Submerged
Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
August 16, 2009
John 6:51-69
The life of faith is daily taking a plunge, often wondering if you’re
going to drown, even though you know that through it you’ll be saved.
Being a Christian is being submerged when the world and your own brain
tell you that you’re done for. The life of faith begins with Baptism.
One becomes a Christian when the waters rush over him and drowns the
Old Man that was born in sin.
And while we have gathered for our retreat under the theme of “got
water?” and are seeing how God saves us through the waters of Baptism,
in seeing this we are seeing nothing less than the salvation God gives
for a life of faith. Jesus preaches that life of faith in the Gospel
reading. It could appear that Jesus’ words with all of its imagery of
eating His flesh and drinking His blood have nothing to do with
Baptism and being brought through the waters to salvation.
But Baptism doesn’t just concern water. It doesn’t just concern what
happened to you that day when you were Baptized. It concerns your
entire life. It has everything to do with your daily life. It is not
only the entrance into eternal life but also at the heart of the daily
life of faith.
Living the life of faith is as difficult for the Christian as
believing in Christ is for the non-Christian. The people in the Gospel
reading heard the words of Christ and couldn’t wrap their minds around
an individual who would use such grotesque imagery for believing in
Him as eating His flesh and drinking His blood. But is what happens in
Baptism any less unnerving? Where one is actually drowned in the
waters of Baptism? Where the sinful flesh is crucified with Christ?
Many on that day turned away from Christ. He turned to His twelve
disciples and asked them if they would go too. “Lord, to whom shall we
go?” was their response. “You have the words of eternal life, and we
have believed, and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of
God.” This is what we have. We have what our Lord gives to us and not
a carefree existence in which we don’t have to think about what it
means to believe in Jesus and live in the trust that He brings us
through the waters even when they rise.
What Jesus says in the Gospel reading may have nothing to do with
water but it has everything to do with the life of faith. He already
laid the groundwork for this in John chapter 3 where He says that
unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom
of heaven. The is where you are submerged. Daily you take the plunge
and realize that the beginning of life begins with death. Death to the
Old Man. The drowning of our sinful nature. The crucifixion of our
sinful flesh. And the life of faith only brings you deeper and deeper
into waters that seem increasingly to rise.
Your sinful flesh hangs on, not wishing to drown but to thrive. To get
a hold of you and seek ways for that carefree existence. Where we can
blame our difficulties on a God who obviously doesn’t care or
evidently is not powerful enough to prevent problems and financial
hardships and illnesses and doubts.
It’s no wonder so many people walked away. Who wants to hear about
eating the flesh of Jesus and drinking His blood when it can be a
challenge to put food on the table? When it’s hard to get out of the
cycle of eating each other up with our snide comments and impatient
demands. When it seems that our time is consumed just keeping our head
above water with all the demands on our time and energy in daily life.
It’s no surprise that those who left Him were also disciples. Jesus is
preaching the life of faith, preaching Himself as the substance of
faith, driving His point home with the reminder that “it is the Spirit
who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken
to you are spirit and life.” Remember His words to Nicodemus in
chapter 3?: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which
is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
If you are submerged at the beginning of this new life and throughout
the life of faith and you feel like you’re barely able to keep your
head above water, then know that it is your Lord who daily drowns you
so that daily you may arise to new and eternal life. That when the
waters rise it’s not a reason to give up hope but an opportunity to be
washed anew and renewed through those trials.
The people of God at the Red Sea thought that they had come to an end
but God brought them through those waters. The flood meant destruction
for every person but in His mercy God brought eight people safely
through those flood waters. In this same way Baptism saves you. As a
Baptized child of God daily you eat of the flesh of Christ and drink
of His blood as you recall your Baptism and repent of your sins; as
you read and meditate on the word of God. A torrent of sins flooded
Jesus on the cross, the mercy of God overflowing to you, that you may
bathe in the promise that He will bring you through the waters that
rise up in your life to bring you safely to the shore, where He will
welcome you into the eternal rest of heaven. Amen.
SDG
--
Pastor Paul L. Willweber
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS]
San Diego, California
princeofpeacesd.net
three-taverns.net
It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything
except where the marks of the Church are concerned.
[Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian]
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