By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
February 11, 2024
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2 Kings 2:1–12 (ESV)
1 Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. 2 And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. 3 And the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” And he said, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.” 4 Elijah said to him, “Elisha, please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho. 5 The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” And he answered, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.” 6 Then Elijah said to him, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on. 7 Fifty men of the sons of the prophets also went and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. 8 Then Elijah took his cloak and rolled it up and struck the water, and the water was parted to the one side and to the other, till the two of them could go over on dry ground. 9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.” 10 And he said, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so.” 11 And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 12 And Elisha saw it and he cried, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.
I was excited to be able to speak about Elijah this week. I have always liked this particular character in scripture. He was probably my hero when I was a child. It was Elijah that caused me to believe in the awesome power of God.
I might need to give some context to that. Most of you know that I was raised on a farm in North Central Kansas. I lived on the high plains of Kansas, or the short grass prairies. Ecologically this is significant. When most people consider the prairies, they think about waist high grass that looks like a vast green ocean as it stretches out toward the horizon, rolling over the hills, and making waves as the wind blows. That was not where I grew up. The High Plains were dry, the natural grass could get tall but not like the tall grass prairies of Eastern, Kansas. Where I grew up the primary native grass was Buffalo grass. If you know anything about grass, which I do since that was my career for several years. Buffalo grass is a hardy drought tolerant grass that grows close to the ground. The reason this grass was prominent in the high plains is because it is dry. The high plains are not quite a desert, but it might as well be.
I grew up in this dry land. In many of the dryer parts of Kansas, like the southwest areas, it is possible to use irrigation, but that was not an option where I grew up. There were too many hills and not enough water.
When you grow up in an area where your very existence revolves around getting just enough rain at the right time, you pay attention to things like the weather. I learned to read the weather map early in my life, and although I do not have the formal education, I could probably make it as a city meteorologist.
When I was a child, we had an intense drought. I remember many years, where I would ride in the combine with my grandpa, where he would just shake his head as he harvested wheat. The wheat was so short and thin that the yield would not cover the cost of the fuel required to harvest it, and not nearly enough to provide for a family. The 1980’s for northern Kansas was not good.
The first time we hear about Elijah in scripture is when he predicts a drought. I grew up during a drought, so this character in scripture attracted my attention. He stood before king Ahab, and he said, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years except by my word.”
I have been a bible nerd for a long time. I read about Elijah early in grade school. And I would read about him often. For several years this drought plagued Israel. When an arid land has below average rain, famine and poverty quickly follow. People have to make a drastic choice, do I save the grain to plant next year, or do I feed my family?
After Elijah predicted the drought, he went and lived by a brook. While he was there, God provided his needs. Twice a day the ravens would bring Elijah meat and bread. I always found this fascinating. The first thing that I always thought about is ravens were considered unclean, yet God used them serve Elijah his meals. The second thing that caused me to ponder was how did these ravens get bread? The land was in a drought and the people did not have much food to spare, yet the birds were finding bread enough to feed themselves and a prophet of God.
Eventually the drought became so intense that the brook no long contained water. I have watched and seen rivers run dry. It is a depressing sight. When they flow everything is green and life seems to have hope. But when a river, when a primary source of water shrinks to a stream, and then stops flowing altogether, despair can set in.
When the brook dries out, Elijah is urged by God to walk completely through the Kingdom of Israel, over the border into Lebanon where he is to find a widow and her son to live with. I want us to just for a moment consider what is going on in that story. God commanded Elijah to immigrate. He urged him to cross the northern boarder and to go live in that nation. He went, and he lived with a widow, but Sidon was also facing hardship at that time. The widow did not have much to offer.
Elijah calls out to her asking for a morsel of bread. She answered his call by saying, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.” Elijah tells her not to fear and to go make the bread for her last meal, but to make a little cake for him first, and with the remainder she can feed her and her son. If you remember the story, the widow always had enough flour and oil to eat because God blessed her for her hospitality. God will provide for those that help others.
Elijah enjoyed the hospitality of this widow for a long time, but while he lived with them her son died. This greatly troubled Elijah, and he cried to God, “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity, even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son.” He then, in his grief, stretched his body over the boy three times, and prayed, “O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.” God heard the prayers of this prophet and the boy was raised to life again.
