START WITH SCRIPTURE:
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM
CLICK HERE FOR .PDF FILE TO PRINT WITHOUT PICTURES
OBSERVE:
The drama of John 6 reaches its climax in this passage. The drama began after Jesus fed the multitudes with five loaves and two fish by the Sea of Galilee.
First, the crowd came looking for him, seeking more bread and seeming to taunt Jesus that Moses did even more for their ancestors than Jesus had done for them.
Second, the Jewish leaders questioned his authority for doing such things.
Jesus did not shrink from the controversy; rather, he grew even more provocative by making bold claims that were certain to offend the crowds and the Jewish leaders.
Finally, he summarizes his bold claims: Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.
Moreover, he declares, those who partake of him will live forever, unlike their ancestors who ate the manna in the wilderness but who still died.
We know that many of the followers of Jesus were often not the “brightest light bulbs” when it came to understanding what Jesus was saying. Some likely interpreted Jesus literally, and assumed he was inviting them to eat his flesh and drink his blood. Others may have balked at his claims that he was exceptional and superior even to Moses. In any event, all of this was too much.
Like the crowds and the Jewish leaders, even Jesus’ followers began to question him: When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?”
Yet again, Jesus ratchets up the tension, and essentially tells them, “You think this is something? This is nothing!” He says “Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?” Rather than calming their concerns, he makes claims that they consider to be even more outlandish! That he would return to the Father from whom he came!
He then gives a key for understanding his words for those who have the ears to hear it: It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. What he has tried to share with the crowd, the Jewish leaders, the disciples, all of them, is spiritual reality.
They have all been preoccupied with the flesh: how did he make so much bread? could they get some more? how does all this compare to miracles in the past? how can he dare make these presumptuous claims?
He is pointing out that what he is offering is spiritual and eternal food, not fleshly transient food. To eat his body and drink his flesh is to participate spiritually in Jesus, and to “live forever.”
Whether literal or figurative, these are claims to an exclusive relationship with God the Father that would be offensive to those who see Jesus as nothing more than a “good teacher” and perhaps even a miracle worker.
Jesus reiterates his earlier statement that his salvation is not universal. Some will not come to him and therefore will not come to the Father: “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.” For a more in depth discussion of this concept, please refer to the SOAR Lectionary Bible Study post for the August 9 Gospel reading (CLICK HERE), particularly the APPLY section.
For some of Jesus’ followers, Jesus has finally gone too far. His miracles and his wisdom drew them in, but these radical claims are too much. Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.
We have a sense that there is a shift in tone here: the once popular Jesus has alienated some of the multitudes, most of the Jewish leaders, and even many of his own disciples!
The climax of this passage is a poignant question that Jesus poses to the original twelve disciples: “Do you also wish to go away?”
The sensitive reader at this point is breathless in anticipation of the answer. And, as he does in the other Gospels in different words, Simon Peter acts as spokesman for the twelve, and declares “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
This is a pivotal moment in the Gospel of John; a “plot-point” if you will. Jesus has offered the disciples a choice. Now is the time to decide whether they will continue to follow him to Jerusalem.
Peter’s answer almost has a note of pathos to it: to whom can we go? And Peter makes a credal statement – that they have come to believe Jesus is the Messiah.
This statement is reminiscent of another scene familiar from the other three Gospels. Jesus and the disciples have passed into the Gentile region of Caesarea Philippi, and he asks the question who do you say that I am? And there it is also Simon Peter who has the moment of insight and speaks for all of the disciples: You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Matthew 16:13-23; see also Mark 8:27-33 and Luke 9:18-22).
APPLY:
We tend to think of success when we think of our heroes. Winning a battle, winning an election, prospering in business, riding high in the popularity polls.
And then there are moments of testing, when the hero looks like a loser, a failure; or when the hero says things that perplex us and are contrary to all we believe.
We like to think of Jesus at the moments of great success: when he casts out a demon, or feeds the five thousand, or walks on water, or ascends the Mount of Transfiguration, or in his glorious Resurrection.
But the truth is that Jesus wasn’t interested in popularity polls or “success” as we define it. He was interested only in accomplishing his Father’s will, and speaking his Father’s truth. And if that meant losing popularity, he seemed fine with that outcome.
So, we must decide — are we interested in success and popularity and big crowds? Or are we interested only in following Christ?
The Puritans used to have a saying: “I have an audience of One.” Meaning of course, that the only one we ultimately are concerned with pleasing is God.
That all depends on whether we have drawn the same conclusion that Peter does: there is nowhere else we can go! Jesus has the words of eternal life, and we believe that he is the Holy One of God!
RESPOND:
There was a scene in the famous battle of the Alamo when the Texans in the old Mission were outnumbered and outgunned by Santa Anna’s army. When the Mexican army approached the gates of the Alamo, Col. William Travis assembled his bedraggled men and drew a line in the sand.
Those who crossed the line with him, he said, would stand and die for Texas Independence. Virtually all of them crossed the line.
We get the same sense in this passage with Jesus and his disciples. Jesus has made some radical claims: that he is the source of eternal life, that he has a unique relationship with God the Father, and that he is the bread that comes down from heaven.
Many who followed him previously found this too much to ‘swallow,’ and left him. Simon Peter and the twelve remained loyal.
I have the sense that there are key points in my own life where I have made that decision. To paraphrase Robert Frost, “I chose the road less travelled, and that has made all the difference.”
Lord, you don’t make it easy for us to follow you. It’s not simply a matter of uttering a little verbal formula and getting our ticket stamped, or even being a good loyal church member. Your claims are radical, and they change everything that we say and do from that moment on! Call me out, and lead me on! As one saint has said, ‘Command what you will, and then give what you command.’ Amen.
PHOTOS:
“Follow Jesus” by New Life Church Collingwood is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
SOAR Lectionary Bible Study 