Grace, peace, and joy everlasting to you today in Jesus name.
When you hear the phrase “eternal life,” what do you think of? No, really, think about the picture(s) that come to mind. When we come here together, and we share in the Lord’s supper, we receive, like Jesus’ words in John’s gospel say, the bread that “Son of Man [gives].” “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” This is the second week out of five, that our gospel readings talk about Jesus and Bread. Last week we read about Jesus feeding 5000 people with a small offering from some boy’s lunch box—with leftovers! God provides more than enough for us in this world. And God looks at you, and the things you offer, and sees that you are more than just enough. In God’s eyes you are whole, complete, valuable, and more than enough. And Jesus is at work in you and me, bringing that message and reality here. So this is week two of Jesus, the Bread of life. And it’s likely we’ll be singing a lot of bread hymns in these weeks. Which ones are your favorite? Today, on the theme of bread, the focus is the phrase “eternal life.” What does eternal life mean for us today? (Okay, this one you don’t have to answer yet….) But… To start, let’s go the children’s sermon portion of the sermon—you know what I’m talking about…when I ask a question and then get a whole lot of really creative answers. You can all answer, there are no wrong answers, I want the creativity: How long is forever? Go on, answer it with many creative answers. Forever, or eternity, is just as much a quality as it is a quantity. What do I mean? For example, kids especially answer this, how long is ten minutes of playing at the park? Very, very short. But how long is ten minutes when you’re waiting for ice cream? Both are ten minutes, but only one is forever. This is forever as a quality of time. Eternal life, now, is about living a fullness of life—a life of an eternal, or forever quality. See, the eternal life we know about most is the living forever in heaven after you die kind of eternal—the quantity of time. And that’s important. That’s a vision that gives us assurance, and hope, and many times keeps us motivated, gives us what we need to keep on going here and now. Jesus’ death and resurrection defeated the death and took away it’s finality, and therefore it’s sting. We have the promise of a never-ending future in Christ Jesus. The other side of the phrase “eternal life” is that it signifies an abundance of life, a quality of eternity, right now today. It’s life that is full of meaning and purpose, and hope, and aliveness—as full of those things as that 10-minute wait for ice cream is of impatience and anticipation. That’s life in Jesus: eternally-full, forever-full of meaning and purpose and hope and aliveness. At Jesus’ table, the table we gather around each week, we are fed by the Bread of Life, which doesn’t just satisfy us for a day, but transforms us—it creates in us an eternal life in us, or maybe I’ll try another phrase to emphasize the “quality” part of eternal life: how about: it creates in you an “unrelenting aliveness.” What do you think of when you hear “unrelenting aliveness?” The bread of life we receive creates an unrelenting aliveness in us—It’s a life that is empowered, a life that joins itself to Christ and his mission, helping to live as if already in the kingdom of God, to live a life of bringing the kingdom into the world. Brining that kingdom to those around us, and inviting them to join us in spreading it. The Greek words under the phrase “eternal life” in the Bible are something like “life of the ages.” Eternal life, “life of the ages,” is a kind of life that doesn’t just fade away like manna in the wilderness—the people in our gospel story use this image to think about Jesus’ feeding the multitudes with bread. He promises that the Son of Man will give them bread that endures—does this means he’s going to keep literally feeding them daily bread—like some kind of divine vending machine? Well, Jesus is with us each day, and God is our source of daily bread, but no. No, Jesus says that the manna, though miraculous, also pointed to something bigger. He, himself is the true bread from heaven. And what he gives is life for the world. This kind of life can’t fade—this kind of life, even death cannot destroy. It’s unending and unrelenting aliveness in God’s kingdom that Jesus gives in himself. Eternal life, “life of the ages,” is a kind of life that doesn’t just fade away like manna in the wilderness—it’s a life with meaning and purpose, a life of belonging, a life of connection, and a life with hope. It’s a “life worth living” kind of life: So as we come to the table today, let us hear, and taste, and experience that good news: Through this bread, in this meal, in Christ: You are given meaning And purpose And belonging And connection And hope. You are given Jesus. And in him you have a never-ending life of unrelenting aliveness. Comments are closed.
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AuthorRev. Chris Sesvold is currently the pastor at Halfway Creek Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Holmen, WI. Archives
October 2021
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