Standing upon the
seashore last week, waves crashing calf-high, I begin to notice that as strong and
powerful as the crashing waves are, the under current, the under-tow, is far
more so. After each wave the resulting under-tow carves away more and more sand
beneath my feet. Most of the energy of the wave is beneath the surface. Just so,
beneath our surface lives there are things going on, energy and powers at work,
that we cannot see, but yet are very real. Some of these powers work for us and
some work against us. Some are deep within ourselves, others are deeply rooted
in society and the world about us. Like the rudder of a ship beneath the
surface of the sea these energies and powers direct where we are going and what
we are doing, often without our even knowing it.
As John 6 winds up
with more talk about eating the body and drinking the blood of Jesus (Greek and
Latin for the Hebrew Yeshua or Joshua), we are told a large number of those
following Jesus leave: “Because of this many of his disciples turned back and
no longer went about with him” [6:66]. It just makes no sense to them. And
these are not opponents – not religious authorities or Roman officials – but people
who have been with him, on board, until it has just become too much to bear. This
modern day Yeshua, they say, is asking too much with all this talk of eating
his body and drinking his blood.
There is no mistake
that the life to which he calls them includes difficult demands for any of us
who would be faithful. Even the twelve are not so sure, but do decide to stay.
Note carefully, everyone is free to go. This is not a cult. There is no
coercion. No manipulation. Just as the earlier Yeshua declares at Shechem, you
can follow the old gods and idols of the past, or the Lord God of the Passover
and Exodus: “Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom
you will serve … as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” [Joshua
24:15] To paraphrase the immortal words of the late Joe Strummer, “So you got
to let me know, will you stay or will you go?”
The confusion is
easy to understand. Those who leave the Jesus movement hear him talking about
the body as if it is flesh without Spirit, while incarnation as the narrator of
John understands it is embodied flesh with Spirit. The Bible understands that
the world and all that is in it is more than just matter. For the Bible matter
matters because it is all infused and enlivened with the Lord’s Spirit. This is
why at each stage of creation the Lord declares, “It is good.”
Loye Bradley Ashton
in Feasting On The Word for this
season suggests that we tend to live out of the same confusion as those who
leave thinking they are being asked to consume flesh without Spirit. Because of
this confusion, we tend to consume “the world without appreciating how God has
infused creation with the Spirit; thus we use and discard it in crude and
materialist ways,” which includes the way we treat our environment and the way
we treat each other. “The ethical imperative at the heart of John’s
incarnational theology of the Eucharist is clear,” Ashton writes. “Will we
treat the world around us as incarnational or simply as material?”
Those who remain
with Jesus are those who abide in him as he abides in them. You’re gonna have
to serve somebody – the materialists, or those who serve the Spirit that has
created and animates and enlivens the entire universe! Jesus calls us to serve
the Spirit in all people and all of creation.
It’s clear, says
Jesus, there will be a cost either way. St. Paul depicts it as a battle to the
Ephesians. [Ephesians 6:10-20] We need to put on “the whole armor of God, so
that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything,
to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist,
and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on
whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of
these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the
flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of
the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
One notes that
within this metaphor of cosmic battle, the faithful are to put on defensive
gear: a belt, a breast plate, shoes, a shield and a helmet. The sword is both a
defensive and offensive weapon. But note just how odd this armor really is: it consists
of truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation and the Word of God. Not at
all like the weapons of the Greek and Roman gods who wield thunder and lightning
bolts and tsunami deluges of waves!
To combat the
rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers of this present darkness, the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places, not to mention “all the
flaming arrows of the evil one,” we are to take our stand alongside the
crucified and risen one with truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation and
the Spirit and Word of God. This is Joshua at Shechem all over again. In fact,
when we look around us, and more importantly look beneath the surface of
things, we will find that we are always at Shechem. We are always needing to
answer Yeshua: will we stay or will we go? Who will we serve? The Evil One? Or,
The Lord? With what do we sustain the body blows of this world to take our
stand with the One who took a stand against the forces and authorities of evil to
give us life – true life. Life in the emerging new eon of Tikkun Olam: repair
and healing of this world. Here. And now.
Bob Dylan was jeered
at and booed when in 1979 he debuted a group of songs leading off with Gotta
Serve Somebody:
You may be an
ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble,
you may like to dance
You may be the heavyweight
champion of the world
You may be a
socialite with a long string of pearls
But you have to
serve somebody
You have to serve
somebody
It may be the Devil,
It may be the Lord
But you’re gonna
have to serve somebody
In the beginning of
a two-year tour he had to stand strong in his faith against critics and audiences
who did not want to hear what he had to say. His record company, Columbia
Records, would not promote his albums. He and his band had to combat the
rulers, authorities and cosmic powers of this present darkness, the spiritual forces
of evil, to simply make the same declaration that Joshua the successor of Moses
and Joshua the son of Mary and Joseph had made millennia before him: You’re
gonna have to serve somebody. It’s our choice. He calls us to abide in him and
promises to abide in us. In these times, we too must stand strong in our faith
and join with all those who say, “As for me and my household, we will serve the
Lord.” Which means treating the world and everyone and everything therein as
incarnational rather than simply as material.
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