Elijah was a prophet for the poor farmer living in a drought. After God restored life to the boy, God called Elijah back to Israel, back to the king’s court. The drought had lasted three years. The king of Israel was an evil guy. When the famine struck the land, he sent his steward out to find all the places where there might be some water, and when these places were found, he had the royal horses and mules taken to these springs. The land was in extreme poverty. The people were starving, and the king was more concerned with his horses.
Last week I made the distinction between the perspective of various religious worldviews. I mentioned how many of the polytheistic religions saw humanity as servants to the gods, where the view of the Hebrew faiths see humanity not as servants, but as image bearers. This is the difference at play. When we see the person beside us as fellow image bearers we should have compassion because we are equal. When we see the world in hierarchy where there are masters and servants, and the king being the one given divine rights to rule, there is no compassion. The king takes what he needs, and the people must struggle on what is left behind.
For three years, the land thirsted for moisture. And Ahab’s steward went through the land looking for places to water his master’s livestock. And on one of those journeys he came across Elijah. The steward was a Godly man, he knew who Elijah was, and he also did what he could to protect the various prophets of God. This steward’s name was Obadiah. When Obadiah saw Elijah he feared for his life and the life of the prophet. The king blamed Elijah for the famine. In the king’s eyes, it was Elijah that caused the drought, not his own wickedness or his lack of empathy. Obadiah wanted to protect Elijah, but Elijah had another plan.
This is when Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal do a duel. They go to Mount Carmel and 850 of the various priests of the Canaanite religion face off against Elijah. They build an altar to their god, they cry out and demand that their deity light the sacrificial fire. All day they cut themselves, they cry, they scream to the heavens. Elijah even gives them encouragement saying that they should yell louder, because maybe Baal is asleep or possibly in the restroom. Yes, this is one reason why I loved this story as a kid.
The priest of Baal and Asherah cried, but there is no answer. Finally, Elijah had enough. And he prepares his sacrifice. He has those that were appointed to assist him to dig a trench around the altar, a trench large enough to contain two seah of seed. We might not understand how big that is, but it is approximately four gallons. Elijah directs his assistants to fill four jars of water and to dump it on the altar, three times.
We are not told how much water this would have been. But the trench that was dug around the altar could hold four gallons and that trench was filled with water. This was a drought ridden land, and they just dumped water directly onto the ground, so much water to fill a trench that could hold four gallons. And the water stood in that trench. One website I looked at said that they probably used just over three gallons. I have lived through a drought and I know how quickly the ground can soak up water, this was most likely jars that held significantly more water. They were potentially like the water jars used by Jesus when he turned water to wine at the wedding. I would venture to say that these were jars that each held twenty gallons of water, used for ritual cleaning, so I think they dumped 240 gallons of water on Elijah’s altar.
The assistants dug the trench, and they dumped the water on the ground. I am sure the people watching, watched with horror in their eyes as Elijah wasted such a valuable commodity. Then Elijah, turned and prayed.
“O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.”
The priest of Baal cried to their gods all day, and Elijah says a few words. With those words fire came down from heaven and burned the sacrifice, the stones of the alter, and completely evaporated the water. Elijah then commanded the people to seize the priest of Baal, and told Ahab to go home to wait for rain.
Soon the rain did come to the land. And After the rain came Elijah ran for his life, because he had humiliated the evil queen, and the people killed all her prophets. He ran to hide in a cave. He had just witnessed the most amazing thing I can imagine, and he sat in a cave in deep despair.
God meets with Elijah in that cave. The Lord asks what he is doing. Elijah answers, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”
God then tells Elijah to go out and stand on the mountain because he will meet with him. There was a wind that tore blew that ripped rocks from the mountain face. There was an earthquake that shook the very foundations of the earth. Then there was a fire that rushed across the drought stricken land. God was not in any of those things that we would call acts of God. The after the fire there was a stillness, and it was in the stillness that Elijah met with God on the mountain.
Shortly after this, Elijah leaves the cave and meets with Elisha. Elijah just walks up to him while he is driving the oxen on a plow, and he puts his cloak upon him, and keeps walking. Elisha dumbfounded at why some man would just toss his coat on him while he was working runs after Elijah, and upon seeing who it was, he says “Let me kiss my father and mother, and then I will follow you.” When he comes back to Elijah, he offers the oxen as a sacrifice, and they share the meat with the community. We are told that there were twelve yokes of oxen. A yoke is stretched between two animals, so there were twenty-four oxen offered that day. I do not know why he needed that many oxen to pull a plow, but that is a lot of meat. And from that moment on Elisha follows the great prophet.
