Sermon: “Do You Also Wish To Go Away?”

In the summer of 1965, there was a call put out by Civil Rights leaders, leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., to any and all who wished to join the work/the movement that was taking place in the deep South. Most that would answer this call were college students and clergy from other parts of the United States. In one particular case, the issue of protest and presence was sought to help with voter suppression taking place in the state of Alabama. In 1965 a planned march was coming together, a march that would see those seeking justice and equality to move in unison/to move as one from Selma, Alabama 50 miles east to the capital of Montgomery. One such person who answered that call was a young man named Jonathan Daniels.

      Daniels had grown up in New Hampshire and experienced a relatively affluent upbringing. His father was a physician, and his parents were members of the local Congregationalist Church. It was apparent in his adolescent years that young Jonathan felt a spiritual tug. This may have been brought on by the death of his father and the chronic illness of a sibling, whatever the reason Jonathan drew close to God and after graduating from the Virginia Military Institute with a brief stint at Harvard, he entered seminary studies at the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge Massachusetts. Jonathan was in seminary, at the age of 26, when he heard the plea and call to action become involved with the Civil Rights Movement. He was a year from graduating but believed/he felt compelled to go. He would make two trips, the first a short stay, but then he and several other students were able to convince the seminary to allow them to return to Alabama for the rest of the semester, they would study during there on time and take exams at the end of the term. For the next two months, Daniel stayed with a local African-American family, worked in the movement, returning to Cambridge to take exams, which of course he passed. That summer he returned to Alabama, the work of justice now alive and in his blood. He attempted to help integrate the local Episcopal church in Selma...but was met with resistance and hostility. He did this while continuing to help register black voters and becoming a tutor to local children.

      It was almost a week after Congress passed the Voting Rights Act that on August 14th 1965, Jonathan and nearly 30 other protestors were arrested in Fort Deposit, Alabama for picketing white-only stores. Upon their arrest, they were taken to the jail, 20min away, in the town of Haynesville. Jonathan and 6 other protestors were kept in jail for 6 days before being released. As they waited for a ride to pick them up and take them back to their friends in Fort Deposit, Jonathan plus three other protestors, including a young black woman by the name of Ruby Sales, walked down to a local convenience store to grab a snack and something to drink. It was thereupon trying to enter the Varner’s Cash Store, a deputy sheriff by the name of Thomas Coleman met them at the door. Coleman threatened the group before producing a shotgun...which he fired towards 17-year-old Ruby Sales. Jonathan in an act to protect her, took the blast upon himself. Jonathan died upon the steps of the store shielding Ruby. Coleman would pursue the two other protestors, seriously injuring one before finally ceasing fire. Coleman was indicted for manslaughter has he and his attorney claimed his actions were rooted in self-defense...even though Jonathan, Ruby, and the two other protestors were unarmed. Soon after, Coleman was acquitted of manslaughter by an all-white jury. He would die at the ripe old age of 86, never facing any further prosecution for his actions.

      Whereas learning about Jonathan’s fate, MLK would say "one of the most heroic Christian deeds of which I have heard in my entire ministry was performed by Jonathan Daniels." King and other Civil Rights leaders would speak of Jonathan Daniel’s faith as being one that was in synch with that of Christ. Jonathan’s life required him to live a certain way for the love of others, for the love of neighbor, for the love of those that he saw as his brothers and sisters. It was a life that many might describe as being too difficult or too hard, with teachings and ways too difficult; making one wonder, who can accept it? Many are presented with a chance to live this way, to think of the other before themselves, yet many choose not to. To many, this way is offensive. And yet, as we read and hear the words of Jesus this morning, as followers left and numbers dwindled… there was a question posed to those who kept hanging around, “Do You Also Wish To Go Away?” It was a question for the disciples, it is a question for us today…

Shift

      Disciples that find themselves in either the first century or even the 21st century come to the same crossroads when presented with the life and teachings of Jesus. A crossroads where Jesus is calling them to live and one where Jesus is attempting to get them to see/to understand. It’s one thing to understand something, it’s another to put that understanding into practice.

