Tag Archives: da Vinci

Preaching, Sermons

Everyone Eats at Jesus’ Table [OR Last Supper? Bacchanalia? Does it Matter?] John 6:35, 41-51

**sermon photo: X user @kylenabecker

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on August 11, 2024

[sermon begins after two Bible readings; Ephesians reading is at the end of the sermon]

1 Kings 19:4-8 [Elijah] went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.”5Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” 6He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. 7The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” 8He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.

John 6:35, 41-51 Jesus said to [the crowd,] “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
41Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. 44No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. 45It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. 46Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

[sermon begins]

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” He didn’t just say it once. He kept saying it. (Hence why this sixth chapter of John is often called The Bread of Life Discourse.)[1] Adding fuel to his carb-loaded speech, Jesus also said that that he was “living bread from heaven.” The crowd couldn’t understand. Generations of Jews recite a daily prayer in good faith that only God is God and God is One.[2] For Jesus to self-identify using THE divine “I AM” statement, the same “I AM” name used by God with Moses. Moses was to tell the people of Israel that, “I AM has sent me to you.”[3] When Jesus was feeding 5,000 of them a few verses ago in this same sixth chapter of John, the crowd of Jews were ready to enthrone Jesus as king. But calling himself “I AM?!!” That crossed the line. No wonder they were complaining. This was tough stuff. They couldn’t accept it from Jesus. But not because God wasn’t already a sustaining God in scripture.

The crowd knew the ancestral stories from past generations like God’s provision of manna from heaven for Moses and the people Israel, and like God’s provision for Elijah when he fell into despair after fleeing Queen Jezebel who wanted to kill him. He was full of fear and more than ready to die under that broom tree. He preferred a quiet death over the one that the Queen would inflict. God’s angels woke Elijah up from his nap and fed him cake baked on desert stones. Elijah’s story is a good reminder to sleep and snack when things seem at their most bleak. More importantly, it’s a reminder that God has long been a sustaining God through the covenant given to the Jews that expanded to become the covenant given through Jesus to Gentiles, non-Jews.

It’s the new covenant that is the sticking point for the crowds around Jesus. Three Sundays ago, the sixth chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus met their 5,000 immediate needs and quieted their hunger pangs. Last Sunday, Jesus and the people talked about their ongoing need for food and the security it brings. It’s well known that you must feed people before anything else can happen. If people are hungry, they cannot absorb information. The arc of the Bread of Life Discourse started with their immediate needs and then moved towards their ongoing needs.[4] The third move from Jesus is about eternal life. In John’s gospel, eternal life is layered with abiding which is layered with believing which is layered with relationship. Jesus uses all these words – eternal life, abiding, believing, and relationship – to convey the intimate relationship that Jesus has with the Father who is the eternal One.[5] It’s their abiding relationship, their oneness, that we are also drawn into because of Jesus, the bread of life from heaven.

Some of you may know about a particular controversy during the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris.[6] It was a raucous scene of colorful, flamboyant people sitting behind a long table. The central figure wore a crown and was the D.J. for a dance party. When I saw it, I thought, huh, the Last Supper, that’s a different take on it. I know enough to be dangerous when it comes to serious art and my mind connected the Opening Ceremony scene to Da Vinci’s painting, “Last Supper.”[7] Turns out, that wasn’t the intention of the producers of that scene. Their goal was an homage to the original Roman Bacchanalia festivals celebrating the Greek God Bacchus. But at the end of the day, it didn’t matter what their intention was because some Christians reacted strongly against the scene. Things got ugly across the social medias. The complaining was loud. The reaction that followed was neither patient nor kind. But I’d like to pause, two weeks after the Opening Ceremony, and wonder about the collective Christian imagination that did see the Lord’s Supper taking place on that Paris bridge. That colorful, joyous scene and all that followed was a missed opportunity to talk about what the Lord’s Supper does and why the bread of life is holy to those of us who receive it and are transformed by it, and that everyone is welcome at Jesus’ table.

Jesus said, “I AM the bread of life.” The same Jesus who came into the world that God so loved and explicitly said that he didn’t come to condemn the world.[8] But it didn’t take long for Jesus followers to begin condemning the world rather than loving it. I’m curious about what that means in terms of the people we can’t imagine he would include in his promises and how we justify our words and behavior condemning them. Our Savior is the bread of life, the “I AM” who abides with us, bringing us into full communion with the eternal One, transforming our hearts to love the world with his heart. Now that’s a promise to rest in, hope for, and act upon.

