"To Whom Shall We Go?"

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” With these words, Jesus summarizes His preaching in this discourse.

His preaching here has a rather simple dichotomy: eat earthly bread and die, or eat spiritual bread and live. Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and they still died, but you can eat the bread of life and live forever. All you must do is come to Him who calls you, and eat His flesh and drink His blood as He gives them to you.

However, “When many of his disciples heard it, they said, 'This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?'” Admittedly, this is a confusing discourse which St. John records for us. Jesus says some strange things. Things which are difficult to understand, and even more difficult to actually put into practice, at least if you take Him at face value.

Jesus said, “I AM the bread of life.” What does this mean? Jesus is not literally bread. He is not a cake of flour, water, yeast, and salt, baked in an oven. He is a man, the Son of Man – and He is God. Our God is not some sort of pagan idol, made by the hands of men. Otherwise the charge of the Muslims would be true – we would worship a baked god. No, Jesus is not bread, but He is the Bread of Life. He is the food of immortality.

Again, Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” Admittedly, this is a bit more difficult to hear than the last. How does Jesus expect anyone to eat His flesh and drink His blood? First of all, that is expressly forbidden by the Torah, as well as a major taboo in most of the cultures of the world. You just simply do not eat human flesh and blood without a good reason. But Jesus says that unless you do, you have no life in you.

Still, how can you practice this? There is only one Jesus, with one body, and a finite amount of flesh. How could the body of one man feed all the people of the world? He could not have fed with His flesh those whom He fed with the loaves and fish. But Jesus says that unless you eat of His flesh and drink His blood, you have no life.

As strange as this sounds, neither of these two sayings is all that hard compared to some of the things that Jesus said. All you have to do with these is just trust what Jesus said and do what He asks with what He gives to you. Come to the table to which He calls you and eat the food which He places in front of you.

Consider some of the harder sayings of Jesus. “The first shall be last and the last first.” This turns the world upside down, does it not? If you want to be somebody, you earn it by serving everyone else first.

Or “whoever would come to Me must leave his father and mother.” To follow Jesus requires being willing to sacrifice everything on earth, even putting the confession of Christ before thoughts of family loyalty. He who looks back is lost.

Or “Blessed are you when others revile you for My sake.” Of course, everyone wants to live a life full of people who hate you because of what you believe and confess, right? Just turn the other cheek, let people say all the hateful, deceitful, spiteful things they can make up.

Perhaps the hardest saying of Jesus in the eyes of the world is “No one comes to the Father but by Me.” As St. Peter said, “There is no other name under heaven by which we may be saved.” This is especially difficult to take, because it means that there is only one way to heaven. Your friends the Mormons, the Muslims, the spiritual-but-not-religious folks – they may be very nice, very devout people, but they will not be in heaven. You are saved by grace alone through faith for Jesus' sake, and there is no other way to be saved.

So who can listen to these sayings of Jesus? They are difficult to hear, they are offensive to the ears of the world, they are divisive to the patina of unity that glides across polite society. And so it should come as no surprise to hear that “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.” They could not understand His teaching about the Bread of Life, so they fell away. They went off to find a teacher who said things easier to hear. They wanted a religion that was understandable, that was doable.

Even Jesus' disciples would eventually leave Him. Just as He predicted, they all fell away like sheep scattered when He was arrested. Even Peter, the bold and brash confessor of the faith, fell away and denied even knowing Jesus.

You are no different. Every day, in myriad ways, you deny your Lord. Sometimes it is in word. How often do you take the Lord's Name in vain, it slipping from your lips like any other noun in the English language? And how often do you take His Name in vain by forgetting to take it up in prayer and praise when you ought to, when He gives you His blessings and mercy? Every day there are opportunities to confess His Name, and they are lost upon you.

You deny your Lord by your deeds and actions. He has commanded that you live by His Law, and you turn the other way. You hate your neighbor, slander your brother, despise your wife, and covet what you cannot have, especially the things of God. Your life does not reflect the life of Christ which has been poured into you by the Holy Spirit. The good which you ought to do, you do not, and the evil which you ought not do, that you do. Repent.

There is no compulsion in religion. Seeing many of His followers turning back from Him, Jesus asked the disciples, “Do you want to go away as well?” Jesus draws you to Himself by the power of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel, but He does not and will not force you to stay. He called Judas, but did not prevent him from doing what He knew the son of perdition would do. If you do not want to eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, then you are free to find another religion that suits you better. Of course, that means that you are free to go to hell under your own power, too.

But, “Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.'” Indeed, to whom shall we go? There is no other Name by which you may be saved. There is no other message by which you may find the way to heaven. There is no other means by which your sins can be forgiven.

The “words of eternal life” is nothing other than the preaching of the cross of Jesus Christ. The proclamation of our Lord's all-atoning sacrificial death on the cross and His glorious resurrection from the tomb – these are the words of eternal life. For with this message, hell is rent asunder and open to you are the gates of righteousness.

The “words of eternal life” is the forgiveness of your sins. It is not simply the flapping of gums or the spewing of phonemes, but the real and true enactment of your salvation. When I proclaim to you, “I forgive you all your sins in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”, that is not idle chatter, but God's Word does what it says. When the Gospel preached into your ears, it becomes you, and you become Christ's. That word is your eternal life.

Jesus said, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.”

Take comfort in knowing that the Father has given you into the hands of Jesus. Those hands, pierced for your transgressions, will hold you safe and secure. Those hands, which reach out to you to impart His healing touch, hold you close, and will never let you be snatched away. You are buried into Christ, and you shall be raised up into Him on the last day.

Eat His bread and drink His cup. Feast on the Son of Man, that you may have life within you – His life, which He gives for the life of the world. Live the life to which Christ has called you, the life with which He has filled you and equipped you and for which He feeds you. Live in Him, because you have His life within you and because you live by the words of eternal life. Eat His flesh and drink His blood, and He will strengthen you to do every good work which He has predestined for you to do.

Grant me the strength to do
With ready heart and willing
Whatever You command,
My calling here fulfilling;
That I do what I should
While trusting You to bless
The outcome for my good
For You must give success (LSB 696.2).

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.