Brief synopsis of the readings: We begin in the historical book of Joshua. As leader he gathered everyone together and addressed them. He told them that they have a choice whether or not to follow the Lord. They can walk away but “[a]s for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” But they responded that after all God had done for them they couldn’t walk away. “Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.” But in John’s Gospel some of Jesus’ disciples told him that his message was too hard to follow. Jesus responded that the spirit gives life and his words are spirit and life. Jesus knew some of the crowd would not believe him (and one would betray him) but nobody can come to Jesus unless the Father grants it. Many followers returned to their previous life but none of the Twelve did. “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

Last week I made mention of the baseball player who came into the game as a pinch runner on third base and tried to convince everyone he just hit a triple. That has a certain appeal because he has a good chance to make it to home and score a run and would receive the congratulations of his team. Maybe he’d get so good at convincing everyone that he’d convince himself he ran all the bases.

Unfortunately this is the downside of accomplishment: at the end of the day we can change the events of how we got there. Fortunately that’s exactly what didn’t happen in our first reading. We need some background here. We’re all familiar with the story of Moses leading the slaves out of Egypt and spending 40 years in the desert heading toward the promised land. But Moses was not destined to complete the journey and died without ever seeing the promised land. Joshua was his successor and even then their entrance into the promised land wasn’t easy. In the chapters before today’s reading they fought several battles and defeated the current inhabitants.

And they could have decided they did it on their own. After all they did get all the way from Egypt. God may have destroyed Pharaoh’s army but they did travel all that way. God did provide them mannah but that wasn’t the only food they ate. In short they could have decided that they earned their way and they no longer needed God.

But as I said that’s not what Joshua decided. Joshua decided that their relationship with God was covenantal, not transactional. In other words they needed to stay with God, not conclude their agreement. Many a modern front door proclaims the line “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua recognized not only was God not done with this group but had bigger plans for them going forward. Joshua recognized that they made it to third base only because God put them there.

Unfortunately Jesus had a harder time with his followers in John’s Gospel. After witnessing the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, and after Jesus’ discourse on being the Bread of Life some of them decided that it was all too much and they walked away. For them the covenant was over and they returned to their old lives. Fortunately those closest to Jesus (the Twelve) stayed and Jesus’ following grew.

There’s a lot to be said about the gratitude versus entitled dichotomy but for our purposes suffice it to say that any sense of entitlement takes us away from God. Any sense that we alone have earned what we have dooms us to a life of disappointment because if we see ourselves as deserving of rewards the world will never be enough for us. Years ago I read a book where one of the characters told another that “if you think you’re a self made man, ask you parents how they met.”

On the other hand if we see our relationship with God as one of gratitude the blessings will never stop. No matter how hard we work to be worthy disciples our efforts will never be enough. Our hard work must always reflect the idea that we are blessed. Gratitude is also expansive and contagious. When we expressed our thanks to someone it makes both of us feel better and strengthens our bond. It makes it easier for us, and for the other person, to recognize other blessings that we may have overlooked.

When we, like Joshua, make a decision to follow the Lord we ensure our own future. When we, like Jesus’ closest followers, can’t imagine choosing any other path because Jesus has “the words of eternal life,” we seal our fate and choose the covenant all over again. One of my seminary teachers often told us that we must never who we are and whose we are.

Not only that, we pass along this covenant for all those who will follow us, our children and grandchildren but also countless others yet to be born. Had Joshua and his people chosen not to follow the Lord they would have been just another small kingdom that would have eventually been swallowed up by one of their neighbors and have been lost to history. If Jesus’ closest disciples had decided that Jesus’ message was too hard to bear they too would have been little more than curiosities in archeological digs.

And so every generation chooses to follow the Lord and recognize the gift of eternal life. And every generation shares the bread of eternal life. In doing so we recognize that sometimes it may feel too much to bear but that feeling is fleeting. And gratitude isn’t. If we think back on our lives I don’t think we ever regret those things we feel grateful for. We think about our favorite elders, mentors, and teachers and they never diminish in our memories. They only grow stronger.

Finally, we follow in the footsteps of Joshua and Jesus’ closest disciples. And when we do we allow others to look on us with that same gratitude.