Run the Race! Seize the Prize! – Pastor Jade Yi

Psalm 78:23-29 God rained down manna from heaven

Ephesians 4:1-16 Maintain the unity of the faith

John 6:24-35 Christ the bread of life

Introduction:

Last Sunday, two stories from John 6:1-21 helped us see the grace of Jesus through his feeding of the five thousand and the glory of Jesus where he addressed himself with the name of God, I AM. Today, from John 6:24-35, we continue seeing the grace of Jesus where he offers himself as the true Bread from heaven that gives life to the world. We see once again the glory of Jesus where he shows who he is and what he can do, and all that is the work of God, sealed by the heavenly Father.

上個主日，《約翰福音》第 6 章中的兩個故事，幫助我們從餵飽五千人，看到了耶穌的恩典，以及耶穌以神的名字「我是」稱呼自己，以彰顯祂的榮耀。今天，從約翰福音6 章24 到35 節，我們繼續看到耶穌的恩典，祂將自己獻上，作為賜給世界生命的真糧，在其中，祂再次彰顯了祂的榮耀，祂的身份和祂大能。這一切都是神的工作，受父神所印證的。

The question was raised by the crowd who had been following Jesus and his disciples, “How can we have you, the Bread of Life, from heaven?” Jesus’ answers were pretty straightforward. He said to them, “Come to me and believe in me.” That’s all they need to do. And that’s what we all are doing. By God’s grace through faith, we come to Jesus and believe in Him. And because of who He is and what He can do, we should never experience hunger or thirst.

跟隨耶穌和他的門徒的群眾們問耶穌：「我們怎樣才能得到從天上來的生命之糧呢？」耶穌的回答相當的簡單明瞭。祂對他們說：「到我這裡來，相信我。」這就是他們需要做的。 這也就是我們現在正在做的事情。 藉著神的恩典，靠著信心，我們來到耶穌面前並相信祂。因著祂的身份以及祂的大能，我們永遠不會經歷飢渴。

Our Story

In the Lutheran tradition, the Word of God and the Sacraments of Baptism and Communion are the means of grace, through which we are fed and nurtured. Not only is our worship grounded by them, but also our whole lives. As the people of God, no one should take the Word of God and the Sacraments lightly with any disrespectfulness. And no one should use them for any personal gain or insult the gift of the reconciled unity at the Lord Table that our Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished through the cross.

在路德宗傳統中，神的話語以及聖洗禮和聖餐是賜與恩典的途徑，我們透過聖道和聖禮得到餵養。它們不只是我們敬拜的根基，也是我們一生的根基。對神的子民來說，任何人都不應該以不敬的態度，輕視神的話語和聖禮。 任何人也都不應該利用它們謀取個人的利益，或侮辱我們主耶穌基督，透過十字架在聖桌上，所成就的合而為一的恩賜。

Have you been mocked or humiliated? What’s your normal reaction? What guidelines or principles do you use to respond to such hurtful situations in a way that your sanity can be guarded and protected by God who is merciful and loving? For me, it’s praying and waiting.

你曾被嘲諷和羞辱過嗎？你通常是什麼反應呢？在應對這種被傷害的情況，什麼方法或原則能守護你自己的理智，以便在神的慈愛之下，得到保守呢？對我來說，祈禱和等待通常是有很大的幫助。

It has been more than a week since the disturbance caused by the opening ceremony on July 26 at the Paris Olympics 2024. Christians around the world were deeply disgusted by a performance that resembled a mural painting of the Last Supper by the Italian High Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci.

自2024年巴黎奧運會7月26日開幕典禮引發的風波，已經過去了一個多星期。因為其中有個表演非常像似耶穌與門徒最後一餐的場景，全世界的基督徒們，都對其深感厭惡。那場景也既是義大利文藝復興時期，藝術家萊昂納多·達·芬奇（Leonardo da Vinci）所著作的《最後的晚餐》的壁畫。

It turned out that the artistic director, Thomas Jolly, was presenting something very different. Jolly contends that the scene was not drawn from the Last Supper but was the Feast of the Gods, taken from Le Festin des Dieux, a Jan van Bijlert painting of a banquet on Mount Olympus where we see the sun god Apollo faces the viewer and a naked Dionysus eats grapes in the foreground.

