, he runs away, people want more of him so he does something to offend them and drive them away. Didn’t this guy read any evangelism books or go to any church growth seminars? This is no way to develop a successful and growing movement …
The crowd in this story are offended for a number of reasons
* Jesus claims to have come from heaven (yeah right buddy … we know your parents!)
* Jesus tells them they have to eat his flesh and drink his blood (obviously loony …)
In many ways these objections of the crowd are the same objections that people have to Jesus today (and this is in the church!!!)
Jesus comes from heaven vs I know your mummy!
Today many people have problems that Jesus might actually come from heaven. While we might not know Joseph and Mary we know the Gospel’s ‘parents’. That is - we know that the Gospel’s were written by people who weren’t eyewitnesses. We know they collected and edited stories and put them together. We know that they wrote with specific communities and issues in mind … in other words we say to Jesus ‘we know your mummy! we know where you came from and the process used to write these Gospels - therefore you can’t have come from heaven - you are just another human’
Drink my blood vs can I have some grape juice please … the non-alcoholic type!
Eat my flesh and drink my blood - hard offensive statements that put people off Jesus and make him an offense to the authorities … not what we want. We want nice consumer Jesus with the action models and bland music and nothing that will challenge our nice Christian middle-class way of life. Eat my flesh!
No more Grape Juice Please …
So what then do we make of this passage - John is very clearly challenging us through Jesus words. What is Jesus saying , why and what does it mean for us?
Eat my flesh, drink my blood … this is the bread that has come from heaven
come from heaven …
Jesus is claiming that he is unique - he is what no other human before or after can say - he is from heaven - what he says and who he is and therefore worthy of acceptance
eat my flesh, drink my blood
acknowledging who he is (ie head knowledge) is only the start. To receive this gift of the bread of life we have to eat and drink of him. While this obviously has references to communion it is far more than just symbolism. To receive God’s gift of life (today and for eternity) we have to Jesus into ourselves (’eat’ and ‘drink’) we have to feed upon him, allow him to become our sustenance. Just as Jesus lives in God in that close relationship, we have to live in Jesus - let his being be our very being.
This is not just some spiritual feeling - this is hardcore business of following Jesus. Showing love where there is hate, proclaiming justice where there is injustice, not being afraid to being an offense to Governments and authorities and most of all rejecting the bland bread and grape juice of modern western Christianity and wanting the real ‘flesh and blood’ of Jesus. Wanting the Jesus who rejected the legalism of the Pharisees and the insitution of the Saducees. who proclaimed a God who was active and involved in the life of all people, not just ‘good’ people, but called all people to a new life, a new community a community of life and faith.
We need more cannibals for Jesus!
People who take Jesus seriously and don’t want the bread and grape juice but want the flesh and blood. Let me give you a concrete example …
Jesus said blessed are the peacemakers … yet if you believe some people being a good christian is rolling over and accepting good ol’ George and co when they tell us that God wants us to make war. Then they lie about Revelation and say that the beast will come in the form of someone bringing world peace … (read Rev ch 13 and find that …) and so they turn the words of Jesus on their head.
Now rather than being cannibals who are an affront to power and authorities we have a nice bread and grape juice christianity who accept almost anything from the Government - as long as they say ‘I believe in Jesus!’.
Grape Juice. Give me the flesh and blood Jesus who wasn’t afraid to offend those who wanted a popular hero, or those in power.
‘Eat my flesh, drink my blood - come and live with me forever!’
Amen.
Soul Food Application - Enjoying Intimate Relationship with God
Often we think of intimate relationship as some fuzzy spiritual feeling (and sometimes in can involve that) - but there is nothing as intimate as eating the flesh and drinking the blood of someone!
Jesus doesn’t just want your spiritual feelings - he wants you to eat and drink from him.
Questions for Reflection
- How often do you settle for a bread and grape juice Jesus rather than a flesh and blood Jesus?
- How are you trying to ‘feed’ on Jesus - make him your sustenance and way of life?
- Where is Jesus calling you to be someone who might offend others through taking a stand?
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Tuesday, March 28th, 2006
I had the privilege yesterday of speaking and presiding at communion at Trinity College, the Uniting Church theological college in Brisbane. I was working with a small group of staff and students to lead worship, focusing on the John 12 passage in which Jesus is visited by a group of Greeks who say to Philip, “We want to see Jesus”. The chapel was strewn with banana and sugar cane plants, helping us connect with the people who are cleaning up after the cylone last Monday.
I spoke this morning on John 12:24: “Unless a Grain of Wheat Falls to the Ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” The graphic comes from Heartlight Gallery. I found some inspiration from a sermon preached by Cornelius Plantinga at his installation as professor of systematic theology at Calvin College.
Pivotal to this morning’s message was the realisation that the germination of the seed - the seminal moment - is unseen by the human eye. Likewise, the seminal moment of Jesus’ life - his resurrection - was unseen by the human eye. We reflected on the acts of God that are usually experienced in humble surroundings rather than in front of large audiences. Participation in the life of a seminary has an element of being buried like grain. In fact the word ’seminary’ refers to a seed bed. We finished by reflecting on the challenge of being embedded in everyday relationships.
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