Jesu Juva

“Jesus Is Offensive - For You!”

Text: John 6:51-69; Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18; Ephesians 5:6-21

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Do you take offense at this? Jesus asked. Yes, they did. And many left. Jesus is offensive.

The word in the original Greek there is scandalizo. You can hear the word scandal there. That’s what Jesus is. He’s a scandal; scandalous. Scandals shock people, they anger people. And that’s what Jesus did. He shocks them by what He says. When He says He came down from heaven. When He talks about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. He angers them by what He does, and by what He doesn’t do. By who He hangs out with. By not doing what they want Him to do.

Now, Jesus isn’t purposefully trying to be antagonistic, but the words and ways and truth of God and His Word is going to be offensive to a sinful world. To people, and to a world, whose thinking has been so warped by sin that we no longer think as we should. So warped, in fact, that what is upside-down we think is right-side-up. What is wrong we think is right. What is good we think is evil. Look at what we’ve done to sexuality, and marriage, and the multitude of life issues and how life is used, misused, abused, manipulated, and prematurely ended. And in so many different ways. Look at how people treat each other on social media. Using it as a license to gossip and slander, to hurt and to shame. Look at the hollowed-out-shell that most religion has become. We live in a world where everything is true and nothing is false. Tell a lie often enough until it becomes the truth. And lying seems to be the norm. And hypocrisy and selfishness and . . . well, you get the picture. We long for the good ol’ days when things were different. But I’m not sure the good ol’ days were all that good, or that different. Just the same sins in different forms.

When a virus enters our body, our immune system kicks in and attacks it. But what if our immune system doesn’t work? Then the virus grows and takes over. And that’s what sin has done in us. We’re not good by nature, we’re sinful by nature, completely infected with sin, as we confessed again this morning. And if left on our own, left with no help, left with no cure, we die. Physically, spiritually, eternally.

So when the doctor comes into the room and tells you the problem and the diagnosis, you may not want to hear it! But that’s the first step to begin treatment, that you may be cured. Now, you can reject what the doctor says, ignore it, argue with him and get angry with her, and think she’s wrong and an idiot. And sometimes doctors are wrong. But maybe, just maybe, he’s right. So you’d be wise to listen.

So Jesus comes into our world, the perfect into the imperfect, the one who is the truth into a world of lies and untruths, the one who is what we should be but are not, the one who is life into a world of death, and there is offense; scandal. Not, usually, among those who are sick and know they need help; but among those who think they are fine and good and that everything is alright. Who is this guy? Who is He to tell us anything? And like white blood cells surrounding an invading virus, they surround Him and try to neutralize Him or get rid of Him.

But Jesus is no virus. He is life. And He has come to give life. Now, if you think you already have life, and a good life, and what He’s saying and doing is upsetting your good life, and the way you want to live, and how you want to continue to live, He’s offensive! He’s scandalous. But maybe we’ve been sick so long, we don’t know what healthy is anymore. Maybe we’ve been dying so long, we don’t know what life is anymore. I remember when I lived in New York, my ears got so blocked up with wax I wasn’t hearing well. I finally went to the doctor and he removed these giant, hardened plugs of wax from my ears, and I couldn’t believe all the things I was hearing! I’d gotten so used to not hearing well, that I had no idea . . . Do you think our lives could be like that? That we’ve gotten so used to sin and death, that we no longer know what it means to live and have life?

But Jesus knows. That’s why everywhere He goes, like what happened at the beginning of this chapter, John chapter 6, when Jesus sees the crowds, He has compassion on them. Because He knows. He knows their condition. He knows their need. He knows what you and I need. He knows it better than we do. And He has come to provide it for us. Spiritual medicine, spiritual surgery, forgiveness, new life. In Him. From Him. From heaven. Where there is no death, only life. Where there is no sin, only purity and perfection. Jesus comes to give this to you.

