Today’s Scripture Reading (September
4, 2014): John 6
Russian
President Vladimir Putin has reportedly asked the Ukrainian leadership to start
talking to the Ukrainian people, especially the pro-Russian citizens living in
the Eastern section of the country who have begun to call themselves “the
Novorossiya” (the New Russia), about finding a political solution to end the
conflict in the Ukraine. But the big question seems to be what do each of the
participants want to gain out of the conflict? What would a political solution,
as opposed to a military one, look like? For the Ukraine, the answer to that
question might be fairly simple - they want to maintain the unity of their
nation. They want to celebrate the incredible strength that diversity can
brings to a country. For the rebels, it might be a little more complex. Yes,
they seem to be in favor of a union with Russia, but that also might place even
more restrictions on their own freedom (rebels often find that they develop a
personality and a practice that simply needs to rebel against something.) Ultimately
it might be that what the rebels really need is to either to obtain concessions
(and maybe simply recognition) from the Ukrainian government or the opportunity
to form their own breakaway nation. But the big question that seems to be
unanswered in the drama is what does Russia really want? They want the world to
believe that they are concerned about the civil rights of the citizens in the
Eastern Ukraine. But what the ultimate endgame is has yet to be established. And
another question is exactly how committed is Putin to the task of obtaining
whatever it is that he wants. In fact, the reigning question throughout the
area is really just how committed all of the sides are in fighting for what it
is that they want.
We often
seem to think that people didn’t understand what Jesus meant when he said that
he was the bread of life and that believers needed to eat of this bread. Or
even that he was the living water that we need to drink. One of the earliest
charges against the newly born Christian Church was that they practiced a form
of cannibalism with the celebration of the Communion Meal at their meetings –
eating the flesh and drinking the blood of their master. But that the people
lacked understanding at Jesus words was actually not the truth. The problem was
not that the people did not understand what Jesus was asking of them. They knew
all too well.
In one
phrase Jesus gave them two important pieces of information. First, that he was
the bread of life, literally the physical embodiment of the manna that Israel
received from God in the desert. There was no way that Israel could have
survived the desert without the manna, and they would not survive in this Roman
dominated world without manna that Jesus represented. But even more
importantly, to eat this bread meant that they needed to be totally committed
to him. And as the church continues to eat and drink of Jesus’ body and blood,
we continue to make the commitment to him and to him alone.
It was not
just a ritual that Jesus was speaking about to the people that followed him,
and it is not just a ritual that we share with each other, it is a reaffirming
of our commitment to God and Jesus above everyone and everything else. No one
else deserves commitment or our worship.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Matthew
15
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