How Indiana Jones got Jesus wrong – John 6:52-71, Part 2

In the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indy is trying to find the Holy Grail.  A legend states that the Grail is the cup that Jesus used at the Last Supper.  The legend goes on to say that Jesus’ followers collected some of his blood the next day when he was on the cross, saving his blood in the Grail.  If anyone would drink the blood, they would be healed to the point of living forever.  So when Indy discovers the cave where the Grail is hidden, a centuries old knight from the crusades is there guarding the grail. The knight has stayed alive for hundreds of years by regularly drinking the blood of Jesus.  Indy eludes the knight, grabs the grail, and delivers it in the nick of time to his wounded and dying father. 

Where would such a legend come from? Does it have any truth to it? It seems that legend comes from the passage we are studying this week, John chapter 6, verses 52-71. In the previous post, we learned how Jesus first said that people should eat his flesh, and with those odd, even disgusting words, Jesus threw them for a loop. Now he takes it one step further. Look at verses 53-58,

“Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.’ He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.”

Jesus says that not only should they eat his flesh, they should also drink his blood!  What is Jesus talking about?  For Jews, if eating human flesh was unthinkable, drinking blood was possibly worse.  They would at least eat some cooked animal flesh, but it could not have any blood. No medium rare or even medium.  They ate their beef well done.  Now here’s Jesus saying, “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no life in you.” 

I wonder if anyone in the crowd said, or thought, “What are you talking about Jesus?  I feel like I have plenty of life in me.”  I wouldn’t blame anyone in the crowd if they were struggling with Jesus at this point.  This passage is one of the strangest passages in all of Jesus’ teaching.  In fact, this passage has created some of the deepest controversy in all of church history. 

I’m referring to the history of communion.  When Christians observe the ritual of communion, what is actually happening?  We eat a small piece of bread and drinking a small cup of juice or wine, remembering that Jesus gave his body and blood as a sacrifice on the cross. 

There it is.  Jesus’ body and blood.  That’s exactly what Jesus referred to here in John 6.  Eventually Jesus will refer to his body and blood again when he has his last supper with his disciples.  Because John doesn’t include that part of the story, we must read it any of the other three Gospel stories, Matthew, Mark or Luke.  Here is Luke’s version:

“And [Jesus] took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you’.”

Did Jesus take a knife out and cut off parts of his arm for them to eat?  Did he have a phlebotomist come draw his blood, and dole it out to the disciples?  No, of course not.  But sometimes, we hear some ideas like that. Such as in the Indiana Jones movie. And in the church.

Why? Because in John 6, verses 53-58, which we read above, it sure sounds like Jesus is saying that if we drink his blood, we’ll live forever. But Indiana Jones, sorry to say, got it wrong.  Please don’t learn your theology from Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade.  The legend of the Grail is based in a literalistic interpretation of Jesus’ teaching in John 6. But that is an incorrect interpretation. Instead, Jesus told his disciples at the Last Supper that the bread and cup are symbols.

Sometimes called elements, the bread and cup represent his body and blood, which Jesus said he is giving to them, poured out for them.  When Jesus, at the Last Supper, told his disciples that he was giving his body and blood, he was referring to what was going to happen the very next day.  He was going to be crucified, literally giving his body and blood as a sacrifice for the sins of the world.  But this amazing story of self-sacrificial love got twisted over the centuries that followed.  Why?  How?

Check back tomorrow as we’ll talk about how Jesus’ words got twisted.

Jesus, biblical literalism, and the Blindfold Taste Test – John 6:52-71, Part 1

Have you ever participated in a blindfolded taste test? To introduce this sermon, we had a blindfolded taste test, inviting three volunteers to each come forward. They didn’t know it, but they were about to eat a bite of different kinds of bread and different red-colored beverage. One person had V8. Another had pumpernickel. Each delicious or repulsive, depending on your taste preferences. Our volunteers were brave and handled the test with courage, but one admitted they were nervous, wondering if we were going to feed them bugs.

Often people feel some fear about blindfold tests.  Why?  They don’t know what they are getting into, how it will taste, feel, and how they will react.  There is some fear associated with that.  Will they react in an embarrassing way?  Will people make fun of them?  Laugh at them?  Will the fail in some way?  In other words, they are placing themselves in a situation in which they are giving up some control of their lives, and that is risky, scary and fearful.  That emotion is precisely what is going through the crowd of the people Jesus was talking to in John 6. 