It is thought that Elisha followed Elijah for around ten years. They watch battles fought, they spoke truth to power, and brought kings to repentance. They watched as those kings again turned from God in their pursuit of wealth and power. During this time several prophets emerged, joining Elijah mission. This group became known as the sons of the prophets. This guild of Godly men could have been an actual organization, or it might have been simply an organic fellowship of like-minded people. But as Israel was turning toward Baal, it was these prophets that went around encouraging the nation to return to God. No matter what their actual makeup was they did correspond.
Today, our scripture reading comes from the end of Elijah’s ministry. I spent the time building to this so that we could understand what was going on. Elijah, had taken on an entire nation. He looked into the very eyes of the devil and watched as God provided a victory.
I so wanted to be like Elijah. When kids would pick on me in school, which they would often do, because I was a nerd not only a bible nerd. My nickname was the Scientist. I would go out at recess, gather sticks, and I would ask God to show them that he was real, and that I was not just a nerd. I begged God to reveal Himself by starting those sticks on fire. Looking back on it I am glad God never answered that prayer in the manner I wanted him to because I would have been kicked out of school.
Elisha and these Sons of the Prophets, had spent a decade walking through Israel. They faced off with the practitioners of the pagan Canaanite religions. They spoke boldly. They watched God do many amazing things. And now things are about to change.
Elijah tells Elisha, to stay in Gilgal because the Lord is sending him to Bethel. Elisha refuses this and follows Elijah to Bethel. When they get to that place the sons of the prophets come out of the town to meet Elisha, and they say to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” And Elisha responds, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”
Elijah then pleads with Elisha, to remain again at Bethel, because the Lord is telling him to go to Jericho. Elisha says to his teacher, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.”
They approach Jericho and again the sons of the prophets come out to meet Elisha. These also speak to him saying, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” Again, Elisha responds, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”
Elijah for a third time says encourages Elisha to remain as he continues his thirty-mile journey to the Jordan. Elisha for a third time responds with the same words, that he will never leave his teacher alone. And this time fifty of the sons of the prophets walk with the duo.
Elijah walks to the Jordan, he takes off his coat and rolls it up. He hits the water with the bundle and the waters part, just like it did for Joshua when he entered the promised land. As the waters part leaving behind dry land, Elijah and Elisha walk out of that land of Promise, into the wilderness.
They reach the far bank, leaving the other sons of the prophets on the other side. Elijah then turns to his apprentice. For years, they had walked and served together. And Elijah says, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha looks at his teacher, and responds, “Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.”
What is Elisha asking? Is he greedy for power? No, the double portion is what is given to the eldest son upon the death of the father. The double portion is given because it is the responsibility of the eldest to be the safety net that provides for the family’s future security. Elisha is saying to Elijah, that he fully accepts the responsibility that was offered to him. Elisha looks at his master and says I am willing to walk, I am willing to lead, I am willing to encourage those men across the river just as you encouraged me.
Elijah looks at his apprentice and informs him that he has asked for a hard thing. It is hard to live a life honoring God. It is difficult to treat others as image bearers of God even though they reject the very notion that they were created in that image. A righteous and Godly lifestyle is difficult because the kingdoms of mankind and the desires of men’s hearts are often perverted from the ways of God. Yet, Elisha looks at his master teacher and says, “as the Lord lives I am willing to walk that walk.”
We face struggles and hardships. We look out around us, and we wish that God would show his awesome power to the world so that they would believe. We even cry out telling those around us that if we do not change our course we will surely face calamity. What do we learn from today’s passage?
God is not in the feats of power. God is not in the mighty earthquake or wildfire. The Lord is in the stillness.
“Yes, I know it; keep quiet.” Is the answer that Elisha repeats to the sons of the prophets. He is not telling them to shut up. He is not avoiding the topic of his teacher’s departure. Elisha is telling them where they will find God during the absence of their beloved leader.
“Yes, I know; keep quiet.” This is the anthem I encourage us to take as we leave these walls. It is the banner I hope we carry as we interact with those within our community that wonder and worry about the election and the wars around the world.
