B 135 - Pentecost 13 (Proper 16)

We explore themes of incarnation, belief and salvation in John 6:56-69, noting the pattern of rejection that Jesus experiences throughout chapter 6 as the twelve ‘come to believe and know’. We touch on how to talk about the particularity of Jesus and the universal invitation in John’s gospel, and highlight the inseparability of spirit and flesh in John’s understanding of Jesus, humanity and the whole world. Ephesians 6:6-10 invites a sermon on the imagery of battle, and how that might be reconceived – or not – today, in the call to live out the gospel in peace. Such is the liberation of the gospel that it compels us to speak in the power of the Spirit to whom and through whom we pray.