The late congressman John Lewis devoted his life to non-violent resistance. He was among those who walked across the Edmund Petit Bridge in Selma, Alabama on what became known as “Bloody Sunday” when the demonstrators were attacked by state troopers with clubs and tear gas. Lewis and other protestors involved in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference were victims of violence but chose not to respond in like manner. They remained committed to peaceful, non-violent resistance. In His Truth is Marching On, a book about John Lewis, I learned about his tenacity and lifelong commitment to non-violence and the fact that many in the movement reached a point where they could no longer remain committed to such a way of life. The teachings of non-violent resistance held to a long view. They never guaranteed quick fixes or easy results, but many who walked could no longer abide by the teachings of non-violent resistance. It was too difficult. The teaching was too hard. The teaching around non-violent resistance is one of those teachings that seeks to shape a way of life. Though life-giving, these kinds of teachings are not always eadsy. They are hard. Over the past several Sundays, Jesus has been talking about himself as the Bread of Life or the Bread of Heaven. The Gospel readings have come from the sixth chapter of John where Jesus speaks at length about himself as the living bread from heaven. It comes on the heels of the feeding of the 5,000 with five barley loaves and two fish. The crowds wanted more bread to fill their bellies and tracked Jesus down, but Jesus took that opportunity to speak of himself as the Bread of Life which is the bread that truly endures. “Unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,” says Jesus, “you have no life in you. My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.”
Many who followed Jesus found this teaching too hard. It offended them. They walked away. The teaching was difficult, too hard to accept. The teaching was too hard. It is mind blowing to believe that we meet God in one who was human and claimed to be God in the flesh. Even more mind blowing is the notion of eating his flesh and drinking his blood, but I think the real difficulty in this teaching, that which made it hard for people to accept was the fidelity Jesus demanded. Throughout the Bread of Life discourse, Jesus is saying “abide in me.” Abide in me. Live in me. Abide is one of the popular words in John’s Gospel. More than following Jesus, it is an invitation to live your life in Jesus. It’s a hard teaching because it demands a leap of faith. Those who walked away from Jesus were not willing to take the leap. This teaching is too hard! John Lewis and hundreds and hundreds of others sought to live by Martin Luther King’s non-violent principles. These principles are grounded in the Gospels teaching that hate cannot drive out hate and only love drives out hate. And love is hard work. Being Christian is life-giving and it is often hard. Who hasn’t turned away from following Jesus because his teachings are too hard? And who among us hasn’t been driven to frustration or been tempted to walk away because Jesus’ teachings are just too hard? Consider the many teachings of Jesus … Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. That’s hard. If a brother or sister sins against you, seek reconciliation. Walk the way of forgiveness. Be ambassadors of reconciliation. That’s hard.
Honor the poor. Give the outcast dignity and respect. Feed your hungry neighbors and shelter your neighbors who have no place to lay their head. That’s hard.
Do not store up treasures to the point where you need to build bigger barns for all your stuff. Be generous. Avoid the idol of excessive wealth. That’s hard. Be peacemakers, justice seekers, be faithful in your relationships, live as stewards of the earth. That’s hard. To abide in Jesus, the Bread of Life, is to know fullness of life and love and it often hard. To believe in Jesus as the Bread of Heaven isn’t easy to wrap your mind around, but such a mystery can never be explained. Explored and pondered, yes, but never explained. It’s kind of like defining love. You can’t. The really hard part, though, is to believe and trust in Jesus the living bread from heaven. That is what Jesus is seeking from those who are drawn to him. Not once did he try to explain the mystery. Instead, Jesus insistently and consistently sought trust in the mystery, trust in him. To take a leap of faith requires not just some part of us but our whole being, our entire life. Last Sunday when we celebrated the festival of Mary, mother of our Lord, I remembered Luther’s words about Jesus’ birth. He said ther were three miracles: the incarnation of God in human flesh, the virgin birth of Christ, and Mary’s acceptance of her charge to birth Jesus. Of the three, he said, the greatest miracle was third, that Mary believed and placed her trust in God. Just so with the feeding of the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish. A miracle indeed, but the greater miracle was to believe and in the one who hosted the great feeding, to abide in and trust the one who is the Bread of Life. To abide in him.
To abide in Jesus is to follow him and it is often hard, but don’t forget that it is the very Spirit of God who draws us to Jesus. It is the Spirit that gives life. It is to be in company with God and countless other believers in Jesus. It is to receive God’s precious gift of himself and, in the words of John Lewis, to just “keep keeping on.”
When many turned away from Jesus and chose to no longer follow him, Jesus turned to the inner circle, the twelve, and asked them if they wanted to leave too. Peter responded with the words we usually sing every Sunday, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Where else can we go? Who else may we turn to? So here we are. Where else could we go except to the one who has the words of eternal life? And Jesus feeds us again with his life-giving word and with the bread and cup that endures and gives life. These are miracles by which we live. Amen.