Live forever

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” Then the Jews debated among themselves, asking, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “I assure you, unless you eat the flesh of the Human One and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in them. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me lives because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. It isn’t like the bread your ancestors ate, and then they died. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.” (John 6:51-58, CEB)

Jesus is the living bread and we say that this is communion. Jesus in the night before he was crucified had dinner with his friends and said this is my body broken and given for you when holding bread and this is my blood shed and given for you while holding a cup of wine. This didn’t happen in the gospel of John, but in the other three and is noted in Paul’s letters, specifically Corinthians.

But here we get Jesus saying he is the living bread. And while this can be seen as talking about communion, it is also talking about believing in Jesus and having a relationship with God.

When we commune with Jesus and live in that relationship we are being fed and nourished to be who God created us to be. Unless we maintain our relationship with Jesus, we are not living the life God called us to live.

We will live forever when we abide with Christ. When we have faith and know that we are loved as is and called to love the world in the same fashion, to show them grace and mercy and see that God’s love is shared.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

the Messiah is coming

A Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me some water to drink.” His disciples had gone into the city to buy him some food. The Samaritan woman asked, “Why do you, a Jewish man, ask for something to drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (Jews and Samaritans didn’t associate with each other.) Jesus responded, “If you recognized God’s gift and who is saying to you, ‘Give me some water to drink,’ you would be asking him and he would give you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you don’t have a bucket and the well is deep. Where would you get this living water? You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave this well to us, and he drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks from the water that I will give will never be thirsty again. The water that I give will become in those who drink it a spring of water that bubbles up into eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will never be thirsty and will never need to come here to draw water!” Jesus said to her, “Go, get your husband, and come back here.” The woman replied, “I don’t have a husband.” “You are right to say, ‘I don’t have a husband,’” Jesus answered. “You’ve had five husbands, and the man you are with now isn’t your husband. You’ve spoken the truth.” The woman said, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you and your people say that it is necessary to worship in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you and your people will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You and your people worship what you don’t know; we worship what we know because salvation is from the Jews. But the time is coming—and is here!—when true worshippers will worship in spirit and truth. The Father looks for those who worship him this way. God is spirit, and it is necessary to worship God in spirit and truth.” The woman said, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one who is called the Christ. When he comes, he will teach everything to us.” Jesus said to her, “I Am—the one who speaks with you.” (John 4:7-26, CEB)

The Messiah is coming…

The woman at the well said that to Jesus, and Jesus said, “I Am—the one who speaks with you.” Jesus said, “ἐγώ εἰμι, ὁ λαλῶν σοι.” Which translates, “I Am, the one speaking to you.” And ἐγώ εἰμι is the name of God from Moses and the burning bush.

The woman at the well would have known this to be the name of God.

Jesus just told this woman that he is God and he is the Messiah.

What would you have done at that moment? After all he had said to you after just meeting him?

What do we do when we encounter Christ today?

Know the messiah is coming. Know that you are loved.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

watch out…

Brothers and sisters, I urge you to watch out for people who create divisions and problems against the teaching that you learned. Keep away from them. People like that aren’t serving the Lord. They are serving their own feelings. They deceive the hearts of innocent people with smooth talk and flattery. The news of your obedience has reached everybody, so I’m happy for you. But I want you to be wise about what’s good, and innocent about what’s evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. (Romans 16:17-20, CEB)

This line is a double-edged sword…

“I urge you to watch out for people who create divisions and problems against the teaching that you learned.”

But what if what you have learned is only because those in power wish to stay in power so they have taught you something that is not what God intended, but is what they need to stay in power?

We should not always follow along because this is the way we have always done this. We should not blindly follow because that is the way it has always been.

When I arrived at my first Hebrew Scriptures class, The Pentateuch and the Historical Books of the Bible, the professor said first thing on the first day of class, “What you learned in Sunday School is a lie, and I am going to teach you the truth.”

We need to question things and grow as we learn more about our faith and not just accept things as they are. Know good, and seek to not be or do evil.