As Psalm 46 says:
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.
Selah
There is a river whose steams make glad the city of God, the holy habitations of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah
Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolation on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire.
“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah
“Yes, I know; keep quiet.” Elisha encourages us as sons and daughters of prophets and God. Be still, and walk in His light.
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church August 23, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Romans 12:1–8 (ESV) I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church August 16, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Romans 11:1–2a, 29–32 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church August 08, 2026 Click Here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Last week we spoke about how from the beginning God counted humanity as the elect over creation. This might have caused some of you to think I had…
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By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
August 15, 2021
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John 6:51–58 (ESV)
51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
Last week I encouraged us all to look at the study of scripture not as a task, but as an adventure. A journey of exploration and discovery. When I think of this sort of thing my mind is often filled with images from various stories, I have either read or watched on a screen. It is a journey of exploration or a quest. When I think of it as a quest my mind is immediately drawn to the story of King Arthur and the knights of Camelot. I am not a great scholar in the matters of the Arthurian lore, if I want to be totally honest most of my knowledge of Arthur comes from Monty Python, but there is a quest. A quest is more than a simple journey of exploration, when you are sent on a quest your intention is to find or achieve the task set before you. In the case of the Arthurian legends the quest was for the Holy Grail, the cup of Christ, the cup that brings life.
The quest image is what I want us to consider today. Those individuals that are on a quest will not stop for any reason. They are driven to obtain the completion of the quest or to die trying. The reason behind this drive is the understanding that the completion of the quest has great benefit. We have heard of medical researchers that have been pursued their research with a quest type of fervor. They do this because they once knew someone or were possibly related to someone that contracted a disease. That individual they knew either lived in constant pain or suffering, or perhaps they died because the doctors did not know what to do. These researchers saw this happen and something inside of them flipped a switch and everything in their lives changed. They were almost duty bound to find the cure, and they would give their lives to achieve that goal.
That is the type of drive I want us to have when we approach scripture. I want us to look at the words on the page and see them not as good words, but as the words that give life.
There is a problem with this. The words of scripture were not written in English or Swahili. They were written in a language that very few of us really know. And we all know that sometimes things can be lost in translation. At times there are not good words in one language that can fully express what we would like to say so we use the next best thing, but when we use that word, we lose something. We will often see the word love in English, but that word could be several different words in the biblical Greek text. It could be one of four different words that convey a deep affinity but are acted out in a different manner. If we do not take that into account, we risk misinterpreting or misunderstanding how this exceedingly important word should be expressed in our lives.
We are on a quest. Our quest is to know what scripture says because these are the words revealed by the Spirit to teach us of the Word. They are the words given to us to convey the knowledge or wisdom of God. What is said in this book shows us what life with God is and reveals to us how we fit into that life. We are, just like King Arthur, given the quest to find the holy grail, the cup or the vessel that brings life.
We are called to this quest but often we are met with challenges. Many of us have started to read scripture, but we often get to a point where we do not understand what we are reading and we are discouraged and we stop. We look at the pages and it no longer appears to be the grail we seek, but instead it becomes a chamber of secrets. We do not understand so we step back in fear that we might unleash some terrible heresy that will condemn us and entrap those we care for. We stop pursuing the quest we once began and we leave it to those that are stronger or wiser. We then put our trust into those stronger and wiser individuals. This is not entirely bad. Even Arthur that legendary king had companions that assisted him on his quest. The key there is that we assist, we do not walk the path for you. Each of us must walk our own pathway, we each must take that journey ourselves, but the journey is more enjoyable when we have friends to walk with.
Today, as we walk the pathway toward that vessel of life, we come to one of those areas that will often cause people to stumble and stop their journey. It is not surprising even during the days of Jesus many struggled with the words Jesus spoke. John chapter six is a turning point for the ministry of Jesus. Prior to this the questions were largely to determine if they should embrace the teachings of Jesus. Yes, there were times that there were misunderstanding, but by in large those that asked questions were seeking clarification. They were not thrilled with Jesus’ approach, but they could not outright reject what he had to say. But somewhere within this chapter things change.
