14th
Sunday after Pentecost
August 26, 2018
Ephesians 6:10-20;
John 6:56-69
“Sticks and stones can break my bones but
words can never hurt me.” Anyone ever heard that? Anyone ever said that? The
nursery rhyme first showed up in print in England in 1844 and later here in
America in 1862 in The Christian Recorder.[1]
I’ve never seen it in print, but I do remember hearing it on the playground as
a kid. I may have even said it, because it’s the perfect comeback for when
someone’s calling you names but you want to take the high road and not call
them names back. Right? It’s saying that whatever you say can’t hurt me, words
can’t give me a broken bone or a bruise and so I don’t care what you say. Yet
this adage proclaiming indifference to what’s said isn’t really true. Words can
hurt. Words can even have a physicality to them if you think about how you
physically react to what someone says, such as taking a step back, or clapping,
or laughing. And the scars from words can often take much longer to heal than
bruises and scrapes and broken bones. Words matter. Words can hurt, and, thank
God, can also heal.
Let’s begin with the words in our Gospel
story this morning. Jesus has just finished this long discourse that we’ve been
reading the past few Sundays in John 6 about eating his flesh and drinking his
blood. At a glance, if you don’t dig into what Jesus is saying, it sounds a lot
like cannibalism. Jesus says you have to eat him, and become like vampires and
drink his blood. It’s a little bizarre and quite gruesome if you just take it
literally. It is definitely a difficult teaching, and we have the benefit of
knowing and receiving the tradition of holy communion! The disciples and early
followers of Jesus didn’t have association yet. We in the church hear eat bread
and drink blood and we think communion. Imagine if we didn’t make that
connection! It’s no wonder that many disciples left Jesus after hearing Jesus
say this!
Because so many turned back and no longer
followed Jesus, the number of disciples went down to twelve, at least according
in John’s Gospel. “So Jesus asked the twelve, ‘Do you also wish to go away?’”[2]
Because if everyone else leaves, why wouldn’t they want to leave also? Or at
least consider leaving? Yet Simon Peter, God bless him, gave this great answer
of faith. He said, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.
We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”[3]
Peter did not deny that Jesus is teaching them difficult lessons. He didn’t
deny that the twelve hadn’t thought about leaving, also. Yet they had also put
some major thought into it. There was nowhere else for them to go. Only in
Jesus have they found words of life. Only in Jesus is their salvation. They
didn’t know just how it was going to work out. Remember, Simon Peter was also
the one who said he’d never deny Jesus and that the crucifixion didn’t have to
happen. The twelve already knew by this point that following Jesus wasn’t going
to be easy. They knew Jesus was going to say some weird stuff that was going to
take them a while before they understood, if they ever understood at all. But
they also already knew that only Jesus has those wonderful words of life. They
weren’t going to find them anywhere else. That’s the wisdom that Jesus has and
offers, those words of life.
Let’s take a look at another of those
words of life that can also be a bit confusing. In Ephesians this morning we
read about “the armor of God.” Paul describes the belt of truth, the
breastplate of righteousness, shoes that proclaim the gospel of peace, the
shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is
the Word of God. The sword of the Spirit is the only item of armor listed that
is designed to be used offensively. And Paul says it’s the Word of God. Now,
this isn’t the only place where the Word of God is compared to a sword. Hebrews
4:12 says “the word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged
sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is
able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” This sword isn’t a
blunt instrument, and while it pierces and divides, it does so to get down to
the root, to the heart, to determine and discern the matters of the heart.
There is no hiding from this sword. It may even help you learn things about
yourself that you didn’t know, about your deepest passions and desires. Psalm
37:4 says, “Take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your
heart.” Sometimes we don’t even recognize the desires of our heart until after
God has given them to us. The Word of God gets down past the marrow, down into
your heart and soul. It goes farther than a regular sword. This is a Word that
is more piercing than sticks and stones; it can do a lot more than mere sticks
and stones.