Loving People. Loving God.

Make a name…

Stephen, who stood out among the believers for the way God’s grace was at work in his life and for his exceptional endowment with divine power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. Opposition arose from some who belonged to the so-called Synagogue of Former Slaves. Members from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and Asia entered into debate with Stephen. However, they couldn’t resist the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke. Then they secretly enticed some people to claim, “We heard him insult Moses and God.” They stirred up the people, the elders, and the legal experts. They caught Stephen, dragged him away, and brought him before the Jerusalem Council. Before the council, they presented false witnesses who testified, “This man never stops speaking against this holy place and the Law. In fact, we heard him say that this man Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and alter the customary practices Moses gave us.” Everyone seated in the council stared at Stephen, and they saw that his face was radiant, just like an angel’s. (Acts 6:8-15, CEB)

Westboro Baptist Church.

Do you know that church? It is the one known for picketing LGBTQIA2S+ rallies and gatherings or anyone who goes against what the Bible says, or what we traditionally thought the Bible said.

That is what I thought of when I read this. Stephen if he was around today would be one who had Westboro Baptist coming up to him and calling him out. In the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, where I serve as pastor, it would be named on Exposing the ELCA website.

Make a name for yourself as being one who goes against the mainstream when it is needed to go against. We are called to be in and not of this world, loving it to help show God’s grace, love, and mercy in everything we do.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Eternal Life…

Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But I told you that you have seen me and still don’t believe. Everyone whom the Father gives to me will come to me, and I won’t send away anyone who comes to me. I have come down from heaven not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of the one who sent me, that I won’t lose anything he has given me, but I will raise it up at the last day. This is my Father’s will: that all who see the Son and believe in him will have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:35-40, CEB)

What is eternal life?

Is it something we wait for? That will come when Jesus returns?

Is it life forever with God in heaven, wherever or however that may be?

Jesus here in John says that he came down to be the bread of life and to give eternal life to whoever believed.

Jesus is the sustenance for our daily lives like food is for our bodies, our relationship with God is sustenance for life.

Eternal life is not something we wait for, but something we live into right now.

Know you are in that life giving relationship and it will last forever.

Loving People. Loving God.

waiting

Therefore, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found by him in peace—pure and faultless. Consider the patience of our Lord to be salvation, just as our dear friend and brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him, speaking of these things in all his letters. Some of his remarks are hard to understand, and people who are ignorant and whose faith is weak twist them to their own destruction, just as they do the other scriptures. Therefore, dear friends, since you have been warned in advance, be on guard so that you aren’t led off course into the error of sinful people, and lose your own safe position. Instead, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. To him belongs glory now and forever. Amen. (2 Peter 3:14-18, CEB)

As we wait for the return of the Lord, know we are already living in eternal life and we should show that to the world by loving as we are loved.

Do not give reasons for others to dislike you or find fault with God, but love as God loves.

If we love like God we will grow in grace.

Wait, lovingly.

Loving People. Loving God.

light

Therefore, imitate God like dearly loved children. Live your life with love, following the example of Christ, who loved us and gave himself for us. He was a sacrificial offering that smelled sweet to God. Sexual immorality, and any kind of impurity or greed, shouldn’t even be mentioned among you, which is right for holy persons. Obscene language, silly talk, or vulgar jokes aren’t acceptable for believers. Instead, there should be thanksgiving. Because you know for sure that persons who are sexually immoral, impure, or greedy—which happens when things become gods—those persons won’t inherit the kingdom of Christ and God. Nobody should deceive you with stupid ideas. God’s anger comes down on those who are disobedient because of this kind of thing. So you shouldn’t have anything to do with them. You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, so live your life as children of light. Light produces fruit that consists of every sort of goodness, justice, and truth. Therefore, test everything to see what’s pleasing to the Lord, and don’t participate in the unfruitful actions of darkness. Instead, you should reveal the truth about them. It’s embarrassing to even talk about what certain persons do in secret. But everything exposed to the light is revealed by the light. Everything that is revealed by the light is light. Therefore, it says, Wake up, sleeper! Get up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. (Ephesians 5:1-14, CEB)

Live in the light knowing everything you do will be made known to all.

