John 6.50-71
People called the things Jesus
taught in this passage, ‘hard sayings’. But
they are not hard in a judgemental and harsh way – they are full of
generous love and promise. And they’re not hard - as in difficult to
understand – he used no big words and he was talking about eating (something
everyone can understand). No, Jesus’ words are hard because they are costly.
If we are to receive them, we have to leave behind wrong things we have come to
love too much. V60: Therefore when many of his disciples hard this, they said, “This
teaching is hard. Who can accept it?”
The chapter began with Jesus being
followed by a huge crowd to a secluded spot on the shores of Lake Galilee. In his typical concern for them, when they
were hungry Jesus provided bread and fish for them by miracle. This resulted in
the crowd becoming so excited by the miracle that they were about to rush him
and carry him off to declare him as the new King of Israel. They didn’t have a
clue about Jesus’ real mission.
When Jesus returned to Capernaum
across the bay, they found him again and demanded more miracles. They became
offended when Jesus bluntly told them that he knew that their real motivation
was the free food - that they weren’t really interested in his mission. You’re looking for me, not because you
recognised the meaning of my miracles – but because you ate the bread and
filled your stomachs. Stop striving for food that goes off – strive for the food
that sustains eternal life – the food I can give you.
In the discussion that followed,
Jesus stated plainly that HE was himself the food they really needed. At this
point the crowd got very argumentative. They were frustrated that Jesus seemed
to be talking in riddles – when all they wanted was for him to stump up with
some more food. They said, “How can this
man give us his flesh to eat?”
So Jesus explained what this meant
– but his explanation fell on deaf ears.
I’m sure you remember another
occasion when a rich, young leader (the trifecta of good fortune) came to Jesus
- because he had a bad feeling about his life. He was scared of death. So, in
love, Jesus gave him very specific instructions and promises – but the
young star couldn’t stomach them - because they involved letting go of the
things he had fallen in love with. He went away deeply grieved and disappointed.
This morning we are touching on
one of the most challenging things Jesus taught - so challenging, that after
he had spoken there were LESS people following him than when he started
speaking!
The hearers fell into 4
categories. It’s helpful for us to honestly work out which category of hearer we
are:
1. His
audience was largely made up of ordinary citizens going about their lives as
they thought best. But they were almost totally consumed with concerns about
the mechanics of living (food, work, entertainment) rather than the purpose of
life itself. Jesus aimed to disturb them from following lives that simply obeyed
their appetites. Such people are described elsewhere as, ‘People whose god is their belly’.
This isn’t just referring to people who overeat. It refers to everyone who
is trying to find meaning in life by following their appetites - Appetites
for rest, or entertainment, or video games, or approval, or money, or sex, or
laughs, or thrills etc. Things that only last for a moment.
2. Also among
the audience when Jesus taught these things were the religious ones.
Those who were sticking to their religion to keep them ‘onside’ with God - and prove
they were a better class of person than general ‘sinners’. Jesus was exposing
their religious traditions to be just empty shells. We are meant to be directly in touch
with God. And Jesus came to be that connection point.
3. The third
section of the audience Jesus had in mind when he taught these things were disciples.
Those who had begun to follow him – and within that audience there were three
concentric circles of followers – the 12, the 70, and the semi-committed
disciples. You know who the 12 were. And
the 70 were the wider group of men and women who followed and supported Jesus –
they were the ones he sent out around the towns ahead of him to tell people
about the Kingdom of God. And then there was a much larger group again who seemed
committed but not all of them turned out in the end to be true believers. Jesus’ teaching was designed to sift through
these three circles of followers.
4. And lastly
there was one person in particular that Jesus was speaking to: Judas. His
message was the most direct possible warning to Judas that he was the enemy of
Jesus (even if he hadn’t fully decided in his own mind). Jesus was calling him
to repent.
So, having thought about these four
audiences. We have to decide this morning which of audiences we are in.
Let’s quickly deal with the last
audience, first. I wonder if there is a Judas here this morning. You might be
surprised that I would raise that question.
But think about it: Everyone
else, except Jesus, was completely unaware that Judas was in the enemy’s camp. In
the same way I have no idea if there is a Judas here - someone who is about
to put Jesus to shame. So I’ll just throw the challenge out there, as Jesus
did: “Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there isn’t in any of you an
evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.” And. Today
if you hear his voice do not harden your heart. There’s still time – there’s
TODAY.
As to the others in the audience: Ask
yourself: Am I living a shallow life that keeping me from seriously considering
the deeper reasons for my unhappiness.
Am I just responding to my appetites with no certainty about what my
life is FOR?
Or, Am I one of those semi-committed
disciples? Perhaps you’re still in
a place where if a better offer came up – you’d be off! If you fell for an attractive unbelieving
person – or if a good money-making opportunity showed up - you’d ditch Jesus.
Or, Am I the committed disciple? I know I have a long way to go, but I’m desperate
to know Jesus more and better – to understand his expectations for my life. I’m
ready to dive into faith, fully clothed – boots-and-all – holding nothing back.
