Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
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Original Manuscript:
There once was a young man who lived a frivolous life. He lived off his father's wealth, and his father indulged him in his high lifestyle.
But this young man became bored. He started to notice the poor around him. He tried living with and understanding them. He became more involved in the work of the church. Finally, he decided to finally use his father's money to help, granted without his father's knowledge, not for his own pleasure, but instead to try and help others.
The irony is that this is what finally did him in with his family. His father was furious and wanted to disown him. The young man had a choice here. He could beg forgiveness and go back to his frivolous lifestyle. Instead, in front of his bishop no less, he removed his very clothes on his back so that his father could not say he had taken anything more away from him, and became a monk.
This story is a version of the tale of Francis of Assisi, and the choice he was faced with is the same that we hear in our readings this morning.
In Joshua, the Israelites are given a choice. They could either continue to follow after the ways of the world, like Francis once did, or they could give up the idol worship of the foreign gods and follow after the One True God. Joshua tells them to do what they want, but "as for me and my house, we serve the Lord."
Jesus also gives his followers a choice. They can accept what He has been saying to us these past few weeks, that He is the bread of life, the only food that can actually sustain them, and that no one can come to the Father except through Him, or they can choose not to accept what Jesus is saying.
That choice was too much for some to bear, so much so that a better translation of what we heard today would be "who can hear this teaching?" Many, we are told, leave Him after this.
Yet the point of all these stories is the same. God is the only reason the Israelites have made it though out of slavery, through the wilderness, and into the Promised Land. For Francis, following God gave his life something he never had before: meaning.
Jesus is the only way any of us can survive. His words don't just offer substance for the time being; they help maintain us for all time. Jesus Himself is the one true living bread, which we remember and celebrate every week. He is the only thing that can truly sustain us and make us whole. My hope is that you realize that and that is why are here today.
Without God, we will wither and die in the desert and in our purposelessness. With Him, we can make it through and be whole.
There are a lot of allegiances we have in life. There are many groups we may fall into. Some of them maybe like Francis' family, which cared more about the appearance of wealth he gave off with his frivolous lifestyle than any help he might be able to give to serving God and others in the world.
Sometimes those other allegiances will make you choose. They will say to you "it's either me or God." When that happens, what choice will you make?