Jesus says he’s God; people want to kill him. I guess that’s kind of par for the course, eh?
John 6:35,41-51; Ephesians 4:25-5:2, Psalm 34:1-8; 1 Kings 19:4-8
John 6 is nowhere near as offensive to us as it should be. Yes, I realize that sounds rather odd, to think of the Bible, and especially something Jesus is saying, as offensive, but it really was. The people who heard it didn’t really know what to do with Jesus at this point, so much so that, as we’ll read in two weeks, many of the people who had been following Jesus up to this point were so offended and otherwise put off by what he said that they “turned back” and stopped following.
This is kind of the first half of the “things that are offensive;” next week we’ll get part two, which is actually the more offensive part. Up to this point, Jesus was just another country teacher. He had just fed five thousand people with five biscuits and two anchovies, and now he started to explain to them what was going on. Last week y’all read Jesus saying, “You are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate and had your fill. But don’t work for food that spoils, instead work for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”
This week, Jesus is starting to explain more what the “food that endures to eternal life” is. Jesus says quite plainly in verse 35, “I am the bread of life.” His listeners, whoever, start to get irked; “What does he mean, ‘I am the bread of life.’ Isn’t this Joshua Josephson (which, by the way, would have been Jesus’ name), the kid from down the street. We know his mother, Mary, and father, Joseph. Who does he think he is to say he came from heaven.”
At this point, there’s really only two options. Either Jesus is completely out of his mind and, in his insanity, has decided he came from heaven, or he actually did. We know now, looking back, exactly who Jesus is, but at the time they were still trying to figure it out.
One thing they knew for sure though, was that only God came from heaven. Sometimes he’d send prophets and teachers to speak for him, but on the whole, only God came from heaven. So when Jesus starts saying he is the bread from heaven, he’s kind of implying something significant, namely, that he is, in fact, God.
Now, again, for us, hearing that Jesus is God isn’t a huge deal. We’re used to thinking in Trinitarian terms when it comes to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These people, on the other hand, were not. Their “creed”, which they said every day, was, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our god, the Lord is one.” At the time, this creed was pretty revolutionary by itself, as the Israelites were worshiping one god, instead of the many gods their neighbors worshiped. Now, Jesus is more or less lumping himself into the equation, which the Jewish listeners wouldn’t have exactly been OK with, nor were they, to be honest.
So Jesus first identifies himself with God, then he says that when someone eats of him they’ll never die: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
This is something else we’re used to that the original hearers would not be cool with. We know now that he’s talking about Communion, but those following Jesus wouldn’t have gotten so far yet, especially since this is a good ways before the Last Supper in the time line of Jesus’ ministry. So it’s a little understandable that the people would start to grumble, because it does sound odd, but we’ll talk about that more next week.
This week is more focused on the good news – that anyone who takes part in Christ has eternal life. In this passage Jesus specifically one way of doing that, through Communion, but it’s not the only way to take part in Him. Our reading from Ephesians gives many examples of what a life which takes part in Christ looks like: put away falsehood; speak the truth; don’t sin in your anger; give no opportunity for the devil; if you happen to be a thief, stop it; let your speech build others up; put away bitterness, wrath, anger, and slander; be kind to one another; forgive each other as Christ forgave you; and most of all, be imitators of God, walking in love, as Christ loved us and offered himself for us.
Those are all the fruit of of life in participation with God – it’s an important distinction; this not what leads to a life with God, but what happens after. It’s up to us, with the Holy Spirit’s help, to look at our lives and see if the fruit we bear reflects the faith we claim.