August 10, 2003 -NinthSunday after Pentecost
Ephesians 4: 25 - 5:2
NRSVKJV
John 6: 35, 41-51
“The Real Thing, Really, IsJesus”
Introduction
Coca Cola is not the real thing. Well, you say, now there’s a surprise. Yet what is thereal thing? In other words, wherewill we find authentic life? Bythis I mean a life where we understand ourselves, we understand oursignificance, and we understand that we are loved people who can live at peace.
We can find such a life in John 6:25-59 which is our textfor this morning. This is adifficult text full of metaphor and yet a rich text for finding authentic lifein Jesus.
I would like for us first this morning to recount the storythis passage tells. Then we willfocus on understanding three key statements within the story: “do the work of God”; “I am the bread of life”; and finally“eat my flesh and drink my blood”.
Body
The five thousand that experienced Jesus feeding them onthe northwest side of the Sea of Galilee were impressed. So, when they saw Jesus disciples’ head out in the boatstoward Capernaum, they decided to follow him.
They found him, but Jesus understood without a word beingspoken that their interest was not in spiritual enlightenment, but rather inthat they liked to eat. Veryunderstandable, actually… Jesussays to them, “Do not work for the foodthat spoils, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Manwill give you (v. 27)” Thecrowd responds by asking a reasonable question: what does it mean to do the workof God? Answer: the work of God is “tobelieve in the one he has sent.”
The crowd understood that Jesus was talking about himself. Before they committed themselves to him, however, they wanted a sign fromhim, in order to know that they could trust him. They remembered the manna in the desert that God had provided to validateMoses’ leadership during Israel’s exodus from Egypt. (Manna was a white substance looking like hoar frost and tasting likehoney wafers). What they werereally asking was this: you tell us to believe in you, but how can you begreater than Moses? Jesus respondsby making two additional points: first, that it was not Moses who provided themanna, but God the Father; and second, that the truebread from heaven was not the manna, but the person who comes from heaven togive life to the world.
The crowd responds at this point by saying, “Sir, give usthis bread.” Their response isvery similar to what the Samaritan women said in response to Jesus claim to her:“Sir, give me this water” (4:15). Thisparallel suggests that the crowd was experiencing Jesus as credible: they wantedwhat he had.
Yet because they didn’t fully understand what he wastalking about, Jesus now continues with a fuller explanation. He now says plainly what he has already said implicitly: “Iam the bread of life.” Yetthen Jesus’ words turn unexpectedly: “But as I told you, you have seen meand still you do not believe (v. 36).” Whydidn’t they believe? They hadremembered the manna, and in some sense, they seemed to understand theassociation between the manna and the feeding of the five thousand that had justtaken place. To answer thisquestion, Jesus’ words turn unexpectedly again: “All that the Father hasgiven me will come to me” (v. 37). Theimplication seems to be this: those in this Jewish crowd had not believed,because the Father had not given them to His Son.
At this the Jews began to grumble. They didn’t like the answers they were now getting. They began looking at what he said with suspicion. “How could this guy claim to come down from heaven when we know hisfather Joseph?” they reasoned. AgainJesus refers to His Father’s actions to explain their unbelief: “No one cancome to me unless the Father draws him” (v. 44).
Then Jesus draws a crucial distinction between the manna ofthe wilderness and the bread of life, which he is claiming himself to be. While the manna in the wilderness had only a temporal effect, the breadof life will have eternal effect. Hencethe bread of life is “living bread.” Jesusthen adds something of great significance: this living bread is his own flesh.
The response of the Jewish crowd has now moved fromgrumbling to sharp argument. “Thisis crazy,” they reason, “for how can Jesus give us his flesh to eat?” Yet rather than softening what he said, Jesus now hardens it further: “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, anddrink his blood, you have no life in you.” (v. 53). The following verse then serves as an invitation to all who read thisaccount, including us: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternallife, and I will raise him up on the last day” (v. 54).
The story being told, I would like now to focus on thethree statements I mentioned in the Introduction:
Work for the food thatendures (v. 27)
To work for the food that endures means that our primaryconcerns will not be material, but spiritual. We will prioritize each day’s activities not on the basisof what will maximize our financial status or personal pleasure but rather basedon what is best for our souls, with the recognition that we are beings destined
to live forever. The centralspiritual work we are to do is to believe inJesus. This means to entrust ourlives to Him. We will trust him toprovide for us, guide us, and sustain us.
Yet even when we come to Jesus, we often come for the wrongreason. We come for the blessingrather than for the relationship. More than the blessings of the Christian life what we desperately need isJesus himself, and the grace he offers.
Do you long for authentic spiritual experience in your ownlife? Do you long for your job tomean something more than a paycheck, and for your home to mean something morethan a roof over an insignificant head? Thenyou must fulfill what Jesus describes in v. 40 as the Father’s will: you mustlook to the Son and believe. If youdo this you are promised something called “eternal life”.
What might this look like practically? May I suggest that we begin by doing what Jesus describes here in v. 40:“Look to the Son.” And as we look, in what ways might he be directing usto entrust ourselves to Him? Maybeit is by spending some time each day in personal prayer, journaling, and Biblereading. Maybe it is by gatheringtogether to worship him as we are doing right here. Maybe it is by responding to his voice in some form of lovingservice to this congregation, or to others in the community. As we look to the Son, we will find peace, joy, and confidence. We must then continue moving in the direction that these three emotionsdirect us.
Jesus is the bread of life (v. 35)May I suggest that the meaning of this statement is this: spirituallife is sustained by the spiritual food of our relationship with Jesus.