Now, having decided where you fit
into Jesus’ audience, let’s go ahead to see what Jesus said that caused
many to abandon him - and some to become even more confidently anchored to him. He said (verse 51):
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats
of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for
the life of the world is my flesh.”
The key to
understanding this is to realise that it from two things that began to be
revealed in the Old Testament: The Passover and the manna.
The Passover was a one-off meal. And the manna
was the daily provision of food for the Israelites as they travelled through the
wilderness towards the Promised Land.
The first Passover
meal was on the night Israel left Egypt. God was about to send the final plague
to afflict Egypt and force Pharaoh to free the Israelites. To avoid being
caught in the plague, the Israelite families were told to take a lamb, kill it,
daub its blood on the door frame of their house - and then eat the sacrificed
lamb together. Then all the families
were to met up and walk away from Egypt.
Eating the lamb was a powerful way of identifying with the animal that
was being sacrificed for the family’s protection from God’s judgement and for
the forgiveness of their sins. By eating it, the sacrifice became part of them.
What you eat becomes you! The elements and minerals in the food are carried by
your blood into every tiny cell you are made of.
Having our
sins forgiven is a close and personal business. God doesn’t just wave his hand over a crowd and say, “I’ve
forgiven the lot of you.” Each one must
eat. Each one must have a personal connection to the sacrifice. (I KNOW you can
see how this connects with Jesus’ sacrifice!)
But also, the
eating of the sacrificed lamb, included fellowship – not only between those sinners
who gratefully ate the meal in common - but fellowship with God himself. (As an aside, the Lord’s Supper contains
those two ideas, also.)
But Jesus wasn’t
speaking about animal sacrifices and he wasn’t speaking about bread and wine. He
said The
bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. He was talking about HIS actual life
sacrificed and given to sustain us.
Jesus’ death
wrapped up all the Old Testament sacrifices. He finished them forever. But for
his sacrifice to count for our forgiveness, we must identify closely with it. We
must eat it. We must receive it into our lives.
Obviously, we
don’t eat Jesus’ body. He still has his body. He was raised to life – many
believers saw him alive, with a substantial, glorified body. So we don’t eat
his body.
But neither do we return
to symbols. Eating bread and drinking the wine can’t save us. (Those are for a
different purpose - which we may be talk about later if we get time.)
Eating and
drinking Jesus life is a spiritual reality.
Because we live in
and interact with a physical world we tend to live as though physical things
are what’s real and lasting - and that spiritual things are airy-fairy – a bit
like a dreams or imagination. But actually, it is
the physical things that are passing away (where are all the people who were
alive 100 years ago? They passed away). What
is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Cor 4.
52 At that, the Jews argued among themselves, “How can this
man give us his flesh to eat? 53 So
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of
Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. 54 The one who eats my
flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up
on the last day, 55 because
my flesh is true food and my blood is true
drink.
When we tell God
that we accept the promise that Jesus’ died for our forgiveness - we are ‘taking Jesus in’ (eating the
ultimate Passover Lamb).
True disciples, are
those who daily depend on Jesus’ life to nourish and sustain them. This is what
the Manna promised. Each day, God
sustains us with the Real Bread from Heaven – Jesus’ life in us. We are speaking about spiritual life - not just muscle and blood - though of course God
sustains our bodies, too.
Having Jesus’ life
in us means a new spiritual character, new power - and a calling to go with it.
We live out this new life by depending on His energy that he so mightily
inspires within us.
56 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I
in him.
Eating is not experienced
by ‘reading the menu’. You must taste and see that the Lord is good.
On the day Jesus
spoke these things many people left him. 60 They said, “This teaching is hard. Who can accept it?” 61 Jesus, knowing in
himself that his disciples were complaining about this, asked them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you were to observe the Son of Man
ascending to where he was before? 63 The Spirit is the one who gives life. The flesh
doesn’t help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are
life. 64 But
there are some among you who don’t believe.”
Perhaps these words have made you feel uneasy –
offended even. Jesus isn’t trying to offend us - he wants us to stay
with him and grow. The ones who leave him are unspiritual. They can’t see past the flesh. And the flesh doesn’t
help at all.
You eat and
drink Jesus’ life by faith. It is life for your spirit not your flesh. The menu
is the Bible – there we learn about everything Christ can be for us. We ask and
receive. And the Spirit makes these things real and tasty in our lives. As
Jeremiah said: Lord, your words were
found, and I ate them. Your words became a delight to me and the joy of my
heart, for I carry your name!
And Jesus said to
the Twelve, “You don’t want to
go away too, do you?”
Simon
Peter answered, “Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal
life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Jesus replied to
them, “Didn’t I choose
you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.” He was referring to Judas, because he was going to
betray him.
This is the
day the Lord has made - for each of us to take Peter’s words for our words. “Lord
Jesus, who else could I possibly go with? You have the words of life – eternal
life! Today, now, I believe and know that
you are the Holy One of God. Feed me!”
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