Proper 15, Yr B (2024) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield
Proper 15, Yr B (2024) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield
1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14 St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
Ephesians 5:15-20
John 6:51-58
In the name of the one, holy, and living God:
in whom we live, and move, and have our being. Amen.
I have been to a number of concerts in my life,
but the ones that stand out the most are the acoustic concerts in small venues.
One, in particular, has stuck with me over the years.
I remember sitting 8 feet in front of Kelly Jo Phelps,
as he played his guitar and sang.
Every single cell in his body seemed to have music flowing through it.
I could see his eyebrows rise and fall,
every twitch in the corner of his mouth,
each slight movement of his foot to the beat.
His body was both anticipating and responding to the music as each note was played.
This is not unusual for musicians…
Just listen to Glenn Gould’s recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations –
or any other recording of Glenn Gould for that matter.
You can hear his grunts and groans and humming along –
sometimes even pulling your focus away from the notes he’s playing.
Or watch Tommy Emmanuel on YouTube, or live, if you get the chance…
His fingers fly over the guitar strings,
his head nodding and foot tapping in full engagement.
Or watch jazz or blues musicians whose chairs are squeaking or scraping across the floor
as their bodies reverberate with their music.
The bodies of these musicians become part of the instrument,
with the music filling every cell and flowing through them.
It is beautiful,
enlivening,
and even transforming.
Today we hear Paul say to the people of the church at Ephesus:
Be filled with the Spirit,
as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves…
giving thanks to God at all times
and for everything.
Be filled with the Spirit.
That seems to be the theme for today’s readings:
be filled with God!
Be filled with God’s wisdom, joy, presence, and life-giving power.
As Jesus talks about being filled with God this week, he gets real…
even grotesque some would say.
Eat my flesh.
Drink my blood.
Do this…
and you will find life.
This week as we continue our readings from the Gospel of John about Jesus being the bread from heaven, the stakes are raised a little higher.
Our focus is not just on Jesus as bread come down from heaven;
this week the focus shifts to our participation in Jesus’ life:
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.” (Jn 6:53, 56)
Jesus is getting gritty here…
too gritty for many.
But this is what it means for God to become incarnate…
for God to be robed in flesh and blood…
for God to become one of us so that we might become like God.
That might be too much for our ears to hear as well,
and yet it is who Jesus calls us to become.
“Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.
“Just as the living Father sent me,
and I live because of the Father,
so whoever eats me will live because of me.”
The Jews disputed Jesus’ saying,
and the disciples decided it was just too hard.
But what do we think?
How do we take this earthy, gritty, incarnational Jesus
into our lives?
I ask that question as a real question to wrestle with.
How do we take Jesus into our lives?
We hear story after story of folks seeking out Jesus,
following him around the countryside,
because being near him,
they saw the life and energy that he exuded through his words and his body.
They saw and experienced how he touched and healed people.
They knew that all they had to do was to get close enough to touch just the hem of his robe
and they would experience his life-transforming power.
So, without the historical Jesus walking among us,
how do we take his life into ourselves?
How do we receive this living bread from heaven?
Well, we are invited to hear the word of God:
to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest the Word…through the study of Scripture.
We are invited to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus
through the earthly vessels of bread and wine…
We are invited to pray with and for one another and for the world around us,
joining our prayers together and with the Communion of the Saints…
We are invited to make melody to the Lord as we sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs…
We are invited to break open our own bodies in service to our neighbors in need,
just as Jesus broke open his body to show us the way of love.
Jesus washed the feet of the disciples,
broke bread with those who would betray and desert him,
and offered up his very life as one who refused to exert power over others.
This is how we participate in the life of Jesus…
taking Jesus’ very life into our own
so that every cell in our body transmits such love and grace to others.
We who participate in the life of Jesus abide in God,
and God abides in us.
We who eat of this bread
will live forever.
There is no other way.
Let us eat,
let us pray,
let us serve,
let us love…
and we will find life eternal
and in turn offer such life to the world through our very flesh and blood.
In Jesus,
the whole of God meets us
to love, redeem, and sustain the whole of us.
In turn, we are invited to continue Jesus’ mission of revealing God’s love to the world:
offering our goods, our time, our presence, our love, even our heartaches
to feed others as bread broken open for the world.
And in the midst of all this God promises to fill us,
sustain us,
and strengthen us for the journey.
Amen.