事後求證，藝術總監托馬斯·喬利（Thomas Jolly）所呈現的，並不是同一個藝術作品。喬利辯護，這一幕並非取材於《最後的晚餐》，而是取自揚‧範‧拜勒特(Jan van Bijlert) 的一幅描繪奧林匹斯山宴會畫作《Le Festin des Dieux》中的《眾神的盛宴》。太陽神阿波羅面向觀者；加上裸身的狄俄尼索斯神正在吃葡萄的景象。

Without doubt, the Olympics totally failed to consider its audience. I don’t think that Christians are wrong to feel offended by defending the most sacred faith practice, the Lord’s Supper, and God. But what we do with our offense matters very much. What did we learn from this incident?

毫無疑問，奧運會，對於觀眾的背景來歷，沒有考慮周全。我認為，這次基督徒對神聖的信仰，也既是對聖餐禮儀和上帝的所受到的冒犯，為其捍衛，也並沒有錯。我們在捍衛這件事上的處理，是非常的重要。我們從這次事件中，學到了什麼呢？

God’s Story

Being mocked or humiliated, even blasphemed, wasn’t new to Jesus at all. From very early on, Jesus went through it all, even to the worst on the cross. Jesus himself was mischaracterized by his own disciples, his own people in his hometown, and enemies alike.

被嘲諷、羞辱，甚至褻瀆，對耶穌來說，一點也不新鮮。耶穌從一開始就經歷了一切，甚至在十字架上經歷了最糟糕的待遇。對耶穌所做出錯誤描述的人，包括祂自己的門徒、自己的家鄉人，以及敵對祂的人，也不在少數。

The whole Olympic event, to me, clearly shows that two totally different worlds collided, which created the drama that we see today. One is the world where we live in but don’t belong to as Jesus warned us. Another is the world, the Kingdom of God, where we truly belong.

對我來說，整個奧運會清楚地表明了一件事情，就是兩個完全不同的世界發生了碰撞，從而引發了我們今天所看到的這戲劇話的演變。 一個是我們生活在其中但我們並不屬於其中的世界，也既是耶穌警告我們的這個世界。另一個世界，是神的國度，我們真正屬於的地方。

How did Jesus respond to offense? There was only one incident where Jesus got furious when the house of God was used for profit. Most of the time, Jesus didn’t respond with outrage or indifference but with probing by asking questions, calling them to repent, offering well-timed teaching, and announcing the good news, telling them the coming of God’s kingdom.

耶穌對被冒犯，是如何來做回應呢？只有一次耶穌真的發怒了，就是當祂見到神的殿被人們用來謀取私利的時後。大多數的時候，耶穌並沒有以憤怒或冷漠的方式回應，而是透過提問來試探，呼召他們悔改，提供適時的教導，並宣告好消息，告訴他們神國的來臨。

When people ridiculed who he was and questioned what he could do, Jesus demonstrated his immense patience. One of his greatest teachings that we brushed off often is about resisting evil and turning our cheek after being slapped in Matthew 5:39. If we act wrongly like others wrong us, we basically invite evil into our lives by mocking or humiliating those who hurt us. The lesson from Jesus is: Don’t ever try to get even or retaliate! Because that shows we put our faith in something else. Doesn’t Jesus say in John 16:33 that we have peace in Him, and there is tribulation in the world which he has overcome?

當人們嘲諷耶穌的身份以及懷疑祂的大能時，耶穌表現出了極大的耐心。我們經常忽視了紀載在馬太福音第 5 章 39 節中耶穌最可貴的教導之一。那就是抵制邪惡這件事。當有人打了我們的右臉，連左臉也轉過來由他打。 如果我們做出錯誤的行為來嘲笑或羞辱那些傷害我們的人，如此一來，我們便將邪惡帶入了我們的生命。耶穌的教訓是：永遠不要試圖報復！因為這表示我們把信心寄託在其他的東西上了。耶穌在約翰福音第16章33節不是說過：「我們若在他裡面，便有平安，世上有苦難，祂都已經克服了」嗎？

Our Challenges

So, what might be our challenge? We can tell a lot about a person by what makes them angry and hostile. It reveals their highest priorities and their deepest insecurities. Sometimes, we act as if we have no God in our lives and want to defend Jesus Christ but actually the person we want to defend is ourselves. Does Jesus Christ need us to defend him? Ｗhat kind of God needs our defense but has the power to save us? By doing so, we are mocking our God.

