August 27, 2006

Pentecost 12

Sermon Delivered by Kevin Walker

Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

I would like to tell you a story from a book by Shel Silverstein -  The Giving Tree.

"The tree gives the little boy her apples to pick and her branches to climb. The boy and the tree love each other and are happy in their life together. As the boy grows older, however, his interest in the tree becomes less. The tree is very lonely until one day the boy returns as a young man. The tree offers her apples and branches, but the boy claims that he is too old to climb and play. He is more interested in money.

’Can’t you give me some money?’ he asks the tree.  The tree has not money, but she does have apples. Why doesn’t the boy pick the apples and sell them then he will be happy. The boy picks the apples and sells them, then he will be happy. The boy does this and the tree is happy. But then the boy stays away an even longer time and the tree is sad.

Years later the boy returns. The tree is overwhelmed with joy as she invite the boy to swing from her branches. But the boy is too busy to play. What he really wants is his own family and a house to keep him warm.  Can the tree give him a house? No, but the boy can cut her branches and build a house with them, suggests the tree; then he will be happy. The boy does this and the tree is happy.

Many years pass before the boy, now middle-aged returns. The tree, overjoyed, invites the boy to play. But now the boy is too old to play. All he wants is a boat which will take him far away.’ “Can you give me a boat?’ the tree invites the boy to cut down her trunk and make a boat so he can be happy. The boy does this, and the tree is happy--but not really, for now only a bare stump remains.

When, years late, the boy returns, he is hunched-over, old man. The tree apologizes for having nothing to offer any longer, no more apples to eat or branches to climb, only an old stump. But the old man says his teeth are too weak for apples, and he is too old to climb. All he needs is a quiet place to sit and rest for he is very tired.  ’Well,’ says the tree, straightening herself up as much as she can, ’an old stump is good for sitting and resting. Come, boy sit down, sit down and rest.’ And the boy does. The tree is very happy."

Isn’t that a neat story?  But also a good illustration of how Jesus as the bread of life gave and gave of himself ,feed and feed the people with his body and blood from the tree of the cross so that all would be nourished. The apple tree gave and gave, Jesus as the bread of life gives and gives of himself as he gives from the cross of Calvary as the text says:" and gave himself up for us as a fragrant suffering and sacrifice to God." Jesus this living bread from heaven gave of himself, from the cross, from in a sense from another giving tree, but instead of apples, he gave bread, living bread from heaven his own flesh. God used a tree, the cross of Calvary to give us the living bread so that all who eat from it, may have life. And this tree, the cross keeps on giving and giving as did that apple tree.  The body and blood of Christ is still given and shed for us each time we come to his holy supper each time we come to this rail we come to the living bread from heaven which came to us by the way of a tree, the cross of Calvary.

I enjoy making bread in our bread machine. I love the smell of the bread baking at the end of the process, and it seems as if everyone is excited to come to the table that evening for supper to have that bread to eat. 

Is there an excitement each time you come to the Lord’s table to eat and drink? I hope so, for there at his table, we experience the bread of life, Jesus himself.  The bread which was given on the cross for our lives.  In a church in the town of Exira they had a banner hanging in their church which said, "The crib and the Cross both were made of wood." A tree was used to bring Christ, to bring this son of God into the world, and a tree, the cross of Calvary was used to give us life, the living bread, the bread of heaven, Christ’s own flesh.

And notice in the text Jesus says that anyone who eats of this bread will not die, but live because the cross, the giving tree of Christ is for you and I. It was not Christ’s cross he died upon but my cross and your cross, so that if we eat of his flesh and drink of his blood we might have life and have life eternal.

There was a popular movie and novel called Barabbas out many years ago. It was about Barabbas, the criminal who was turned loose and Jesus who died in his place. The day Barabbas was to die, he walks into the local bar and everyone is shocked to see him. After a few rounds of drinks, the crowd along with Barabbas decide to go see this man who had been appointed to die in Barabbas’ place. Barabbas pushes his way to the front of the crowd, he sees Jesus hanging there on the cross on that tree. Barabbas was so moved by the whole experience that he turns and grabs the arms of the person standing next to him and say, "Look you see that fellow hanging on that tree? He is dying on my cross, my tree That is my cross.."

Jesus didn’t die on a cross, he died on your cross and my cross.  He took our place on the cross, so that we might not have to be sacrificed to God for the sins we have committed, punished for our sins against God and our fellow human beings! Jesus took our punishment, our place, on our cross and in that place instead of death he gave us life, free life, the living bread of heaven.

Do you believe that? Do you believe that Jesus gave from that tree, life?  That he gave you his body and blood so that you might live eternal?  Do you believe that Jesus hung from a Giving tree and instead of giving branches, apples, and a trunk he gave his flesh and blood, so that you and I through faith in Him, might eat of the living bread and drink of the living water?

Or are you like the skeptics at the beginning of this lesson who said, "Is not this Joseph’s son, whose father an mother we know’ How does he now say, "I have come down fro heaven?"

Is this all a hoax? Do you come Sunday after Sunday to participate in a hoax, or do you believe, and trust in the promises which are implied in this text and which are demonstrated throughout the whole Bible, that Jesus is indeed the living bread, the water of life, through the giving tree of the cross so that you and I might have eternal life?

We come here Sunday after Sunday to be renewed, to hear the promise of God’s grace, to eat of the bread of life and drink the blood of Christ so that we might be assured again and again this is not a hoax, but the real thing. Salvation!!

We need to come to keep the coals of salvation warm in our hearts as seen in this closing story. A member of a certain church, who previously had been attending services regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, the pastor decided to visit him.  It was a chilly evening. The pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire. Guessing the reason for his pastor’s visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a big chair near the fireplace and waited.

The pastor made himself comfortable but said nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplate the play of the flames around the burning logs. After some minutes, the pastor took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone. Then he sat back in his chair, still silent.  The host watched all this in quiet fascination. As the one lone ember’s flame diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and "dead as a doornail."

Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting.  Just before the pastor was ready to leave, he picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.  As the pastor reached the door to leave, his host said, "Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the fiery sermon. I shall be back in church next Sunday."

Jesus said: I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh."  Amen.

 

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