“AND THEY WILL ALL BE TAUGHT BY GOD”
John 6:41-51

There was a great deal of grumbling going on in our text for today. The people in the Gospel reading were grumbling against what Jesus was teaching them.

It brings to mind what Sunday mornings can be like around some people's households, including our own. Often, the sounds of grumbling can be heard when the kids are roused from their sleep, informing them that it's time to get ready for church.

But it's not just the kids either. The grown-ups can be just as apathetic and disgruntled as the kids can be at the thought of interfering with a perfectly restful or, otherwise, recreational Sunday morning.

And then there are those who complain that they can't find the time to open up the Bible on a daily basis to read God's Word. There are those who secretly grumble at the thought of attending a church Bible Class because they're already involved in enough church activities as it is. And there are those who simply think that going to church for an hour a week should serve as the extent of their spirituality; they've done their religious duty and now it's back to the real world.

Well, the Word of God is eternal. It is living and active; which means, the words which Jesus spoke 2000 years ago He is still speaking to us right now today. And listen to what He says, “ Do not grumble among yourselves.” He's not speaking in general about the other daily tasks and responsibilities that we are obligated to do, but would rather avoid doing. Rather, He is specifically speaking to the matter of our attitude concerning what Christ has to say to us in His Word. “Do not grumble among yourselves.”

Don't allow yourself to become annoyed at the thought of coming to worship. Don't look for an excuse to cast aside church when things don't meet your own personal expectations. Don't be tempted to think that Christianity is phony and has no place in the real world. Don't become cynical about the teachings of God's love for us as you look around at all of the pain and suffering and unexplained tragedies that take place. “Do not grumble among yourselves.”

Just the other day, we were discussing in Bible Class that people just seem to forget what the Bible really is. It is the Word of God Almighty!

If the evening news reported that a crowd of people heard a voice thundering from a mountaintop—a voice that claimed to be the voice of God Himself—you can be sure that the world would be clamoring to hear what that voice had to say! And yet, we have the genuine thing in our hands—a book that contains the voice of God, His own Words—and most of the time we treat is as though it were simply a collection of inspirational guidelines.

Perhaps the reason for our grumbling indifference is because it seems too ordinary. How many books are there in the world? And here is another one that we can simply stack along side the rest. Here is water in a basin. Nothing much to make a stir about. Or a sip of wine and a wafer of bread—hardly a feast for the eyes or the palate.

In today's Old Testament reading, the prophet Elijah was ready to give up and die. He felt as though he had contended for the faith, but to no avail. He had proclaimed the Word of God but it was as if there were no results. And so he sat down underneath a tree and said, "It is enough; now, O L ord , take away my life.”

“And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Arise and eat.' And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the L ord came again a second time and touched him and said, ‘Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.' And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.

Bread and water. Poor, insignificant, simple food to the eye. And yet, on that one heavenly meal, Elijah was able to travel for forty days and nights—for well over a month on that one meal!

And here is water, and here is a meal of bread and wine, on which we are able to journey, not for forty days and nights, but all the way into eternity!

Dearly beloved, throughout the history of the Church, God has chosen to work among His people in very unspectacular ways—from a sustaining meal of bread and water, to a criminal's death on the cross for the eternal Son of God. This is how God has chosen to work among us. This is how God has chosen to be present with us, and to work His miracles of salvation among us today—through His Word and Baptism and Holy Communion.

And we would be a sorry lot indeed, if we were to grumble among ourselves in any manner that would cause us to take lightly the Lord's presence.

“Do not grieve the Holy Spirit,” St. Paul warns in today's Epistle. Do not cause God's Holy Spirit anguish—the Holy Spirit Who created the gift of saving faith in your hearts—by ignoring the means by which He continues to bring us the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. These gifts, which were purchased and won by Jesus' suffering and death for us, are nothing to be received or disregarded based upon our whims. No practical excuses, no reasonable arguments, no justifiable anger on our parts can ever, ever be the cause for us to turn away from your life here in this place and Christ's life in you out there.

Listen carefully to what Jesus—the one, true, real, everlasting God—is saying to us today: “ It is written in the Prophets, 'And they will all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—not that anyone has seen the Father except him who is from God; he has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.”

To paraphrase, there aren't any other ways to get to heaven. None of us are going to be saved because we had good intentions in our hearts. Only those who believe are going to have eternal life.

Who believe what? Who believe that God's Word is better left to the more spiritually dedicated? Or, rather, those Who believe that God the Father has made Himself known through His Son Jesus. That God is so loving and so compassionate that He was willing to send His Son into this world so that we could know that He truly cares for us. And, what's more, that He has put that story down in writing—that He has recorded His Word for all time for all people. So that, each and everyone of us can take His Word up into our hands and read what the One, Great, Almighty, Creating, Everlasting God has to say specifically to you and to me.

What an incredible thing! It is an incredible thing in such an inconspicuous package. Don't be fooled by the humility of it all. Rather, rejoice that God has made His will and His love so accessible to us that even proud, skeptical, grumbling sinners such as we, can know that God forgives us yet again, that we have a new lease on life, yet again. And that by the promises of His Word, Holy Baptism and the Lord's Supper, we can start all over once again, nourished forever with the bread of life

1 Kings 19:4-8

But [Elijah] himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, "It is enough; now, O L ord , take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers." And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, "Arise and eat." And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the L ord came again a second time and touched him and said, "Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you." And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.

Ephesians 4:30-5:2

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

John 6:41-51

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