Let’s recap where we’re at in Jesus’ life.  The day before this passage, Jesus miraculously fed the 5,000+ people.  They were so excited, they wanted to make him King.  His mission was not to be a governmental or military ruler, however, so he says “Nope,” and leaves the crowd to go find silence and solitude. His disciples meanwhile head home, sailing across the Sea of Galilee toward Capernaum.  A powerful storm breaks around them, and the waters become dangerous.  Then, perhaps even more fearful, they see a figure walking toward them on the raging waters.  Thinking it is a ghost, they are terrified.  But it’s Jesus!  He tells them “Be not afraid,” and right after they bring him into the boat, the boat immediately arrives safely at shore. 

The next day, a now smaller crowd of people find Jesus in Capernaum, and they ask him to do more miracles.  Jesus has a conversation with them that reveals their motivations.  They don’t really want Jesus for Jesus’ sake.  They want more about Jesus so that they can get what they want.  They want more free food.  They want a military ruler to free them.  When Jesus says that he himself is the Bread of Life, and they need to eat his flesh, they start to grumble.  This is not the Jesus they wanted. 

That brings us to John 6, verse 52, right in the middle of the conversation.  How will the people respond to Jesus’ suggestion that they should eat his flesh?  Let’s read verse 52: 

“Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’”

Which is exactly the question that I would be asking as well.  If anyone said to me, “Here, let me cut off a finger for you to eat, and you’ll live forever,” I would get away from them fast.  What is this?  A zombie?  A cannibal? A horror movie?  What kind of preacher tells you to eat his flesh?  Of course the people there that day hearing Jesus are thrown into a tizzy. But who were the people arguing about Jesus?

When John here refers to “The Jews,” it is likely a reference to the religious leaders, and even more specifically, it was probably the Pharisees.  We first learned that they were in the crowd back in verse 42.  But the reality, if you scan back to chapter 5, verses 16-18, is that the religious leaders were pursuing Jesus, because they wanted to take him down.  They were extremely suspicious of this former handyman with little or no religious training, especially because this guy had no problem confronting them.  Remember what he said them in response to their grumbling?  In chapter 6, verse 43, he said, “Stop it!”  They were not used to people confronting them. 

Now maybe they have Jesus where they want him.  He is saying bizarre stuff.  Jesus is saying that he himself is the Bread of Life, and if people eat this bread they will live forever.  If you are a Christian, you might be used to hearing that kind of sentiment from your Christian background.  “Jesus is the Bread of Life.” Normal, right? But imagine being a person there that day.  How would they hear Jesus? I suspect they could be thinking, “Jesus sounds off.” 

When John says in verse 52, “The Jews began to argue sharply among themselves” I wish I could see video of their argument.  In Jewish Law, what Jesus has just suggested is 100% wrong.  Jews are famous for their dietary restrictions.  Jesus’ suggestion of eating his flesh is not only disgusting in the “Ew, Jesus, that’s gross” sense, it is deeply repulsive in the cultural spiritual sense.  But only if you take Jesus literally. 

And that’s why assuming that we should always read the Bible literally is dangerous. I wonder if that’s what Jewish leaders might be arguing about.  Maybe some of them said, “He’s not being literal!  He’s being figurative.”  To which another would respond, “Well, if he’s being figurative, what does he mean?  Bread of Life…eternal life?  From heaven?  He’s claiming to be God, to be divine. He is so busted.” 

If you think that “eat my flesh” is bad, what he says next is arguably worse. It really doesn’t seem like Jesus is doing himself any favors. We’ll find out about that in the next post.

Jesus and Zombies and Vampires – John 6:52-71, Preview

Over the years I’ve read numerous zombie and vampire books, or watched TV shows and movies about them.  There’s The Walking Dead, The Vampire Diaries, the Twilight series, and loads more.  Some are good.  Some not so good.  All are gruesome and bloody.  The most bizarre had to be Pride & Prejudice…and Zombies. 

It is an adaptation of the famous novel, but it is set in a zombie apocalypse caused by the Black Plague. And the famous Bennett sisters?  They’re now trained ninjas, fighting to save the world…and entertain suitors.  It’s hilarious, ridiculous, and…well…bloody.  So why in the world am I talking about zombies and vampires?    

Would it surprise you to learn that the section we are studying in the Gospel of John, John chapter 6, in which Jesus teaches that he is the Bread of Life, is also gruesome and bloody?  “The Bread of Life” sounds so wholesome.  What makes this chapter disgusting?  Jesus does!

