25 August 2024 - Proper 16, Year B

Theme

This week’s readings reveal that everyone has a choice to make - a choice to follow the will of God or to do evil. In John, Jesus explains that those who follow him are doing God’s will and acknowledges that many will turn away from him. In Ephesians, Paul explains that we are in a battle against powers and principalities and that we need to put the armour of God to stand against evil. Joshua assembles the tribes of Israel and tells them that they need to choose between the gods of their ancestors and the God that has brought them out of slavery and into this new land. The Psalmist declares that God protects those who serve God and punishes those who do evil.

Scripture Readings

  • John 6:56-69 - Jesus reiterates from previous weeks that anyone who eats his flesh and drinks his blood with remain in him and he in them. The disciples exclaim that this is a hard teaching to accept. Jesus says that the word he has spoken to them are full of the Spirit and life. But Jesus knew that some of them would not believe and would betray him. We are told that many of the disciples turned back and no longer followed him after this. Jesus asked his closest 12 disciples if any of them also wanted to leave and Peter replied: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
  • Ephesians 6:10-20 - Paul encourages the Ephesian Church to put on the full armour of God so that they can stand against the devil’s schemes. He explains that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the evil spiritual forces. The armour of God is the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. Finally, Paul encourages the Church to pray in the Spirit on all occasions and to always pray for God’s people.
  • Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18 - Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel and presented themselves before God. Joshua reminds the people that their ancestors worshipped other gods. He instructs them to choose on this day whom they will worship. It was God who brought them to this new land. “as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
  • Psalm 34:15-22 - The Psalmist declares that God hears the cry of the righteous and punishes those who do evil. God is close to the brokenhearted and crushed in spirit. The wicked will be slain by their evil and God will rescue his servants.

Personal Application

In the Gospel, many of Jesus’ followers find his call to “eat of his flesh and drink of his blood” and to be completely united with him too much to handle and they abandon him. However, his twelve closest disciples understand that life is found in Christ and remain faithful to him.

Every day of our lives we are faced with the choice to remain faithful to Christ or to turn away and follow our own selfish desires. In a world where terrible evils such as greed and violence are lifted up as good and necessary, this choice is as important as ever.

If we take the call to follow Jesus seriously, then we cannot avoid “eating his flesh and drinking his blood” - taking the values, mission, and priorities of Jesus into our hearts and souls and living completely out of our choice to follow Jesus.

What does it mean for you to choose to follow Jesus and remain faithful to him every single day? What are the values, missions and priorities of Jesus that we should be adopting into our hearts and souls?

Communal Application

It is possible that Jesus and Paul were both teaching that human beings are not inherently evil. Rather, it is what influences their hearts to do wrong that is truly evil. Much of the time this is the institutions, human structures, and systems that oppose God’s reign in our world.

This understanding helps us to still love everybody, even if they are doing evil things. It is often easy for us to forget the humanity of people when we dislike or disagree with what they are doing. When we remember that our fight is not against people, but against powers and principalities, we are better able to fight against injustice while still loving people doing it as Jesus has called us to do. Choosing God’s ways means resisting evil while refusing to demonise any person.

We never have an excuse to stop loving, and we are never allowed to justify our condemnation of another person. Our daily work as Christians involves choosing daily to stay true to the love and grace of Jesus, and working hard to heal whatever evil we encounter within and outside of us, without rejecting other people in the process.

Do you think it is possible to hate evil and fight injustice without demonising other people? What would this look like in practice? Do Jesus and Paul’s words encourage you to see evil in a different, healthier way?

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