John 6:51-69 NIV
51 I am the living
bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live
forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
52 Then the Jews began
to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to
eat?”
53 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. 54 Whoever
eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at
the last day. 55 For my
flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever
eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 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. 58 This is
the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but
whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 He
said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
60 On hearing it, many of his
disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
61 Aware that his disciples
were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this
offend you? 62 Then what
if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit
gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to
you—they are full of the Spirit and life. 64 Yet there
are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had
known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would
betray him. 65 He went on to say, “This is
why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”
66 From this time many of his
disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
67 “You do not want to leave
too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord,
to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We
have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Questions-Challenges-Decisions Through Love
The WORD became flesh. For real! Look and listen to how Jesus
speaks His message clearly and directly.
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 NIV
23 For I received from the
Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he
was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given
thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which
is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In
the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup
is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in
remembrance of me.” 26 For
whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death
until he comes.
Mark 14:22-25 NIV
22 While they were eating,
Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to
his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”
23 Then he took a cup, and
when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.
24 “This is my blood of
the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he
said to them. 25 “Truly I
tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when
I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
Matthew 26:26-29 NIV
26 While they were eating,
Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to
his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my
body.”
27 Then he took a cup, and
when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink
from it, all of you. 28 This is my
blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the
forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell
you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day
when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
Luke 22:17-19 NIV
17 After taking the cup, he
gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it
among you. 18 For I tell
you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God
comes.”
19 And he 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.”
Jesus speaks, what to our ears may be, divisive words,
grotesque, blunt, crude, repulsive, possibly pagan or just plain crazy talk. Is
this a metaphor?
Jesus preached in honesty. Like it or not, Jesus preached
both metaphor and literal, one or the other, and sometimes both; but Jesus’
teaching was to the point.
How about today? Do we hear sugar coated words to attract
listeners into our church or congregation? Do we lean away from hard truth to avoid
offending those sitting in the pews? Do we compromise the Gospel to fill the
pew? Or maybe, we are afraid that we may empty the pew when we make obvious the
sins of the people.
In the Gospel passage that this reflection began with,
Jesus brings us to Questions-Challenges-Decisions Through Love.
Here, Jesus confronts us with His divine purpose. Jesus
confronts us with His very own flesh and blood that will give way to our sin.
Why? That we may live in and through Him. We live through Jesus and through His
love for all God’s people. All people!
But to the ear of the people past and many present; Jesus
words are offensive and disgusting. All this talk of Bread of Life has evolved
into Body and Blood of Jesus.
How offensive! How disgusting!
It reminds me of an occasion when I took my blind grandson,
Jake, to church one week. Jake had not been taught about Holy Communion. Jake
sits in a wheelchair for the most part and is very immobile. When it was time
for Holy Communion, the Pastor and Deacon came into the congregation to offer
Jake the elements.
“This is the body of Christ, given for you.”
“This is the blood of Christ, shed for you.”
Jake didn’t understand. So, he called out, “I’m not a Vampire!”
Later in Jake’s life he would be taught in Catechism the
meaning; but for now, this was a disgusting occasion to him.
But I must admit, that Jesus’ understanding and love far
exceeds anything I can fathom.
In these words of Jesus, the Spirit gives life.
Physically, Jesus lays down His life that I and you, may be
forgiven of sin and live in Him.
In these words of Jesus, He leads me and you to believe in
Him. We believe, not from our own efforts, or knowledge, or willpower. No! We
believe because God gives us the faith to believe. Faith is not something we
can muster up on our own. It’s a gift from God. And through this gift of faith
from God we are led to believe.
Our source of life is Jesus’ death. Jesus dies in the flesh
and bleeds his blood, in body; out of God’s love for His creation.
But why?
As sinful, fallen humans; we have come to turn away from
God. We have come to go out in our own direction, with the idea that we can
pull up our bootstraps and save ourselves. We think, at best, we can make something
out of ourselves and our world that will make all this stuff we see around us
better. Well… we can’t…. we haven’t… and on our own power… we will never make
all things better.
We need a Savior. And that’s what God the Father sent to
this world. A Savior. God sent Himself in the flesh of Jesus, to be one of us, to
teach us how to die to ourself and live in Him. God sent a Savior to give his
Body and Blood as a sacrifice for all people that our selfish sinfulness may be
forever forgiven. Our source of life is Jesus’ death.
We believers are tied to Jesus in His life for all the
world.
God sent His Son, Jesus, to descend to this earth. And
before Jesus ascended into heaven, he willingly ascended upon the cross, to
bleed and die, for the forgiveness of our sin. Jesus became our sin on that
cross. Jesus had no sin, himself. No! He became our sin and died for us.
This is all God’s work, not mine or your work. This is all
what God has done for us. And through this work of God in Jesus, we come to
believe in what He did in Christ.
Here in the words Jesus speaks of Bread of Life, eating his
body and blood, we become One with Him in his death.
The thought would be repulsive to any Jew of the day. This is
all unclean stuff! But, as we come to learn through Jesus’ teaching, it is
union with Jesus. Jesus is in us and we are in Jesus by taking on the horror of
what happened.
But, don’t forget, there is a contrast of the physical with
the spiritual here.
Hear and read, once again, the words of Jesus in verse 57…
57 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.
Yes, Jesus used harsh, offensive, repulsive words here. Many
will choose to go back from these words of Jesus in unbelief, repulsed by the
thought and wanting to turn back to themselves for the working out of their own
salvation in their own way.
But Jesus’ words are plain here. Jesus IS God and God’s
Son. And with Him IS eternal life.
Can you take the harsh reality of this message?
Will you turn and run?
Do you believe Jesus is God’s Son?
Do you see God in Jesus?
Questions-Challenges-Decisions --- Through love.
Don’t forget…
Jesus chose the twelve disciples…
Jesus chooses you as well…
Here the words of Peter…
68 Simon Peter answered
him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We
have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Lord, may we live as children of The Light. I know you hear
us when we pray. You have chosen us to be yours and to live with you in your
Kingdom… today… tomorrow… and forever. Thanks be to God!
I leave you with this interesting Gospel Song regarding our questions…
Jesus Is The Answer
Enjoy!
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