This past week, for example, we studied John 6:22-51, in which Jesus says, “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.”  Gross, right?  Who talks like that?  Jesus did!

That’s classic zombie talk.  Eating flesh.  This week, get ready for the vampire talk.  As we continue studying John 6, Jesus says that we should do what vampires do.  For real.  Take a look at John 6:52-71 and see for yourself.  It’s rather graphic.  Jesus is rather graphic.  But why?

Answering the “why” question is what we’ll attempt on the blog next week.  Actually, it is a most important “why” question.  What Jesus teaches in this last section of John chapter 6 is of utmost importance for us, his followers. Read the passage ahead of time, and then we’ll discuss it further. 

Photo by Nathan Wright on Unsplash

How to know if you have the right motivations for following Jesus – John 6:22-51, Part 5

If you are following Jesus, why are you following him? This week on the blog, starting here, we’ve been studying Jesus’ interaction with a crowd of people whom he had miraculously fed a free meal (aka “The Feeding of the 5,000”). We examined that miracle last week here. The next day, the crowd wants Jesus to do it again. But this time, when he doesn’t do what they want, things get testy. Through his interaction with crowd, I believe Jesus invites us to examine our motivations for following him. Keep reading as we learn how.

As we learned in the previous post, Jesus confronts the religious elite, and as he did so, I bet the crowd gets silent.  Now that he has everyone’s attention, he continues teaching in John 6, verses 44-51,

“‘No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: “They will all be taught by God.” Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not 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’.”

Jesus himself is the bread of the life.  His actual body he will give for the world. Just not how they expect.  Why?  Because the way he talks about it is admittedly odd.  If anyone said to me, “Here, eat my flesh and you’ll live forever,” I’d say that person is out of their mind. Certainly Jesus isn’t referring to self-cannibalism, is he? 

If I were in the crowd that day, I would feel disappointment growing up inside me.  The day before was glorious.  All that free food.  The people all had our fill. It was a miracle right before their eyes. 

I suspect many in the crowd were thinking, “Why not just keep it going, Jesus? But now this.  And whatever this is, it is getting weird.  This isn’t what I came all this way for.  Why can’t you just feed us again?  It can’t be difficult for you, can it?  You made it look so easy yesterday.  There was nothing to it.  So why are you wasting our time saying you are the Bread of life, and the bread is your flesh and anyone who eats this bread will live?  That’s gross and disgusting.  That’s wrong.”

Jesus now sounds wrong to those people who were fixated on what Jesus could do for them.  Jesus sounds wrong because he’s not performing for them.  Worse yet, he’s about to turn it up a notch, meaning that if you thought eating his flesh was disgusting, he will get even more disgusting.  But we’ll get to that next week. 

For now, I invite you to think about your motivations.  If you are interested in Jesus, why are you interested in Jesus?  Are you interested in Jesus simply because of what he can do for you?  Are you interested in Jesus because of what you can get out of him?  In John 6, the people in Galilee wanted Jesus to start a bread and fish store that they could come to every day and get free food.  They didn’t really want to hear Jesus when he started talking about anything that might require something of them.  Are you and I so different? 

Let me tell you something that is going to happen in a couple weeks.  I’m going to India in March on a mission trip to teach our denomination’s seminary there. But about a week or two before, I’m going to start to get cold feet.  I know it.  It always happens when I go on a trip like that.  Why?  Because going to India will require something of me.  New people, new places, new food, new teaching, new class, a whole lot of new.  Some of the newness will be incredibly joyful.  Some of it will be difficult.  And I won’t want to do it.  I’ll start thinking, “Why did I say Yes to this?”  It will be taking me out of my comfort zone. 

But for me, following Jesus means going to India in March.  It is a small way I can figuratively find energy in the Bread of Life.  I will need to depend on him and his vitality for abundant life as I seek to teach Indian seminary students.  (And I am looking forward to what they will teach me!)

What about you?  What will it look like for you to eat the Bread of Life, not for what you will get out of it, but to serve Jesus, to give your life to him?

Photo by Edwin Andrade on Unsplash

Overcoming the grumps – John 6:22-51, Part 4

What makes you grumpy? Many situations make me grumpy, but it is probably home repairs that hit me the worst. When something breaks in our house, or something needs updated, it really stresses me out, and I can get so grumpy. For other people, it is bad drivers. Some of you hate mornings, and you have the grumps until sometime after you get some coffee in your system. All sorts of situations can make us grumble and complain. Meetings. Relationships. What makes your face twist up in knots like the woman in the photo above?

