Tag: john 6

The Lord of Life (John 6:56-69)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Bread of Life, by Kennedy Paizs

“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 the ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” Jesus said these things while he was teaching in a 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 beginning who were the ones who did not believe and who was the one who 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.” (New Revised Standard Version)

This is a hard teaching – which is why a fair number of Christ’s disciples unfollowed him, literally, and not just socially and virtually.

Perhaps they believed they were following a great moral teacher, only to find Jesus prattling-on about being bread from heaven and divinely related to God.

The late great C.S. Lewis commented on Jesus, saying this:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

It seems Jesus cares little about whether we think of him as a moral teacher or some monstrosity. But he does care about moving people to a spirit-filled confession, a settled claim of faith, and a bold proclamation of his person and work.

Indeed, Jesus Christ, Son of Humanity, Son of God, leads us to hear his own confession, claim, and proclamation: “I Am.”

The crowd of people listening to Jesus were having a hard time wrapping their heads around his message. There were simply no existing categories of thought to which they could put Jesus neatly into. Everyone was rather puzzled with Christ’s words.

Jesus was in the Capernaum synagogue, a village on the Sea of Galilee, 30 miles from where he grew up in Nazareth. Any talk of eating and drinking and religion within any faith community is likely to be a charged discussion. Typically the politics of faith is not for the faint of heart.

We are to abide in Christ, to be in vital union with him. To have Jesus close, to have his words and ways within us, is akin to eating a satisfying meal that goes throughout our entire body and effects our being. Connecting and remaining with Jesus is true living and abundant life.

But the synagogue crowd wasn’t having any of this crazy talk of eating flesh and drinking blood. The lines between meat and metaphor were severely blurred for them. They did not accept the wedding of the spiritual and the material, of word and flesh, of God and Jesus together as Father and Son.

Jesus was causing the men to fold their arms in disgust, and the ladies to squirm in their pews with agitation. They looked upon this Jesus in front of them as causing a religious scandal of the first degree.

Rather than back off the scandalous words, Jesus stuck with them. Furthermore, he intensified what he was saying. At the heart of it was a claim to be the ladder between heaven and earth, the one who is manna from above, given for the life of the people.

His flesh is bread, and his blood is drink. He is life itself. He is even spirit, the one who breathes new life into people. At this point, Jesus was being as scandalous as it gets for his audience in the synagogue.

All of Christ’s talk is meant to bring people to consider him, to contemplate God, and to come to a point of response. Because nobody encountered Jesus without deciding if he is a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord who is life itself.

Many of Christ’s own disciples bailed on him. The scandal was too much. They didn’t sign up for this. To stay with Jesus means to really stay, to abide, to believe and know who he is.

Throughout the New Testament Gospels, Jesus honors people with questions and choices – and does not simply bypass human dignity and worth. He asked his closest twelve disciples if they also wanted to retreat from the scandalous message and messenger they’d been following.

Peter, of course, still had to learn this lesson of respect; he answered for the entire group. Jesus is where, and in whom, he found life, along with the rest of them. They didn’t know how all of the scandalous talk was going to shake-out specifically, although I think each of them had a pretty good idea.

But it didn’t matter. The twelve disciples were stuck on Jesus. Or, to be more accurate, the eleven disciples. Perhaps it was at this point that Judas Iscariot no longer had to wonder what was going to happen, and what exactly Jesus was up to.

Abiding in a movement that did not include a Roman takeover and a glorious wealthy kingdom was something Judas was unwilling to invest in. Maybe it was here that he began considering his exit plan.

Recognizing Jesus as Son of Humanity, Son of God, and the Word made flesh for us, requires both belief and knowledge – because you must have the one to have the other. C.S. Lewis discovered this. So did I. And may you, as well, my friend. For Jesus is the Lord of life.

Gracious God, although we once were strangers, you receive us as friends and draw us home to you. Set your living bread before us so that, feasting around your table, we may be strengthened to continue the work to which your Son commissioned us. Amen.

Living Bread from Heaven (John 6:51-58)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Art by Nigel Wynter (1957-2024)

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 

So 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. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day, for my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 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 the ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” (New Revised Standard Version)

To the religious leaders of Christ’s day, Jesus was making more noise than a couple of skeletons dancing on a tin roof. And they neither liked it, nor appreciated him drawing so much attention to himself.

Tensions had been escalating between Jesus and the religious establishment. The atmosphere was thick with grumbling leaders, as they tried to make some sense of Christ’s words to them.

Jesus offering his body for people to eat was causing far too much noise for the Jewish leaders. What in the world is this guy talking about?

Rather than making the meaning clear for them, Jesus added drinking his blood to the discussion. What’s more, Christ got up in their grill and confronted them with a choice, instead of a straightforward explanation.

Using some good old double negative language, Jesus flatly stated that there’s no life without any eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood. Then conversely, stated positively, Jesus affirmed that eternal life is found in those who eat his flesh and drink his blood.

