Paul Walker, “2 Wild Things Jesus Says about Himself”
Scottie Scheffler is the world’s best golfer. You might have seen him come from behind to win the Olympic gold medal. He won the Master’s this year, as well as 5 other PGA tournaments. What does Scottie say about golf? “At the end of the day, I’m just a golfer, and I’m just out here trying to compete. That’s really all there is to it, and sometimes I’m good at it, and sometimes I’m bad at it. I’ve talked about it a lot. It doesn’t define me as a person. Doesn’t define my life.”
You may have heard that Scottie is a believing Christian and that he says that God’s love and forgiveness define him. He has spoken openly about Jesus repeatedly, but the statement that really revealed the depth of his faith came after his first round at the Olympics. A reporter asked him about his “legacy.” Will he be greater than Tiger or Jack Nicholas? How will he ultimately be remembered? His answer? “I don’t focus much on legacy. I don’t look too far into the future. Ultimately, we’ll be forgotten.” The reported paused and said, “Wow, that’s heavy.” Scottie responded, “I mean, it’s true.”
The bible says, “Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.” Our obsession with living longer, eating healthier, defying death is nothing new. It can become crippling, actually. I think that’s why we really like stories about the Texas woman who recently turned 100. To her party she wore a sparkly champagne colored gown adorned with pearls and tiara. When asked her secret to longevity, she replied. “Don’t stress out and let God take control. And I eat everything and drink everything. You give me a beer right now and I’ll drink it!”
Our desire to live goes beyond the grave. That is what people are talking about when they talk about “legacy.” Trying to manufacture your own legacy is a massive mistake. Not only is it hubristic, but it is fruitless, for as Scottie says, ultimately, we’ll all be forgotten. Sometimes now when people spend lots of money of family trips – safaris, etc. – it is popular to say that they are “making memories.” I guess so. But just visit any local retirement community and ask about those long-ago trips. No one remembers a ding dang thing!
Think for a minute about the people who have not been forgotten, at least for a generation or two. The people who have been memorialized in statues, or with school names. They are mercilessly and anachronistically judged by the standards of the current day and are cancelled. Statues are removed and names are changed. BTW – I’m not making a political statement here, so please don’t cancel me. I’m saying that focusing on legacy of any kind is at odds with Bible Truth.
Maybe a better way to say that is our desire for legacy is innate but misplaced. As the Boss once sang, “Everybody’s got a hungry heart.” The desire to live on is at the heart of our gospel reading today. Today’s reading is at the tail end of a long discussion Jesus is having with the Jews after he has physically and miraculously fed with 5000 with fish and bread. Then Jesus does what He always does – He takes the stuff of everyday life and uses it to point to deeper truths. And those deeper truths usually point directly to Himself.
Referencing the manna from heaven that God provided for the Jews when they wandered in the wilderness, Jesus says, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.” Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” And today we hear, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Jesus says two remarkable things here. The first is that nothing and nobody will satisfy your internal hunger in this lifetime – nothing and nobody but Him. There was a kind of pathetic example of this in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal. The article featured Ken Griffin, head of the hedge-fund firm, Citadel. Griffin wants everyone to know who is atop the hedge firm pecking order. So, emblazed on the elevator doors of his Miami headquarters is a sign that says, “#1 Most Profitable Hedge Fund Manager of All Time.” Griffin says, “we made more money than any firm has ever made in the history of capital markets.”
To that all you can say is “big whoop, son.” Or maybe, “good for you but I sure hope you are giving most of it away because you can’t take it with you, and it won’t ultimately fill that hole in your heart.” I mean, how many Maserati’s can you drive at one time? Money can’t be me love, nor can it buy me happiness or legacy. Money is the obvious bad guy, but Jesus says money can’t buy you love, nor can anything else but Him. Not service, not self-sacrifice, not being and doing good – only He will fill the hole in your heart.
The second remarkable thing He says is ultimately where the rubber meets the road. Don’t get me wrong - the grace of God in Jesus Christ is everything in this life. How anyone survives day to day when they are defined by what they do or how much they make or any other metric is beyond me. But, at no time is the grace of God in Jesus Christ more important than in the 11th hour.
Here is what Jesus says about that. I’ll let Him do the talking, with no further illustration necessary. “So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.”
It’s no wonder that he uses such an earthy metaphor. Your longing is inside you – therefore, He says that He is the Bread of Life and you are to eat His flesh if you want to satiate your hungry heart. This is why, by the way, we have communion every week. It is a physical reminder of the earthy, corporal nature of our faith. We are reminded once again that He has died for our sins and been raised for our justification. We are reminded once again that through His death and resurrection, the grave becomes a gate through which real life really begins.
I’ll close this sermon with my favorite prayer in our prayer book. It is a prayer that pithily sums up what I’ve tried to say to you this morning from this pulpit. As we’re seated, let us pray.
“We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy. Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear So Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us.” Amen.
Amen.