One day some people grumbled at Jesus’ teaching.  Look at John 6, verses 41-42,

“At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ They said, ‘Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I came down from heaven.”?’”

The people who were reacting negatively are described as “The Jews,” which is likely a reference to the Jewish religious leaders, like the Pharisees.  They could not accept Jesus making any kind of divine claim such as “I am the Bread of life from heaven.” 

As we learned in chapter 5, verses 16-18, the religious leaders were watching Jesus, listening to his every word, eager for him to make a misstep so they could take him down.  Did Jesus make that mistake in chapter 6, verse 33, when he said that he is the bread who came from heaven?  The religious leaders thought maybe he did make a mistake.  In their minds, Jesus was a regular man.  They knew his parents for goodness’ sake.  How could he possibly say that he had a divine origin?  He had a human father and mother! This made them grumpy!

Look at how Jesus responds in verse 43, “’Stop grumbling among yourselves,’ Jesus answered.”

I wish I could see the look on his face when he said that.  But this much is clear.  He is not in the least deterred by the religious leaders who are getting on his case.  Instead he tells them to stop grumbling.  Ha!  Now I wish I could see the look on their faces.  Angry, embarrassed, red? All of the above?

These so-called self-righteous holy people are stopped short by a former handyman with little religious or ministerial training.   Yet there is nothing they can do, because he is right.  They were grumbling, acting childish, unbecoming of people of their stature. 

In Philippians 2:14, one of Jesus’ earliest followers, Paul, would later write: “Do everything without complaining or arguing,” which sounds like a tall order. Everything? How quick are you to grumble or complain? Given the right situation, grumbling and complaining can rush out of my mouth ultra-fast, almost as if it is an uncontrollable force within me.

But the truth is that you and I can learn to control our reactions, even in the most desperate situations. It will almost certainly take practice, and maybe even lots of practice. As followers of Jesus, though, we have the Spirit of Jesus living within us, seeking to transform our hearts, minds and actions to be in line with the life of Jesus. Paul describes this in Galatians 5, teaching that when we “walk in step with the Spirit,” the Fruit of the Spirit will flow from our lives, including gentleness, kindness, goodness, love, patience, peace and self-control. Those are just the kind of characteristics, habits, attitudes and traits that we can learn and grow to reduce the amount of grumbling and complaining in our lives.

Do you need to address grumbling and complaining in your life? I encourage you to pray about it, first of all. Confess it to God, and ask him to grow his Fruit of the Spirit in your life. Then, secondly, talk about it with people. Confess it to others, and especially confess it to the people who hear you grumble and complain the most. Tell them you are sorry and you are working to change. Thirdly, invite someone to hold you accountable. Maybe they can check in on you weekly, asking you to describe how you’re doing with decreasing grumbling and complaining.

Back to John, as Jesus confronts the religious elite about their grumbling, I bet the crowd gets silent.  Now that Jesus has everyone’s attention, he continues teaching, and we’ll hear what he has to say in the next post.

Photo by OSPAN ALI on Unsplash

Selfish Christian views about Jesus, worship and church – John 6:22-51, Part 3

Would you be surprised to learn that some people weren’t buying what Jesus was selling? I’m not talking about the religious leaders who often confronted him. I’m talking about the crowds of people who followed him. As we continue studying John 6, the people who just the day before wanted to make him king, now seem to be a bit suspicious.

Look at verses 30-31,

“So they asked him, ‘What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: “He gave them bread from heaven to eat”.’”

Do you see the irony in this?  It’s only 24 hours after the astounding feeding of the 5000, where 5 loaves and 2 fish fed everyone to their fill, and there were 12 baskets full of leftover pieces of bread.  Now they are asking him to do a sign?  He just did a massive sign the day before when he fed them all!!!  Now they are quoting the story of the manna in the wilderness?  Just the day before, Jesus basically did that very same miracle!  Now they’re asking for another one???  Shouldn’t they be satisfied with that one miracle? 

What is going on inside them?  How could they ask him to do it again?  It goes back to verse 26, which we talked about here. In verse 26 Jesus had already said to them, “People, you’re just eager to be with me for what you can get out of me.”  The people want more of Jesus, but only in the sense of what he can do for them.  They don’t want more of Jesus in the sense of giving their lives to serve him. 

Does that in any way define us?  How much of our relationship with Jesus is about what we can get from him?  It would be very easy to think, “No…I don’t view my relationship with Jesus selfishly.”  But if we take a closer look, maybe we do.  Think about your motivations.