We should not be perverse or immoral. We should look out for others and not try to satisfy our own needs.

God knows our intentions.

Live for others and lift each other up.

Impure, greedy, immoral people will be made known.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Bread of life

Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

The Jewish opposition grumbled about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They asked, “Isn’t this Jesus, Joseph’s son, whose mother and father we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus responded, “Don’t grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless they are drawn to me by the Father who sent me, and I will raise them up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets, And they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has listened to the Father and learned from him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God. He has seen the Father. I assure you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that whoever eats from it will never die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:35, 41-51, CEB)

Do not grumble among yourselves…

This is the whole Martin Luther explanation of the third article of The Apostles’ Creed:

“I believe that I cannot come to my Lord Jesus Christ by my own intellegence or power. But the Holy Spirit called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with her gifts, made me holy and kept me in the true faith, just as she calls, gathers together, enlightens and makes holy the whole Church on earth and keeps it with Jesus in the one, true faith. In this Church, she generously forgives each day every sin committed by me and by every believer. On the last day, she will raise me and all the dead from the grave. She will give eternal life to me and to all who believe in Christ. Yes, this is true!“

We can not come to God without God helping us come to God. We can not figure it out on our own, but need God to help us. When we think we have it all figured out we are getting in the way and need to step back and allow God to lead us.

Eat the bread and follow where you are being led, knowing it is not your own doing, but God working in and through you to show the world love through your life.

Loving People. Loving God.

Ask…

“Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door is opened. Who among you will give your children a stone when they ask for bread? Or give them a snake when they ask for fish? If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him. (Matthew 7:7-11, CEB)

I have always had a love/hate relationship with this text.

Jesus clearly says here, “Ask, and you will receive.”

So when I ask for something and I don’t get it, what does that mean? Jesus just said ask and receive.

Also, Jesus said, “Search, and you will find.”

So when I look for something and don’t find it, what does that mean? He said search and find.

And again Jesus said, “Knock and it will be opened.”

So when I knock and it isn’t opened, what does that mean? He said knock, and it would be opened.

Other versions of this text say something to the effect, if it is in the will of God it will happen. I have heard it said there are three answers to pray, yes, no, and not yet/maybe…

This version just says ask and get, seek and find, knock and it will be opened. And I think we all know it really doesn’t work that way. God is not some cosmic vending machine giving us all our wishes. And sometimes maybe we get what we ask for, seek, or knock on but not in the way we thought we would so to us it didn’t happen. Maybe that is the real twist here. We always get it, just not to our expectations, which to us means it didn’t happen.

Know that the promise that God is always with you is true and you are never alone.

Sometimes though things don’t go our way or the way we imagined.

Live in love and know you are never alone.

Loving People. Loving God.

harvest

Brothers and sisters, if a person is caught doing something wrong, you who are spiritual should restore someone like this with a spirit of gentleness. Watch out for yourselves so you won’t be tempted too. Carry each other’s burdens and so you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks they are important when they aren’t, they’re fooling themselves. Each person should test their own work and be happy with doing a good job and not compare themselves with others. Each person will have to carry their own load. Those who are taught the word should share all good things with their teacher. Make no mistake, God is not mocked. A person will harvest what they plant. Those who plant only for their own benefit will harvest devastation from their selfishness, but those who plant for the benefit of the Spirit will harvest eternal life from the Spirit. Let’s not get tired of doing good, because in time we’ll have a harvest if we don’t give up. So then, let’s work for the good of all whenever we have an opportunity, and especially for those in the household of faith. (Galatians 6:1-10, CEB)

A person will harvest what they planted…

You can not yield good fruit when all you plant is rancid.

We need to lift each other up and not be haughty or self-centered.

God knows your intentions. Live for others and focus on their needs knowing yours will be taken care of in the mix.

Loving People. Loving God.