13th Sunday after Pentecost
Proverbs 9:1-6
Psalm 34:9-14
Ephesians 5:15-20
John 6:51-58
Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
grace and peace to you from the one who leads to life. Amen.
Wisdom has built her house and prepared her banquet,
it is ready and available for all who wish to partake of it
and she sends an invitation out
to those who she thinks needs to eat of her table the most
“you that are simple, turn in here! To those without sense she says, ‘Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Lay aside immaturity, and live and walk in the way of insight.’”
Partaking of wisdom’s feast leads to life.
It seems like a great offer,
we might wonder
how could anyone refuse?
but what we didn’t hear today
is that the passage continues on
and there is a second banquet invitation
couched in the same terms
but from a very different source:
“The foolish woman is loud;
she is ignorant and knows nothing.
She sits at the door of her house,
on a seat at the high places of the town,
calling to those who pass by,
who are going straight on their way,
"You who are simple, turn in here!"
And to those without sense she says,
"Stolen water is sweet,
and bread eaten in secret is pleasant."
But they do not know that the dead are there,
that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.”
Two invitations,
two very different outcomes
based on which invitation is accepted,
this is in essence the point of the whole of the book of proverbs,
wisdom leads to life,
folly to death,
and it is hard to tell the two apart,
it takes careful discernment to distinguish between wisdom and folly
and the key is relationship with God
“the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight”
we need the help of God
to tell the difference between wisdom and folly
and admitting that is the beginning down the path toward wisdom.
To put it another way,
what we consume makes a difference in the outcome of our lives,
feasting at one banquet leads to life,
feasting at the other leads to death
and God is the one who can lead us to the table of life.
This is what Jesus is trying to impart to the crowds
as he continues teaching about how he is the bread of life,
he is the gift from God that leads to relationship with God
that leads to life
he has been using an image they understand,
the manna God gave the Israelites
just as God gave manna,
God is now giving the world Jesus,
he’s the bread,
and even more than that he is the revelation of God
to be in relationship with Jesus
is to be in relationship with his Father in heaven.
In our section for today
Jesus takes the teaching the next step further
with a vivid image of the level of intimacy
about which he is teaching,
he says “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.”
Jesus says we are to consume him,
that’s how close we are to get to him.
When naturally the question arises
“How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Jesus doesn’t explain
but doubles down
“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 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.”
What?
Next week we’ll get the reaction of those listening to the teaching,
spoiler alert: this shocking image is too much for some of them
this is something that John as the gospel writer likes to do,
have Jesus speak in graphic metaphorical terms
and have people take them literally
and in the confusion
have Jesus explain-
think of Nicodemus wondering how someone could be born again
stating that it isn’t possible to enter the womb a second time
This time though Jesus is being literal when he says
“and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Jesus knows what he is going to do on the cross,
give his flesh for the life of the world
and he then carries that over
and combines this with the image of him as bread,
consuming Jesus is what leads to life.
Now of course those of us who are here post Easter
hear in this teaching
a reference to communion
and the eating and drinking of bread and wine,
body and blood that Jesus has broken and shed for us,
but in the narrative that hasn’t happened yet,
what Jesus is saying here to the crowds that came looking for him
is 'what you want is more bread,
what you need is me.
A deep relationship with me
and therefore with the creator of the universe
is what gives ultimate life,
life beyond the next meal.’
Jesus loves us so much
that he wants to be transformatively within us
and go through life with us from within,
as close to us as if we were to eat him.
Because what we consume matters
whether it is the food we eat,
the news we listen to,
how we entertain ourselves,
even the friends we keep and the advice they give,
all this matters
all have the potential to be invitations from Lady Wisdom or Lady Folly
and we need the help of God to guide us to the right table
This is what Paul is telling the Ephesians in our second reading
“Be careful then how you live.” he tells them
and contrasts being filled with wine
versus being filled with the Spirit
which looks like singing psalms and hymns in community
and in your heart giving thanks to God.
In other words, they, we, are to fill our lives
with the things that lead to awareness and deeper relationship with God,
who gave us the bread from heaven
that leads to eternal life,
we fill ourselves with Jesus the bread that we eat,
with the Spirit who gathers us in community
and fills our hearts with gladness
as we take a seat at Wisdom’s feast. Amen
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