那麼，我們面臨的挑戰是什麼呢？我們可以透過一個人為什麼憤怒和產生敵意，來了解他們。因為一個人的憤怒和敵意，可以揭示出什麼是對他們最重要的，和什麼是最讓他們感到沒有安全感的。有時，我們活得好像我們生命中沒有上帝一樣，想要捍衛耶穌基督，但實際上，我們想要捍衛的人是我們自己。耶穌基督需要我們來捍衛祂嗎？ 什麼樣的神需要我們的捍衛，確又有能力來拯救我們呢？我們若是這樣做，就是在嘲諷我們的上帝。

I think that St. Paul knows our challenges well. Whenever I fail to follow Jesus’ teaching, I think of his struggles in Romans 7:15-20. He elaborated about not wanting to practice evil but he did anyway, which he couldn’t understand if he was redeemed as a new creation in Christ. That might be the reason Jesus wants us to be aware of what kind of food we are feeding ourselves as he said in Matthew 7:16-20, “By what fruits a person bears, we know what’s been planted.

我認為聖保羅很清楚我們面臨的挑戰。每當我未能遵循耶穌的教導時，我就會想起祂在羅馬書 7:15-20 中的掙扎。他詳細闡述了自己不想行惡，但他還是做了，他無法理解在基督裡已被救贖為新造的他，為何還是如此？這或許就是耶穌希望我們要清楚，我們是被什麼樣的食物餵養的原因，正如祂在馬太福音 7 章 16-20 節所說：「憑著人結什麼果子，就知道所栽種的是什麼。」

Good News

The good news is the last phrase Jesus said on the cross in John 19:30, “It is finished.” Jesus’ victory over Satan is the fact. The disturbance of the opening ceremony has caused a lot of pain and confusion, but let’s re-center ourselves in Christ and focus on the race we need to run.

好消息是，耶穌在約翰福音第 19 章 30 節中，在十字架上說的最後一句話是：「成了」。耶穌戰勝撒旦是個事實。開幕典禮的風波造成了很多的傷害和困惑，但讓我們重新以基督為中心，專注於我們需要參加的賽跑。

St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:24 says that we all are runners. In the Kingdom of God, the opening ceremony is Jesus’ Baptism. He starts leading the race before us. He finishes the race and shares the prize with all who come to him and believe in Him. And we are not alone but with a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us and cheering us on as it stated in Hebrew 12:1.

聖保羅在哥林多前書 9:24 說，我們都是賽跑者。 在神的國度裡開幕式是耶穌的洗禮。他領先在我們前面開始跑這個賽程。他也已經完成了，並與所有來到祂前並相信祂的人，分享了祂的獎賞。 我們並不孤單，如希伯來書 12:1 所說，有一大群見證人圍繞著我們，為我們加油。

While running, we take the eternal food that Jesus Christ provides, the Word of God and the Holy Communion. By these, we abide in our Savior, Jesus Christ, to bear fruits that comfort any lost and hurting souls. Like St. Paul said, we need to run in such a way that we may seize the prize. We seize the prize that God has sealed upon with the crown, the eternal Bread of Life, our Lord Jesus Christ.

在跑步時，我們接受耶穌基督提供的永恆之糧、神的話語和聖餐中的祂。透過這天糧，我們住在救主耶穌基督裡，便能結出安慰任何迷失和受傷的靈魂的果實。正如聖保羅所說，我們需要以像似已經抓住獎賞的樣子來奔跑。我們所抓住的獎賞，是神已經用冠冕封印住了，永恆的生命之糧, 我們的主耶穌基督。

AMEN.阿們。