Proper 14 | Ordinary Time 19, Cycle B

John 6:35, 41-51

Within the similarities and differences between this account in John 6:35, 41-51 and the Mark 6:1-6a account describing activities of Jesus in his hometown, we can see the distinction between “the Jesus of history” and “the Christ of faith.” In the Mark 6 account there is still a recollection of Jesus, the Jesus of history, as a son of Joseph, as a 1st century Jewish religious and political figure whose father Joseph and mother Mary had been known to other Jews in the village of Nazareth. In John 6:35, 41-51, however, and throughout the Fourth Gospel, Jesus is the Christ of faith, the Son of God who is said to have pre-existed before the foundation of the world was laid, who was the Logos, the “Word” by which the world was called into being. As the Christ of faith in John 6, Jesus is presented as having an exclusivistic claim to God as Father, as one who comes from God and has seen God. It is affirmed that no one can come to Jesus as the Christ unless God the Father draws that person to Jesus as the Christ, and that Jesus as the Christ of faith will raise such a person from the dead on the last day. The person who “eats” of this “bread from heaven” will not die. Jesus the Christ as this “bread from heaven” is far superior to the manna that the fathers of the 1st century Jews had eaten in the wilderness, for although they ate they still died. According to John 6, the bread that the Johannine Jesus as the Christ of faith will give for the life of the world is the flesh of the Christ of faith, the Lamb of God who in Johannine terms “takes away the sin of the world.”

When this John 6:35, 41-51 text is read and when it forms the primary basis for the worship service, we have an obligation to the people of the congregations in which we serve to say something about the theological development that occurred between perceiving Jesus as the Jesus of history, one among several sons of Joseph and his wife Mary, and Jesus as the Christ of faith, the only-begotten Son of God. If we do not indicate this development and show that we are aware of this distinction, we shall be propagating the longstanding and non-productive anti-Jewish polemic that is associated with this text. If we do not share some of our understanding of this theological development and of this distinction in perceptions of Jesus, we shall simply be promulgating supersessionistic anti-Jewish polemic without helping the thinking people within the congregations in which we serve to come to a better understanding of the process in the development of their Christian religion as the impact that the Jesus of history had made on some of his followers was shaped by the inspiration of God into belief in Jesus as the Christ of faith, one with God, through whom salvation and eternal life is offered to all of us.

Ephesians 4:25–5:2

Here in Ephesians 4:25-5:2 we have the parenesis, the guidelines of how we should respond to the proclamation that Jesus as the Christ provides eternal life for us. As among those who as the “Body of Christ” are “in Christ,” we should put aside all bitterness, anger, and slander and replace them with kindness and forgiveness. Then we will not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. We are exhorted to be imitators of God and to conduct ourselves in a life that is characterized by love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. We see that by the time that this section of the epistle “to the Ephesians” was written much reflection had occurred within the thoughts of some of the followers of Jesus about the significance of Jesus’ life, of his death, and of his resurrection as the Christ of faith. In some ways this Ephesians 4:25–5:2 text is similar to that of the Fourth Gospel and of the “Epistle to the Hebrews,” all of which may stem from approximately the same period in the development of the early Church.

1 Kings 19:4-8

The food that the Lord provided for Elijah in this Elijah story was so nutritious that it sustained Elijah during his journey of forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God at Horeb. It is said that Elijah would have preferred to die under the broom tree, but the Lord would not permit that to occur. Instead, the Lord permitted Elijah only to sleep, and then through the intermediary of an angel in this story twice touched him and told him to eat the freshly baked cake and the jar of water provided for him so that he would be strengthened. This story about Elijah obviously has a message for us also in our discouragement and in our need.

Psalm 34:1-8

This Individual Hymn of Praise and Thanksgiving is appropriately used in conjunction with the Elijah story in 1 Kings 19:4-8. It is a poetic, hymnic rendition of the Elijah story situation. The psalmist cried unto the Lord, and the Lord heard the psalmist. The angel of the Lord is said to camp around those who fear the Lord in order to deliver them. “O taste and see that the Lord is good” can be understood metaphorically, or almost literally with reference to the freshly baked cakes of the Elijah story in 1 Kings 19:4-8 or of the bread and wine of the Christian Eucharist.

2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33

The situation depicted here is most understandable to those who have participated in war and battle conditions in which the combatants are conditioned to do everything possible to destroy the enemy and to preserve one’s own life and the lives of one’s buddies. David as king confounds his general and the men who are engaged in the horrible conditions of battle in behalf of David and of the nation in his desire to spare the life of his own son Absalom who has rebelled against David. We are torn as we read and hear this story between identification with David as a father trying to save his son from death and with Joab and the soldiers under Joab’s command who are being killed or injured because of the horrible civil war that was caused by David and by David’s son. Perhaps this text should be used in high school and adult Bible study sessions rather than in a worship setting, so that we will be able to share and discuss our feelings. The story provides a good opportunity for those who have been involved in the horrors of military combat to talk within a supportive congregational setting about their experiences and their feelings.

Psalm 130

Out of the depths of despair the psalmist cries for help from the Lord. The psalmist waits for the Lord to come, for the Lord to rescue the psalmist and to rescue the people of Israel. Although the situation depicted in this prayer is not specifically a situation of war and of the horrible conditions endured during battle conditions, the psalm certainly can be associated with war, as it is when the reading of this psalm is linked to the 2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33 reading.