Sunday, August 23, 2009
Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

INTRODUCTION

In today's gospel many people take offense at Jesus' invitation to eat his flesh and drink his blood; even many of Jesus' disciples peel off. This is the backdrop in John's gospel for Peter's confession of faith. "To whom can we go?" asks Peter, in words we sometimes sing just before the gospel is read. "You have the words of eternal life." In order to take such a stand, as Peter and Joshua did, Paul tells us to arm ourselves with the word of God. We pray in the Spirit that we might be bold ambassadors of the gospel.

First Reading

Joshua 24:1–2a, 14–18

After 40 years of wandering, losing loved ones, and wondering whether God would 

keep his promises, Israel finally reached the promised land. After they crossed 

the Jordan River, they still had a lot of work to do to conquer the land God has 

promised them. This excerpt is from the end of the book, where Joshua and God 

reaffirm the covenant God has made with Moses. Joshua wants to make sure that 

the people remember who they have to thank for their dreams being fulfilled. And 

the people reaffirm their faith in God, who had freed their ancestors from 

slavery and had brought them to the land that would be theirs to inhabit.

Second Reading

Ephesians 6:10–20

Being Christian in some places can still seem like a battle. During Paul’s time, 

Christianity was not an acceptable choice, so this text, likening the faith to 

dressing for battle, would have made a great deal of sense. It’s less relevant 

to us in a time when our faith is accepted, but the images and words can be 

inspiring still. Where battle armor is traditionally used to protect the wearer 

and to help him to inflict more injury than he receives, this armor is meant to 

protect the wearer spiritually, and to encourage that person to endure and 

persevere in the faith while also sharing that faith with others. God is still 

our protector, but he doesn’t call us primarily to sit and defend ourselves – he 

calls us to share his grace and love with the world, which protects and defends 

the world in the midst of great trials and challenges.

Gospel

John 6:56–69

At last – the last week of Jesus’ bread of life discourse.  We began this 

whole thing with Jesus feeding the multitudes with loaves and fish. Though it 

seems like that happened weeks ago (which it did, in our lectionary), today’s 

text is only a day after that feeding. After folks had followed Jesus from one 

end of the sea to the other, they hoped to be fed again, but Jesus fed them with 

words and promises instead of carbs and protein. The crowds weren’t all that 

excited by that – they didn’t understand what it meant that Jesus said he was 

the bread of life, the bread from heaven that would never leave them hungry 

again. So some of the people just left. It doesn’t say these people were 

skeptics or enemies of Jesus, but that they were “disciples.” So even those who 

had been with Jesus for a while, found this teaching too hard to swallow.  So 

Jesus saw who his true friends, his true disciples, were. When the dust cleared 

after the mass exodus, Jesus looked at the 12 and the others who remained, and asked 

about their loyalty. Peter declares that Jesus is the only one for them – the 

one who has the words of eternal life.  And we know that Jesus wasn’t just about 

words of eternal life – he is eternal life himself.