On the surface we may not really notice what changed. We might simply see some people following Jesus because he has the power to make bread. We can understand this. Who would not want to follow someone that could provide for their basic needs of life? I will be totally honest, if I was offered a job where housing and meals were included with my salary, I would probably take the job. The rule of thumb we are often taught in our society is that we should not spend more than thirty percent of our income on housing. Thirty percent. That is basically one third of our paycheck goes toward keeping rain from our heads while we sleep. The next largest expense in our life is food. In the United States we spend on average six percent of our income on food. On average in the United States right from the start we thirty-six percent of our income is spent on just keeping our immediate needs covered. This ratio unfortunately is not static. The less you make the greater the percentages are and the more income you have the smaller the percentages are. If we were to look at the value of the home of the wealthiest individual in America, the amount spent on their housing each month would be far below thirty percent, where it would be common for many low-income families to be spending over half of their income on rent alone. For many Americans they are required to spend most of their income on supplying the basic needs of life. If I were to be offered a job where these basics of life were provided along with a salary, I would most likely take the position because likely the salary offered would be greater than the amount left over after I paid for the basics of life.
The people were following Jesus because they sought the benefits. That is not faith it is survival. And there is nothing wrong with survival, many of us trust God because we live in a survival mode, we have needs and we do not know where to get them so we have no other option but to trust that God will provide. But what happens when we can provide for ourselves?
The tribes of Israel wondering through the desert were provided with manna from heaven. Their needs were provided for, but as soon as they entered the land of promise that manna stopped coming from the sky and they were required to survive off the produce of the land. In the desert once the grumbling generation had died, all that were left were those that only knew the provision of God. They entered the land with faith, but gradually over time the faith of Israel diminished as they saw themselves as their own provision.
This brings us to today’s passage. Again, we begin this week where we ended last week. “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.” Jesus says. “If anyone east of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
This is where contention emerges. This is where most of us become confused as well. We have a basic understanding of bread. We even understand that Jesus by connecting himself with the manna from heaven is telling us that God is the true source of our provision. But we struggle with the last phrase of that verse. “And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
The religious leaders disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” In their mind Jesus has just presented something profoundly vile. Cannibalism? Yet, Jesus lets them continue in this line of thinking, even though they have misunderstood the words he has spoken. What is the flesh that Jesus gives?
Last week I mentioned the peace offering. I mentioned that this is the one type of offering where the people giving the offering were invited to participate in it. The offering included bread and flesh. A portion of the bread was given to God to be burned on the altar, and the remaining bread was to be eaten by the worshipers. Then the animal was ritualistically slaughtered and choice pieces of the body were given to God on the altar, and the remaining meat was given back to the worshiper to be eaten and shared in a celebration of peace with God. This offering represented intimacy between God and the people. It represented God sharing a meal with his people. And when we share a meal together there is peace and friendship.
Jesus says that he is the bread, but changes the wording a bit, morphing the bread away from bread the basic staple of life, into flesh the more luxurious aspect of the meal. In the United States, we have a skewed understanding of nutrition. We, by in large, have access to a balanced diet. We do not always take advantage of this access but it is there. We may not have a high protein source of food at every meal but we will most likely have at least one meat a day. In many areas of the world the availability of meat is scarce. To have meat at a meal in this ancient time was a celebration, it was a sign that the worshiper trusted God enough to share the meat.
Jesus turns from the bread to the flesh of the meal. We can look at the Olympic metal counts and see how important the availability of meat is to the physical success and well being of a culture. But I want us to keep in mind the sacrifice or the offering image. The worshiper is bringing the bread and the flesh. In our minds we are the ones that offer worship, we are the ones that come to God with our petitions and our praise. This is no different from the teachings of those ancients in Israel. Many of them believed that if only we were more righteous Messiah would come. They would dedicate their lives and lifestyles merit God’s favor, with the hopes that the kingdom of God would come.
Jesus says that I am the living bread, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. Remember that the bread of worship was a symbol of the wisdom from God, Jesus is saying that he is the source of that wisdom when he is saying that he is the bread of life. He is the source of wisdom. But there is more, John begins his gospel account with, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The Word being spoken of is the term logos. Logos is knowledge or wisdom. This term logos was symbolized in the bread of worship. John goes on to say that through this divine wisdom, logos, everything was created, and nothing was created without this wisdom. Then in verse 1:14 John wrote, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
The wisdom of God became flesh. The bread of God became the flesh of God. And that flesh became the peace offering that brings mankind and the divine back into the right relationship. Jesus is the peace offering.
