{"id":10175,"date":"2024-08-13T05:20:13","date_gmt":"2024-08-13T12:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=10175"},"modified":"2024-08-13T05:21:08","modified_gmt":"2024-08-13T12:21:08","slug":"truly-god-truly-human-truly-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=10175","title":{"rendered":"Truly God, truly human, truly here"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Click here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

John 6:51-58<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Sermon for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is real? And what is really real? That\u2019s what we\u2019re about. What is really, really, really, really, really real? What is really real is that Jesus Christ truly is who we say he is. That is not just a nice idea, or a handy idea. What is it that we say?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We confess that the eternal God, Lord, Lord of lords, Creator, Father of all, became this human being, born about 4 B.C., who had a true mother, and who walked on earth and died. Truly human. Not walking two inches off the earth. Truly human. Of course, truly God as well. And as it says at the Council of Chalcedon (451), \u201cunmixed and undivided,\u201d and stop there! Don\u2019t try to sort that out. That is the basis of what we confess, and when we confess that, we say: That\u2019s the reality, that is the reality behind everything and determines what everything is about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having said that, we come to this disputed text, John 6:53: \u201cTruly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.\u201d That\u2019s repeated three more times in similar words. It\u2019s one of those very disputed passages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An example of how it\u2019s disputed is that at the time of the Reformation there was a group called Sacramentarians, who said when we receive the bread, we tear his flesh with our teeth, like cannibals. This view, called the Capernaitic heresy, is condemned in our Book of Concord<\/em> (Tappert 483:15; Kolb\/Wengert 506:15). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not what the Gospel of John means. This text today repeats the end of the text from last week, John 6:51, which said: \u201cI am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.\u201d That puts it in a more likely understood context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is this about? What do we mean when we say, Jesus Christ is really human and really God determines what we say about the Lord\u2019s Supper. What do we mean when we say \u201creal presence\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are three ways in which this has been approached. The first has to do with the official Lutheran-Catholic Dialogue. Back in 1968, a group of top experts, ten Roman Catholics and ten Lutherans appointed by their respective church bodies, agreed on a ten-page statement about the Lord\u2019s Supper. That agreement was truly amazing. It even dealt with that technical word, \u201ctransubstantiation,\u201d which in Catholic thinking says: This wine and bread truly become Jesus\u2019 body and blood, they just appear to be bread and wine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The whole Dialogue was able to say together: \u201cWe are persuaded that no single vocabulary or conceptual framework can be adequate, exclusive or final in the theological enterprise.\u201d[1]<\/a> In other words they said this terminology cannot be insisted upon, but it can be used. It is important to realize that the Dialogue was thinking together theologizing. They were not drafting legislation for their churches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 1965 on, this Dialogue met twice a year for four days, including always a Sunday, yet the Lutheran scholars and the Catholic scholars never celebrated communion together. They knew not to do that. Considering their wide agreement on the Lord\u2019s Supper, why not? Why didn\u2019t they have communion together?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you may know, Roman Catholics are expressly forbidden to take communion elsewhere. Exceptions are only to be in writing by the bishop. A priest can\u2019t make exceptions. Why? Because if Catholics could go to communion elsewhere, they would imply that non-Roman Catholic communion is something. From the point of view of Roman Catholic theology, when we Lutherans celebrate communion, nothing sacramental happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly non-Roman Catholics are instructed that they are not to take part in Roman Catholic Eucharists\/communion services. Exceptions again, only in writing, and only by the bishop. Exceptions cannot be granted by a priest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the reason for these prohibitions? There are two reasons. Again, this kind of partaking in each other\u2019s communion services would be implying that there is some kind of equality between Catholics and others, and Rome does not accept that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is really at stake is that when you go to a Roman Catholic communion service and take part without being Roman Catholic, you are accepting the authority of the Pope. That\u2019s because the Pope is the one with special grace who ordains the bishops. And the bishops are the ones who ordain the priests, and only the priests in the Catholic Church have through their ordination the special grace to make it happen, that is, to make Christ truly present in the communion service. That\u2019s the other side of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although we can say there is wide agreement between Lutherans and Catholics on communion, what is then meant by \u201creal\u201d is, when it comes down to it, on the one hand, for Roman Catholics, it is the authority of the Pope,<\/strong> and on the other hand, for Lutherans, it is the power of the Word,<\/strong> the proclaiming of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second way this is understood has to do with what communion is. In recent years some Lutherans have said that communion is \u201chospitality.