First reading: 1 Kings 19:4-8—¨
Psalm: Ps 34:2-9
Epistle: Ephesians 4:30—”5:2
Gospel: John 6:41-51—¨

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him—¨

Recap:

Today I would like to recap the journey we have been on since mid-July. It is a story of revelation and today Jesus crosses the line.

The start:

In mid-July we listened to Jesus as He sent out His disciples. They had minimal instruction, just what they had seen and heard from Jesus – mostly miracles. They went out to preach repentance. What do you think they did?

They went out and the repentance message was secondary. Instead they did miraculous things, healing and casting out demons. Rather than repentance they focused on the power of this great man waiting in the dessert. They told people that they had to check-Him-out, they intimated that there was great power awaiting them.

What happened?

The disciples came back and told Jesus all they did. Focus on that, all they had done. Wasn’t their job to preach repentance? They came back to tell Jesus, to tell God, that they felt powerful and that they did stuff. Ooops…

No wonder the crowds were waiting. Jesus said that they should go to a secluded place to pray and rest. As soon as He said that He turned around to see a massive crowd. They heard the disciples all right and they’d come for the power show. It was hot, the big ticket, the event everyone wanted to get in. There they were, and Jesus fed them with a few loaves and fish. He preached and taught, but they didn’t hear Him over the expectation in their minds and hearts.

Crossing the sea:

The crowds turned around and the show was gone. He had crossed the sea to Capernaum. They went after him. In plain language they tell Jesus that were there to seek a sign. They say: —What sign will you perform for us?— The crowd is hyped up and they want the power show. Part the sea, move the mountain, destroy Rome, heal our sick, raise the dead, give us the whole nine yards.

Jesus tells them that He will feed them with real bread and they are confounded. They don’t get it. Where’s the loaf Jesus?

Crossing the line:

The crowds aren’t getting it. Jesus is telling them that He is the bread from heaven. All they see is a carpenter’s son. All the works, everything He had done — it wasn’t enough.

Up until now they saw Him as a worker of tricks. It was water into wine, voices from the sky, healing the sick. They had their eye on Him but in sum He was no more than an itinerant teacher schooled in scripture. They’d seen tons of those guys before. They did tricks too.

Jesus could have lived a comfy life in the countryside. He could have done parlor tricks and made statements about love, peace, feeling good, or kindness. He, like those before Him, could have talked about loving God, giving to charity, going to synagogue on Friday evening and temple at Passover. But He crossed the line, He said He wasn’t there to entertain them, that He was there to feed them in a way they had never been fed.

The ticket they bought, the show they expected was over. Jesus told them how it is. Ever go to a show only to find out that the main act was missing? Imagine going to find out that the main act was someone completely different, someone you didn’t expect, someone there to upset your life philosophy.

—I am the living bread that came down from heaven;—¨
whoever eats this bread will live forever;—¨
and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.—

Jesus crossed the line — now He was dangerous.

What we don’t get:

Similarly we get upset when the God’s Church challenges our life philosophy.

It is important that we constantly reflect on what the Church asks in Jesus’ name. If it’s uncomfortable, off-putting, challenging, if it crosses the line it is the voice of God. Fasting, prayer, charity, Sunday morning, Holy Days of obligation, sacrifice, loving enemies, taking the hand of the poor and the immigrant, saying no to what we want, what the government wants, what TV wants and replacing it with what God wants?

We are constantly challenged to get past the feel good buddy Jesus and see Him as the only one who can feed us.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever

Next week Jesus will tell us to actually eat His body and drink His blood, to be one with all He is. To do that, to fill up on Jesus we need to cross the line from casually spiritual Christians to the Body of Christ, the Holy Church. We need to make a distinction because we are separate, apart, we aren’t the show the world wants but the message the world needs. If we don’t get that point we need to.

When we cross the line:

We cross the line when we are regenerated, when we are born again of water and the Spirit. When we become that new man we become the people Paul spoke of: imitators of God living in love.

We live in love not as exclusivists, alone in a wilderness, behind church walls praising God amongst ourselves for our own benefit, but as a people apart yet in the world because we must change it.

Everyone has bought a ticket and has their expectations, even certain people who mistake what Christianity is. We need to remind them that the real ticket lies in body of Christ, in His teaching, in His incorruptible and eternal message.—¨

We cross the line when we give that message, when we will live as Christians, at home, at work, in the marketplace, in school, in bed. Hard, yes, rewarding — at times even in the world, glorious — yes and forever. The Holy Spirit has drawn us to Jesus’ Holy Church. Let’s get out there and cross the line every day. Amen.