Jesus by speaking those words were telling the religious leaders that their righteous labors were empty. They were rituals performed with empty hopes because the focus was not on the proper place. They were providing offerings from the economy of mankind. The things that we can do and create. What are the deeds of men in relation to the creator of the universe? What is our gold and currency to a being that in a breath can speak the entire world and everything within into existence? Their rituals were empty because they were focused on themselves. We are good enough and God should want to eat with us. The reality is God provides the bread and the meat. God became flesh and lived among us, not because we were good enough but because he loved us anyway. He came full of grace and truth.
Jesus loves us anyway. If we were to look at all the sacrifices, all the rules, and all the laws we can see one thing. We are completely unable to stand before God. The sacrifices were not there to take away the sins, but they were there to keep the impurity of humanity from infecting the places set aside for God. The things labeled unclean many times were things that we have absolutely no control over, and in many cases were human functions that God created within us. Is a child born with a deformity destined for hell? No, but they were not able to come into the sanctuary of God because they were a symbol of the imperfection of humanity brought about from the sin of our first parents. Jesus loves us anyway. We are imperfect, and God knows this so God provides what we cannot give ourselves. We cannot make peace so he does it for us.
The religious leaders still grumble, because Jesus tells them that those that ate the bread of the sacrifices still died. But those that eat the flesh of Christ, the bread that came down from heaven, will live forever. Those that rely of themselves will remain in the same state that they have always been in. But what if we turn? What if we were to take on or eat the flesh of Christ. What if we become like Christ and begin to live within his wisdom? That is what it means to eat the flesh of Christ. It is not necessarily eating but becoming putting on his lifestyle or armor as Paul tells us. When we put on Christ or partake of his life he stands where we cannot for us. His perfection redeems our imperfection. And our imperfection and weakness become his strength. I stand here not in my own strength; this is the last place I want to stand in myself. I know who I am. But I stand because I know that of Christ overcomes. I was once dead, I once lived without a relationship with God, but through Christ I have been changed. I now have peace with God. In Christ I now have friendship with God. And God has sent me on a quest to explore the wonders of who He is.
Will you join the quest and sit at the table he is calling you to? We do not bring anything to the table, but there we do have to respond. God has made peace with us through Christ but we must accept the gift of grace and turn to him. Will you?
If you would like to help support the continued Ministry of Willow Creek Friends Church please consider donating online:
https://secure.piryx.com/donate/nlcsJT87/Willow-Creek-Friends-Church/
By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
July 18, 2021
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Mark 6:30–34 (ESV)
30 The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.
Mark 6:53–56 (ESV)
53 When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore. 54 And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized him 55 and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was. 56 And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.
How has your week been? How many items did you have in your schedule? Did you get them all completed or are you thinking right of what you need to do as soon as the meeting for worship is over? We live in a culture that almost takes pride in being busy. If someone does not have to look at their calendar when you ask to meet with them, we almost feel as if they are lazy. And we almost feel embarrassed if we do not have at least one event conflicting with potential meetings. The conversation around juggling schedules is replacing idle chit chat about the weather, mainly because having an opinion about the weather would require us to slow down to notice if there are clouds or not.
We are a busy culture. When I was in Ukraine, I was constantly annoyed that people did not show up to meetings on time. I was annoyed that the trains were not where they said they would be when they said they would be there. I was annoyed that people did not have a sense of urgency. And I get back home and begin work in a corporate world, and my supervisors are telling me that I do not have enough sense of urgency. I have been told that I am too laid back and need care more. I have always found this to be surprising, and to be honest I would venture to say that those supervisors did not know me nor how I work.
In today’s passage, we see Jesus and the disciples in a bit of a different way. Usually, the gospel accounts have Jesus doing the ministry and the disciples just following him around. But today, is a bit different. Jesus is the one sitting around and the disciples are the ones that are on the move. Jesus sent the disciples out. He sent them to the surrounding villages around his hometown to minister. He told them to go. He advised them to put on their durable shoes and to grab a walking stick and nothing else. Do not pack a bag, do not run to the bank to get some cash from the ATM, he did not even want them to pack a lunch. Just go. And he gave them the authority over unclean spirit, he gave them the power and authority to do pretty much everything they had watch him do.
