PENTECOST 11 - HOLY BAPTISM

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: PENTECOST 11 - HOLY BAPTISM
PROPER: B
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: August 27,2000


TEXT: John 6:60-69 - So Jesus asked the Twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

See also Joshua 24:1-2a,14-25 and Ephesians 5:21-33

ISSUE: - Each of the readings for this day are related to the making of covenants, the entering into solemn agreements. Joshua’s followers vow to be faithful. Paul see the devoted agreement in marriage like the devotion of Christ to his church, and the church to Christ. In John’s Gospel, Peter vows allegiance on behalf of the Twelve in the face of difficult times. Even Today we are faced with difficult times, distractions, and things that draw us from the love of God in Christ. But an authentic real (eternal) life comes only from Jesus Christ our Lord.
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It is not every Sunday that we have the three readings from the Hebrew Scriptures, the Epistle readings, the Gospel selection tied together in such a closely related theme as we do today. Each of the readings are essentially calling God’s people into covenant relationships. That is, God’s people are called into a mutual relationship, a solemn agreement with Him. In turn God blesses and honors his people. In addition to the readings we will all recall and renew our Baptismal Covenant at the Baptism of David and Joseph today.
In the Hebrew Scripture reading from Joshua, having taken over the leadership of Israel after Moses is about to lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land across the Jordan River. Before entering they are reminded that to be the people of God, they must put away their foreign gods, and they must keep faithful to the Lord God, Yahweh. They must keep their hearts inclined toward the Lord, the God of Israel. They swear their allegiance: “The Lord our God we will serve, and him we will obey.” They become a covenanted people as they enter a land where there will be many foreign gods and distractions. They have the protection of Yahweh in return for their faithful allegiance. The make the renewed decision to be the people of Yahweh.
In the Christian Scripture of Ephesians, written by St. Paul, there is another dramatic and intense kind of covenant that was unique to the early Christian Community. Out of reverence for Christ, in the marriage relationship, or in the marriage covenant, a woman is to be subject to and honor her husband being faithful to him. At the same time a husband is to honor respect and deeply love their wives as they loved themselves. This covenant is unique, because in the culture of this period, the marriage relationship was rather one sided. The man was the dominant figure to be respected by his wife. It was very one sided. But notice the difference. In Paul’s writing, the marriage relationship becomes mutual. It is a true covenant relationship. The marriage relationship is a metaphor for the Church which is in a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ. The Church, the people of God, are in a relationship with Christ. The church or people of God serve and love him faithfully in a bride and groom relationship. The mutual love and devotion of a husband and wife is a sign to the brokenness of the world of the love of Christ for his people, the church. The marriage relationship describes the covenant between Christ and his church, as well as the covenant between Christ and his Church describes what the marriage covenant is meant to be.
In the Gospel of John, this morning, you have the Evangelist addressing a very difficult and hard time in the life of the early formation of the Christian Church community. The followers of Jesus are now being cast out or excommunicated from the synagogues. It is a time of decision. Do you follow Christ as Lord, or do you deny Christ’s leadership. Do you stay with the synagogue? Do you, if you are a Gentile, pay homage to the Caesar as god? Again it is a time of great decision. The teachings and sayings of Jesus Christ are difficult and hard. Is Jesus Christ truly the Bread of Life. Do you eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus Christ? Do you consume the way and the spiritual teaching of Jesus Christ who offers the forgiving and unearned grace of God? Do you renounce all other allegiances and accept Jesus Christ as Lord, as the Anointed Son of God, as the outward manifestation of God, and follow in his way or not?
For many people of the time, they find the teachings difficult and it is extraordinarily hard to make that decision for Jesus Christ. Obviously it did not come easy. Jesus is extending love, forgiveness, grace, honor, dignity to a largely fallen and expendable group of peasant peoples. He is offering a graciousness of God unwarranted and unearned. He has become proclaimed as Son of God, Anointed one, Holy One of God who stands tall like Moses, Aaron, Elijah, Joshua, Samson. His parables were surreal. How can a father love such a rebellious and hateful son. His sayings speak of selling everything and follow me to a cross is not exactly terribly attractive. His restorations of the cursed and eating with sinners is scandalous. The ultimate claim by the early church followers that he is the Holy One of God is a lot to swallow along with his body and blood. By the time John writes his Gospel account, there are many who are falling away. The teaching is too difficult: who can accept it? We are told that many of his disciples turned back and no longer went with him.
