God Drags Us To JesusJohn 6:35, 41-51August 9, 2015

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and from Jesus Christ the bread of life for the World, amen.

We’re half way there. Are you tired of bread stories yet? I am. When I started this five week series on the Bread of life section of John I didn’t realize how tedious talking about bread would become and we’re only three weeks into it with two more to come. So, I thought I’d start out with a story, well a word lesson, then a story. In the Gospel Jesus says, “No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day.” The word lesson is this word drawn. In the Greek this is the word e`lku,sh| (hĕlkĕsā) literally means to move an object from one area to another in a pulling motion, draw, with implication that the object being moved is incapable of propelling itself or in the case of persons is unwilling to do so voluntarily, in either case with the implication of exertion on the part of the

mover, that’s God our Father, “The Mover”. This is the same word John used to describe what happens to the fish later on in the 21st chapter when Jesus directs the disciples to cast their nets on the right side of the boat and they drag in 153 large fish, so much that the nets nearly burst. When I’ve been fishing I used a hook and put some bait on the hook in order to attract the fish to choose to take the bait. The fish usually choose not to bite almost always when I’ve gone fishing, but that’s not how they fished in Biblical times. They used great big nets and the fish would be caught up in the net. They didn’t make a choice, they were simply dragged into the boat. In the past I’ve heard this compared to the tractor beam in the old Star Trek series. Do we have any Trekkies here today? In Star Trek every so often the Klingons would capture the USS Enterprise in a tractor beam and literally pull the great star ship toward it where the ship and everyone on it faced sure and certain death. Another way to think about this dragging is a semi-tractor trailer rig. Not like a Mack truck, but more like a Peterbuilt. I think Peterbuilt sounds more Biblical… Think about it; if God is like the tractor and we’re like the trailer, we don’t really do anything… I’ve discovered a real life modern day analogy for this concept. I came across the website of the Robinson Ranch in Madisonville Texas. The good folks at the Robinson Ranch were in the Donkey business. They and recently had to sell most of their ranch land, but they used to breed donkeys, they raised donkeys, and they rescued donkeys from abuse and neglect, just like a dog rescue. They still do

whatever they can to educate people about what a wonderful creature the donkey truly is. One of the things I learned about donkeys is that the standard size donkey is used quite frequently to halter break calves and horses. Donkeys have this reputation for being stubborn and untrainable, but the reality is they are very loving and loyal. Donkeys always know the way home. They know where they get fed. So ranchers tie up a young calf or yearling horse to a donkey and let them roam the ranch. When it’s time to come home the donkey will come home literally dragging whatever is tied to it along for the ride. Eventually the calf or the yearling learns how to behave when haltered and when to return to the barn for food. Can you picture the hoof marks in the dirt of the pasture? You probably can’t see many hoof marks from the donkey because they are wiped out by the drag marks left by the horse being dragged back to the barn at meal time. I kept thinking about that beautiful poem called Footprints? It describes a lifetime of walking along the beach with the Lord. There are two sets of footprints. Then there is a time when there was only one set of prints in the sand and the poet reveals those are the times when our Lord carries us. When the burdens of life are so overwhelming that we can no longer even take the steps on our own, that’s when God lifts us onto God’s shoulders and carries us. That’s a nice picture and I’m sure there are times when God’s love and grace carry us through tough times, but speaking for myself at least, the poet left out those times when I was tied to the Lord and God dragged me sometimes kicking and

screaming back to Jesus. These were times when the footprints in the sand were mine and they were quite reluctant. I usually want my own way and I want it now.

Isn’t it great that we have a God who loves us so much that He tethers Himself to us and drags us to the food? Isn’t it the greatest gift of all that God grabs hold of us and refuses to let go until we are brought home to the place where we are fed with the bread that comes down from heaven? Sometimes the dragging comes from our parents or grandparents or some other relative who makes sure you get to the place to be fed. Sometimes it’s the calling of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes there is a crisis in your life that drags you back to God and other times it’s a joyous event such as a marriage or the birth of a child. God uses every means to drag us back to this place where we are fed with the body and blood of our Lord Jesus. What skid marks did you leave on the way here this morning? Was an extra hour in the sack pulling you in the opposite direction? How about the busy-ness of life, or an especially late night out on a Saturday night? The miracle is that somehow God dragged you here despite everything pulling you the other way.

God dragged you here for a purpose. When we celebrate Holy Communion we get to hear the words of promise in the ancient words of the liturgy - words that communicate God’s grace and love for us. They tell us how Jesus took on the burden of our sin and took that burden all the way to hell and back. On the third day God raised Jesus from the dead. He still bears the marks of the suffering and the pain, but the

sin is gone—the slate is wiped clean! Our slate is wiped clean! This is the great news that drags me here time and time again. I need to hear those ancient words spoken over and over because, unfortunately, I want to do things my own way. Have you ever watched the cable TV show The Ice Truckers? Every once in a while the trailer starts to get ahead of the tractor and that’s never a good thing… Sometimes, I want to run the other way when Jesus calls my name, but God drags me here because God knows I need to hear those ancient words of eternal life.

That’s the reality of God’s reign in your life. That’s a moment of pure unadulterated joy when you get from a small piece of bread and a little sip of wine. These are the gifts of God that come down from heaven for the life of the world. What happens to us out there in the world, for the most part, that isn’t really life. There’s many times when I say why me God. Then I remember the joy I get to feel in that one very short moment right after I drink the wine and I realize this is the reason why I’m here. God wanted me to feel this joy, the joy of God’s own presence and to know that is what awaits me after the dirt nap.

I’ll close for today with another word study from the Greek. In verse 47 Jesus says that whoever believes (whoever the Father has dragged to the cross of Jesus and to the empty tomb) has eternal life. First off, notice this is a present reality. Jesus doesn’t say you will have eternal life, but you have eternal life. Simply defined, "eternal life" is living in relationship with God. If we define "eternal" as "never

ending," it’s a relationship beginning now through seeing and believing, through eating and drinking (all present tense verbs), and it’s a relationship that never ends. Death does not separate us from God. The relationship begins now and continues forever. It’s eternal. It’s our eternal life. It’s right here and right now!

Jesus also says whoever eats of this bread and drinks of this cup will be raised from the dead. That’s in the future. That’s “Resurrection Life” not “Eternal Life.” We begin our new life with Christ from the moment we’re caught in God’s tractor beam or from the instant God hitches the Peterbuilt to us, or when we’re caught in God’s fishing net, however you think about it, when God tethers himself to us in the halter of grace, from that moment we’re dragged into eternal life with God now and forever.

May you experience that moment of joy every time you eat of the flesh of Jesus. May that joy, that exhilaration, give you the strength to live life until you are dragged back to this place for another slice of the bread that came down from heaven. May that joy bring you to the point where you can’t help yourself from sharing with everyone you know how God has worked the miracle of salvation for you and for the life of the entire world. Thank you God; for dragging us all into your presence today, may we bask in the joy of eternal life, now and forever, amen.