A Vulnerable God

Joseph Winston

August 20, 2006

Sermon

Grace and peace are gifts for you from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.1
It is an ancient story that is as old as humanity. Boy meets girl. He falls in
love with her. Some time later, the girl breaks the boy’s heart. Of course, there
are an infinite number of variations on this basic story. Girl sees a boy in passing.
She falls in love with him and does everything in her power to meet him. When
they finally get together, he spurns her. Or perhaps you would prefer the following
version. A couple falls deeply in love. One of them contracts an incurable illness
and dies. Even though we could continue recounting these different plot lines
all day long, we would come to the same conclusion. Being human makes you
vulnerable to being wounded.
We have been hurt because we have opened ourselves up to others. This is a
1
Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians
1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 1:3

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fundamental fact of our human existence. The first time that we were hurt could
have been early in our lives. We might have had a crush on our elementary school
teacher. When we told our closest friend about our love for the teacher, we were
crushed when found out that this relationship would never work out. Our heartache
could have been later in life and occurred in high school. Our date to the prom
would not dance with us and left the prom with someone else. Only later would
we find out that our date had been seeing someone else.
Breaking up a long-term relationship for any reason is painful. Divorce is a re-
ality that happens to about one-half of all marriages in the United States. Someone
will be hurt when a marriage is dissolved. It might be the wife who has to renter
the work force after depending on her former husband for financial support. It
also could be the children who have to deal with the pain of living in two different
households. Death ultimately will end every romance. With the death of a spouse,
one not only has to deal with the pain of loosing someone who is extremely close
to you but the surviving partner must also live knowing that their partnership is
forever broken.
Given what we know about the depth of pain that lurks beneath the surface in
every one of these affairs, it might be surprising for us to learn that God desires
to be in relationships with all of us. The recognition of this love affair between
God and humanity is a key concept in our understanding of how God works in the
world.
Over the last few weeks, we have seen illustrations of God’s deep desire to be
in a relationship with us. On the last Sunday of July, the Gospel reading told us

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how Jesus fed the crowd of five thousand (John 6:1-15). God’s first concern is that
we have the basics that are needed for life: food and water. For without something
to eat and to drink, we would be dead and we could not return God’s affection.
Two weeks ago, we learned that Jesus gives us with the food that truly satisfies
(John 6:35). This message from Jesus tells us that when we eat and drink with
Him we will recognize that God loves us.
It might seem as if God’s concern for our well being is the limit to God’s rela-
tionship with us. Having said that, this is not the case because last Sunday, Jesus
told us that He would die so that we might live (John 6:51). Jesus’ willingness to
die for creation’s sake shows God’s level of commitment in His relationship with
us. And in today’s Gospel lesson from John, Jesus continues this same theme.
Jesus informs us that our life comes through His death (John 6:35).
These examples from the last three Sundays give us a taste of God’s care for
us. But if we were to stop here with this superficial examination of Jesus and if
we were to forget that Jesus was a man, we would then miss the depth of God’s
involvement with humanity and Jesus’ vulnerability to being hurt.
The foundational illustration of God’s devotion to us is heard in a verse from
John that we traditionally read on Christmass’ Eve, “The Word became flesh and
dwelt among us.” The full impact of this verse has regularly been lost on us be-
cause we have grown so overly familiar with Christmass story. We often only hear
the message that Jesus came to earth, lived with us, and died for us so that we may
live. This is the Good News in a nutshell. However, we normally gloss over a crit-
ical fact that we all know. Christ’s incarnation, literally the Messiah’s being made

