INI September 6 & 7, 2009

Sermon preached by Pastor Stephen Kurtzahn at Cross of Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), 9931 Foley Blvd. NW, Coon Rapids, MN 55433. Please share this with someone else after you have finished. Thank you!

Bible Text—John 6:60-69

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

In Shakespeare’s play, “Romeo and Juliet,” Juliet says to Romeo in one of the scenes where she speaks from her balcony: “Parting is such sweet sorrow.”

Saying good-bye to someone we love can be very difficult. Parting from our children when they go off to a boarding school or college or join the military can be extremely hard. Saying good-bye to a loved one before they die can be heart-rending. It can be a very sad day to say good-bye to friends who must move away. It can make us very downhearted to part from a congregation or a church body because it doesn’t teach all the truth of God’s Word anymore.

Jesus had just finished his Bread of Life discussion at the synagogue in Capernaum. He was at the height of his earthly popularity. Everyone thought Jesus was the man—the man who would rescue them from Rome and provide all they needed so they wouldn’t have to work anymore. He had just miraculously fed five thousand, hadn’t he? But after Jesus spoke how he is the Bread from heaven and that he alone gives eternal life, the majority didn’t want anything to do with him anymore. And so we witness THE PARTING OF THE WAYS AT CAPERNAUM.

1. This parting was Unavoidable—because the truth cannot be changed.

Over the past several Sundays our gospel lessons have consisted of portions of John 6. We heard how our Lord fed five thousand men—plus the women and children—with five loaves of bread and two small fish. The crowds followed Jesus to Capernaum where they discussed the miracle and Jesus pointed out he is the Bread of Life. He taught how people needed to eat and drink of him in faith in order to be saved. Our gospel for today forms the conclusion of Jesus’ Bread of Life conversations.

Listen to some of the things Jesus told the people in John 6: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world,” John 6:51. “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day,” John 6:53,54. “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him,” John 6:56.

After hearing what Jesus had to say, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” 

Our Lord had a lot more people than just the twelve disciples following him. Many people were attracted to him by his miracles and teachings. But when they heard Jesus’ discussion about the Bread of Life, their intellect just could not accept what he was saying. Christ’s words were not misunderstood. What the Lord had to say was understood so well that the hearts of these people rebelled.

This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it? The word hard here means “objectionable” or “intolerable.” Today, we sometimes refer to certain doctrines of the Bible as “hard teachings.” God creating the universe in six days out of nothing is a “hard teaching” when the world around us accepts the theory of evolution as fact. What the Bible says about religious fellowship and how we should stay away from spiritual error is considered a “hard teaching,” especially in our ecumenical and politically correct world. What the Bible teaches about the callings of men and women can be a “hard teaching” for many. In our text, the teaching Jesus’ listeners thought was hard was that he is the Bread of Life, and that people need to eat his flesh and drink his blood if they want to be saved. Jesus was talking about receiving him in faith.

As the Son of God, Jesus knew what this larger group of disciples was thinking. So he asked them: Does this offend you? The word offend in the Bible means something different from the way we use it today. Someone may say something rude to you and you’re “offended.” But the original Greek word that is translated offend in our text refers to the trigger of a death trap that was used to capture animals. This Greek word is also where we get our English word “scandal” or “scandalize.” So what Jesus is saying is this: “Do my words referring to myself as the true bread from heaven cause you to trip a spiritual death trap? Does my encouragement that you eat and drink of me so greatly scandalize you that it’s leading you to abandon me in unbelief?”

Jesus’ words are truth. He spoke what he did in order to make the hearts of poor hungry sinners rejoice and to be spiritually filled with the forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation. This weekend our nation is celebrating Labor Day, and many of our families are taking some much-needed rest from working hard all the time. Well, Jesus’ Word gives rest for our souls. There was nothing evil or wrong or hurtful in anything Jesus said. He gave no offense. These people took offense when instead they should have received Christ’s saving truth with thanks.

Our Lord then refers to his upcoming ascension, when he would return visibly to his heavenly Father. He would do this after he died on the cross and rose from the dead. This would be another proof he’s not just a human being, but he’s also true God. And so he has every right to make salvation and eternal life dependent on him. It’s as if Jesus were saying: “What I’m telling you should drive you to unbelief if I were only a man. But my words shouldn’t scandalize you if I am the Messiah and God himself. What will you do if you see me ascend to where I was before? That will be even more proof I am God and that I came down from heaven to be the true Bread of Life!”

