Never Easy [Proper 16B - John 6:56-69]

 The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson

John 6:56-69

 

Never Easy

 

It could have been easy.  The masses were ready to fall in love with Jesus; they wanted to fall in love with him, the man with the limitless supply of bread.  They do say that the way to a person’s heart is through the stomach.  Jesus was a walking buffet.  He fed; they ate.  He fed; they were satisfied.  He fed and they followed. 

 

They were hooked from the first bite.  And for a moment, Jesus was everything.  He was powerful.  And he was popular.  They liked him.  Or at least they liked things about him, the way he pampered them, the way he took care of them.  They liked the food mostly, if we are being honest.  But still it was enough. 

 

Entrepreneurs spend a lifetime desperately hoping to stumble onto a successful business model.  They workshop and focus group.  They scrap and tweak.  They brainstorm and throw all kinds of ideas against the wall.  Jesus just nailed it without even trying.  He found the perfect path to success.  And it was effortless.  The people loved it – no comment cards, no critiques.  In a matter of moments Jesus’ career prospects went from homeless wandering prophet to restaurant CEO to king, from struggle to success, from rocky road to easy street.

 

It could have been easy.  Ivory palaces and purple robes; fat and happy fans cheering him on.  And he threw it all away.  In the matter of one single Johannine chapter, Jesus went from popular to polarizing to pariah. 

 

And it was his own fault.  He did this.  Jesus found the formula.  He could have stuck with what worked.  He didn’t have to rock the boat.  The crowds were happy.  The disciples were happy.  It feels good to make people happy.  And so everybody was happy.

 

Admittedly, there was certainly a shallowness to the happiness.  That is undeniable.  The people liked the food.  Jesus understood that having their basic human needs met was the primary attraction; they were sick and he healed them; they were hungry and he fed them.  And so they tried; they followed and listened – for as long as they could.  

 

Jesus did not meet them halfway.  He wasn’t terribly interested in shallow spirituality or hollow platitudes; he was not content to be their caterer or a motivational speaker or a local politician.  Those are perfectly fine vocations.  But they were not the career path Jesus was on. 

 

But also, maybe he could have rolled out the deeper meaning more slowly, at a more digestible pace.  Maybe Jesus didn’t have to immediately insult the hallowed ancestors.  Or instruct the baffled crowds to eat his flesh this early in the syllabus.  Maybe he could have saved those teachings for the graduate class.  At least get the crowd past the add/drop date before requiring the stunned students to drink his blood.

 

Jesus could see the people grow uneasy.  He watched them nervously shift.  He heard their bothered whispers.  Jesus was aware that his disciples, most especially the newly acquired, were complaining about his presentation.  And so he paused and plainly asked them, “Does this offend you?”  And the answer was yes.  And many walked away. 

 

Jesus’ teaching was so abrasive that many of his disciples abandoned, not only Jesus, but all of the glittering possibilities.  They walked away from his healing touch.  They walked away from the free food.  Medical care in the 1^st century was hard to come by and they walked away.  Food in the 1^st century was hard to come by and they walked away.  A few verses earlier the same people were begging Jesus to be their king and now they walk away.  Yes, people are fickle.  But it did cost something to leave.  That is how difficult it was to listen to what Jesus was saying in this sixth chapter of John’s Gospel.  That is how uncomfortable Jesus made them. 

 

And I think Jesus got it.  He knew he was asking too much.  He demanded a love that hurt.  He demanded an intimacy that felt too vulnerable.  He demanded sacrifice and selflessness.  He demanded deep relationship.  Jesus invited people in too far – so far in that they would take on his DNA, taste his flesh and drink his blood. 

 

It was uncomfortable because it was too much and too close.  Once his disciples ate his flesh and drank his blood there would be no escape.  And people love to have an exit strategy.

 

Jesus even gave his inner circle the option of walking away.  But for them it was too late.  They had already come too close.  They had tasted and they had seen.  “To whom can we go?”  Jesus would lead them to the cross.  Jesus would break their hearts.  Jesus would continue to ask too much of them.  But they couldn’t leave.  Not when it became uncomfortable; not when it became hard.  Because it was Jesus.  And once they tasted Jesus, nothing else would ever be enough.

 

Following Jesus is not easy.  He doesn’t let it be easy.  He asks us to love our enemies…and our friends and our family members.  He asks us to pray for those who persecute us…and for those who simply annoy us.  He asks us to open our hearts in this dangerous world.  He asks us to hope in these days of despair.  He asks us to hold human hands and cradle human hearts and guard human souls in an age of dehumanization.  He asks us to stay when it is so easy to detach, when it is so easy to walk away, when everything tells us to look for the exits.  The shelves are filled with alluring, empty calories but Jesus is asking us to survive on his flesh.  He just never makes it easy.

 

But where else can we go?  We have tasted and we have seen.  And it is this life with Jesus that is good.