Jesus sends them out, but what does he do in the meantime? He morns his cousin’s death. Jesus sends out the twelve, giving them authority over unclean spirits, and they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. They cast out demons and anointed many who were sick with oil and brought about healing. And while they do that, we got that weird interlude in Mark’s gospel where we discuss the growing fame of Jesus’ name and Herod’s guilty conscience. Jesus sent out his disciples to give himself space.
We do not see this interlude as Jesus’s grief. Even though I spoke about the passage last week I did not present it in this manner, but if we consider the scene. The twelve are out wandering in the villages, expanding the ministry of Christ. And Jesus is alone, and maybe he joined with John’s disciples as they carried his body to the tomb.
Today, the disciples are making their way back to where Jesus was. They are sharing various stories and are filled infectious excitement. Do we sense the excitement? I want us to remember the Monday after the Chiefs won the super bowl. How many of us remember the score at the beginning of the 3rd quarter? How many of us remember as the opposing team posed for a picture after scoring a touchdown assured that they were going to win? How many of us remember the remarkable comeback? The conversations the Monday after were filled with commentary, smart phones were replaying highlights, and pretty much everyone was talking about the game. I remember that day, I remember how the supervisors at the store expected little to get accomplished that day, and their expectations were not far from correct.
That was just a football game. What the disciples experienced was far beyond even being present at the live event. They had watch people around them being released from spiritual bondage. They were seeing illnesses that crippled the afflicted leaving the body and lives being restored. We have trouble remembering how to tell the punchline of a joke at times, imagine trying to explain atrophied muscles becoming firm and toned.
They did not want to stop talking. They were excited to tell their stories and to hear the stories that the other groups had to share. Each group most likely brought people along with them to tell stories as well. We are not told this explicitly but if the story is too good to be true but it really is true, you would want to bring a witness or two to corroborate what you had to say. People are coming and going. Stories are shared, laughs are heard. There is so much traffic in and out that the disciples and Jesus could not even take a break, even to eat.
Have you had a day like that? I worked in retail for the past eleven years. I understand this kind of busy. There are days where the stores that I have worked at buy food for their employees for one reason, the stores are so busy that if they did not have food readily available their employees would not take the time to eat. It is not that they wanted them to work that hard there was just too much to do. When a store is preparing for inventory, the day when every item in the store is counted, employees are not thinking about food, they want to make sure their area is ready to go. When the Black Friday event begins and customers are herding into the aisles a retail working is not thinking about when their lunch break will come, because they are too busy helping their customers find the hot deal on an instapot. We have days like this. I am sure that during tax season accountants have their schedule booked so tightly they are lucky to have time to eat a granola bar within the course of their workday, and I know that during harvest farmers wives often must remind their husbands that sleep is necessary.
The camp of the disciples was busy. The excitement was at monumental levels. And I can just imagine that Jesus was probably having a great time watching and listening. But he also knew that the human body cannot endure that kind of stress for long.
Adrenaline is an amazing biochemical produced within our bodies. It can enable our bodies to perform in nearly superhuman ways, but it comes with side effects. The presence of this hormone causes the muscles in the body to become stimulated. The heart beats faster, our legs might begin to twitch, our senses become more alert. This happens because we are on edge, ready to respond quickly in instance of danger. The body then begins to produce more glucose so that the muscles can have the energy to continue to function at this heightened state. Our bodies are using more glucose so if we do not eat eventually our bodies will become hypoglycemic. To combat this the liver kicks into action converting the fats in our body into usable energy. This sounds great, but what happens if we are not actually using the energy?
Adrenaline is produced during high stress. This can be positive or negative stress. If positive we are usually working hard or exercising. The negative stress is the problem. Doctors will tell us to do things to relieve stress in our lives because its hard on our heart, or maybe because we are borderline diabetic. The reason they say this is because when we are stressed mentally our bodies still respond in the same way as if a dog were chasing us, but our muscles are not using energy so the adrenaline is pumping our body full of extra sugars with nowhere to go. Eventually when that is not used, the glucose is converted back into fat which usually is stored in places like the liver, or around the heart. Negative stress, the stress from work, and misplace anxiety contribute to our nation’s obesity problem. It is not only the amount of sugar we consume. It is the stress with no healthy outlet.