How do you view worship gatherings?  As places and times where you should receive something?  A common understanding is that Christians come to worship to be fed the nourishment of God’s word.  We come to worship to have our hearts and minds lifted up.  We come to hear a particular kind of music.  We want a sermon that speaks to us.  Notice how all those statements are rooted in what we can get out of it.  Have we crossed the line into selfishness?

We can view church this way too.  The church should care for us.  We should be loved.  We should be invited over to people’s houses.  We should have people we can be friends with.  The church should have programs that meet our needs, and our kids’ needs.  Quality programs.  The church should doctrinal and social peoples that agree with us. Notice how all those statements are rooted in what we can get out of church.

This is so often how we American Christians think.  We can be like the people in the crowd saying, “Jesus, do it again!  Feed me again.  Show yourself to be true Jesus!  I’m not sure I can keep believing in you unless you feed me again.  I’m not sure I can believe you unless you pay my bills, help my kids, take care of my problems, make me feel better.” 

I wonder if Jesus felt even a small twinge of temptation to do another miracle.  He could easily grow the crowd bigger.  Just keep doing miracles.  Feeding them, healing them.  Jesus response, though, shows that if he was tempted to indulge them, he wasn’t giving in to that temptation.  Look at verses 32-33,

“Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world’.”

Huh?  God gave them bread from heaven, and that bread was a person who gives life to the world?  What is Jesus talking about?  Jesus fed them bread, like Moses through whom God fed their ancestors with manna, or bread, from heaven.  Both situations are about actual bread.  Now Jesus has turned the conversation in a different direction, saying that Father God has sent a person from heaven to give life to the world.  Did this confuse the people?  Did they know who he was talking about? 

They respond in verse 34, and it doesn’t seem like they understand him.  They say, “Sir, from now on, give us this bread.” 

Maybe they are being genuine here.  Maybe they know Jesus is sharing a deeply spiritual principle that they need.  Or maybe they are just hungry for lunch, and they want him to do another miracle like he’d done the day before.  Jesus clears it up.  Look at verses 35-40,

“Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day’.”

This is one of Jesus’ famous “I AM” statements.  “I am the bread of life.”  Jesus is saying that his miracle from the day before wasn’t supposed to be the beginning of a food ministry.  The miracle was a signpost that pointed to him, because the people really need him.  Just as bread is a source of energy for human bodies, we need Jesus for the life that is really life, both abundant life now and eternal life in heaven.  When we consume bread, its calories fuel us, giving our bodies the ability to keep functioning.  In the same way, Jesus is saying that he is the bread of life, not in the physical, material or nutritional way, but he is the food that gives people the ability to experience abundant life now and eternal life.   By “ingesting” Jesus people will never be hungry or thirsty again.

Remember that Jesus is speaking using symbolism here.  Figures of speech. Sadly some people in the crowd that day, didn’t recognize Jesus’ figures of speech, and they start to have a bad reaction to Jesus’ teaching.  Who are they? What was their reaction? How will Jesus handle them? We’ll find out in the next post.

Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash

Jesus’ surprising idea about work – John 6:22-51, Part 2

In our study this week, Jesus doesn’t seem too thrilled with the idea that people want more of him.  You’d think Jesus would be ecstatic that a crowd was seeking after him, right?  Isn’t that the goal?  That more people would want Jesus in their lives?  As we continue with the rest of the passage, see for yourselves.  Look at John 6, verses 25-29,

“When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, ‘Rabbi, when did you get here?’ Jesus answered, ‘Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval’.”

Consider what Jesus must have felt in this moment.  I don’t know what it is like to be a celebrity on Jesus’ level, but I’ve heard celebrities talk about their experience of celebrity.  Celebrities are visible.  They’re up front, on TV, on social media.  They get followed around, as crowds of people want photo ops, autographs, and reporters try to interview them. It can be hard for celebrities to find privacy.  Some celebrities go to elaborate lengths to have privacy for themselves and their families.  But there are still plenty of films, books, interviews, videos about them.  They can’t escape being known.

The result is that we can get to know them, or rather, we get to know about them.  As I’ve written previously, the celebrity I know the most about is, Bono, the lead singer of the band, U2, but I’ve never met him.  The closest I’ve gotten is the two times I saw U2 in concert.  If I did meet him, I’m sure I would be awkward.  I could converse with him about all sorts of things in his life, but he knows nothing of mine.  I already feel I have a rapport with him.  I’ve often thought that I bet we would really get along well.  But that’s a very one-sided, isn’t it? It’s all about me.  It’s really about what I feel, what I know, what I can get out of him. 