People in our world today get offended over much of God’s Word. As a result, we may be tempted to tone down or even ignore certain teachings of Jesus so as not to offend anyone. We’ve already mentioned some of the “hard teachings” of today. But the hardest teaching is the gospel itself. By nature, human beings like to boast and brag about what we’ve done. We want to do things ourselves and get the credit for it. But the gospel tells us Christ has done it all for us when it comes to our redemption and our gaining heaven. In our politically correct world, many also find it offensive that the Bible teaches there is only one God who is three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Many find it offensive that those who believe in Jesus as their Savior will go to heaven, but those who reject him in unbelief will be condemned to eternal hell. Jesus did not tone down his teaching about being the Bread of Life in order not to offend people. Instead, as we see here in our text, he ratcheted up his proclamation all the more because only his Word changes hearts. Neither should we tone down teaching the Word the Bread of Life has given us to share!

2. This parting was Tragic—because faith and unbelief must separate sooner or later.

When he spoke about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, Jesus was referring to receiving him through faith. The Holy Spirit creates faith and spiritual life in our hearts as he comes to us through God’s Word. But yet there were those in this larger group of disciples—and even one among the Twelve—who did not believe. That was Judas Iscariot who would later betray his Lord. Many of these followers of our Savior did not believe because they were realizing Jesus was not the man for their purposes. In our catechism classes that will be starting this week, our children learn the truth that is expressed in our text so clearly: If a person is saved through faith in Christ, all the credit goes to God. If a person is condemned in unbelief, it’s his own fault. It doesn’t make sense to our human reason, but that’s what Scripture clearly teaches. And that’s what we are plainly told and see in John 6.

Because of this conversation Jesus had with his larger group of disciples, many of them turned back. Literally, they “returned to the things behind or past.” Some who had given up their past lifestyles and had committed themselves to following Jesus now returned to what they had been before. So if they were cheating tax-collectors for the Romans or prostitutes for example, that’s the lifestyle they went back to.

It’s from this point in his ministry that we witness Jesus becoming more and more unpopular with the masses. The multitudes deserted him and we find him spending much more time teaching the Twelve off by themselves somewhere. Some have described this change in Jesus’ worldly popularity this way: when all these followers left him after his Bread of Life discussions, the situation looked like an apple tree after a storm. The wind has shaken the tree branches and scattered the rotten, wormy apples all over the ground.

It’s only natural that we want our church to be popular and that everyone would universally accept what we teach. We want to tell everyone about Jesus and we want them to come to church to worship with us and be a part of our Christian family. Those who are interested in membership at Cross of Christ attend a Bible Information Class. We study through all the teachings of God’s Word so they know what we’re all about. We study and discuss even the “hard teachings.” Nothing is left out or ignored. 

Now we certainly rejoice when the Spirit moves some to confess the same faith we do. But there are many times when participants in our Bible Information Classes do not become members. Sometimes they become offended over one thing or another. Sometimes there are also members of the church who become offended over teachings of God’s Word and they simply cannot accept them anymore.

3. This parting was Clarifying—the disciple’s faith is able to shine brighter with a clearer confession.

“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked his question in such a way that shows he expected a “no” answer. He knew the Twelve would not forsake him—except Judas, of course. But he asked the question because he wanted his closest group of followers to re-evaluate their reasons for following him. Jesus was giving them an opportunity to re-assess their relationship with him. When we have some spare time, like during a long Labor Day weekend, for example, we should also reassess our relationship with Christ. “Why am I a Christian?” “Why do I believe in Jesus as my Savior?” “Do I conform my life to Christ’s Word, or do I try to adapt his Word to how I want to live?” “Do I belong to this church and send my children to this school for reasons other than hearing the true and pure Word of God?” “Or do I come here for another reason?” “Am I sure what’s going to happen to me when I die?”

Now as he often did, Peter spoke up for the Twelve. They realized no one but Jesus could satisfy their spiritual needs. Christ’s words to them did not simply point out the way of life, but his words themselves contain true life.

Literally, Peter said, “we have believed and we have known…” They believed and knew before and they still did, that Jesus is the Holy One of God. Jesus had been set apart by God. He had come into our sinful world as the perfect and sinless Savior to do what had to be done for our salvation. He would suffer and die on the cross to atone for the sins of the world.

I can think of at least three different controversies that have affected our church body over the past sixty years [religious fellowship, roles or callings of men and women, the church growth movement]. When controversy happens concerning any teaching of God’s Word, it gets us back into the Bible and it gets us to dig deeper into the Holy Scriptures to see exactly what our Lord really said about a certain subject. But as we dig, we discover once again what the central message of God’s Word is. Every teaching of Scripture’s important, but there’s one that’s the center of it all. That’s the gospel of Jesus Christ and him crucified. And so we confess with Simon Peter: We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.