I am not saying that Jesus knew the potential health risk of unchecked stress, but he could have he is God. What I am saying is Jesus understood that once the body runs on adrenaline for a while a crash is imminent. While we are in the zone, we do not know how close we are to that crash. In our mind we have never been better. Our mind is clicking, our actions are honed with precision, but with each beat of the heart we are closer to that crash. That moment when we have no more to give, and our bodies fail us. If we are an athlete the crash might be an injury something like a pulled muscle, or a twisted ankle. For me, I will be writing away thinking everything is flowing perfectly and suddenly, my brain seems to stop. I cannot type, I cannot even think. It is as if the transmission of my brain popped out of gear and the clutch is out of sync and I cannot get things reengaged no matter how hard I try.
Jesus sees this in the eyes of his disciples, and he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” Rest. Stop. Take a break. Go on vacation. Retreat.
Just when things were beginning to click, Jesus looks at them and says, “let’s take a break.” Imagine the shock of this. It would be like the coach of the football team calling a time out right when the momentum of the game was beginning to go their way. “Come away by yourselves,” Jesus says and he wants to show them and let them experience the holy rhythm that He lives.
I speak of this holy rhythm often. Enough that if you do not have it memorized after attending our meeting for a couple of months you have probably not been listening. Jesus’s holy rhythm is worship, prayer, and service. He made it his custom to worship. He withdrew to isolated places to pray, and the ministered to the need within the community. This rhythm is important for many reasons that stretch beyond the spiritual life. You can even apply this at work. Worship is celebration or remembering accomplishments. Prayer is taking a step back to examine what we are doing and looking at things from a different perspective. And service is reengaging a project. It is a holy and healthy rhythm to incorporate into your life.
But often we forget to “come away.” That coming away is in the center of the rhythm. It is in the center for a reason because it is the pivot of the cycle. If we put all our attention into service or ministry. If all our energy is on the work we need to accomplish, we might get a great deal done, but are we improving? In a football game, it is important for the offense to be on the field as long as possible. When your team’s offense is on the field that means you have control of the game. The defense is extremely important but if the defense is on the field too much you have lost control. Your defense must be strong, for the simple fact that it keeps your offense on the field.
If all we do is work, or ministry. If we are on the go all the time. It is like the defense is on the field all the time. When the defense is on the field mistakes are made and the other team gains the upper hand. When all we are focused on is the task right in front of us at any one moment, we are not able to see what is coming. When a department manager in a store is too busy stocking the shelves and not investigating the inventory levels eventually, they will sell out of items at the worst possible time. Ministry or work is immediate it right in front of us. We must do it now, those that live only in that place are highly stress. They might feel like they are keeping up, but eventually they will start to fall behind, because they have not had the time to anticipate what is coming up. If a factory pushes too hard to fulfill the orders and they do not come away to do routine maintenance, the machinery will break down causing greater harm. If a truck driver keeps driving and does not stop to rest an accident will eventually happen. We need to rest. We need to slow things down so we can regain control and perspective.
Jesus taught us that the sabbath was made for man not man for the sabbath. God gave us the sabbath not because he required that day for us to worship him, but we need that day. We need a day to stop what we are doing so that we can reengage life with renewed energy. And sabbath is not just worship on a Sunday morning. Sabbath is an intentional and disciplined. It is routine maintenance of our physical and spiritual life. It is there to remind us of what is most important, and why we do what we do.
After the disciples joined Jesus in this sabbath retreat, we see Jesus coming ashore, he sees a great crowd, and he has compassion on them. He has compassion because they were like sheep without a shepherd. I want us to focus on this as we enter our time of Holy Expectancy. A sheep without a shepherd is chaos, fear, despair. Sheep without a shepherd are wondering around without direction. They are eating the grass, following only their mouth and their stomach, until they are lost and vulnerable to attack. A sheep without a shepherd is the state of mind we find ourselves in when we live our busy lives without time to come away and rest. One thing after another, the next task, the next project, the next, the next. Wondering eating one blade of grass after another until we are lost and vulnerable. Yes, we might be working on good things, things that have great importance, even righteous importance but what is the cost? Come away, take a break, go on vacation, get some rest. Develop a holy rhythm in life, because the things that you are doing have great importance, and the offense needs to be on the field.
If you would like to help support the continued Ministry of Willow Creek Friends Church please consider donating online:
https://secure.piryx.com/donate/nlcsJT87/Willow-Creek-Friends-Church/
