Sermon 8/22/2021

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Sermon Proper 16B 2021

Scripture: Psalm 84, John 6:56-69

Title: There’s No Place Like Home

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Our oldest child leaves home tomorrow to begin college. We are anticipating that there will be moments of homesickness. Of course it is a normal reaction but still we are all worried about it. Clark and I as well as Cecilia. We hope and pray that it will be like Pastor Adam next door described where it hits you on day three then gets better rather than the prolonged experience of someone else I know who’s daughter called home every night in tears for six weeks. But homesickness, defined by the Merriam Webster Dictionary as a “longing for home and family while absent from them” is not unique to young people leaving home for the first time. Jerry Ritzman and I paid a visit to one of our members in the nursing home this week who recently celebrated her 99th birthday. Betty shared with us that she had become close with one of the residents who moved in not so long ago. This friend has had a difficult time settling in because she misses her home so dearly and every time her family picks her up and brings her back to visit, those feelings of homesickness seem to intensify rather than improve.

I am fascinated by what appears to be a universal human experience, this experience of longing for home that comes over us at different times in our lives. Authors and songwriters and poets have written about it over the centuries. Although we can’t know with any certainty the state of mind of the songwriter who wrote what is now Psalm 84 in the Bible, the longing for home captured in his words are palpable.

How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!

My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.

Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God.

Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise.

This is one of my favorite Psalms and these are some of my favorite verses in all of scripture. I love the image of the songwriter standing in the sanctuary singing with joy to God while over his shoulder a tiny sparrow who has built her nest joins her voice in the happy chorus. When I imagine God’s house, this is what I see: the place where God dwells is a place of great beauty, filled with songs of joy to the living God where even the most vulnerable find a home for their family.

You may be wondering why I am spending time talking about Psalm 84 when our primary scripture for today is from John chapter 6. Well the honest truth is when I sat down this week to study this passage from John in which Jesus talks about eating his flesh and drinking his blood I found myself struggling a bit to know how best to approach it. So I did what I often do, which is look at the other passages from the week’s lectionary to see if they could provide some insight and assistance. The lectionary did not disappoint. Here in Psalm 84 I found a way. It had to do with this sense of longing for a home.

As I read the interchange between Jesus and his followers in our passage from John I was struck by the last couple of lines. The teaching Jesus had just shared with the crowds was difficult and some had turned away from following him because of it.

So Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?"

Simon Peter answered him, "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." (John 6:67-69)

The twelve had made their home with Jesus. They had accompanied him as he travelled throughout the countryside as he taught and healed. They watched him show mercy to the outcast, challenge authorities, transform lives, break down divisions and upend expectations. And as a result, they had come to believe and put their faith in Jesus.

So when they say “to whom can we go?” I hear in their question both a longing and a struggle. It reminds me of the famous line Dorothy says in the Wizard of Oz:

“There’s no place like home.” Only the phrase takes on two meanings.

There's no place like HOME.

There is no BETTER place than home. (home is the place where our Longing to be loved is fulfilled)

But also . . . There’s NO PLACE like home.

Meaning there is no OTHER place like home. For the disciples there is no other home. Jesus is their home. Where else can they go?

I am so grateful for passages like this from the gospel of John.

First, because it is reassuring to know that even those who were closest to Jesus struggled to make sense of his teachings.

To understand how truly difficult and even scandalous Jesus’ words were to his listeners, it helps to understand their context.

Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.

When we hear these words many of us gloss over the words, “drink my blood” and jump immediately to the metaphorical communion cup. This phrase is innocuous or even comforting. But for first century Jews this concept would have been horrifying.

We know from reading Leviticus that consuming the blood of an animal was forbidden in Jewish law. (Lev. 17:12-14) It was understood that blood contained the life of that creature. If it was anathema to drink the blood of animals, how scandalous for Jesus to insist that his followers drink his blood.

John devotes a large portion of his gospel explaining what it means that Jesus referred to himself as the bread of life. Perhaps John knew that it was difficult not only for the first disciples but for all of the followers of Jesus to come to terms with what Jesus was trying to teach us. There are certainly teachings of Jesus that I find difficult.

Examples of difficult teachings:

I have come not to bring peace but a sword.(Matt. 10:34)

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26)

“If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and to be thrown into the eternal fire. (Matt. 18:8-9)

I study these teachings of Jesus and find them hard to understand. But that does not mean I can disregard them. I must continue to wrestle with them. At the end of the day I find myself echoing the words of the disciples, “Where else can I go, I have come to believe that Jesus is the Holy One of God. Where else can I go for the words of life?”

So I am grateful for this passage from John’s gospel that reassures me that I am not alone in my struggle for understanding. But I am even more grateful for this passage because of the special insight it provides into our relationship with Jesus and our practice of communion and how all of this relates to our longing for home.

It is interesting to note that John’s view of the bread and cup, the body and blood of Christ is different from that of the other gospel writers. While Matthew, Mark and Luke emphasize Jesus’ death, John ties this ritual to Jesus’ life.

The body of Christ is compared with the manna in the wilderness which gave life to the people of Israel.

There is a lot of talk about drinking the blood of Jesus, blood being the substance that contains the life of the creature.

Jesus himself explains his teaching by saying that his words are “spirit and life”.

The disciples respond to Jesus saying, “you have the words of eternal life”

As one theologian put it: “John’s Eucharist theology is unabashedly life affirming: Jesus saves life by giving life.” (Loye Bradley Ashton)

This is why we can approach the communion table not only in humility and repentance but also with singing and joy. It is the table of abundance, the feast of life and Jesus urges us to come and partake.

We are not the only ones who are longing. Jesus longs for us to abide in him as he abides in us. He longs for us to see ourselves as beloved in God’s eyes, to experience that forgiveness is real and to live in true freedom. To know that we always have a home - and that home is in Jesus.

And because song writers and poets express it better than preachers can. I want to close with one of my favorite poems by Teresa of Avila - Spanish nun, mystic and spiritual writer from the 15th century.

“Nada Te Turbe”

It has been set to music by several composers through the centuries. I first encountered the text when I was a college student visiting the Taize community in France

Over the years I find myself returning to this song over and over again. Especially during those times when the world gets me down and I long for reassurance.

Nada te turbe,

nada te espante

quien a Dios tiene

nada le falta

solo Dios basta.

English translation:

Let nothing trouble you,

let nothing frighten you,

The one who has God

Lacks nothing:

God alone is enough.