From the Daily Lectionary for Tuesday in the Twelfth Week after Pentecost
John 6:60-71
When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”
Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 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.” Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.” He was speaking of Judas son of Simon Iscariot, for he, though one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
I have noted that there is a tension in this Gospel between Jesus’ theological proclamations, and the disciples’ inability to understand them. Indeed, John’s theology is a radical departure from traditional interpretations of Torah. As I have said, John is using the cosmopolitan language of the academy, the philosophical categories of Greek thought to explain the phenomenon of Jesus and the movement he has engendered. The rhetorical device in this Gospel is that this new articulation of “God-knowledge” is over everyone’s heads. But remember, John’s audience, his community, is a sophisticated cohort of literati gathered in Antioch, or Alexandria, two centers of learning and enlightened discourse.
Could it be that the hearers of this Gospel really do understand; that they really do get it, and are deeply troubled by its demands? This Gospel at its heart holds that we, the followers of Jesus, are sent as he is sent to live lives of sacrifice for the good of the whole; that we are to “lay down our lives” for the greater good. The offensive metaphor is that we are to be eaten and drunk as nurture for the hungry and thirsty of our world; that the life of faith is not about personal edification, self-interest, in short; but about giving ourselves over to a radical selflessness. It may be that the tension here is not a lack of understanding, but understanding all too well the radical call of Jesus’ message; that God requires our all, our souls, bodies, and blood for God’s imaginative project of creating heaven on earth.
The more troubling reality, seen throughout human history, is that there are formidable forces that would oppose and undermine the good and the true. Love evokes resistance, even to the point of betrayal. The question of “why” is one that keeps theologians up late at night. René Girard, noted philosophical anthropologist, argues that envy is at the heart of the matter. Indeed, the contentious relationship between Jesus and the Jewish elite owes in large part to envy. Of course, envy wears many masks: Greed, self-interest, the lust for power… even violence.
We see Love being opposed, and betrayed, in our own day, in our own culture; by our elected leaders; even by so-called Christians. We, brothers and sisters, must hold fast to Love embodied in passionate advocacy, because, to put it simply, Love is of God…. There is no responsibility greater, nor more noble, nor more true… and besides… to whom else can we go?
A Prayer at Baptism (BCP p. 311)
All praise and thanks to you, most merciful God, for adopting us as your own children, for incorporating us into your holy church, and making us worthy to share in the inheritance of the saints in light; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