How then should we act? The Ephesians reading offers us life-giving actions to practice. Apparently, the Ephesian church needed a lot of practice to live in unity across their different perspectives. Perhaps they are a good example for our times, our nation, and our world, especially when some Christian siblings and sometimes even we think that defending the faith means holding people in contempt rather than compassion. This sounds incredibly appealing for what ails us. Hear my paraphrase of the reading:

Be angry but don’t sin. Work honestly to have something to share with those in need. Speak no evil. Speak only grace-filled words that build up. Put away bitterness, wrath, anger, wrangling, slander, and all malice. Be kind, tenderhearted, and forgive as Christ forgives you. Imitate God, you beloved children, and live in love as Christ loved us – Christ who gave himself up for us.

Those words make a wonderful world sound possible. It also sounds a little like a kindergarten lesson that never quite stuck in our time of cheap talk and online bullying at every level of society including political discourse.[9] It’s one thing to talk theoretically about Paris and it’s quite another to practice what we’re called to be as Jesus followers. The practice starts here. In our congregation. With each other. Saying things that we need to say across our differences. Speaking truth from each perspective and hearing each other in love. Our Augustana congregation is a kind one. The welcome people experience here is real. People comment on it. It’s observable. But kindness serves truth, not the other way around. The goal isn’t to avoid conflict. The goal is to consider different perspectives as information so that anger doesn’t win the moment. That takes practice.

Righteous anger feels so good that it’s hard to know when the line crosses into condemnation and evil. It’s why Christianity is a group project across many denominations. We’re bound to each other but also freed by Christ to faithfully fail, forgive ourselves and each other, and faithfully try again as we practice speaking truth in love.[10] God doesn’t need defending. God’s big enough to handle whatever the world throws around when we know not what we do.[11]

We need God’s love just like the rest of the world.

Thank God that Jesus IS the bread of life, abiding and eternal, and there IS plenty enough to share.

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[1] Karoline Lewis, Professor and the Marbury E. Anderson Chair of Biblical Preaching, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. Sermon Brainwave podcast about Bible readings for Sunday, August 11, 2024. #977: Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost (Ord. 19B) – Aug. 11, 2024 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

[2] The Shema: An affirmation of God’s singularity, its daily recitation is regarded by traditionally observant Jews as a Biblical commandment. myjewishlearning.com/article/the-shema/

[3] Exodus 3:14

[4] Matt Skinner, Professor of New Testament, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. Sermon Brainwave podcast about Bible readings for Sunday, August 11, 2024. #977: Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost (Ord. 19B) – Aug. 11, 2024 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

[5] Ibid., Lewis

[6] Jack Izzo, 7/30/2024, Olympic Opening Ceremony Featured da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’? (msn.com)

[7] Isabella Mayer, Art in Context: The Last Supper Da Vinci – A Glimpse into The Last Supper Painting, August 1, 2023. The Last Supper Da Vinci – A Glimpse into The Last Supper Painting (artincontext.org)

[8] John 3:16-17

[9] Ibid, Skinner.

[10] Ephesians 4:15

[11] Luke 23:34 [Jesus from the cross] “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

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Ephesians 4:25-5:2 So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. 26Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27and do not make room for the devil. 28Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. 29Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. 31Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, 32and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. 5:1Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, 2and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Sermons

Knowing Enough to Hope [OR Knowing Enough to Be Dangerous] Romans 5:1-8

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on June 14, 2020

[sermon begins after Bible reading]

Romans 5:1-8 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

[sermon begins]

“I know enough to be dangerous.” This is something people say when they don’t know much about a topic but they think that they have a gem to throw in the mix. I’m that way with art. A few trips through museums and suddenly I feel free to wax rhapsodic on Degas and da Vinci. Whatever my failings in knowledge, though, I make up for in enthusiasm. There are times when you look at a masterpiece and the effect is transcendent. For a moment your eye is captured, and your soul is filled with something “other.” Beauty has that effect. Closer to the ground, we’re cresting into late spring. Aspirations of green thumbs abound across many a beating heart while some blooms begin to fade, and heartier ones take their place.

