Summary: Disturbing or confusing as they might be, the spoken words of Christ create the life of eternity within those who can truly hear them.
By most accounts, the sermon was a flop. Jesus had been invited to preach at the synagogue in +. As soon as he finished speaking, the sideways glances began to fly. One person scowled. Another ground his teeth. Others stood shell-shocked by the vivid phrases that lingered in their ears. No doubt several listeners were utterly confused by what they had heard. Yet the consensus was clear: The sermon was tough to swallow.
His supporters agreed. A number of them huddled outside, having one of those conversations that people sometimes have in the parking lot. Quiet complaints, muttering beneath the breath. When Jesus came near, he did not make things any better. He said his words are "spirit and life." That did not smooth out the conflict.
Some grew uncomfortable and began to leave. A few others stood around scratching their heads. They did know what to do, or whether they should go away. When Jesus asked about it, Simon Peter replied, "Lord, to whom can we go?"
Peter no doubt meant that as a rhetorical question, but actually, there are many places for people to go. In her memoir, poet Annie Dillard tells us that she left the church as a teenager. On Sundays, her father dropped her off at the door and kept driving. He never attended. The building reeked of affluence and pretension. By the time she was a teenager, she grew disturbed by the hypocrisy of what she saw: a barefoot Jesus depicted in a gold mosaic, the minister's affected accent and parents who forced her to attend when they did not. Her anger simmered and she decided to quit.
One day, the church secretary called to make an appointment for the minister to meet with Annie. Her mother asked why and discovered the precocious teenager had written a letter to resign from the church. Both parents were appalled. Her father suggested she should have slipped away quietly, as many people do, making no fuss.
The meeting date arrived. Annie met with the pretentious minister. He listened for a while and said, "This is rather early of you to be quitting the church," adding under his breath, "I suppose you'll be back soon."1 He figured there was nowhere else for her to go.
It was a naive position to hold, then and now. People have always been leaving churches. Sometimes they leave because of pretentious ministers. Others leave because of angry arguments with fellow Christians. Perhaps there was a disagreement over a political stance by a church leader, no matter how courageous it seemed at the time. Or maybe something terrible happened that was never addressed. Plenty of reasons - all too human reasons.
These days, the sacred Sabbath has become the day for some to catch up on sleep. It is the only available day to rest after a stressful week. For others, Sunday is a day of assigned employment. They can't get their work hours reassigned. Family patterns have changed, too. If Sunday is the only day when a divorced parent or custodial grandparent can spend time with children, that becomes more essential than spending an hour in a church pew. Absence from worship does not always signify unfaithfulness.
In addition to this present situation, there has also been a shift in our culture. For many, weekends are a time for entertainment. Just like their neighbors, good church folks are tempted to fill up all available time with sporting events, music festivals and bus trips - all of which are good fun. Sometimes the schedules take over. As one of the absentees declared to a pastor that he knew from high school, "I want to hear you preach sometime, but my weekends are just too busy."
Ceaseless activity often masks a deep, insatiable hunger at the heart of all our pursuits. If anything defines us as human beings, it is our hunger. We are creatures who received our lives from the hand of Another. We do not have the capacity to fill our souls with what they need. We are incomplete.
In one of his books, Frederick Buechner wrote, "We do not live by bread alone, but we also do not live long without it. To eat is to acknowledge our dependence - both on food and on each other. It also reminds us of other kinds of emptiness that not even the Blue Plate Special can touch."2
So where do we go? What can fill our emptiness? Our culture would turn such questions into sales projects. There are websites to meet every perceived human need. Our desires are marketed as commodities. We sift through empty words and wade through false promises. And those of us who remain in the church are tempted to try anything to refill the empty seats.
Horace Greeley, the 19th century newspaper editor, once received a letter from a woman whose church was in financial trouble. She wrote about the steps that had been taken to ease the difficulty. The church had a strawberry festival, an oyster supper, a donkey party, a turkey dinner and other events. She asked, "Will you please tell us, Dr. Greeley, how to keep a struggling church from disbanding?" Greeley wrote back and said, "Try Christianity."3
The heart of Christianity is paying attention to Jesus. Honoring him. Worshiping him. Praying in his name. Serving in his footsteps. Most of all, listening to what he says. The Word he speaks reveals the Holy One who satisfies our greatest hungers. This revelation is the gift of what he calls "the life of eternity." It is living in God and with God. Right now, and forever. Life comes from hearing him speak.
Hear a parable. One summer, a small-town pastor announced the following week would be a laity Sunday. A church member was invited to preach. By most accounts, he was the nicest member of the congregation. He had a pleasant speaking voice and a calming presence. Best of all, he was incapable of saying no.
Sunday arrived on schedule. The congregation sang and said their prayers. At sermon time, the man stood in silence, long enough to initiate a nervous rustle in the pews. Then he said, "I have never stood in a pulpit. Today we will do something different. I will read to you the words of Jesus from the Gospel of John. I will put them in the air and then sit down."
He began: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.4
"Again, Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.'"5
"If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."6
"I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep."7
"I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"8
"So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you."9
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?"10
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid."11
"I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing."12
"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you."13
He went on like that, reading out of his red-letter Bible. Then he sat down. Nobody moved. The congregation inhabited a silence that nobody felt the need to interrupt. There was a clear and abiding sense that Jesus had addressed them personally.
Wasn't that the deepest reason they went to worship that morning? Not to hear a preacher, but to hear Jesus Christ, the Holy One of God.
"Lord, where else are we going to go?" There are a lot of places we could go. There are a lot of other voices we could hear. But there is only One whose word gives life. It is the Christ, still speaking through his Spirit, the One who says, "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them."14