Simon was a simple fisherman, son of John, brother of Andrew.  The Gospel of John records that Simon’s brother Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist.  When Andrew and another disciple were with the Baptizer, they left him to follow Jesus, the Lamb of God.  Andrew went to his brother, Simon, and said, “We have found the Messiah.”  They had been searching for God’s Anointed One.  When Jesus met Simon, Jesus changed his name literally to “Rock.”  We know him as Peter, one of the 12 disciples.

        For an ordinary man of his day, Peter’s observation in today’s Gospel lesson is so profound Christians have integrated it into their worship to the current day.  Clinging to God’s life-giving Word by faith Peter said,

“Lord, to whom can we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”  Peter’s observation was in response to a question from Jesus.

        Following the feeding of 5000 people with five loaves and two fish with 12 baskets of bread pieces left over, Jesus declared himself “bread from heaven” and said other things declared “difficult teaching” by those who heard and followed Him.  Things like, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them;” and “Whoever eats me will live because of me;” and “No one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”

        Now, many disciples found Jesus’ teaching difficult and stopped following Him.  This prompted Jesus to ask the rest of his disciples if they also wished to leave him.  To which Peter responded, Lord, to whom can we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.  Although he most likely did not understand what the “difficult teachings” of Jesus actually meant, Peter recognized and clung to God’s life-giving Word by faith.

        In some ways we are no different than Peter.  When we hear the Holy Scriptures proclaimed, sometimes the words are difficult to hear and to understand, including the words from our Gospel lesson.  Even though we

have the benefit of living after Christ’s resurrection and the benefit of centuries of Christian reflection upon the meaning of Christ’s resurrection

and the Lord’s Supper, when it comes right down to it, Christ the Word of God, the Living Word, taught things that were and still are difficult to understand.  We cling to God’s life-giving Word by faith.

        These difficult teachings which portray Christ as bread from heaven

are the closest John’s Gospel comes to talking about the Eucharist because it does not contain a narrative about Jesus’ Last Supper with the disciples before his crucifixion and death.  During my first Sunday as your vicar

I held the intinction chalice during Eucharist as young children dipped the bread into the wine at the words, “The blood of Christ shed for you.”  I realized then I had no better understanding than these children how the body and blood of Christ are present in the bread and wine and exactly how this meal and the preached Word produce, nourish and sustain Christian faith through the work of the Holy Spirit; faith which enables us to recognize and cling to God’s life-giving Word and to abide with Christ for ever.

        Martin Luther himself admitted he did not understand how Christ was present in the bread and wine.  He said, “Does it not seem as though [Christ] desired to keep us in a simple faith, sufficient for us to believe that his blood was in the cup?  For my part I cannot fathom how the bread is the body of Christ, yet, I will take my reason captive to the obedience of Christ,

and, clinging simply to his words, firmly believe not only that the body of Christ is in the bread, but that the bread is the body of Christ.”  Martin Luther clung to God’s life-giving Word by faith.

         As Martin Luther tells us in his explanation of the third article of the Apostle’s Creed, we cannot by our own understanding or strength believe in Jesus Christ our Lord or come to him.  It is the Holy Spirit, who produces faith in those who have been baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection,

We are given new life -- a life of faith which enables us to believe and to follow Christ our Lord.  So whether one is five years of age, or ninety five years of age, we don’t need to understand how Christ is present in the Eucharist.  We simply hold out our hands and receive Him as He promised in the bread and wine of His Holy Supper, as he assured us he would always be -- transforming and conforming our lives to His. 

        Scripture records that there were many other occasions where Simon Peter, “Rock,” disciple of Jesus, apostle, didn’t understand what his Lord was saying, and was even rebuked and corrected a time or two.  Regardless, Peter followed Jesus all of his life because he recognized and clung to God’s life-giving Word by faith.  Nowhere else could he find eternal life.

        Brothers and sister’s in Christ, like Peter we too may not understand completely the words of Jesus recorded in Scripture and we may even deny Jesus as Peter did.  For when we refuse to render aid to our neighbors in need -- to feed the hungry, provide drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and visit those in prison, we deny Jesus.  Even so, the faith given us at our baptism grows by the power of the Holy Spirit through proclamation of the Word and administration of the Sacraments -- not by what we do but what God does in us. 

        We know by faith, not by understanding, that Christ promises to be in us and with us always in the proclamation of the Holy Gospel, and in the bread and wine of Holy Communion, transforming and conforming our lives to His even to the end of the age.  Simple faith, the work of the Holy Spirit, is all that is required to recognize and cling to Christ, the Holy One of God.

This is good news.

Amen