| I don't know what your week has been like, but I've | | | | good times we spent together (nice though they were) |
| had a week that has been full of typical priest-type | | | | but His presence! |
| things: visiting the sick and organising weddings, | | | | Let me say this again in case you missed it: What we |
| baptisms and funerals. | | | | need fundamentally in this life is the presence of Jesus |
| Indeed, in the next few weeks we've got two baptism | | | | with us - not His wisdom, not his teachings, not even |
| scheduled, there's one wedding next Saturday, and | | | | His miracles and His healings, as significant as these |
| tomorrow I have a funeral. | | | | each may be! What we need though is Him - his flesh, |
| Baptisms are my favourite. | | | | his blood, his real presence with us. |
| Weddings .. are OK. They can be great, but they tend | | | | This is what Nicodemus didn't understand when he |
| to also be quite taxing, mainly in the preparation of | | | | came to see Jesus. He thought he needed wisdom, |
| course, though listening to the speeches can also take | | | | insight, and a better understanding of God's law. 'No', |
| its toll. | | | | said Jesus, 'what you need is to be born from above! |
| Funerals, I don't enjoy. No surprises there, I suppose. I'm | | | | What you need is to have the Spirit of God within you!' |
| told I'm good at them - that I take a mean funeral - but | | | | This is the same thing the woman in John 4 couldn't |
| I don't think I've ever really enjoyed a funeral. | | | | grasp. She knew she needed water to live, but Jesus |
| I guess part of the problem with funerals, and with all | | | | tells her, 'No, it's not physical water that you need, but |
| sacramental services for that matter, is that they tap | | | | the presence of the Spirit of God living within you that |
| back into our own memories of such occasions. | | | | you need - the living water that wells up to eternal life!' |
| When we hear the couple ,making their wedding vows | | | | This is what the crowd we read about in John 6 didn't |
| we remember when we made our wedding vows | | | | understand. The crowd came looking for bread, but |
| (which is hopefully a positive memory). | | | | Jesus tells them, 'It's not ordinary bread that you need. |
| When we baptise a child we remember (well, not our | | | | You need the living bread. You need the presence of |
| own baptism) but certainly when had our own children | | | | the living God in your life. You need to move beyond |
| or siblings baptised. | | | | 'me' to 'we'! You need my flesh and blood within you. |
| And certainly, when we participate in a funeral, we | | | | You need me within you!' |
| remember people dear to us who have died. Certainly | | | | There's something strikingly contemporary about this |
| I find that I cannot take a funeral any more without | | | | religious 'seeking behaviour' that we read about in |
| being transported back to my father's funeral ... | | | | these early chapters of John's Gospel. |
| We say at funerals 'at last our beloved is free from | | | | Like Nicodemus, like the woman, like the crowd, I think |
| pain. He has gone to a better place', and for the most | | | | that most people who turn up to church out of the blue |
| part I think that we do believe that this is true. But | | | | are likewise looking for one of two things: they are |
| somehow it doesn't really make the occasion any less | | | | looking for answers or they're looking for a miracle! |
| painful! And I think that's because it's not really the fate | | | | Either their beloved is dying and they need healing, or |
| of the departed soul that we mourn. We mourn, rather, | | | | their beloved has died and they need to make sense |
| what we have lost. | | | | of it! And the hard thing from the priest point of view is |
| And what do we loose? At one level it's a hundred | | | | that we're often not able to deliver either! |
| little things: the way we used to laugh and sing | | | | We pray for miracles, as we pray for wisdom, but we |
| together, the way he used to tell jokes around the | | | | know full well that sometimes the miracles just do not |
| dinner table, the apple pies she used to bake, the | | | | happen, and sometimes things just won't make sense! |
| stories he used to tell about the war .... all those things. | | | | What we can always offer people though, and what |
| And yet at another level it's none of those little things | | | | we can always guarantee for people who come |
| but just one thing that we miss so much. We miss | | | | genuinely searching, is that Christ will give to them |
| them. We miss their presence with us. | | | | what he told us is far more important than either a |
| 'Presence' - it is the basic building block of all | | | | miracle or an explanation - He will give them His |
| meaningful human relationships, and it is what we | | | | presence if they are open to it. |
| grieve when we loose a loved one. It is the most basic | | | | No we can't always guarantee the healing and we |
| gift that we have to offer one another and, | | | | can't always guarantee the explanation, but we do |
| coincidentally perhaps, I think it is also the key to | | | | know that He will always do that which He has |
| understanding John chapter 6. | | | | always promised to do - which is that which we most |
| The dialogues Jesus enters into in John chapter 6, | | | | need Him to do. "Lo, I will be with you always'. He has |
| about bread and flesh and food and blood might all | | | | promised to be with us, His presence with us, His body |
| seem a bit of a riddle at one level. | | | | and His blood within us! |
| The scene begins with a wonderful feeding miracle | | | | This is the essence, I believe, of John Chapter 6, and it |