\u201d It\u2019s about being open and welcoming, and everybody is welcome at the Table. Some have even said expressly that you can have communion without being baptized. It\u2019s all just a matter of being inclusive, being open and welcoming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this turns the whole matter of communion into an \u201cexperience,\u201d and it\u2019s how you feel about it, how you think about it, and how you understand it. It depends on your thinking. This is the other extreme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This brings us to the third approach, the Reformation recovery of Paul and the New Testament. What is at stake here is: Did he truly become one of us at the same time remaining God entirely? This is basic to what we say in the Nicene Creed. He is \u201cof one substance with the Father.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How is this understood in the Gospel of John? He is at the right hand of the Father, but he continues to be the one who became human. He continues to be truly human and truly God. He didn\u2019t give that up. And he continues among us simultaneously, because the Holy Spirit makes it happen. The Gospel of John is the most specific about this in the New Testament. It\u2019s very easy to remember: John 14:26, 15:26, and 16:13-15 say it expressly. The Holy Spirit has one job, which is to re-present Jesus and to make him present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recall two examples. First, the end of the Gospel of John, chapter 21, when the disciples say: \u201cLet\u2019s go fishing.\u201d They have this huge catch of fish and then see someone on the shore, who has already built a big fire. They recognize him when he says: \u201cLet\u2019s eat together.\u201d That is parallel to what you have in Luke 24:13-35. Remember the two on the way to Emmaus. A stranger walks with them and talks to them. They scratch their heads; they can\u2019t quite figure out all this, and then when he breaks the bread, they said: \u201cWe knew it was the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s in his Word and his coming to us in Baptism and the Lord\u2019s Supper, just as he truly comes to be among us, as truly one of us. He continues. He truly comes, and he truly does what he does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were people who didn\u2019t understand. They were not making any big decision or had any sense of what this is about, but to them and to us the Lord truly comes and truly does what he does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This can be seen in a parallel passage in 1 Cor 10:16-17, where Paul writes about food sacrificed to idols, he says: \u201cDon\u2019t do that. Don\u2019t eat that.\u201d  And then adds: What is it that we do? And answers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body for we all partake of the one loaf.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that means that we are in Christ, and that includes receiving life from him now and forever. He comes to us although he is outside of us, and it\u2019s in spite of us. He is truly among us and in us, and he, through his Word, makes us his own, now and forever, and that changes everything. Amen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/a> The Eucharist as Sacrifice. Lutherans and Catholics in Dialogue III. <\/em>Eds. Paul C. Empie and T. Austin Murphy (Minneapolis, Augsburg, 1967) 196-97.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John 6:51-58<\/p>\n

A Sermon for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost<\/p>\n

What is real? And what is really real? That\u2019s what we\u2019re about. What is really, really, really, really, really real? What is really real is that Jesus Christ truly is who we say he is. That is not just a nice idea, or a handy idea. What is it that we say?<\/p>\n

We confess that the eternal God, Lord, Lord of lords, Creator, Father of all, became this human being, born about 4 B.C., who had a true mother, and who walked on earth and died. Truly human. Not walking two inches off the earth. Truly human. Of course, truly God as well. And as it says at the Council of Chalcedon (451), \u201cunmixed and undivided,\u201d and stop there! Don\u2019t try to sort that out. That is the basis of what we confess, and when we confess that, we say: That\u2019s the reality, that is the reality behind everything and determines what everything is about.<\/p>\n

Select here<\/a> to read more or here <\/a>for a pdf document.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10175"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10182,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10175\/revisions\/10182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}