Tough Words to Swallow

Preached by Michael Cheuk
August 23, 2009, Eleventh Sunday of Pentecost, Year B
John 6:55-69

Have you ever been in a situation where you were served something at a meal and you had absolutely no idea what it was? I’ve had several instances in school or in college at which the famous “mystery meat” was served. It’s uncomfortable biting into something you don’t know. However, I do have to say that sometimes for me, it is better to eat something not knowing what it is than to eat something out of the ordinary and knowing exactly what it is. Thirteen years ago, Beth and I traveled to Hong Kong and China with my family to celebrate my grandfather’s eightieth birthday. While we were there, almost every meal was a banquet, and we were served many Chinese “delicacies.” One time, they served us roasted pigeons, which weren’t too bad – I tried to think of them as pieces of midget chickens. Unfortunately for me, among the bits of pigeon wings, thighs, drumsticks and breasts were also roasted pigeon heads, chopped off at the neck, perfectly browned and caramelized, beaks and eyes included! There’s just something disturbing about your food looking back at you while you’re trying to eat it! To make it worse, my Chinese relatives have a practice of reaching into a dish and picking out pieces of food and offering them to Beth and me. On that day, I was praying to God that my relatives would not pick out a pigeon head and put it into my rice bowl. Thankfully they didn’t, but if they had, they would have seen Michael Cheuk up-chuck!

Well, today in our Gospel Lesson from John, Jesus served up some words that were definitely tough to swallow: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.” What in the world could Jesus have meant by that?

The Bread of Life

Preached by Michael Cheuk
August 9, 2009, Tenth Sunday After Pentecost, Year B
John 6:35, 41-51

Have you ever been in a situation with a group of people in a quiet setting and your stomach begins growling?  First it starts with a low rumble, and then it quickly crescendos into a loud, gurgling grumble that catches the attention of everyone near you.  You try to look nonchalant, but everyone knows that it is you.  It’s really quite annoying and embarrassing.  But aside from the annoyance and embarrassment, a growling stomach is only a symptom of a deeper issue.  Your body is crying out for food to maintain its existence.  Food, water and air are things that we human beings need on a continuing basis to physically live.  Without those things, we would die.

And so, it is not surprising that when Jesus performed the miracle of feeding five thousand men with loaves of bread and fish at the beginning of John chapter 6, thousands of people began to follow him.  Here was a man who could feed their physical hunger, a man who could sustain their physical existence.  No more embarrassing growling stomachs!  They would have been fools not to follow Jesus.  But Jesus told the crowds in verses 26 and 27 that while they sought Him because they ate the loaves of bread and had their fill, they should work not for food that spoils, but food that endures to eternal life.  Jesus then dug deep into their common history to tell how their ancestors ate manna in the desert, but while that bread would spoil and rot, God the Father could offer the true bread of heaven that gives life to the world.  Upon hearing this, imagine what must have gone through the minds of the people: “Wow, this is even better than the loaves and the fish!  There’s bread that we can eat to give us eternal life!  No more hunger!  No more worries about where our next meal will come from!  One bite of this bread and we can relax and be secure!”  No wonder the crowds responded in verse 34: “Sir,” they said, “from now on give us this bread.”

Gifts for the One Body

Preached by Michael Cheuk
August 2, 2009, Ninth Sunday After Pentecost, Year B
Ephesians 4:1-16

The human body is an amazing organism.  I don’t think you have to be a biology major or a medical doctor to appreciate the complexity and beauty of the human body and its functioning.  Each part of the body has its unique function and in order for the body to be fully healthy, every part of the body must do what it is designed to do.  Did you know that:

• By the time you turn 70, your heart will have beat some two-and-a-half billion times (figuring on an average of 70 beats per minute.)?
• Each square inch of human skin consists of twenty feet of blood vessels?
• It takes 17 muscles to smile and 43 to frown?[1]
• Human thighbones are stronger than concrete?
• The average person’s skin weighs twice as much as their brain?
• Your body uses 300 muscles to balance itself when you are standing still?[2]
• No less then 19 muscles and 107 ligaments are used to control the movement of each foot?[3]

Each member of the human body is different in its function, but each is needed for the full vitality and health of the organism as a whole.  Perhaps that’s why the apostle Paul used the metaphor of the human body so many times to describe God’s people, the Church.  We are the body of Christ, says Paul.  In our Epistle lesson this morning, the apostle Paul is teaching us how we as the body of Christ can become mature and attain the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.  There are too many truths to be mined in such a rich passage, and so this morning, I want to highlight three things that Paul is trying to teach us that will help us as a church and in our individual lives.  Those three things are maintaining unity, acknowledging diversity and striving for maturity.