Think about how Jesus might be feeling, surrounded by a crowd of people who are a bit star struck.  They think he just might be the promised Messiah, and in fact, just the previous day they were talking about making him king…by force.  That was not something Jesus asked for.  It was not something he wanted. His mission was not to be a governmental or military ruler.  But that’s how bizarre celebrity worship can become.  We can place our hopes and dreams on a person, who is just another human.  We can say things like “They are so cool.  They are so amazing.  They are so good looking.  They are so talented.”  This crowd was projecting their desires on Jesus, and they wanted more and more from him, for what they could get out of him. 

Notice what he says to them.  He reveals their hearts, their intentions.  Look at verse 26, “Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill’.”  Let me try to put Jesus’ words another way.  I believe Jesus is saying, “Look deep inside, people.  You’re so eager for me because of the miracles, because they make you feel good.  But you’re thinking shortsightedly.  You’re thinking about yourself, about your stomach.  That’s not what you should be thinking about!” 

In verse 27, he sets them right.  He focuses them beyond themselves.  He turns their gaze from the inward to the outward.  He says, “You need to think eternally.”  They wanted food, but Jesus wanted to give them the food that endures to eternal life.  That’s the kind of food they should work for.  Then Jesus concluded with one of his mysterious sayings, “The food that lasts for eternal life, the Son of Man will give you that food because the Father has placed his seal of approval on him.” 

We’re going to find out that the crowd doesn’t understand this.  But before that, notice what Jesus says.  He says “The Son of Man,” which is his most common way of referring to himself, will give some kind of eternal food that doesn’t spoil, because the Father has placed his seal of approval on him.

It got me thinking about the packaging that food companies put on our food.  Seals of approval.  Best by dates. Sell by dates.  The food Jesus offers has God’s seal of approval, saying this food will last forever. But what does that mean?  Forever?  It sure sounds good.  What is God’s seal of approval?  It could be that Jesus is referring to his baptism when God said in a voice, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased.”  That statement by God was God’s seal of approval.  Jesus is good to go.  He will not spoil.  In Jesus’ day there was no refrigeration, and very rudimentary preservation, so they knew about spoiled food. To hear that food that could endure for eternal life probably seemed outrageous.  I wonder if they were a bit confused.

So they ask Jesus a clarifying question in verses 28-29,

“Then they asked him, ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’ Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent’.”

I find their question interesting.  They refer to works God requires.  They seem to have a sense that Jesus isn’t talking strictly about real food here.  Maybe the idea of food that lasts forever clued them in.  They are right.  There is work that God requires.  And Jesus spells it out.  The work is to believe that in the one God sent. 

There has long been a debate about how we are saved by grace apart from works.  Aren’t we working, doing something, when we choose to place our faith in Jesus?  Jesus even calls it a “work” to believe.  Some people think there should be quotation marks around that word “work” in verse 29.  Jesus doesn’t mean that it is work in the literal sense of the word “work.”  When we place our faith in Jesus, we are not working in the sense of keeping the law, or doing a variety of good deeds.  We are simply saying, “Jesus, I trust in your work, your birth, life, death and resurrection, which are work that I could never do.”  

Ill admit that Jesus can be confusing when he says, “believe.”  We hear “believe” and we think, “I believe in that. Check.”  We hear “believe” and we understand Jesus to mean that we should agree with an idea.  But Jesus is not simply talking about a belief in our minds.  We show what we believe by our actions and our choices. 

“But isn’t that work?”, someone might say.  Yes, in the sense that we are making choices, and we are acting with our bodies.  But we are not believing that our work is what will save us.  Only Jesus could do that work.  Instead, the work we do with our bodies, the actions, the choices, the real-life following of Jesus in the moments and days of our lives, that is work that shows what we believe.  That is a very different work than the work only Jesus could do. 

After hearing Jesus talk about believing in him, you’d think that the people would say, “Oh yeah! I believe in you Jesus.  Check.”  Especially after they just experienced his miracle of feeding the 5,000 and especially after they were so excited they wanted to make him king.  “Yes! I believe!”  But nope. That’s not what happens at all.  Maybe it is Jesus’ slant way of answering them.  Maybe it was because he disappeared the day before.  The people now seem to be a bit suspicious.

There’s tension in the air between Jesus and the people. How will Jesus respond? Check back into the next post to learn his surprising next move.