Bread and water are often considered the most elementaryforms of nutritional subsistence. Infact, in poorer regions of the world bread makes up 50% of the diet, becausecarbohydrates provide calories so cheaply. Heather and I experienced this personally in Russia. When our acquaintances could afford nothing else, they ate bread. So, when Jesus says “I am the bread of life,” he is saying this: I amthe essential staple for your spiritual diet.
In v. 51 Jesus expands on his original statement by callinghimself living bread. Jesus intention was not to be understood literally,but rather representationally. His body would stand representationally for ours so that thesevere consequences of our sin would fall on him rather than on us. While Israel fed on an inert substance, the manna in the wilderness, inorder to be sustained physically, we must now feed on the life of Jesus in orderto be sustained spiritually.
What though does this actually mean for us as a communityof faith? It means that we mustrecognize that when we gather together as Christ’s body, we have something farmore significant in common than do the members of a mere social club. We have a connection of our souls in concert with the divine life plantedwithin us. Think of the best friendyou have ever had? How would you characterize the connection you had with thatperson? Rich, but difficult yes? This is the connection we now have with Jesus and with each other,because of the common spiritual life that we share. This connection fills our lives with joy, peace, resilience,reconciliation, understanding, hope, and confidence.
Note, though, that to partake of this bread, the Fathermust give us to the Son (v. 35), and must draw us to the Son (v. 44). 6:44 teaches clearly that it is the Father who initiates in a personbecoming a believer: no one cancome to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. As believers, Jesus wants us to rest in the fact that the Father himselfhas sent His Son to us in order to save us. We don’t need to exhaust ourselves trying to earn our salvation bydoing some kind of penance under a heavy burden of guilt and obligation. We are justified by grace through faith alone.
This doesn’t however allow us complacency. Our lives are to proclaim Christ as his instruments of sovereign grace. Jesus quotation of Isaiah 54:13 is key: they will all be taught by God. This chapter of Isaiah is about the future glory of Zion, and speaksabout a Lord who is going to redeem his estranged people. We have been saved for the purpose of bringing glory to God, not so thatwe can now live however we choose.
“Eat my flesh and drink my blood” (v. 53)
What this means in short is that authentic spiritual lifecomes from a full immersion experience. Byfull immersion I mean one which engages our entire person all the time. The quickest way to learn another language is through full immersion, inwhich one lives within the language and culture one is trying to obtain. We are to live within the language and culture of Jesus in order toobtain him fully.
Be careful to note here that the focus is NOT on communion. Communion is one of the natural outworkings of what Jesus is talkingabout, but it is our experience of Him which is central here. As New Testament scholar Don Carson puts it, John 6 is not about theLord’s Supper, rather, the Lord’s Supper is about John 6.
As when Jesus called himself “the bread of life”, he isspeaking metaphorically in saying, “eat my flesh, and drink my blood.” What exactly is a metaphor? Webster’sdictionary defines a metaphor as a figure of speech in which a word or phraseliterally denoting one idea is used in place of another word or idea in order tosuggest a likeness between them. Inthis case, the figure of speech is eating and drinking, and this idea is beingused in place of believing in Jesus, to suggest a connection between the twoideas. How would eating anddrinking be like being devoted to Jesus? Theyare both full immersion experiences. Wemust take Christ in to our souls completely, just as we would take in a favoritemeal.
This was a shocking thing to say, especially to thoseinfluenced by Judaism, which forbade the drinking of blood. For example, Gen. 9:4 said, But you must not eat meat that hasits lifeblood still in it. And foryour lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. Why did Jesus speak this way? Fortwo reasons. First, he wanted hisdisciples to understand that following him meant taking him into their innermostbeing. By referring to his fleshand blood in separation Jesus was cryptically predicting his own sacrificialdeath. When flesh and blood areseparated, the patient has died. Second,Jesus spoke this way to make clear to his disciples that following him means totalcommitment of him to them, and therefore also of them to him.[1]
What if you would take the grace of Christ into yourinnermost being? What changes mighthe make in your life there at the center that would then flow outward into yoursphere of influence? A mostinfluential and traditional Eastern Orthodox prayer, the Jesus Prayer, goes likethis: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son ofGod, have mercy on me, a sinner.” EasternOrthodox believers are encouraged to pray this throughout the day, and even tocoordinate with their breathing, so as to say it continuously. The effect is to bring Christ into one’s innermost being, and to throwoneself onto the mercy of God, knowing that one is a broken sinner.
Full immersion. TakingChrist into one’s innermost being. Total commitment. Thisis what it means to eat Christ’s flesh and drink His blood.
Conclusion
Ifyou think about it for a moment, it is clear that you will not find authenticlife in a can of Coca Cola. Yetwill we find it in Jesus? Jesuspredicted his own sacrificial death, then followed through with it, and was thenraised from the dead for this very reason.
Willyou therefore believe in Him? Ifyou’ve never believed in Him, then this is the morning and the moment tobegin. If you’ve believed, andthen wavered, then this is the moment to recognize that he is indeed the breadof life for you. If you’vebelieved, but are discouraged, please know that all you have to do is keeplooking to him. He will sustain youthrough your desert and into the promised land.
Dothe work of God. Believe in Jesus. Look to the Son. Eatthe flesh and blood of his death for you, a sinner under the condemnation ofdivine wrath. As we do thesethings, his grace and love will be ours, and our lives will be transformed. John 6 is a call to us to make Jesus Christ the very center of ourspiritual experience, and our lives.
[1]Morris, pp. 334-5.