08/25/2024

Do you also wish to go away? Whenever there is talk of putting on armour, I recall a cartoon that I saw many years ago. It looked something like this: A modern middle-aged couple sit surprised on their living room sofa as their teenage daughter stands before them wearing a complete set of medieval armour. The caption underneath reads, ‘Lucy is feeling particularly vulnerable today.’ I think that I find it particularly memorable because it says something very real about teenagers and about humans in general. When we feel vulnerable, we prepare for war. We see it in troubled domestic relationships and in world politics. The effects are always devastating. It is not surprising that Paul writes encouraging his fellow Christians to join him in donning a full set of armour. He is in a very vulnerable situation, a prisoner of the great Roman Empire. Surrounded by men in armour, he has none. And if Paul, a Roman citizen, is in danger; what safety is there for his fellow Christians? Most of them are poor, many are ex-slaves, some are still slaves. What is surprising, is the kind of armour that he advises – truth, goodness, whatever will make us ready to proclaim the good news of peace. And with these, faith, salvation and the Word of God. This is a complete contrast to the literal metal and leather armour that he wore as a young man when he dressed to persecute the church. What has brought about this transformation? Those of us who know the story of Paul know the answer. Paul was met by the Risen Jesus and recognised him as the Holy One of God. In that life changing encounter on the road to Damascus, Jesus asked Paul a simple question, “Why do you persecute me?” and temporarily plunged Paul into darkness. In the darkness, Jesus brought Paul face to face with his vulnerability – Paul’s and Jesus’s. Paul realises that he is a blind man who has set himself against the living God. And he realises that God chooses the path of vulnerability to draw the broken world into his embrace. This is the shape of the cross, in which God opens wide his everlasting arms and greets the violent world in peace. This is the otherness of the Holy, who gives himself for the life of the world. This is the judgement of God, which declares total forgiveness. This is God’s word made flesh for us to gnaw on. And it is hard to digest. I use the word gnaw advisedly, for this is the nearest word we have in English for the verb that Jesus uses in our gospel reading today. Jesus tells us that we live by gnawing on his flesh. Those of you who eat meat will be better acquainted than I am with the tearing and chewing that this involves. And your digestive system will know the longer time that it takes and the range of microbes that it requires to absorb meat into your system. The work of receiving the life of God takes both time and the help of others. It is the life work of our community, and we do not do it alone. It can be rather disconcerting therefore to look around us and see that we are increasingly few in number. Do you ever look around you and see the empty pews and wonder where this is going? If so, you are in the best of company. As we heard in our good news reading today, Jesus’s bread of life sermon divided his hearers. Even his followers were so shocked by what he said and who he revealed himself to be that many of them turned back and made themselves scarce. Notice the response of Jesus. He does not ignore what is happening. Instead, he asks the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” It is the most vulnerable of questions. The twelve were free to drift away. The time will come when the crucifixion draws close, and they will do exactly that. But today, they choose to stay. As is the way of Jesus, this moment of vulnerability is a turning point with rich consequences. It has pushed the twelve to choose. And in choosing to stay, they are able to name what they value in Jesus. Peter, their spokesman, lays it out. There is nobody else worth going to in preference to Jesus. Jesus speaks abundant life into existence, for he is the holy one of God. The wonder of this truth blows any other contention out of the water. The twelve recognise that the time that they have spent together trusting and following Jesus has enabled them to know the holy one of God – not just know about him but know him as we know a loved one. I hope and pray that you can feel something of the wonder of this truth. For we too are a group of people who have spent time (some of us a very long time) trusting and following Jesus. This vulnerable stage in the life of the western church and in our church-life challenges us to choose our path. If we choose Jesus and gnaw on him – taking his life into ours and allowing his life to transform ours - he will give us life in abundance. In him we will be dressed to bring peace to those around us and our vulnerability will join with his to be used for the healing of the world. I urge you to take time this week to bring your vulnerability before Jesus. Hear Jesus ask you ‘Do you also wish to go away?’, hear yourself answer, and allow Jesus to speak words of life to you in return.