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into flesh, has given the second person of the Trinity a body. And now because
Jesus has a body, Jesus is vulnerable.2
Ever since Christ’s birth, Jesus knows what it means to be human. He knows
what it feels like to be hungry, thirsty, and tired. He has been happy and He has
been sad. He has been hurt and He has died. Jesus has experienced all of these
feelings and even more because He has become man.
As humans, we might think that having a body is more of a problem than a
solution. Yet, Jesus would disagree because He took on flesh for our sake.
In fact, Jesus has shown us by example how to live with our bodies. He wants
us to do two things. First, we are to love one another as Christ first loved us
(John 13:34; 15:12). Jesus’ teaching on this point is very clear.3 Jesus tells us that
we are to serve others by providing them with what they need. Next, we are to
follow God’s commandments (John 14:24). In the Gospel according to St. John,
this requirement can be summarized in two simple points. First, do not reject Jesus
and His message (John 12:48). Secondly, love your neighbor as yourself.
When you love others and allow Jesus in your life, you will find that this often
brings out the worst in people. People will take advantage of you.4 They will
ridicule your lifestyle. They will refuse to associate with you. They might even
kill you (John 15:20).
This is why Jesus tells us why we are not to worry about life. We neither have
the ability to give life or to take it away because life itself is a gift from God.
2
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3
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4
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Specifically, eternal life is given to those who eat with Jesus (John 6:54, 58). The
meal with Jesus is not limited to those people who have invitations to the dinner
because Jesus has commanded all of us to eat with Him.5
Unfortunately, some people do not hear Jesus’ instruction to eat and to drink
with Him. Martin Luther had very harsh words for these individuals who would
not receive the Sacrament. In the Preface to the Small Catechism he writes,

If they do not come, give up on them and tell them that those who do
not pay attention to or feel their great need and God’s gracious help
belong to the devil.6

Luther expands his criticism for those who refuse to come to the Lord’s Table in
The Large Catechism:

For I call it despising when people, with nothing to hinder them, let a
long time elapse without ever desiring the sacrament. If you want such
liberty, you may just as well take the further liberty not to be a Chris-
tian; then you need not believe or pray, for the one is just as much
Christ’s commandment as the other. But if you want to be a Christian,
you must from time to time satisfy and obey this commandment. For
such a commandment should always move you to examine yourself
and think: “See, what sort of Christian am I? If I were one, I would
5
The statement by Jesus in John 6:53, “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.” is one of the reasons that some churches
practice infant communion. ?, .
6
Preface to the Small Catechism, ?, .

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 surely have at least a little desire to do what my Lord has commanded
me to do.”7

Despite our refusal to meet Jesus at the Diner Table, Jesus continues to set
the Table for us and invite us to come and eat with Him. Everyone who comes to
the Lord’s Supper and eats His Body and drinks His Blood will live forever (John
6:58). We will be able to see this miracle here in this place in a few minutes. Bread
will come down from heaven (John 6:58). Jesus will be with us like He was with
the disciples at the Last Supper. He will be just as vulnerable with us as He was
almost two thousand years ago. This is His promise. This is His pledge.
Eating the flesh of the Son of Man and drinking His blood means that Jesus
has made Himself open to us. He has made Himself available to us. In the process,
we will be given something that we cannot give ourselves. We will be given the
gift of eternal life (John 6:58).
After this meal with Jesus, miracles will continue to happen. Not only will
Jesus be with us but we also will be with Him (John 6:56). This close relationship
does not mean that nothing bad will happen to you nor does it mean that you
will never hurt again.8 Instead, the everlasting part of the miracle simply means
that we become completely one with God. This happens in three different ways.
First of all, Jesus will be there with you, like a good friend, holding your hand
and suffering with you. Next, we are everywhere where Jesus is. Because of this
we are always in God’s eternal glory and majesty. Finally, we are with everyone
7
The Large Catechism: The Sacrament of the Altar,?, .
8
In the healing at Bethesda, the man was questioned why he picked up his pallet on the Sabbath.
(John 5:9-10). Then the authorities ask who cured him. (John 5:11-16).

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else who has ever eaten this meal. Thus, our vulnerability along with Jesus’ is
multipled since we are suffering with all the people who have come to the Lord’s
Table.
We do not know how Jesus gives us this gift of eternal life, we cannot fathom
how God can be with each of us, nor do we comprehend how we can be with every
other believer. These are some of the great mysteries of the faith. Remember “we
don’t have to understand what God is doing for God to be able to do it.”9
There is a story that we all know so well, the story of our hurt. We all remember
this story because of the pain that we carry deep inside our very being. We know
an even older story, one that actually predates the first story of a broken heart.
Before we even came into existence, God loved us all of us. Not everyone knows
this Good News because not every one has eaten with Jesus at His Table. Our task
is to make sure that everyone knows the second story as well as the first by inviting
them over to dinner.
“The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and
minds through Christ Jesus.”10

9
?, .
10
Philippians 4:7.