Feeding on Jesus John 6 51-58 Duncan Leake 16/08/09
1. Sometimes Jesus told such wonderful attractive stories that were full of insight about how people think about God and about what God thinks of us. He told stories that we love to hear now… and that many people loved to hear when he first told them.
Sometimes Jesus told jokes that made people laugh, sometimes he used words in a clever way to outwit his enemies who were trying to trap him, And lots of times he spoke words that brought forgiveness and hope and encouragement to people.
But sometimes the words of Jesus could be very hard to listen to. The passage that we have just heard read contains words of Jesus that can be hard to listen to.
The language is difficult…
“unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you.”
Whatever does he mean?
This language isn’t easy… for example when children come to visit the church to look at some of the things that are part of our worship, show the communion cup… and if I ask the question does anybody know what this is for, often one child might say “that’s for Jesus’ blood.”
2. I am certain that when John was writing this gospel HE could not help but remember the night of the Last Supper and the words of Jesus as gave thanks and passed round bread and wine for his disciples to share. We read it now and think “oh Jesus was talking about sharing in communion where the bread and wine are symbols, reminders of his sacrificial death on the cross.”
But the people who first heard Jesus saying they must “eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood” couldn’t possibly have understood his words in the way that we might understand them now.
The bible says …
Even his disciples said, "This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?" (vs. 60)
How can anyone accept what Jesus is saying?
3. I don’t think that Jesus went out of his way to talk in a way that people couldn’t possibly understand…
he usually went out of his way to talk in words that people would be able to understand.
But sometimes when people did begin to understand what he was saying… they felt challenged by his words.
Maybe there was some of that going on here.
4. A few minutes earlier Jesus had been talking about how the people of Israel had been fed by God with manna during the forty years they were wandering in the desert after they had been rescued from slavery in Egypt.
Everyone who was listening to him would know that story, it was part of their history… and they would all know that the manna, the food from heaven was a gift from God and that gift had kept his people alive.
And then Jesus says…
“I am the living bread that came down out of heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever…”
Jesus is making an announcement… he is saying to the crowd – now God is giving you another gift… me!
And he must have used this powerful, dramatic imagery very deliberately, knowing that it would make his hearers take notice of what he was saying.
5. The bible says that the people began arguing with each other about what he meant.
"How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" they asked. So some must have been saying “what’s he on about eating his body, ..and others must have been saying “well obviously he doesn’t mean that literally!”
But I think lots of people must have started to get the point of what he was saying.
And that’s why the disciples says… this is a hard saying.. hard to accept.
Jesus was talking to a group of people who had learned that the way to please God was to observe all
the requirements of the OT Law as interpreted to them by their religious teachers.
And he says to these people that if you want to live now and forever with God then more than anything else– you need me.
That was hard to accept then…
And for lots of different reasons it is still often hard to accept now.
6. Last year there was a survey conducted by one of the major opinion polling companies. It was carried out in February… just before the BBC screened that series on the Passion. And among the questions that were asked was this one…
Do you agree or disagree with each of these statements about who Jesus Christ was?
And these were the statements
Jesus was the Son of God
Jesus was a holy prophet
Jesus was a good man and a wise teacher
Jesus never existed.
13% agreed that Jesus never existed
66% agreed that he was a good man and a wise teacher
47% agreed that he was a holy prophet
40% agreed that he was the son of God.
So 40% of the population surveyed, in a sample of over 1000 which is a standard sample size for an opinion poll designed to give an indication of national opinions or trends - 2 people in five - said they believed that Jesus was the son of God.
You would think that if two in five of the population thought that Jesus was the Son of God then all our churches would be a lot fuller than they are at the moment… 40% of the population might think he was the Son of God!!!)
… but the most recent polls show that only around 15% are active members of Christian communities and regularly meet with other believers to honour and worship him (and in the polls I’ve been looking at regular attendance at an act of worship is defined as just once a month)
It makes me think that the question
“Who do you think Jesus is..”
is not the most important question that we can ask.
And maybe the words of Jesus in this passage…
are pointing us towards a question that is even more important.
7. Jesus said…
"I assure you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you.
That must have stunned the people who heard it. They were Jews… they followed the dietary laws.. they knew that when they ate meat it had to be drained of blood. Jews didn’t eat meat with blood in it… because the blood represented the life of the animal... and the life belonged to God.
But those who eat my flesh and drink my blood (said Jesus) have eternal life, and I will raise them at the last day. (53-4) I live by the power of the living Father who sent me; in the same way, those who partake of me will live because of me (57)
Jesus is saying that the people listening to him need his life to become part of their life.
And so maybe the question that matters most… is not “Who do you think Jesus is?”… but rather
What is your relationship with Jesus?
I mean.. the devil knows who Jesus is… but he doesn’t live in relationship, in friendship with him!
In this passage, as Jesus talks about people feeding on him, he is very deliberately saying that we have to live so close to him that he becomes part of us -
and - as we share his life - we become part of him.
He is talking about living a life of intimacy with him and dependence upon him
Paul talked didn’t he about the great mystery that is the church… this community of people he said We are the body of Christ… and as his Holy Spirit makes his home with us, we become part of him, he becomes part of us.
So this passage in John’s gospel with it’s slightly uncomfortable language about eating flesh and drinking blood... raises important an question for anyone who hears it.
Does your relationship with Jesus give you life -just as the food you eat gives you life day by day?
What matters more than anything else is do you know Jesus?
Not know about him.
Not know stories about what he said and did.
Do you know him?
Are you intimate with him?
Is he part of your life at the very deepest level of your being? So that knowing him, living in relationship with him is the source of your life, the reason you live, the power in your life.
8. And some of the folk who were with Jesus said
“This is a hard teaching to accept…”
and some of them went away.
Do you live in a relationship with Jesus?
If you are not certain what your answer would be to that question then don’t walk away from him… walk towards him.
Jesus is as important to your life as the food you eat… more important because the food you eat now can only sustain this body for a short while until it finally wears out… but when we receive the life of Jesus… as we share the life of Jesus now we will share his life with him for ever.
But of course if we don’t live with Jesus now, then we won’t live with him for ever. Jesus was very plain about that as well.
And he didn’t want that terrible fate to happen to anybody.
And so he says… please...
feed on me and I will give you life.
9. While I was away I looked at this bible passage and the only thought that kept going round in my head was this one…
It’s all about Jesus.
As a church we are here for one reason.
To make Jesus known to others.
As brothers and sisters in the family of God we have to help one another to live in relationship with Jesus.
As individuals who call ourselves “Christians”
we each have one calling…
to live our life now in intimacy with Jesus…
…knowing his presence,
receiving his life,
walking in step with his spirit,
fulfilling his purposes,
honouring his name and building his kingdom.
Jesus with us,
Jesus part of us,
Jesus at work through us.
It’s all about Jesus.
Do you know him?
I hope you do.
And let’s help one another to live in friendship with him.