“To Whom Shall We Go?”
John 6:69

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost—August 26, 2018

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

For the past several weeks we have had a series of Gospel Readings from the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John.  The Apostle and Evangelist John, who wrote this Gospel, begins his First Epistle: “We proclaim to you . . . what we have heard, and have seen with our eyes.” 

So, John was both an eyewitness and an “ear witness” of these events, and the declarations of our Lord, that he reports to us in today’s Gospel Reading. Throughout this chapter, Jesus has proclaimed himself to be the living bread that came down from heaven.  Now, in the climax of the chapter, he declares that whoever eats of this bread—whoever has faith in him—will live forever.

“On hearing it, many of his disciples said, ‘This is a hard teaching.  Who can accept it?’ . . . From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.”

They were willing to accept him as an exceptional rabbi, a brilliant teacher, even a mighty worker of astonishing miracles.  But, if we are to be his followers, he demands much more than that.  For, he is much more than an exceptional rabbi, a brilliant teacher, even a mighty worker of astonishing miracles.  He demands nothing less than we worship him as the Messiah, the divine Son of God and Savior of the world.

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. . .  On hearing it, many of his disciples said, ‘This is a hard teaching.  Who can accept it?’ . . . From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. ‘You do not want to leave too, do you?’ Jesus asked the Twelve.  Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.’”

“To Whom Shall We Go?”  It’s not as though the people in Jesus’ day didn’t have other religious options.  The Greeks and Romans had dozens of major gods and hundreds of minor ones.  Despite—or maybe because of—all those supposed deities, many Greeks and Romans followed another option:  They were atheists or agnostics, either denying the very existence of God, or believing in a God but concluding that we humans cannot know which god is the true God.

As for Jesus’ own people, the Jewish race, they too had many religious options.  The Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians, the Essenes, these and all sorts of other Jewish sects had two main things in common:  They were waiting for the Messiah; and, as far as they were concerned, Jesus wasn’t it.  As John says at the beginning of his Gospel, “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”  However, there were others they would receive.  At Jesus’ crucifixion the crowds cry out, “Give us Barabbas!”  And a hundred years later, many believed a man named Bar Kokhba to be the Messiah.  He had a large following and led the Jewish people into revolt against the Romans.

“To Whom Shall We Go?”  Like the people back in Jesus’ day, we too have many religious options in our society.  Faced with all the different churches and religions and their competing claims, we may just take the option of many Greeks and Romans, and become atheists, denying there is any deity; or agnostics, agreeing there may be a God, but we can’t be sure which one is true.

There are two types of atheism and agnosticism, crass and subtle.  Crass atheism or agnosticism is openly breaking with Christ and his Church, declaring yourself to be an atheist or agnostic unbeliever.

But, a much bigger danger for us is gradually, almost unwittingly, falling into subtle atheism, subtle agnosticism.  We don’t outright deny Christ, or officially break from his Church.  But, we also don’t live as a follower of Christ.

Our worship in the Lord’s house, receiving his Sacraments, speaking to him in prayer, reading his word, gradually it all diminishes, and Christ and his Church become less and less a part of our lives.  On your way through life, don’t fall into the easy trap of subtle atheism, subtle agnosticism. “For once you were in darkness,” Paul says in today’s Epistle Reading, “but now you are light in the Lord. Live then as children of the light.”

“To Whom Shall We Go?” There are also churches and denominations that claim to be Christian, but nevertheless have false doctrines and practices.  Today, many Christian churches and denominations that once were strong have very sadly given in to the world, and now condone blatant immorality, even blasphemy, that goes against the clear Word of God.

“To Whom Shall We Go?” There are also non-Christian religions, such as Islam.  And cults, some of which try to falsely portray themselves as Christian.  All sorts of other organizations and movements have their own false religious doctrines, including the occult, and even outright Satanism.

“To Whom Shall We Go?”  As Joshua declares in today’s Old Testament reading, “Chose this day whom you shall serve.”  Will we be like the unfaithful followers of Jesus, turning away from him, following instead false prophets, and man-made false religions and false gods?  “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.”

Or will we be like the faithful Twelve?  “‘You do not want to leave too, do you?’ Jesus asked the Twelve.  Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.’”

“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life,” Jesus declares, “No one comes to the Father except through Me.”  Jesus Christ is the only-begotten Son of the Father, who came down from heaven and was made man.  As Peter says in the Book of Acts, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” 

Only in Jesus Christ do you find salvation from your sin; only in Jesus Christ do you receive forgiveness; only in Jesus Christ do you have eternal life.  As Paul says in 1st Timothy, “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men.”  Jesus Christ gave himself as a ransom for your sins, with his death on the cross paying in your place the penalty you deserved. Through faith in him, and only through faith in him, you are made right with God.

“To Whom Shall We Go?” On your way through life, don’t fall into the easy trap of subtle atheism, subtle agnosticism.  Don’t be like the unfaithful followers of Jesus, deceived by the world and its false prophets, false religions, and false gods.  But, like the faithful Twelve, cling throughout your life to Jesus and his Word.  “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”