Living

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

August 19, 2018

15 Proper B

           “Live Like You Were Dying” is a great country song written and sung by Tim McGraw.  The song has a lively tune and a compelling message.  A friend has received some scary test results and McGraw asks “How’s it hit you when you get that kind of news?  Man, what’d you do?”  The friend’s answer is that he “went skydiving, rocky mountain climbing, loved deeper, lived sweeter, and gave forgiveness that he’d been denying.”  Then, in the song, the friend says to McGraw “Someday I hope you get the chance to live like you were dying.”  The song urges us to take our mortality seriously and make a bucket list so we can squeeze every possible bit out of life before we no longer have the opportunity.

          This morning, we hear Jesus say “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever.”  Then Jesus says “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.” Those words call to mind Jesus’ words at the last supper where Jesus took a loaf of bread, broke it and said “Take, eat.  This is my body.”  Then Jesus took a cup of wine and said “Drink from it, all of you.  For this is my blood of the covenant poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”  We hear these words every week as the bread and wine are blessed in the Eucharist.  In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, as Jesus nears the end of his earthly life, Jesus gives the disciples this bread, this meal, as a way to both remember Jesus and be connected with him after he is gone.  The focus of the meal is on Jesus’ upcoming death.

Today, however, we hear from John’s gospel, and John tells the story differently.  In John's gospel, there is no meal involved on the night Jesus is arrested. Instead, as Jesus gathers with his disciples that last night, he washes their feet.   The passages we have heard over the last four weeks about the bread of life all come in early in John's gospel, right after the feeding of the 5000, not at the end of his life.  In the middle of Jesus' life, after he has fed the multitudes with a few loaves and fish, Jesus says "I am the living bread that came down from heaven."  In the middle of Jesus’ life, he says “Whoever eats of this bread will live forever.”

          In the 7 verses of our gospel reading this morning, the word "life" or "living" occurs 8 times.  "I am the living bread." "Whoever eats of this bread will live forever." “Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.”  In another few chapters, Jesus will say “I have come that you may have life, and have it abundantly.”  And in yet another few chapters, Jesus will say “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”   With all due respect to Tim McGraw, in John’s gospel, Jesus is not calling us to live like we are dying.  Jesus does not give us a bucket list of things we need to accomplish before we die.  Jesus calls us to live like we are fully alive, abiding in the life Jesus has given us.

          What does living like we are fully alive look like if there is no bucket list involved?  The reading from Ephesians gives us part of the answer to that question.  The writer exhorts us to “be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  When we live like we are fully alive, we live as grateful people and we see the world as grateful people.  Our lives and our actions are shaped by that gratitude.

          The second part of the answer comes, in a round about way, from our reading from I Kings.  On the surface, the reading gives us the impression that David and Solomon have been wonderful examples of the faithful life.  We hear God say that David kept God’s statutes and commandments, and God is so pleased with Solomon that God asks Solomon what God can give Solomon.  When Solomon asks for wisdom, God throws in riches and honor as well.  Surely, David and Solomon must be models of faithful life.

          But, what about David and Bathsheba?  And what about Solomon’s sacrifices at the high places?   What about Solomon’s marriage alliance with Pharaoh, King of Egypt, which happens in the two verses immediately prior to our story this morning. Has God forgotten about all of this decidedly unfaithful behavior?

          And this is the second point about living as people who are fully alive.  God clearly loves David and Solomon despite their mistakes.  And the two men love God. People who live like they are fully alive can do that because they know they are loved unconditionally by God, even when they make grievous mistakes, and in turn, they love God unconditionally.    Their lives are defined by God’s love for them and their love for God, not the sum total of their successes minus their failures.

          This morning, we baptize Piper Josephine Althouse.  Baptism is the sacrament by which we are joined with Christ in Christ’s death and resurrection, assuring us of eternal life.  In baptism, we are given our identity as people who are loved by God, regardless and forever.  Through the baptismal covenant, baptism calls us to shape our lives in gratitude for God’s gift of life.  Both Jesus and baptism call us to live, not like we are dying, but like we are fully alive. Forever.                                                                     

 Amen.