| where 5000 men, plus women, plus children are fed | | | | is certainly the essence of Christian spirituality |
| from a few small loaves and fishes - a miracle that | | | | according to the New Testament. |
| makes Jesus so popular that the whole crowd wants | | | | What does it mean to live a 'Christian life' according to |
| to make him king! | | | | the New Testament? It means living a life in union with |
| The scene ends though with that same group of | | | | Christ. |
| people walking away from Jesus in disgust, thinking | | | | 'To live is Christ' says St. Paul - notably not to |
| that he is crazy. And the thing that brings about this | | | | understand Christ or even to serve Christ, but simply |
| transformation in their attitude is the discussion Jesus | | | | 'to live is Christ'. |
| has with them about bread. | | | | This is the same Paul who says of his own ministry |
| 'You're only hanging around because you had your fill | | | | 'Jews demand a sign, and Greeks desire wisdom, but |
| of the loaves', says Jesus. "Work not for the bread | | | | we preach Christ crucified' (1 Corinthians 1:22). It's not |
| that perishes" he says, "but for the bread that endures | | | | the miracles. It's not the wisdom. It's Christ Himself. |
| for eternal life". That's how the dialogue begins, and | | | | It probably should not surprise us that God works this |
| then it gets progressively more bizarre. | | | | way, because all significant relationships work this way. |
| "I am the bread"; Jesus says. "I am the bread that | | | | This is what I need most from Ange. God knows I |
| came down from Heaven! The bread that I give for | | | | need her help in what we do here, and certainly I need |
| the life of the world, is my flesh". | | | | her wisdom in knowing how to handle situations, but |
| And when the people find this offensive, Jesus just | | | | most of all I just need her to be present rather than |
| pushes the point further: 'My flesh is food indeed and | | | | absent. |
| my blood is drink indeed'. And at this point the majority | | | | This is what is so hard about losing someone you love, |
| of the hangers-on that day decide that they have had | | | | and why I still find funerals so hard. What I miss most |
| enough. They leave, never to return. | | | | about my dad is not his practical help (though it was |
| Those familiar with John's Gospel will no doubt see | | | | considerable) and it's not his good advice (though that |
| here the familiar pattern of metaphor and | | | | was also considerable). What I miss is having him with |
| misunderstanding that occurs through the book. | | | | me! |
| In the dialogues recorded in John, Jesus regularly | | | | This brings us to the heart of our ministry - what it is |
| speaks in metaphor, and He is regularly misunderstood. | | | | that we offer our community. We offer Christ. |
| In John 3 for instance, Nicodemus comes to Jesus by | | | | This is why our Youth Centre must never become |
| night, and Jesus says to him, 'You must be born from | | | | some separate government funded programme, |
| above', but Nicodemus misunderstands him, and thinks | | | | because what we need to offer these kids is not only |
| he is talking about being reborn to his mother all over | | | | a safe place to hang, and lots of good clean fun, but |
| again! | | | | also Christ. |
| In John 4, Jesus encounters a woman at the well, and | | | | This is why we must continue to extend a ministry |
| He tells her that 'she who drinks of your water will | | | | towards needy and addicted persons from this church, |
| thirst again', and offers her 'living water' instead, but she | | | | because we know that these persons need not only |
| thinks he's talking about some underground spring that | | | | government programs and counselling and medical |
| he's found. | | | | help, but also Christ. |
| And so likewise in John 6, where Jesus is dealing with | | | | And this is the gift that what we offer each other this |
| a whole crowd of people, He says to them, 'work not | | | | morning here in church - it is Christ. |
| for the bread that perishes, but for the heavenly bread | | | | In one school I read about, in the week leading up to |
| that endures for eternal life', but the crowd thinks that | | | | Father's day, the fathers of the children were invited to |
| he's talking about some special health food, similar to | | | | class though of course very few could show up. And |
| that which Moses sourced for them back in the days | | | | yet each child in the class got up to say something |
| of old, except that it doesn't go off - a | | | | about their fathers. My father is a gynaecologist one |
| super-organic-health-bread-concoction perhaps, that | | | | boy said, and he is a very important man. My father is |
| has all the wonderful benefits that those health drinks | | | | a solicitor another child says, and he makes a lot of |
| you've read about on the Internet are supposed to | | | | money. Finally it came the turn for one young boy |
| have for you. 'He who eats of this bread will live | | | | whose father was unemployed. |
| forever!' | | | | "My dad", he said very proudly, "is here!" |
| Jesus says, 'NO, NO and NO!. I am the bread! My flesh | | | | It's not the wisdom. It's not the miracles. It's not the |
| is the food. What you need is not some new form of | | | | things about Christ that we need the most. It is Christ - |
| organic pastry. What you need is ME!' | | | | God with us - His flesh, His blood - food and drink |
| You see, it's His presence that we need - not His | | | | indeed - abiding in us. The Lord be with you! |
| wisdom, not his teachings, not the memories of all the | | | | |