Scripture text: John 6:56-69
In the Luther movie from a few years ago, there is a powerful scene where Martin Luther is making ready to face the Emperor and Cardinal Oleander at the Diet of Worms. Helping him groom himself is his old mentor, Fr. Staupitz, and the two of them have a conversation about what has happened since Luther was sent out from the monastery to become the new professor of theology at Wittenberg: the 95 Theses, the indulgence controversy, the papal reaction, everything. Staupitz laments that all that Luther has done is create chaos in the world, that he is “tearing the world apart.”
Luther rather dramatically grabs Staupitz’s hand and says “That day when you sent me out so boldly to change the world, did you really think there wouldn't be a cost?”
I’m always reminded of that scene when I read this passage from the Gospel of John. Jesus has just finished trolling the Pharisees with all this talk of eating his flesh and drinking his blood. He’s shocked them with these dramatic metaphors of vampirism and cannibalism that describe the new communion with God that he is ushering in by his incarnation. But the Pharisees and Jesus’ opponents aren’t the only ones who are hearing these teachings. It’s also his disciples and they too are shocked by what they hear. They too are taken aback by Jesus’ teaching and many are struggling to accept what he’s telling them.
What were they in this for? What did they expect? Those are questions these disciples are now confronting within themselves, because what they are encountering in their master is not what they expected. This isn’t what they signed on for. Like Staupitz, who sent Luther out to change the world without any realization what would happen if Luther succeeded, these disciples are just now starting to realize there’s a price to being a disciple. If they signed on, thinking nothing would really change, they’re now coming to realize just how wrong they were.
You’ve heard me say in my sermons, quoting Brennan Manning, that God loves us as we are. But he also doesn’t leave us there. His love, his grace, his mercy works on us. It softens our hardness, it gives us resolve and tenacity. It gives us the courage to love and the boldness to speak and stand up for the truth. But that’s a formula for a lot of trouble. That’s a formula for a hard road ahead and not everyone is willing or prepared to face that.
It’s harder to believe than not to.
Acclaimed author Flannery O’Conner was once confronted by a critic who wondered why someone as sophisticated as she was could profess to believe in all the silly superstitions of religion and Christianity. She wrote an essay in reply, explaining that the truth is it’s much harder to be a Christian than it is to be an agnostic. Christian singer Steve Taylor took the contents of that essay and turned them into the song “It’s Harder to Believe,” one of his most powerful and honest songs.
They’re right. All of them. It is harder to believe than not to. And in these times, we are starting to understand that truth.
I look out over the world and I see a nightmare unfolding. I see people rejecting long held truths about life. I see people turning on one another in an orgy of fear and anger. I see hate overcoming love. I hear echoes of the worst atrocities of history, threatening to come true once again: civil war, slavery, the concentration camp, fascism, Jim Crow. I see people suffering and others turning a blind eye to their pain. I see empty churches and full liquor stores as folks look for anything to numb the agony of their lives. And I see a loyal remnant of the Church, confused and terrified about how to respond to all this, afraid to speak the truth because they know there will be a backlash.
It’s harder to believe than not to.
It proves too much for many of those disciples. The cost is too high, the beliefs too strange. Many fall away the evangelist tells us. Many turn their back on Jesus because the road is getting hard.
The Twelve remain and Peter puts it all in perspective with those famous that we speak ourselves every week. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
That’s it, isn’t it? Peter understood, maybe not entirely, because he too has his moment when the road gets too hard even for him. But, in the end, that’s what it’s all about. God does love us as we are. God does accept us. God does go to Nth degree to save us, giving up his very son for our sake. God, the creator of all things, wants to be with us, with you, with me. He wants to spend eternity with us.
And when that truth sinks in, that love, that grace, that mercy begins to work on us. It softens our hardness, it gives us new perspective on life. We see others not as enemies or competition, not as those to be feared, but our brothers and sisters in need. People we can and will help. It gives us resolve and tenacity. When the world says, as it often will, that those we reach out to are not worth it, we ignore their hate. Christ died for these lost ones. Can we do any less?
And when their hate turns threatening, God’s love in us gives us courage. And have the boldness to speak and stand up for the truth. For what can our enemies do? Kill us? We have the promise of life eternal through Christ. What is their bluster and bullying to that?
Harder to believe than not to? Oh, yes, at times, in these times in fact. But here we are. The chosen few who have stood firm as the road has gotten hard. There has been a cost to our discipleship, a price that we are beginning to pay in world that fears the truths we represent. But what is their paranoia to what God is giving us? To what God wants to give them?
Strange as it may seem, the world needs us. We are the way back from the nightmare. I’ve said before and I’ll say again, the covenants have always been about showing the world a different way, a better way of life than all this hate and division.
The Peaceable Kingdom is still coming to pass. And it’s fallen to us to help make it happen. That’s not an easy task. But what have we to fear? We have God’s grace and acceptance. We have life eternal. We all these blessings and then some. Why do we hesitate? Why worry when the road gets hard? We already have our reward. Time to get busy. Amen.
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