Living in the Spirit

Homily for Sunday, July 26, 2012

Psalm 85   (Responsive reading #540)

Proverbs 9:1-6

John 6:56-69

 

Jesus said, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.” As arresting and disturbing as those words are, we Christians understand that Jesus is using symbolism. He is not speaking literally, and we know that was his custom. Most of his teachings were symbolic since he usually instructed in parables. But the significance of his words cannot be understated. Jesus reminds us with these words that he gave his flesh and life’s blood for us in dying on the cross. In the sacrament of the communion, the bread and the wine join us to Jesus and to one another.  As hard as these words are for  the disciples—they say, “This teaching is difficult. Who can accept it?”—Jesus wants them and us to know that he is always as much with us and within us as the very food we eat.

After Christ spoke those difficult words—“Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them”—some of his followers abandoned Him. Although they did not fully grasp what He was saying, they understood one thing: the way of Jesus was a hard way. They didn’t listen to his next words: “It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”  No, we don’t literally eat the flesh of Christ and drink his blood whenever we take communion. But through the power of the Lord and the mystery of that power, the spirit of life that calls us together at the feast enters our hearts and souls and lightens the way.

The disciples often seemed to have trouble deciphering the symbolism in the words of Jesus. I understand the frustration Jesus sometimes expressed when they didn’t comprehend his meaning. You see, I spent 30 years as a high school English teacher, and teaching symbolism was my stock-in-trade. These days, teachers seem to be held in such low esteem by American society that I am generally reluctant to reveal my former profession. I am also well aware that for many people, English teachers were not their favorites. Still, I came to understand and I still believe that an ability to decipher the meaning of the many symbols we encounter in our lives is very important. For Christians, it is most crucial to grasp the symbolism in the words of Jesus.

“Why bother with symbolism?” some of my students would ask. “Why can’t this guy say what he means straight up?”  My answer? “A symbol arrests your attention and has an impact. You will remember it and recognize it if you encounter it again.”

If you think about it, the Old Testament prophets, and Isaiah in particular, associated Jesus with signs and symbols generations before his birth. In Isaiah 7, we read, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel”…and in Isaiah 9, “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us, authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  Remember what the angels told the shepherds on the starry hillside near Bethlehem? “This shall be a sign unto you; you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”  The infant Jesus was recognized first by the symbol of his poverty: his crib was an animal’s trough. All of the things this baby will grow up to represent can best be conveyed through symbols.

So, it shouldn’t be a surprise the young Messiah grows up to speak in symbolic language. He understands the weight symbols carry. What if, on the night of the last supper when Jesus shared the bread and wine with his disciples he had said to them, “Every time you have dinner together and share bread and wine, think of me”? They probably would have responded with the equivalent of these words: “Sure, we’ll think of you, old pal” and then gone on with their lives, forgetting. Knowing human nature as he did, Jesus said instead:  “ Take, eat: This is my body which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me…Drink this, all of you: This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.”  These shocking, powerful, symbolic words stayed with the disciples and formed the institution of the Holy Eucharist.  Because of that symbolism, every time we break Christ’s body and drink his blood, sharing the bread and wine, we remember that Christ died to save us and that he is always with us, within us, in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Today’s lesson from Proverbs, with Lady Wisdom as the central figure, contains symbolism that connects it closely to the Eucharist. Wisdom is depicted by Proverbs as the feminine aspect of God, God the mother if you will, and in this story, she is behaving in very motherly ways when she prepares a dinner, mixes the wine, and sets the table. If a symbol is something familiar from ordinary life that is used to stand for a larger idea, then Lady Wisdom, as a mother figure who is hospitable, inviting, and nurturing, is a strikingly recognizable symbol of wisdom operating as inclusive love. She, like Christ, invites all to her table, saying, “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed.”

I say she invites all of us, even though the text says she calls to the “simple,” which may mean the unwise. When God addresses us humans, it is not a bad idea to admit we are “simple” in her eyes, don’t you think? In another sermon, I quoted musician T-Bone Burnett on humility. Old T-Bone says, “As soon as you think you’re being humble, you are no longer humble.”  I believe the same could be said about wisdom. It is certainly humble, and probably wise, to consider ourselves simple, and Jesus modeled both simplicity and humility in the way he lived his life. To all of us who struggle with being truly wise, Lady Wisdom tells us to “walk in the way of insight,” to seek to be understanding and compassionate, and in that way we will “lay aside immaturity” and grow into mature wisdom.

So, if you are like me, knowing what I’m supposed to do and being able to do it can be very different things. Maybe, instead of over-thinking everything, we can simply try to live our lives as Jesus did. And how did Jesus live his life? In love; in fellowship with everyone he encountered; in caring for the poor and sharing in their poverty; in healing the sick; in offering comfort to the suffering; in thanksgiving for the blessings received from God. When Jesus calls himself the “way,” this is the way he means.

As Paul writes in his letter to the Galatians, a life lived in the way of Jesus will bear certain fruits: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” The guidance of the indwelling Spirit will bring us to the understanding, compassionate maturity Lady Wisdom asks us to manifest in our daily lives. Psalm 85 expresses how these fruits become apparent with these words: “Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.”

Striving for wisdom, coming together in community, modeling our lives after the life of Jesus—this sounds like real work, as if living a Christian life is a project we undertake. Well, it kind of is.  And in the nature of a project, it can be left undone and fall into neglect if we only work at it every now and then.  Working on this project, we can struggle when we try to figure out how to do faith. Like many of the abstract ideas that symbolism is supposed to represent, faith can be a mystery and a challenge.

I’d like to share with you some words on the faith project by a former presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, Father Edmund Browning: 

For me and for every other faithful Christian I know, the life of faith is a daily challenge…The things that happen in this old world puzzle and sadden me. I do not understand God’s plan much more often than I understand it. To me, faith is not very dependent on understanding. It is, rather, a decision about where I will put my life’s energy. I choose to live with reference to God, and that choice orders other choices in my life…I know that our faith seems like superstition to some outsiders…But the religious project is NOT about superstition. Superstition is all about magic: controlling events in this world by drawing on the power of another. Faith is not about controlling anything. It is based on the undeniable fact that human existence is brief and fragile, and on the careful hope in a larger reality…People of faith know they are going to experience the same sorrows as everybody else. We just affirm that we never face them alone.

That is what the bishop has to say about faith, and he clearly considers himself to be one of the simple ones…a very wise man, indeed. Working every day simply to live as much in the way of Jesus as we can, we become by doing.  We find peace as we seek it. We show the simplicity of wisdom when we choose to trust that God is on our side. And when we turn our thoughts inward, we are assured that Christ abides there.                   Amen.