Sunday, July 23, 2023 Pentecost 8
St. Edward’s Presbyterian Church, Beauharnois
Gordon McPhee
John 6:41-59 The Bread of Life [The Message]
At this, because he said, “I am the Bread that came down from heaven,” the Jews started arguing over him: “Isn’t this the son of Joseph? Don’t we know his father? Don’t we know his mother? How can he now say, ‘I came down out of heaven’ and expect anyone to believe him?”
Jesus said, “Don’t bicker among yourselves over me. You’re not in charge here. The Father who sent me is in charge. He draws people to me—that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do my work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End. This is what the prophets meant when they wrote, ‘And then they will all be personally taught by God.’ Anyone who has spent any time at all listening to the Father, really listening and therefore learning, comes to me to be taught personally—to see it with his own eyes, hear it with his own ears, from me, since I have it firsthand from the Father. No one has seen the Father except the One who has his Being alongside the Father—and you can see me.
“I’m telling you the most solemn and sober truth now: Whoever believes in me has real life, eternal life. I am the Bread of Life. Your ancestors ate the manna bread in the desert and died. But now here is Bread that truly comes down out of heaven. Anyone eating this Bread will not die, ever. I am the Bread—living Bread!—who came down out of heaven. Anyone who eats this Bread will live—and forever! The Bread that I present to the world so that it can eat and live is myself, this flesh-and-blood self.”
At this, the Jews started fighting among themselves: “How can this man serve up his flesh for a meal?”
But Jesus didn’t give an inch. “Only insofar as you eat and drink flesh and blood, the flesh and blood of the Son of Man, do you have life within you. The one who brings a hearty appetite to this eating and drinking has eternal life and will be fit and ready for the Final Day. My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. By eating my flesh and drinking my blood you enter into me and I into you. In the same way that the fully alive Father sent me here and I live because of him, so the one who makes a meal of me lives because of me. This is the Bread from heaven. Your ancestors ate bread and later died. Whoever eats this Bread will live always.”
He said these things while teaching in the meeting place in Capernaum.
Introduction:
At the risk of disparaging a venerable classic in the form of the southern spiritual “Gimme that Old Time Religion” in our passage from the Gospel of John today, Jesus is proclaiming an entirely new vista for his audience to appreciate, and they just don’t get it. They are completely wrapped up in Moses and the law, the old familiar traditions and culture, and they miss the glory of God, the freedom of the Gospel and the power of the Spirit standing right before them.
In John’s Gospel chapter 6, Jesus has just fed 5,000 men, many with their wives and children, with 5 barley loaves and two fish. Then he miraculously crossed the Sea of Galilee on foot to enter the boat his disciples were in and arrive at the city of Capernaum. There, the crowds who have been fed search for him because He’s the messiah they want. Someone who can feed them and supply their daily needs, relieve their suffering and want. Jesus tells them he is the Bread of Life.
"Don’t waste your energy striving for perishable food like that,” he says. The food he’d miraculously provided for them in the wilderness. “Work for the food that sticks with you, food that nourishes your lasting life, food the Son of Man provides. He and what he does are guaranteed by God the Father to last.” But they weren’t ready to sign on, they wanted more assurance, a sign. So Jesus replied, “that my Father is right now offering you bread from heaven, the real bread. The Bread of God came down out of heaven and is giving life to the world.” They jumped at this: “Master, give us this bread, now and forever!” And “Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life.””
But this they could not accept. To need or receive a thing, like manna from heaven or bread multiplying to feed thousands was OK. But to be told they needed a person, Jesus, this they could not understand or accept. And this is where we begin our reading in John this morning.
“Not Another ‘Old Time Religion”
Our Gospel reading this morning begins, “At this, because he said, ‘I am the Bread that came down from heaven,’ the Jews started arguing over him;” so what was their complaint? These thousands of seekers had gone out into the wilderness looking for Jesus because they’d heard of or witnessed the many healing miracles Jesus had performed. They were not uninformed or ignorant. They had witnessed the feeding of the 5,000. Indeed, they were the recipients of this grace. They had journeyed by all means to track Jesus down, and yet with this one claim, “I am the Bread that came down from heaven,” they were stopped dead in their tracks.
As they said, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph? Don’t we know his father? Don’t we know his mother? How can he now say, ‘I came down out of heaven’ and expect anyone to believe him?” They would accept a divine providence in the form of manna from heaven but not in the form of a person, especially one they thought they knew; that was too common, too familiar, far too close. Jesus responds by redirecting their attention from themselves to God.
“The Father who sent me is in charge. He draws people to me—that’s the only way,” Jesus declares. And then Jesus makes things very clear and very personal. “I do my work, putting people together, setting them on their feet … Anyone who has spent any time at all listening to the Father, … comes to me to be taught personally—to see it with his own eyes, hear it with his own ears, from me … —and you can see me.” Jesus sets Himself unmistakably at the centre of this message. The message is NOT that He, like Moses, is the supplier of bread, but that He IS the “Bread—living Bread!”
I sometimes wonder if we really grasp what Jesus is saying to us here. Certainly, his audience and even his disciples were struggling with it, as John records. So, there is no shame in having questions. But it’s vitally important, I think, that we do grasp this. In Jesus’ own words, “I’m telling you the most solemn and sober truth now: Whoever believes in me has real life, eternal life.” Our life, our real eternal life with God, is at stake in these words of Jesus, “The Bread that I present to the world so that it can eat and live is myself, this flesh-and-blood self.”
Like Jesus’ audience in John, we don’t have any trouble with the teachings of Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes. Even with miracles and healing we embrace the idea of consuming the bread and wine at communion in remembrance of Jesus’ death and resurrection. We have so much to be thankful for. This Church, with all its history and the encouragement we receive, knows the faithfulness of those who have been here before us. The stained-glass windows, memorials on the walls, and even the graveyard are constant reminders of this. We have a rich legacy of hymns and songs, old and new. And probably most importantly, we have the Bible.