You know why this Word can do that, don’t
you? Think of one of the names for Jesus: Jesus is the Word of God. The Gospel
of John begins by saying “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God and the Word was God… and the Word became flesh and lived among us.”[4]
This is Jesus. Jesus is the Word of God, the Word made flesh, God come in
person to live among us. So of course this Word can pierce down to the heart. Of
course this Word can knows the hidden desires of your heart. Of course this
Word is alive and active and sharper than any sword. We’re talking about Jesus,
Jesus who has the wonderful words of life, Jesus who is the wonderful Word of life. And so Paul writes to take with you “the
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,”[5]
which is Jesus. Take Jesus with you, so that you can “stand against the wiles
of the devil.”[6]
Take Jesus with you, because our only important battle as Christians isn’t
against any person or people but against the powers we cannot see but do
serious damage to individuals, families, and communities. These are things like
selfishness, greed, and cruelty, anger, partisanship, and envy. These are the
things we need Jesus’ words to guard against, to remind us that he offers us words of life, words that
build up, words that show love, words that heal, words that stand against and undo
those evil powers. Words like, “I forgive you,” “I love you,” “You are
beautiful,” “I’m so glad you’re in my life.” That is how you use words
offensively, to undo the lies, the false words you’ve been told about yourself
and to stand in the face of future words that are meant to hurt you. Words can
hurt. Don’t deceive yourself. But Jesus offers words of life. They’re not all
easy, they’re not smooth words, but they are the words of eternal life.
The others left Jesus because he wasn’t
saying smooth words, and that happens throughout the Bible, throughout the life
of the church. Through the prophet Isaiah, God says, “They are a rebellious
people… who say to the seers, ‘Do not see,’ and to the prophets, ‘Do not
prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions,
leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One
of Israel.”[7]
God’s people say this from time to time, foolish words of self-deception, or of
not wanting to do the hard work of following Christ. Preachers do this
sometimes, giving an easy sermon rather than one that convicts or corrects.
Some of Jesus’ words are very straightforward: Love God. Love your neighbor as
yourself. Others, like “eat my flesh and drink my blood,” can make you scratch
your head.
But Jesus says, “It is the spirit that
gives life… The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”[8]
Read and listen to Jesus’ words with your spirit open to receive, read
alongside God’s Spirit, let the story read you. Where do you find yourself in
this story? Are you inclined to leave, like the ones who said this teaching is
too hard? Are you feeling resigned, that there is nowhere else to go? Do you
know and believe that Jesus is the Holy One of God? Do you trust that he has
the words of life, and are willing to follow him, even when his words aren’t
smooth, even when his Word divides joint from marrow and gets down into your
heart? Are you willing? Are ye able, as the hymn asks, to be crucified with the
Master?[9]
Are ye able, to follow where he leads, down roads not of your own choosing,
serving all of God’s people, wrestling with the hard questions, looking beyond
the letter to the Spirit and to life? The answering refrain to that hymn says,
“Lord, we are able. Our spirits are thine. Remold them, make us, like thee,
divine. Thy guiding radiance above us shall be a beacon to God, to love, and
loyalty.”[10]
Our answer is the same as Simon Peter’s, “Lord,
to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to
believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” We don’t understand
everything, but that’s why it’s walking by faith and not by sight. We just know
that these are the wonderful words of life. And we know that words matter, more
than sticks or stones. After all, we have all that armor so that we can stand
against the devil’s schemes. Put on that
belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes that proclaim the gospel of
peace, Hold on to that shield of faith, put on the helmet of salvation, and take
up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. With faith, not with
understanding, we stand against those things that would tear our community and
our families apart. Yet, as St. Anselm from the 11th century put it,
we have faith seeking understanding, and so we trust “we’ll understand it
better by and by.”[11]
Or, as Saint Paul said, “now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see
face to face.”[12]
Things in the Christian life that don’t make sense is another sermon. This is
about those “wonderful words of life [that] offer pardon and peace to all.”[13]
May we share these words with all we meet as well.
[2] John
6:67
[3] John
6:68-69
[4] John
1:1, 14
[5] Ephesians
6:17
[6] Ephesians
6:11b, NRSV
[7] Isaiah
30:9-11
[8] John
6:63
[9] UMH
530
[10] Ibid.
[11] UMH
525
[12] 1
Corinthians 13:12
[13] UMH
600
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