Finally, Jesus asks those closest to him, “Do you also wish to go away?” Peter dares to speak for the Twelve (perhaps a code for the church?). Simon Peter responds with great faith, with great loyalty, with great devotion, “Lord to whom can we go? You have the words of authentic real eternal life.” For Peter and some others they have received the gift of faithfulness. God has granted them the trust and loyalty, the allegiance for Christ. In him they find a tremendous spirit of love, a spirit of hope, a spirit of renewal, a spirit of forgiveness, a spirit of servanthood that makes living truly worthwhile. No one else offers this kind of spiritedness, this kind of spirituality that is linked to a forgiving and very loving expression of God. God in Christ has become flesh, incarnate, and lived among them full of grace and truth. That is hard to accept, no doubt, but Peter by the grace of God dares to enter into that faithful covenant with Christ to serve him, as Christ served Peter and the people of God.
For us living today, for the church today, these sayings, the way and teaching of Christ is not easy. It is hard to put Jesus Christ, to put God first in our lives. There are many distractions and popular notions that draw us away. It is hard for human beings to surrender their pride in being self-made men and women. We like being our own gods, if you will. The Russians couldn’t quite swallow their pride to let other nations assist them with the immediate rescue of the Kursk Submarine. The shoe being on the other foot, I’m not so sure that the American Government would have done differently. It is not easy always to recognize our common need for one another and for God.
It is hard for us to give up hold on to grudges and old prejudices. We still harbor the feelings of an eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth. Our various rages in our families and on the road bear witness to hard hearts that are not very forgiving. We stand in competition with people of other races and cultures as opposed to seeing in one another the multiple presentations of God in his people. We have a long way to go on the road to compassion and understanding.
Our popular values often determine what it means to be successful. Success is often determined by how much stuff we accumulate, by the quantity of our possessions, or which rung of the corporate ladder we achieve. Success in our culture is determined by materialistic gains, rather than by how much we serve and give. What do they say, “The guy with the most toys wins.” That’s in sharp contrast to “Sell all you have and give it to the poor, and follow me.”
We live in a culture where covenants and faithfulness are not popular. It has become something of a throw away culture. Elderly people become forgotten and seen a useless. We are slow to accommodate the handicapped and incorporate them into the mainstream of life. The poor in our time are still frequently viewed as the expendable. Yet is was for the very least and last that Christ came.
The ways and teachings of Christ are hard. It is hard for us to maintain loyalty. Relationships in marriage are far too flimsy. We come and go in our relationships with God like waves oscillating on the beach. Sometimes we’re hot, and sometimes we’re cold. But steady faithfulness is hard to come by.
Today we are called upon with this family, with David and Joey to renew our covenant with God. We are called upon to believe in, that is trust in, give our an unwaivering loyalty to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We offer ourselves again unselfishly in service to all of God’s people respecting the dignity of every human being. We devote ourselves, as parents, Sunday School teachers, as faithful members of this congregation to raising and showing David and Joey a life of committed unwaivering faithfulness and loyalty.
My good people, many years ago, at the main entrance to Johns Hopkins Hospital on Broadway, you would be greeted when you entered the hospital by that incredible and wonderful statue of Jesus Christ. It is nearly two stories tall, and reveals the wounded barefoot Risen Christ in a flowing white robe. The hands are stretched out in the welcome. On the pedestal below the bare feet of the Christ are the words: “Come to me all you who travail, and I will give you rest.” What a powerful presence this statue is. However times have changed. Johns Hopkins like so much of the world has changed and grown. It is now an overwhelming statement of human success. Its achievements in the healing arts are notorious. It speaks well of the dedication of many men and women. At the same time it has renovated and changed and grown into an awesome institution, the front door of Johns Hopkins Hospital is now on Wolf St. And the magnificent once welcoming statue of Jesus Christ is now at the back door. It no longer stands in a place of honor.
Jesus Christ in our own grandly materialistic and secular world, demanding and over populated world frequently stands at the back door, at a place less honored. While sometimes the world for seems grand, it is still so lacking. There is still so much physical, emotional, social pain and suffering. Our edifices are often glowing, but empty of love, empty of genuine sacrifice and compassion, and filled with things that are not nurturing at all.
Just let me remind you that the Statue of Christ is still there! You have to seek it out, and if you ever go to Hopkins to search it out and stop momentarily for prayer. The stature of Christ though often in less honorable positions in our lives is still there. Dare to ask for the gift of faith, God renew us in our love and devotion of Jesus Christ who is the authentic life, the real life, the eternal light of love and hope.