August 5^th, 2012, Tenth Sunday After Pentecost, Holy Baptism

(John 6:24-35)

When we hear Jesus speaking to the crowd, saying, “In truth, you came looking for me, not because you saw in me signs of a spiritual life that could be yours as well.... but because you ate your fill of the bread” -- how do we hear that statement? Is Jesus scolding the crowd because they were only perceiving the surface of what he was offering them? Just bread – and not a transforming, life-giving, experience of Holy Communion with God? That is often how this text is read, as though Jesus had expected these people to show up in their Sunday best and fully formed in the great virtues of faith, hope, and love...

But I think we can be quite sure that that is not what Jesus was expecting, because we know from the testimony of Scripture as a whole, from the countless personal experiences of Christians over the past two thousand years or so, and from our own personal experiences that Jesus meets us all where we are at in life. Not where we think we should be, or where we are pretending to be, but where we actually are. And from that starting point, we walk on together.

This is why many religious leaders of his day had such a very difficult time with Jesus. He wasn't playing by their rules (Mat 11:16-18; 15:6-9; 16:23; Luke 11:42;13:34.) He wanted to meet them and be with them where they were actually at, in their hearts, which, he knew, was at a very low level of spiritual development... But they didn't want to meet him there. They didn’t want to go there at all... They wanted Jesus to meet them at the much loftier level that they publically presented themselves at. They wanted to be met, not as novices, but as experts in the spiritual life.

This is why Jesus was so deeply moved by young children... because they could still see that “The Emperor Has No Clothes.” They hadn't yet formed layer upon layer of those deceptive masks that hide what they were actually feeling, thinking, and believing. Young children still use words very simply to express their real inner state (as best they can). They are so transparent. If they're happy, or sad, or jealous, or lonely... or whatever… they let you know it. (We may even see an example of that this morning...)

Jesus had what we now call “a developmental perspective” long before there ever was such a thing in the world. He was aware that children are not just “little adults,” and that, as they move forward in years, it is only wise and loving care that will guarantee their moving forward spiritually, socially, and emotionally as human beings.

But often, as we grow beyond childhood, we seem to move backwards spiritually and emotionally, instead of forwards. As we all know, with many adults, what you see and hear “on the outside” is not necessarily what's going on “on the inside.” Children tend to show more integrity between their inner life and their outward behavior. And as Jesus was so profoundly aware, when we lose that integrity... we stop growing as human beings.

Jesus says to the crowd: “In truth, you came looking for me, not because you saw in me the signs of a spiritual life that could be yours as well.... but because you ate your fill of the bread.” Jesus is not scolding them here. He is saying, “I know you. I see you as you are. I understand where you are at.” He is pointing out, very clearly, what their current level of spiritual development is. They just came for the bread. Period. They're not there for some mysterious Sacramental experience. Probably long before this encounter with Jesus, the people in this crowd had, sadly, stopped growing... They were not yet ready to discern or digest the sacred symbols that Jesus was using to convey his Gospel.

Children very naturally see the outside of things before they develop the capacity to understand inner meanings. When all the conditions are right, we develop beyond that.

When a baby is born into the world, we don't expect him or her to look up at his mother and say: “Wow..! What a great symbol of spiritual growth that was!”

It's only through a very long and delicate process of playing with things in their world that children gradually come to understand the connections between outward signs and inner meanings. It's an amazing process to watch. If you've ever seen little children imitating the outward actions of their parents as they play with their toys, you can get a very good sense of their developing understandings of what it means to be a “Daddy” or a “Mommy”, or a son or a daughter. We can literally watch them making the connections between outward signs and inner meanings. They start to genuinely understand that, for example, placing a cool cloth on the forehead of a teddy bear who has a fever, really means: “I love you. It matters to me when you're not feeling well. I want to help you feel better.”

But it takes a lot of good will and patience and TLC on the part of parents and teachers and churches and friends for children to grow beyond just their five senses into an awareness and appreciation of the spiritual meaning of things. This is why, I suspect, when Jesus was addressing this crowd who wanted “bread alone” (Mat 4:4), he was not feeling angry at them, but compassionate toward them. They were truly confused when Jesus would say things like “I am the bread of life.” It was like nonsense to them. And Jesus understood why they were confused. They were (as he had described them two Sundays ago), “like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 5:34.) Over the course of their lives, they hadn't received the kinds of spiritual care (John 10:7-18, Mat 23:15) that would have enabled them to understand and respond to what Jesus was actually communicating to them. They didn't realize how much more he was offering them than simply “bread alone,” because the conditions of their lives hadn’t enabled them to develop such understanding.

But Jesus doesn't say “Go on, get out of here, come back when you have the right understanding and intentions and you know a proper invitation to Holy Communion when you see it!” That wouldn't be very wise now would it? How, then, would they ever develop the right understanding and intentions? Jesus doesn't chase them away. He patiently teaches them, starting from where they are at.

We have to be with children where they are; we can't expect them to somehow leap ahead of their developing hearts and minds and automatically be where we are. There is a law, a developmental law, that is built in to creation, which has to be respected. We start where they are, and by the grace of God and God's faithful community, we help them to move forward in their lives by providing the resources they need to do so. Jesus understood this.

Do any of us fully understand the mysteries of the Sacraments? I know I don't. I understand them better now than the day I was baptized, but I'm still learning. As many people as come to the font for Baptism, and to the altar for the Eucharist – that's how many different understandings there are of what is actually transpiring in that holy moment. That's not to say that what the Sacrament means is just “up to us.” On the contrary, that's why we need our wisdom tradition to teach us the significance of what we would not come to understand otherwise. The Sacramental Ministry of God in Christ through the Holy Spirit is a process that will continue throughout our lives. And if the conditions are right, we will continue to grow in our understanding of that process. But the only possible point that we can start any process is from where we are at the moment. What all of this suggests is that, on our side – the human side of Sacramental Life, there is incredible diversity as to what they mean. But on the Divine side, however, there is no distinction whatsoever. God is fully engaging in the acts of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion, whether it is Adam or Melanie, or Victoria, or Sidney or Ryan.... on the receiving end. God meets us all where we are at in this journey, and we walk on together from that starting point.

Thanks be to God!