My brother Wilson is want always to hold up to you the Word of God in Scripture, and I love him dearly for that. An English or French translation of Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic texts carefully transcribed from copies of ancient manuscripts lost in antiquity. Scholars argue over dating, authorship, and accuracy, even those fully committed to Jesus Christ. But if I could convince you to read this book from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21 at least once a year, it would change your life. Turning off the Television for a half hour a day is all it would take. It would change your life not because you understand it or glean great truths from it but because God has chosen to work through the foolish things of this world, and Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, just as He did for his disciples on the road to Emmaus, will open your mind and heart to Himself through the reading of His word. And this leads us to the heart of what we need to grasp today.
What confounded Jesus’ audience at that time and us so often in our daily lives is that He is offering you Himself. He declares, “Only insofar as you eat and drink flesh and blood, the flesh and blood of the Son of Man, do you have life within you.” There is no hint that this was understood metaphorically or mystically. The hearers argued over the literal serving up of Jesus’ flesh and blood for consumption. And we should not understand it as symbolic, either. What escaped them and I pray will not escape us is acknowledging who Jesus is, God incarnate, which includes his body. I, NOR any other human could make this offer; only God’s incarnate Son could. But what could this possibly mean?
Well, nothing less than the most intimate relationship possible, or rather an impossibly intimate relationship. A miraculous relationship. You see, I can’t be your relation, except in name unless I carry your genetics, your flesh and blood, in me. If I claim to be part of your family, they can do DNA tests to confirm or deny this. Traits and characteristics passed on in a family miss the adopted child because they are not part of that flesh and blood. But when Jesus adopts us into his family, invites us to become children of God the Father, he offers us His flesh and blood so that far more than just a contract and a name, we become heirs to the traits and character of Jesus Himself. We are, quite literally, transformed into children of God.
Don’t take my word for it; listen to Jesus’ words, “In the same way that the fully alive Father sent me here, and I live because of Him, so the one who makes a meal of me lives because of me.” “In the same way,” He says. Jesus receives His life from God the Father and invites us to live in the same way because of Him. This is not your old-time religion. It is a radical, real, intimate relationship with God through the person of Jesus, His Son.
Jesus isn’t offering you a creed, or teachings or even the venerable Westminster Confession of Faith. He’s not even offering you the Scriptures. Nor a community of faith, sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist, confession, and prayer. Jesus is calling you and offering you one thing, “The Bread that I present to the world so that it can eat and live is myself, this flesh-and-blood self.”
Listen to Jesus’ words, “The Father who sent me … draws people to me—that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do my work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End. This is what the prophets meant when they wrote, ‘And then they will all be personally taught by God.’ Anyone who has spent any time at all listening to the Father, really listening and therefore learning, comes to me to be taught personally—to see it with his own eyes, hear it with his own ears, from me, since I have it firsthand from the Father.” Jesus is our redeemer, teacher, and friend. He invites us to feast on him heartily, “The one who brings a hearty appetite to this eating and drinking has eternal life and will be fit and ready for the Final Day.” But how?
The answer to that, I think, lies in the last verse of our passage, “He said these things while teaching in the meeting place in Capernaum.” Why was it important that John should point this out? Jesus resided in Capernaum for a time. He often spoke in the synagogue and did many miracles there, but Matthew 11:23-24 records Jesus saying, “And Capernaum! With all your peacock strutting, you are going to end up in the abyss. If the people of Sodom had had your chances, the city would still be around. At Judgment Day they’ll get off easy compared to you.”
They knew Jesus and had been host to his teaching and miracles, but they were looking for an Old Time Religion, not a person. Familiarity, knowledge, and information weren’t enough to turn their hearts, and they weren’t ready to enter into an intimate relationship. They wanted the controllable, comfortable distance afforded by their old familiar religion. They weren’t willing, and as Jesus said, “The Father who sent me is in charge. He draws people to me—that’s the only way you’ll ever come.”
And I am sometimes afraid for us. We are so easily distracted away from the person of Jesus, and by good things too. We get caught up in doing good, keeping things going, serving others, and caring for our church and church community and family and loved ones. We wonder how do we reach out into the community, do God’s work, make a difference, and be better neighbours, friends, and Christians. Why aren’t we making a more significant impact, setting the community on fire for Christ, filling this small church to overflowing, for certainly, the need is all around us?
And yet, as we listen to Jesus today, none of this is what He is asking of us. Jesus asks us to do something much, much more difficult. Something we resist with all our being. Something that only can be achieved by His grace and love. Come and eat his flesh and drink his blood; in other words, strip yourself bare and enter into the most intimate of relationships with him. He wants to become part of you, to transform you, to know that you know he sees everything about you, even the things you don’t see in yourself.
Brothers and Sisters, set everything else aside and come, kneel before the Lord Jesus, your maker, for He loves you and wants to share his flesh and blood with you. He wants to make you into Himself, and He will do his work, putting you together, setting you on your feet and preparing you for the End. He will teach you personally. And if you keep returning to feast on His presence heartily, your life will be transformed! As you give yourself over to that relationship with Jesus, you’ll hunger for the scriptures and be overwhelmed by love for your neighbours and walk in the paths of righteousness, and all around you, God will accomplish his purposes and will!
Let me bring you back to Jesus’ words in verse 58, “Your ancestors ate bread and later died. Whoever eats this Bread will live always.” I beg you, seek the Bread of Life. Fall on your knees and ask Jesus to fill you with His flesh and His blood so that you will be his true brother or sister, a child of His Father, heir to the kingdom and life, real life, eternal life with Jesus.
Amen