Here in today’s pericope, Jesus is laying out some teachings that has left some folks stumped. Stumped in several ways. Perhaps his description of bread and mana, his talks of ancestors and living forever/words of eternal life...those connections weren’t just coming together for them. For some, understanding was the issue, and so their response is “this teaching is difficult”...And yet, for some/for other the issue of understanding wasn’t the issue. No, as they heard the Galilean speak, they understood. The problem became in accepting what Jesus was asking them to understand. At this moment, the disciples and those following Jesus were coming to a threshold of possible change. They were beginning to know/to understand who Jesus was; the logos/the incarnate Word of God made flesh. And yet, as this became an understanding for them, the turn it seems would come in accepting this realization. In other words, might we utter along with our spiritual forbearers, “Yeah I get it, but can I live it?” The challenge is to take what is known and live as if it is so. Jesus here is drawing the claim that to know him is to know his purpose. A purpose that calls for not only knowing, but responding to that knowing.

      As Jesus presents this, might we imagine, along with the mutterings of “who can follow such a difficult teaching” that there are many a downcast sets of eyes. There are many pairs of shuffling feet. Where in other places we see a singular person walking away, such as the follower who wished to bury a relative and the rich young ruler who asked what must he do to enter God’s kingdom/what must he do to gain eternal life, here in the Gospel of John...becomes an uncomfortable mass exodus. The author of John depicts Jesus sharing these words to those in his presence on that day, similar words seen throughout his earthly ministry, words containing that which Jesus describes as bringing “spirit and life.” God’s Spirit dwelling within and producing life...and yet upon hearing these words, many turn away. This statement challenges a false narrative often held in faith communities, that of which if you just preach the Gospel/the Good News of Jesus that folks will come running and that sanctuary’s will be filled. The scene here in John 6 refutes such an idea. It echoes the claim that would come years later from the mouth of Jesuit Priest Daniel Berrigan an anti-war activist, Christian pacifist, playwright, poet, and author. Berrigan said, “that a good peace movement starts out small and just gets smaller.” So it would seem, so it would seem. When Jesus speaks of spirit and life, the claim/the opportunity we are invited to struggle with is sensing and accepting God’s spirit to change our life/drawing us closer through a means that might feel irresistible. A way that is a choice, to follow in the radical workings of love like Jesus or to turn and find another way?

      I do not know what was in the minds or on the faces of those who left Jesus that day. Perhaps, some saw what such teaching really meant. Maybe they saw the writing on the wall; that to live this way/to challenge the authoritative powers and principalities of the world/to run up against empire could only lead one place...to the cross. Many are apt to come running for a set of new teachings, yet few are ready to see where those teachings might take them. In this way, as with any deep and meaningful relationship, there is present a dynamic that urges both parties to come together. Jesus gives of himself, offering teachings/a different way/a new path/a discarding of hard yokes, his life...but in return, he asks those who would accept such things to come and give to him/to work, to ache for such a way along beside him...their life too. Not surprisingly however, an invitation to ache doesn’t make too successful of an altar call. To use the blunt words of Father Berrigan once again, “If you’re to follow Jesus, you better look good on wood.” Let this challenge not be one of self-imposed or self-perceived persecution, one that bases its worth on how much it opposes the life of the world, but instead because of how much it loves it.

      What does that look like you ask? It looks like the life of Jonathan Daniels. It looks like the life of a 26-year-old young person who decided to live for others before himself. It looks like a person who listened, understood the words of Jesus, and accepted what the cost would be in living that understanding. It takes signing up for a profound change….

Reading from Brother to a Dragonfly (to hear this portion of the sermon you will need to click on the youtube link. He reads at the 47:19 mark).

I share that story, as I think it’s helpful to see the saints like Jonathan and those like brother Will, those who make a faith, filled with ups and downs/highs and lows/elation and struggle... possible. Their lives help us answer Jesus’ question, “do you also wish to go away?” Our response, like that of Peter like that of Jonathan Daniels, might we be bold enough to say “to whom can we go?” You LORD have the words of eternal life. Amen.