Passage: This Week's Second Reading

"Two Kinds of People"

There’s a humorous observation about there being only two kinds of people in the world: the first is those who think that there are two kinds of people in the world, and the other is those who don’t. We live in a complex world that’s filled with variation, assortment, choice. In our own way of thinking, there are all kinds of people in the world.

Just among our friends and family, we know of many differences – gifts, talents, good qualities and bad, physical differences. These things are not either/or, but shades and varieties. We have different gifts. We are not all talented in the same ways. We don’t have the same good or bad qualities. We are certainly not the same physically. Everything is a shade or variety. And that’s a good thing, because we don’t usually classify people as one sort or another.

But spiritually speaking, we might be surprised to learn, that according to God’s Word, and in God’s own reckoning, there are only two kinds of people in the world. Believers and unbelievers.

We see this distinction in all of our readings for today. Today’s Psalm makes a distinction between "the righteous" and "those who do evil." Our Old Testament reading speaks of wise and foolish people. Paul speaks of the "wise" and the "unwise" in his letter to the Ephesians. He makes a distinction that’s very similar to John when he speaks of "darkness" and "light;"

"For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead, expose them."

In our Gospel lesson from this 6^th chapter of John, Jesus again proclaims that he is the bread of life. Throughout the Gospel we note the very same distinction between the two kinds of people in the world. This time it’s done in the context of "table fellowship" and the Eucharistic meal.

There are those who, as believers, partake of the body and blood of Christ, that is, they eat his flesh and drink his blood, and in so doing, have life in them: "So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you’."

The thought here is a little shocking isn’t it? Those who will not eat and drink Jesus’ flesh and blood are spiritually dead. What’s more, those who do not believe this eating and drinking of Jesus’ flesh and blood are dead already.

Earlier in this Gospel, John writes: ‘Whoever believes in him is not

condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God."

In our text this morning, Jesus says that even among his own disciples, the distinction between two types of people holds true. Jesus is talking not only about the Twelve, but about all of the people who have become his followers. In that group, there are the disciples who believe his words and others who do not. John then brings out the contrast between these two types of people by mentioning by name and by way of contrast, Simon Peter and Judas Iscariot.

The unbelieving disciples leave when Jesus proclaims the Gospel and the eating of his body and blood. To those disciples who are left, Jesus asks; "Do you want to go away as well?" Simon Peter answered him with the words of the Alleluia sung before the reading of the Holy Gospel in the Divine Service: "Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." Peter continues his confession; "And we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God."

In sharp contrast to the words of Peter, John goes on after quoting Peter and quotes Jesus. In verse 70, the verse right after our text, Jesus replies to Peter’s words with a question; "Have I not chosen you the Twelve?" Jesus doesn’t mention Judas Iscariot, but goes on to say; "Yet, one of you is a devil." This contrast is made to illustrate that the believer is righteous, has eternal life, receives forgiveness of sins, and is invited to partake of Jesus himself in the meal that he will institute on the eve of his death, and how the unbeliever does not.

If we take seriously the distinction Jesus is making between believers and unbelievers, then shouldn’t it be a priority of the church to see people moved from a state of unbelief to belief? Much emphasis is placed on this and on mission work. But if we hear John’s Gospel carefully, we also note that the Father gives the believer grace to believe. One does not decide or choose to believe. Why? Because they can’t.

In last weeks reading from the first half of John 6, we note that Jesus says those who are believers in the first place are those the Father gives to him. Several verses later, the point is made more strongly: "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the Last Day."

Today’s reading repeats this truth about the nature of the Church’s mission: "And he said, ‘This is why I told you that no can come to me unless it is granted to him by the Father’." The one kind of people, those who are unbelievers, can never make themselves believers.

But then neither can the other kind of people, those who are believers, make themselves believers. No believer, no pastor, is called to convert an unbeliever. As odd as that sounds, it teaches us

that in the Scriptures. The mission of the church is to proclaim the Good News about Jesus and invite people to repent of their sins and believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world.

It’s the work of the Holy Trinity to create and bestow faith on all who believe. There’s no manipulation, coercion, clever marketing, or appeals for people to decide to follow Jesus.

A perfect example of this point is the way Paul proclaimed the Gospel to Athenian philosophers in Acts 17. Paul was invited to bring his message before those ancient philosophers on Mars Hill. He simply proclaimed that Jesus was the Christ and that God had raised him from the dead. While a few did believe, most did not. Paul was not a huge success by the world’s standards, but he was faithful to the calling God had given him to proclaim Jesus.

Later, Paul would write to the Corinthians that "the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned."

No one can believe in Jesus Christ, in and of themselves. The Holy Spirit creates faith through the Word, specifically through the Gospel. Luther conveys this clearly in his explanation of the third article of the Apostle’s Creed: "I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength, believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kelp me in the true faith."

To put those words in the context of today’s message, Luther is saying; "I believe that by nature I’m of the one kind of people, an unbeliever, and I couldn’t make myself the other kind. But the Holy Spirit has done that!"

Inviting people to church, to come and hear about Jesus, is being a faithful witness to Christ. That is exactly what Jesus’ disciple Andrew did. And that is what we are called to do. We want everyone to become the other kind of people, to believe in Jesus Christ as his or her own personal Savior.

Jesus presents himself before you this morning in Word and Sacrament. By faith we believe that in, with and under the bread and wine, we are eating his flesh and drinking his blood, and that in so doing, we are receiving the forgiveness of our sins.

People are as offended by that today as those who heard Jesus centuries ago when he first spoke those words. And he asks us as he did them: "Do you want to go away as well?"

May the Holy Spirit empower all who hear those words to proclaim with Simon Peter, "Lord to who shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God." Amen.