Photo by Firmbee.com on Unsplash

When it’s wrong to want more of Jesus – John 6:22-51, Part 1

If you attend church worship services, why do you go to them? Whether you wake up on a Sunday morning in time to participate, or whether you give up valuable free time on Saturday night, or any time you attend a worship service, why do you go? I suspect that there are a variety of possible answers. Here are few. Did you think any of these?

I enjoy it. I want to praise God. I want to hear from God. My parents make me. It’s tradition, how I grew up, and so it feels right. I feel lost without it. It’s a duty. I want to get on God’s good side. I want God’s blessing. If I go to church regularly, I believe I will earn God’s favor. I need to be fed from God’s word. To see my family and friends. To make sure my kids go to Sunday School. I don’t want people to think I’m an apathetic Christian. 

Some reasons sound good.  Some not so good.  I’m referring to the motivation of our hearts.  Turn to John 6, verse 22. This week on the blog we’re going to learn about a very interesting conversation Jesus has with people, revealing their motivations. 

Before we start reading the passage, let’s take a minute to review, because this passage is directly related to what we studied last week.  Last week, starting here, we studied John 6, verses 1-21, where Jesus miraculously multiplied a boy’s lunch of 5 loaves and 2 fish, feeding 5,000+ people, leaving 12 basketfuls of leftover pieces of bread.  Then Jesus went off by himself, while the disciples sailed across the Sea of Galilee toward their hometown, Capernaum.  On the way, a dangerous storm kicked up, and then they saw a figure walking across the stormy waters to them.  They were terrified until they realized it was Jesus.  When they got him in the boat, immediately the boat reached shore. Last week it was miracles galore.

What happened next?  Look at verses 22-24. 

“The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.”

The previous day the crowd was massive.  5000 men, plus women and children.  Total of 10,000?  15,000?  We don’t know.  It was a lot of people.  Did they all just camp out there overnight?  I doubt it, because in verse 22, John describes the people as “the crowd that had stayed,” which likely means some did not stay.  How many stayed?  We don’t know. Perhaps the crowd thinned out quite a bit. Yet a decent amount of people remained the next day, and they were still looking for Jesus.  They are eager for more of him, which sounds good, right?  To be eager for Jesus.  We should be eager for Jesus, shouldn’t we?

This reminds me of the hymn, “More About Jesus.”  Hymnary.org tells us that the author of the hymn, “Eliza Edmunds Hewitt was born in Philadelphia, in 1851. As an adult she became a teacher. However, she developed a spinal malady which cut short her career and made her a shut-in for many years. During her convalescence, she studied English literature. She felt a need to be useful to her church and began writing poems for the primary department. She was in a body cast when she wrote many of her poems, of which we have hundreds, including ‘More About Jesus’.”  

The hymn’s chorus says “More, more about Jesus…/More of His saving fullness see/More of His love who died for me.”  The lyrics are predominantly self-focused, though there a couple lines that say, “More of His grace to others show” and “More of His kingdom’s sure increase”.  I’m not saying that hymn is wrong, or that we shouldn’t sing it.  I’m simply suggesting that most of its lyrics sound a lot like the crowd that day.  The lyrics and the crowd seem like their motivations are good, for more of Jesus. But were their motivations as pure as it seems?

It doesn’t seem like the people looking for Jesus were singing those few lines in “More About Jesus” that encourage us to look beyond ourselves.  The crowd searching for Jesus in John 6, verses 22-24, seem rather focused on “More Jesus, more Jesus, more for me.” 

That’s what I want us to think about as we continue reading what happens through the rest of the week.  What is our attitude about Jesus?  Is it “more Jesus for me”?  While the idea of wanting more of Jesus sounds excellent, I wonder if it might be rooted in a self-focused attitude.  Do we want more of Jesus because it makes us feel good?  Because we hope to get more blessings?  Because we want eternal life for us?  What is our motivation? 

I ask these questions because what we’ll learn is that Jesus doesn’t seem too thrilled with the idea that people want more of him.  You’d think Jesus would be ecstatic that a crowd was seeking after him, right?  Isn’t that the goal?  That more people would want Jesus in their lives?  As we study the rest of the passage, see for yourselves.  In the next post we’ll learn how Jesus responds to the crowd.

