Pentecost 12 - Year B

John 6: 56-69
56Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live for ever.' 59He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.
60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, ‘This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?' 61But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, ‘Does this offend you? 62Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64But 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. 65And he said, ‘For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.'
66 Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 67So Jesus asked the twelve, ‘Do you also wish to go away?' 68Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.'*

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In today's Gospel, there is concern expressed about some aspects of the teaching of Jesus and we are told :
‘Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him."
Jesus then asks the Twelve disciples:
Do you also wish to go away?
Simon Peter replies: Lord, to whom can we go?..... To whom can we go?!
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For some reason or other Simon Peter's reply has been a verse that I have held onto over the years.
I have never really explored why I have been attracted to this verse - rather I have used it as a sort of safe haven when I have been troubled by doubts.
Like most, if not all of us, I have had to deal with all sorts of doubts about the faith.
I know that we all have to deal with doubt. In fact, doubt is part of faith.
Even so, I am thankful that this verse has been one that has helped me.
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So over the last little while as I have pondered what this sermon might be about, I have kept coming back to: To whom can we go?
As the ideas have unfolded I have been pleased to encounter some insights that have been valuable for me - I hope that they will be valuable for you as well.
The plan of this sermon is to invite you to walk through with me as I try to make sense of "To whom can we go?
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Let's start by asking ourselves the question:
What would we say if someone asks us: who we are?
Just think about that for a minute
How do each of you answer the question:
Who am I?
What might we say?
I could say that I am .............'s husband
I am the brother of ..................................
I am of son of .................................................
I am the friend of........
I could also say I am a member of the parish of Grovely

You could all say similar things.....
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The point is that it soon becomes clear that who we are is very much linked to our relationships.
We are persons in relationship.
Even though we might be by ourselves for a time, we remain persons in relationship.

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Psychologists and philosophers have tried to define the nature of being a person in all sorts of ways.
Current thinking very much acknowledges the role of family, community, society in forming a person.
That is, an individual person can only be the person they are as a result of a whole set of relationships.

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There is a lot of wisdom in the statement that "It takes a whole village to bring up a child"
The proof of what we are talking about here is to just imagine what a small child would develop into if it were totally isolated from human contact as it grew up.
I don't think we need to go much further. We soon realise that it just would not work - the child would have no language for a start.
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So when we think about our identity we understand that yes we are somehow individuals but as individual persons we are necessarily a function of our relationships.
There is a sort of tension or balance between:
Individual person and community at various levels

Individually we contribute to the community as a member .....
and the community contributes to us - even forms us or shapes us.
Importantly individual persons cannot exist without community... and of course communities cannot exist without individuals.
There is in fact a fundamental relationship between individual and community - we can't have one without the other. (This is a really important idea )

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The interesting thing is that the same principles apply as far as our faith is concerned.
We do not develop faith by ourselves.
We develop our faith in the context of a community of faith.
Developing our faith is not about learning a set of facts or propositions although we do pick up a few points along the way.
Receiving or developing the gift of faith involves be formed in community.
So in the same way that we were just talking about individual and community in a general social sense, we can also talk about
Individual Christian and faith community
Or individual Christian and Body of Christ

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The notion of the Body of Christ is most important.
We say in the Eucharist that we are the Body of Christ.
In baptism we are incorporated into Christ.
This means that a faith community such as ourselves is both a social grouping and also a community united at a spiritual level.
If we are not connected with the Body of Christ in some form, we become spiritually diminished.
How much would a child learn without social contact.?
How much would our faith develop in isolation?
Just like the vine and branches story that Jesus tells later in John's Gospel.
If the branches are removed from the vine, they wither and dry up.
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Now as it turns out the Gospel reading today is very much about the Eucharist.

Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them.(vs 56)
This is clearly referring to participating in the Eucharist.
There is also in today's reading the verse:
The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.(vs 63)
We can see then that today's reading speaks of both Word and Sacrament.
Both Word and Sacrament are part of our Eucharistic liturgy.

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When some of the disciples start to question the teaching of Jesus and decide to turn away, they clearly do not understand what they are doing.
But Simon Peter does!
Peter is profoundly recognising that we need to be in spiritual community - we need to be in Christ.
Peter's response: "to whom can we go?" recognises that our spiritual identity is in Christ.
Indeed this is very much part of the gift of the Eucharist.

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The Eucharist, or Holy Communion or Lord's Supper or the Mass is the great common prayer of the Church.
It operates at the physical, social, symbolic, and spiritual levels where we
Gather in fellowship
We are reconciled with God and each other
We are nourished with the word of God
We affirm our commitment
Our needs and concerns are tended to
We join together in praise and thanksgiving
Sharing the bread and the wine
At the spiritual level, we are formed and nourished as part of the Body of Christ.

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From our earlier discussion, we all agree that, to develop a well balanced individual person in the social sense, community in its various forms is essential.
To be fully human we need the spiritual dimension as well.
To develop spiritually we need to be part of spiritual community , part of a faith community.
Our common prayer, particularly the Eucharist offers us the opportunity to be part of the ultimate spiritual community : the Body of Christ.
The Eucharist instituted by Jesus himself is not just a prayer honouring, remembering and giving thanks.
The Eucharist is also an extraordinary gift to us all - it is a powerful means of actually forming us, shaping us as Christians.

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When Peter, says: To whom can we go, he is recognising the anathema of turning away from the source of true life.
Simon Peter is recognising the value of the teaching of Jesus in today's reading:
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them.(vs 56)
The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.(vs 63)
This is indeed the source of true life.

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I think the verse: "To whom can we go" was really asking "Who am I?" or "Who are we?"
This exploration of today's Gospel has reinforced for me that our ultimate identity - who we really are - who we were created to be - is only realised when we are in Christ.
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Furthermore we experience the reality of this in the Eucharist.
Remember the Eucharistic fellowship extends beyond the one hour or so of the service. (it is actually who we are 24/7)
We come to know who we truly are in the context of the Eucharist (Eucharistic fellowship).
Also, we experience the Risen Christ within the Eucharist.
Of course we may experience Christ in other ways as well
But the gift of the Last Supper - "do this in remembrance of me"- is the source of true life and of experience that sustains faith.
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The Gospel reading today is a witness to this as experienced by the early church community that produced the Gospel of John.
This is a community that had clearly taken on board the invitation of Jesus to "Do this in remembrance of me".
This is a community that had retained the memory of Peter's confession as to who Jesus was and is.
This is a community recording their post-Easter experience of encountering the living Christ in the breaking of the bread and in the sharing of the cup.

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And so are we such a community.
We are a community today - the Body of Christ in this place-
carrying on this same tradition - breaking the bread - sharing the cup -
experiencing the risen Christ -giving witness to the reality of Christ today
and finding out who we really are
and having the freedom and joy of being who we were created to be
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Is it any wonder that Peter said what he said:
To whom can we go?
It is a good thought for us to hang on to.
To whom can we go?