John 6: 56-69
by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
August 26, 2018
Just look through the gospel accounts. The Rabbi who is our Teacher of God’s mysterious ways did not bring everyone a peaceful, easy feeling.
The rich young ruler asked Jesus how to inherit eternal life. Jesus told the young man to sell his possessions, give the money to the poor, and then follow him. The young man was so shocked by Jesus’ answer that he walked away grieving [1].
A man named Legion lived among the tombs in the Gentile country of Gergesa. Legion (the Gerasene Demoniac) was marginalized because the people did not understand his torment. When the compassionate actions of Jesus brought healing and wholeness to the man, the townspeople were afraid of Jesus’ power to change things. They begged Jesus to leave their neighborhood [2].
The Pharisees had the responsibility of interpreting God’s Law (first five books of the Bible) and empowering the people of God to live into a holy way of life. They took great offense to Jesus’ street ministry. The Pharisees could not comprehend the notion of mixing the holy and unholy. They sneered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them!” [3]
The crowd gathered around Jesus as he taught in the streets. Jesus professed God, his Father, had sent him, and if the people truly claimed to be God-loving decedents of Abraham then they would accept Jesus’ teachings. The crowd grumbled and then Jesus had a mic drop moment. Asserting his divine authority Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I am.” The anger was palpable, and the crowd picked up stones to throw at Jesus [4].
The day after Jesus fed five thousand with five bread loaves and two fish, the crowd followed him. They had never experienced such a miracle of abundance. They had their fill and wanted more. Jesus told the crowd, “Do not work for food that perishes, but for the food that that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you…I am the bread of life” (John 6:27, 35). This is where we enter the biblical text today:
Listen to how Jesus’ words were received in John 6: 56-69:
[Jesus said] 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. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live for ever.’
He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.
When many of his disciples heard it, they said, ‘This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?’
But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, ‘Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But among you there are some who do not believe.’
For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. And he said, ‘For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.’
Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, ‘Do you also wish to go away?’ Simon Peter answered him, ‘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.’
Not only did the crowd dispute Jesus’ words, but the disciples questioned Jesus’ teaching. “This teaching is difficult, who can accept it?”
“Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them” (John 6:56). That statement was the most extreme the disciples had yet heard their Rabbi utter. And they had heard a lot after walking in the dust of the Rabbi for three years.
A disciple would eat, sleep, dream, and breathe in every word of the Rabbi. A commentary from my study says:
Studying their rabbi’s view of Scripture and wrestling with the texts to comprehend God’s way for the conduct of their life was the main priority of a disciple…As part of this how-should-we-live interactive process, the disciples would debate various rabbinic interpretations of the texts pertaining to a real-life issue. This might involve weeks of dialogue and debate, for the rabbis were in no hurry to resolve these issues and questions.
However, when the rabbi ultimately did declare his authoritative interpretation on an issue, all further debate ceased. His declared interpretation was now known and therefore binding on his disciples’ lives for the rest of their days. As such, the rabbi was the matrix, the filter, the grid, through which every life issue flowed, as well as the lens through which every life issue was viewed [5].
Jesus makes an authoritative claim that now binds his followers for the rest of their days. Jesus is not telling his followers to literally eat his flesh and drink his blood like a cannibal, vampire, or zombie. To eat the bread of life and to drink the blood of the new covenant bring God’s spirit-filled power and abundant life (John 6: 56, 58, 63). Jesus is pointing to the truth of God’s plan of salvation.
Jesus sees and hears the disciples struggling to interpret his words into their daily living. And in typical rabbinic fashion Jesus asks his disciples, “Does this offend you?” (John 6:61).
In other words, does my teaching cause you to stumble in your belief or trust me less?
To eat the bread of life and drink the cup of salvation were beyond the disciples’ comprehension. Jesus’ words anticipate the fulfillment of biblical prophecy for God’s plan of salvation through Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Scripture holds Jesus’ mandate to break the bread and drink the cup – to “do this in remembrance of me” [6]. It is to remember the costly grace for God to forgive human sin and yet celebrate the new life which God promises today through eternity.
And yet for some today, the violence of Jesus’ death makes it incredibly hard to find comfort in that old rugged cross. Some ask, couldn’t God have saved us another way?
In our text today, John’s Gospel moves us to place our primary focus on our relationship with God in Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit. The cross, bread, and cup are symbols for God’s abiding presence and steadfast love reshaping us by God’s intentions and purposes.
These symbols are a gift and a responsibility. The cross, bread, and cup are gifts revealing God’s willingness to go beyond all human comprehension to wipe away the offense of our sin; our greatest stumbling block to follow God (John 3: 17).
These symbols are visible signs of God’s invisible grace. We all need to experience God’s amazing grace with our senses. We see, touch, and taste the signs of God’s faithfulness when we see the solidarity of human unfaithfulness on the cross and we give thanks to God.
But these symbols also proclaim that we as disciples of Jesus Christ have a responsibility to wholly live into the teachings of our Teacher, Lord, and Savior.
Jesus’s words are binding to our discipleship for the rest of our days. Jesus said our greatest calling is to love God with all our heart, mind, and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves [7]. And yes, this teaching is difficult; who can really hear it?
It is hard to love God when we are tempted to give other aspects of life greater priority.
It is hard to love our neighbor as ourselves when they do not fit into our personal ideals or judgments.
It is hard to love ourselves because we are our own worst critics.
And it is hard to really hear and live into our greatest calling without the Spirit’s help. Apart from God we can do nothing (John 15:5).
And so, we look at the cross and take the bread and cup. And every time we approach this table we trust this is where God’s holy presence dares to touch our unholy and broken lives. Our faith is nourished and strengthened by the gifts of God for the people of God.
We taste God’s grace and mercy and it is so good.
We learn that we are more than our limitations and mistakes.
We lean into a deeper trust that we are being made new.
We grow a little more as disciples in trusting God with our very lives.
We are bound to a love that will never let us go.
We gather around the table of God’s hospitality and we are always amazed at God’s unwavering abundance.
But disciples are not meant to solely receive the gift. We are to boldly live into Jesus’s teachings at all costs. The gifts of God for the people of God remind us of the work that Jesus has called us to do to glorify his name.
Richard Stearns says in his book, The Hole in Our Gospel, “If Jesus loved the world so much to die for it, maybe we should too.”
If God’s love for humanity took on flesh, then God’s love and Jesus’ teachings must take on tangible expressions in every aspect of our lives.
The Rule of Love touches our personal devotion, the community of faith to which we belong, school, our young adult years, our work ethics, our public discourse and even our politics. It all goes back to the integrity of relationships we have with God and one another.
Jesus said the world will know that we are his disciples by our love (John 13:35). But if the Rule of Love offends us, then it is time for yet another lesson with our Rabbi and Savior.
None of us will live into the mind of Christ perfectly. But we are called to follow Jesus and we are called to his commandment to love one another.
I close with this prayer:
It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation
in realizing that. This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well. It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference
between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Amen.
Sources Referenced:
[1] Mark 10: 17-22; Matthew 19: 16-30; Luke 18: 18-30
[2] Mark 5: 1-20; Matthew 8: 28-34; Luke 8: 26-39
[3] Luke 15:2; 5:30; 7:39; 19:7
[4] John 8: 39-59
[5] Doug Greenwold, “Being a First Century Disciple,” March 2007
[6] Matthew 26: 26-29; Mark 14: 22-25; Luke 22: 14-23; 1 Corinthians 11: 23-26
[7] Matthew 22: 36-40; Mark 12: 29-31
[8] prayer written by Bishop Ken Untener in 1979 (often misattributed to Oscar Romero)
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