Photo by Gift Habeshaw on Unsplash

Have you ever felt like a relational vending machine? – John 6:22-51, Preview

How would you like to be a human vending machine?  I’m talking about a situation in which you feel used.  It can happen to all of us, and we usually don’t like it.  Maybe in your job, you feel like people are constantly asking more and more of you.  Parents can really slip into this way of thinking, primarily because our kids actually do need us a lot.  We can also feel this way in friendships and in church families, as some people come to us with their needs.

Have you ever thought of someone as “needy”?  If you have a person like that in your life, they tend to ask a lot of your time, energy, and maybe money.  What can greatly help is when they are aware of how much they ask of you, and they at least thank you.  When a person is unaware of their neediness, however, we can become very negative about that person.  When we see them, we can walk the other way.

Have you ever seen a person in the store, before they saw you, and you thought to yourself, “Where can I hide so they don’t see me?” because you know that if they see you, the next 30 minutes of your life will be gone as they talk, talk, talk about their lives.  Interestingly, they not only seem unaware of how much they are talking, and how much time they are taking, they also do not ask how you are doing.  Or if they do ask about you, it’s usually one or two brief questions.

The result?  You can feel used.  You can feel like a human vending machine.  If you’ve ever felt like that, you’re in good company.  Jesus seems to have felt that way too.  In our continuing study of Jesus’ life as told in the Gospel of John, next week we’re going to study John 6:22-51.  In this passage, it is the day after Jesus has just done the amazing miracle of the feeding of the 5,000.  Now the people are hungry again.  What will Jesus do?  Is he a vending machine that will crank out another miraculous feeding?  What Jesus attempts to teach the people is of vital importance to us too.  Jesus teaches a principle of discipleship that each of us would do well to consider and apply to our lives.

Read the passage ahead of time, and then we’ll discuss it further on the blog next week. 

Photo by Estera on Unsplash

If you believe in miracles, then how do you respond? – John 6:1-21, Part 5

This week we’ve been studying two of Jesus’ most famous miracles, which we read about in John 6:1-21. I don’t know which miracle is more astonishing.  The feeding of the 5000 or Jesus walking on water?  They’re both amazing.  But notice the disciples.  They have seen each of these astounding miracles…in the same day. How will they respond?

In each story, the disciples face a problem.  First, how to provide food for a huge crowd.  Second, what to do when they see a figure walking on the lake in the middle of a storm.  Both times, the disciples demonstrate their limited view of potential solutions to the problems.  In each story, the disciples’ thinking is bound by their mindset, grounded in the assumption of that the physical world is the only reality.

The disciples, however, forget who they are dealing with.  In both cases, Jesus astounds them by demonstrating his unlimited view of potential solutions.  Jesus helps the disciples rise above the normal human answers such as “It can’t be done,” or “There’s no hope,” allowing fear to rule us.  Jesus wants us to trust in him to rise above the fears and limited views we have about life.

I love biographies, and one I read last year was about Dorothy Day, written by her daughter.  In the 1900s Day started the Catholic Worker, that was one part rescue mission, one part magazine, and eventually it expanded to include numerous residences and properties around the nation and world, and is still in existence to this day.  Day’s story is that of a women who placed her faith our supernatural miraculous God, depending on him to provide for the hundreds and thousands of people in her care.  There were numerous awful moments when food or heat or health care was seemingly nonexistent, and the number of people asking for help was great.  Sometimes a facility needed to be shut down because the Catholic Worker couldn’t pay for upkeep.  Sometimes they had to turn people away because the food ran out.  Or there was no more space for people to sleep.  But Day trusted in our miraculous supernatural God.  Though he doesn’t promise us fame and fortune and ease and comfort, we can give our needs and fears to him, knowing that he cares for us, loves us.

This past week someone asked me, “Does prayer matter?” How would you answer that question?  Is prayer just for fellowship, just to ease our emotions, but doesn’t really affect anything?  Is everything just determined, and prayer “changes us, not God”? 

The question “Does prayer matter?” is a question about whether God interacts with us in a supernatural miraculous way.  Are we praying together just to share concerns, or is there a very real care from and interaction with a supernatural God who loves us?

Isn’t prayer basically asking God to do miracles, to intervene supernaturally in our lives?  Yes!  God has said numerous times in his word that he wants us to bring our requests to him.  Not that he is guaranteeing the supernatural miraculous result we want every time we pray.  Instead, God is saying that he wants to be in relationship with us.  That’s what he desires the most, our hearts, a relationship with us because he loves us.  In other words, God is saying to us the future is not determined, and he wants to work with us to create that future together.  Growing closer with him.

Photo by Amaury Gutierrez on Unsplash