This is what His catechesis in John chapter 6 is all about. Feeding the 5,000 was great, but not the point. Feeding the world with food even greater is. Food that doesn’t just give life for a time, but for eternity. It is the food of His Word and the food of His forgiveness, but most especially as we heard today, it is the food of His Body and Blood. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. . . . Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.

And many who heard this grumbled. As do many today. It is offensive, scandalous, a hard saying. Eating His Body? Drinking His Blood? And so many people left Him. Stopped following Him. Jesus crossed the line. All they wanted was some more food! What’s wrong with that, Jesus? Why’d you have to say that? That’s not what we came for. Not what we’re looking for. Not what we want. See ya.

Maybe you’ve been tempted to do that, too. And maybe you have, for a time. Left the church for a time. Done what you’ve wanted, even though you knew that’s not what God wanted. Went after life as you thought it should be, what you thought you wanted, what you thought was good and right. And maybe for a time it was okay. But sin has a way, doesn’t it? Our own sin, the sins of others, creep in, sneak in, grow, spread, and life gets disappointing, unfulfilling. You’re working so hard but getting no where. The rat race, the hamster wheel, whatever you call it. And you’ve heard people say, and maybe you’ve said it yourself: Is this all there is? Is this all there is to life?

Jesus says: no! There is so much more. More life that He has for us and wants to give to us. Life that is not just the rat race or the hamster wheel, the round and round that doesn’t go anywhere. But life with purpose, meaning, and a destination. Right now, your destination is the grave. But that’s what Jesus came to change. That not just your name live on for a generation or two of people who remember you, but that you live on. That your life be eternal. And for that, the eternal one had to die, to pay for your sins, to defeat death, and the break open the grave. And because His grave was but temporary, so, too, our graves.

Whoever feeds on me, Jesus says, he also will live because of me. . . . Whoever feeds on this bread - on Him, on His Word, on His forgiveness, and most especially on His Body and Blood - will live forever. Pretty great food, that. Even better than donuts!

That food you have received, and so that life you have received. That we don’t always live it, that’s a reason to repent. Like the people of Israel in Joshua’s day. Under Joshua’s leadership, God brought the people of Israel into the Promised Land and had given them life and rest. But still, Joshua has to say to them (as we heard today): Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. That’s strange, isn’t it? Why did they still have gods from Egypt and were turning to them? That’s crazy! After all God had done for them. But we could ask ourselves the same question . . . That after all that Jesus has done for us, why do we still fear, love, and trust in people and things (and in myself!) more than Him? This sin, this infection in us is powerful. It keeps affecting us.

And in Paul’s day, too. Let no one deceive you with empty words, he told the Ephesians. Let no one lead you astray. Sin often sounds good, but never is. And its promises are empty. But the words and promises of Jesus are no empty words, but words that give life. So when Jesus asked the Twelve, Do you want to go away as well? they replied, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. You alone have the words that are not empty, but filled with life, filled with the Spirit, filled with forgiveness. There is no other way to life.

So perhaps think of it this way . . . if Jesus is offensive, it is because He has taken the offensive against our sin. To attack it, to defeat it. Because the truth is, we are the offensive ones, not Jesus. Our sin is an offense to God. But rather than reject us, deny us, or turn away from us, the Son of God comes into our offensive world and our offensive lives, to redeem us and clean us. And some people will get defensive about that. Try to save their lives and attack Jesus back. We see that in Jesus’ day, and in our day.

Better, though, is the new life Jesus has come to give us.

Better is His Word that gives eternal life in the water of Baptism.

Better is His Word that gives eternal life in the words of Absolution.

Better is His Word that gives eternal life in the Gospel.

Better is His Word that gives eternal life in the bread and wine that is His Body and Blood, in the Supper.

Better is not to save our sinful and unclean life that is going to end in death, but to live a new life that has no end.

And like with Jesus, that will make you offensive to the world. You might be among the few, not the many. And that might be hard. But in the end you will be among the many, among the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, around Jesus.

So, do you want to go away as well? No. Come instead. To the Gospel, to the font, to the altar, to the Son who has life for you.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.