It Does a Body Good

The 5th Sunday of Easter, Year A

Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation-- 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God's sight, and 5 like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in scripture: "See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." 7 To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner," 8 and "A stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:2-10, NRSV)

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way to the place where I am going." 5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" 6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." 8 Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." 9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say,'Show us the Father'? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it." (John 14:1-14, NRSV)


“IT DOES A BODY GOOD”


We have a greater awareness of the importance of nutrition these days. Just look at the ads all around us. They tell us of the wonderful things in good food: potassium, fiber, good bacteria in yogurt, antioxidants, vitamins. There are still those ads, though, which promote other foods—those high in fat and sugar and calories. Those are the ones with the huge sandwiches, like the triple bacon cheeseburger, without a single vegetable in sight. There is no arguing that those things don’t taste good. But our awareness of the effect of what we eat on how we feel and on how our health will be in the future is growing and we are urged to make better choices for our meals. One of those good things is calcium and it is found in great things—cheese and ice cream, and, of course, milk. We know that it is important in building bones, which provide strength and structure for the whole body. And we are learning that it is not just good for us at the start of life; it is good for us all through our lives. As they said on a TV commercial some years ago, “Milk does a body good.”

One of the Scripture readings this morning is from First Peter. He reminds them of their start. As we heard a few weeks ago, they have been born anew into a living hope through the Resurrection of Christ. By faith their lives begin anew. And he tells them to long for the pure spiritual milk, like newborns. And its purpose is the same as that of ordinary milk, to help us grow, to nourish us, to make us strong. We are to long for it. Like milk is our first food, we are to feed our faith on what is basic. We heard about that last week. What was basic to the early church was Scripture and teaching, prayer, the Lord’s supper and fellowship. Those things are basic to our lives of faith. It is easy to want the things that are not good for us. God has the goal of growing strong, not just physically, but spiritually as well. It is God’s plan that we grow. That is done as we bring the word of God into our lives. The writer of the letter talks about this as growing into salvation.

In First Peter, he continues on by describing the community. They are, together, a spiritual house with Jesus as the cornerstone. Individually, they are living stones which are put together. How they come into this community is through faith in that cornerstone. That cornerstone holds them together. It is like last week, talking about Christ as the gate of the sheepfold. The church is God’s chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. How we come into that community is by Baptism. It is the beginning of a new life in the community of faith. It is also the beginning of a life of growing in the faith. Its root is in the mercy of God.

The Gospel reading talks about what Jesus told the disciples. He wants them to have peace so he tells them that God has a place for them. He said that he would go to prepare it and come to take them to it. That confused some of the disciples who asked where Jesus was going because they wanted to know the way. Jesus’ reply is that he is the way. He is also the truth and the life. It is faith in that that is important. That is also done as we baptize, making promises on behalf of infants, whom we help grow in the faith so that they become people who live the promise we make. But beyond all this is that God makes promises to us, promises which we know and believe in and grow to trust in hearing God’s word.

We begin by tasting that the Lord is good. That might sound strange to us, but it is a metaphorical use of the word ‘taste’. We, of course, are used to the literal one. In a different sense to taste is to experience something. When we taste something then we know its worth. Sometimes we use that word to mean to have a little of something, like at the HyVee supermarket where the people give out small samples of things hoping we will buy more. Just a taste of something might make us want more. In a similar way, we are given the possibility of experiencing God in our lives just a bit, and when we find that it is wonderful and God is good, we will want more. God leads us into growth by giving us good in our lives.

Scott Walker of Waco, Texas, heard that Ed, a friend of his, died one day. Scott visited with the family in preparation for the funeral and asked what the most important lesson Ed taught them. A daughter, Helen said that her father had taught her to ride a bicycle. That took Scott by surprise until he realized that it was the symbol of their relationship, her father gently picking her up when she fell.
When we experience God’s goodness, our faith in God grows. We grow by consuming what is good for us. And just like we do not grow to our full height overnight, we grow best by growing daily.

It is also good to remember that we do not grow alone, as Linda Neukrug found when she worked at the cash register of a bookstore. A little boy wanted to pay for a book about the moon. This prompted Linda to ask him if he wanted to travel on a spaceship. The boy looked frightened and asked, “Now?” Linda replied that it would be when he grew up. But this still did not ease the boy’s mind. It was only eased when his father said that he would go with him.

In Baptism, we begin what will be a lifelong journey. We can trust that knowing that God will be with us on that journey, however many years we are blessed to be on it.

God’s plan for our lives is growth. Just as we grow from birth into adulthood by good food, so God has things, good things, that feed our lives. We have the promise of God’s presence and grace. We have the pure spiritual milk of the Word. We have the building of living stones, of which we are a part. All these things are for us all throughout our lives. But most of all, we have love.