Last week, it was the pale pink peonies that frothed in a profusion of petals. 2020 is a perfect year for them. The right amount of sun and water fell, and the hail didn’t. After my usual hemming and hawing about leaving them outside or bringing them in, I clipped a bouquet and have been enjoying them all week. I posted a picture of them on the media, attempting poetry about “air for the soul.” (Again, I know enough to be dangerous.) The thing about beauty is it reminds us that our humanity is part of something – something both essential and transcendent. For me, this is especially necessary when times are difficult, when everyone seems to know enough to be dangerous and when suffering seems inescapable.

Suffering is a universal human experience. There was plenty of it in my early kid years when my family was blown apart by mental illness and domestic violence. And more, during my years as a pediatric oncology nurse. And more, over time as a pastor. Here’s one of the things I know about suffering from all those years. Suffering cannot be compared. It’s a lot like beauty that way. What’s more beautiful – Degas’ elegant sculpture of “La Petit Danseuse” or the riotous tumble of pink peonies? It’s a ridiculous question. Suffering is similar. Being with someone who is suffering for any reason is NOT a time to get into qualifying their experience, giving a different take on it, or redirecting them to someone else’s experience of suffering. That stuff is the opposite of helpful. Being with someone who is suffering IS a time to listen and to wonder. It’s a time to share their burden by holding space for it without rushing to comfort. Sharing the burden lightens the suffering without imagining that it can be taken away.

Suffering is something the Apostle Paul seems to understand. How often do you suppose he cried out to God withOUT a pen in hand? It must have been a lot given his turn from the one giving punishment to the one on the receiving end of being beaten, stoned, and imprisoned.[1] For him to write about suffering like that, he knew it intimately, like a friend, just like he knew God. Listen again to a few of the verses from his letter to the Roman church.

“Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” (Romans 5:1-5)

The Apostle Paul is talking to all of us. One reason his words about suffering resonate so strongly is because he describes what he knows and what we know. And he knows way more than enough to be dangerous. He knows enough to be comforting. Comfort is no small thing. It’s not appeasement – meaning I’m not making you feel better so that I feel better. Comfort is deep knowing shared across our human experience. Most of us have experienced suffering and still we live on. Some of us not so elegantly but still we live. Paul’s account of moving from suffering to endurance to character to hope is a description not a strategy. He describes what we know by faith and experience about how suffering works. There are days in the midst of it that we wonder how it’s possible to make it through. Days in which we’re not sure who we are anymore. And then, in the body of Christ, the church, we’re reminded once again of the main things – God’s promises to us no matter what is happening.

For our congregation, one such moment was Matthias’ baptism in the last couple of weeks. Long on the worship calendar, his baptism on Pentecost couldn’t have been more perfectly timed. Masks and quiet sanctuary notwithstanding, water flowed off Matthias’ head in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We prayed for the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and joy. And he was sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. In baptism God promises to be present, to form us as disciples, to always take us back, and to be the eternal One in our lives every day. In baptism, we “have obtained access to this grace on which we stand.” We were buried with Christ in baptism so that we too might live in newness of life. Today. Right now, even in suffering, we are pulled through the cross of Christ.

The cross frames suffering in a different way. The cross promises the presence of God in suffering. We know Jesus’ body broke and died which means that God knows suffering and suffers with us. God’s alignment with our suffering promises endurance through to hope. Hope does not come at the expense of false optimism where we close our eyes and wish everything away. False optimism is knowing enough about hope to be dangerous. Rather, hope comes from being planted at the foot of the cross while awaiting new life and continuing to do the hard work of grieving and the hard work of reconciliation with each other. Simply put, the cross binds us to the hard work of love in the midst of suffering – loving God, loving ourselves, and loving our neighbor in such a time as this. By our baptism, our gracious heavenly Father frees us into hope and forms us into instruments of cross and resurrection in the name of the one who is, who was, and who is to come, Jesus Christ our Lord.[2] Amen and thanks be to God.

And now receive this blessing…

Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers,

nor things present, nor things to come,

nor powers, nor height, nor depth,

nor anything else in all creation,

will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

You are held by God in the name of the Father, ☩ and the Son,

and the Holy Spirit, now and forever.

Amen.

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[1] Acts 7 (when Paul was still Saul); Acts chapters 9, 13, 14, 16, 18, 21, 22, and 23.

[2] A paraphrase of Revelation 1:8

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The Gospel Reading for worship today:

Matthew 9:35-10:8 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

1 Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. 2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.