This was next level communication of Jesus to the religious leaders. Earlier, Christ let them know that they needed to make the choice of coming to himself, of engaging in a life-giving relationship with him.

Yet now, it’s a matter of outright participation in Jesus, of eating and drinking the body and blood of Christ. Both the choice of relationship and of participation are radical decisions, which requires ditching some old traditions, and beginning some new ones.

Christ’s words are difficult, because they demand a change in thinking and behavior. Indeed, his words demand a change in our very way of being.

Christian discipleship requires that we stop the false ways of being in this world, and start a different way of being, according to the true self. In other words, Jesus was insisting on repentance and faith.

We are all on the hook to not just talk some theology and take some communion elements. It’s a lot more involved than that. Jesus demands our very lives, and not simply to sign off on some doctrinal statement about him. It’s about life itself, the power of life and death.

By eating and drinking Christ, there is meaningful relational connection, and ongoing participation in his life and ministry.

None of this is about literal cannibalism, and not even about actual bread and wine. This is deep metaphorical stuff which is meant to convey to us who Jesus is and how we can be related to him.

When we ingest food and drink, it goes into us and throughout our entire body. You cannot get much closer to something than by eating it and having it inside you. Just as eating bread goes to our very core and helps sustain life, so ingestingJesus is about allowing him to be as close to us as possible, into the very depths of our soul.

And by taking Christ into us, we will truly live and connect; and not be separated and die.

Art by Soiche Watanabe

We can no more spiritually live without taking Jesus into us, as we could live without eating on a regular basis. Christ is our breakfast, lunch, and dinner; our midnight snack and our birthday cake. Jesus is all that, and more.

Perhaps you are wondering why Jesus didn’t just state plainly who he is, why he came, and what will happen. Because it’s too much to handle.

We don’t simply accept Jesus into our heart, and then go on our merry way. Jesus Christ is someone to search for and discover, as if we were looking for fresh water or for the best baguette in the world.

Anyone can affirm a few belief statements, or do some good deeds. But it takes real courage to go hard after the spiritual life and find out what it’s all about:

It requires some solid bravery to explore the depths of your own true self and face the internal crud that’s been hiding in the shadows of your soul.

It demands identifying the bogus ways we prop up a false self for others to see – wanting to control how people view us and treat us.

It takes some real chutzpah to pursue the God life without worrying about where it will take you or who it will upset.

Jesus is a force to contend with. He is the Son of God, sent from above, to provide the world with real spiritual food and drink. Christ is the one who sustains life, and makes abundance possible. He is the Lord who speaks, calls out, and draws us to himself.

Jesus Christ helps us fit, even though we come from the island of misfit toys.

Even more pertinent than the question of “Who is Jesus?” is the probing question, “And what will you do with him?”

Christ cannot fit into your neat theological system, your tidy doctrinal statements, and on your nicely cleaned coffee table within the attractive Bible. Sooner or later, we all must contend with the divine force which gives life to everything. We cannot get away from him.

So, go after Jesus. Find out who he is. Determine how to deal with a mercy so powerful that it melts away guilt and shame as if it were in a 500 degree oven. After all, it’s better to have a tasty loaf of bread than to become a hard slice of burnt toast.

But let’s not worry about how hot it is in here, but how noisy it’s getting.

Gracious Lord, move us, your people, to experience your love more deeply. Fill us with the energy that comes from a desire for service. Connect us with creation to care for your world. Engage us in the scriptures and increase our knowledge of you. Raise up your power and come among us. May your bountiful grace and mercy equip us. Amen.

I Am the Bread of Life (John 6:35, 41-51)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Ethiopian Orthodox depiction of Jesus sharing with the disciples

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty…

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

Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (New Revised Standard Version)

The lesson for today begins with the first of seven “I am” statements in John’s Gospel from Jesus:

  1. “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35)
  2. “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
  3. “I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture.” (John 10:9)
  4.  “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11)
  5. “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” (John 11:25-26)
  6. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
  7. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. I am the vine.” (John 15:1-2)

Also, for the first time in the Gospel of John, the Jews are named and identified as the ones who cause conflict for Jesus. John, of course, did not mean every single Jew; he was referring chiefly to the Jewish religious establishment, the leaders. And even then, he, of course, was not making reference to every single rabbi or person in the ruling council.

It’s important to say that, because Jews throughout the centuries have had far too much persecution from Christians who think all Jews have it in for Jesus. So, please, exercise some plain common sense and basic human kindness when it comes to reading the New Testament Gospels; they are most definitely not anti-Semitic.

The religious leaders were taking issue with the claims of Jesus, his “I am” statement. They argued that Jesus was a plain ordinary Jew from a typical Jewish family. There’s no need, the authorities contended, for Jesus to think of himself any other way than a common Jew.

Instead of entertaining the complaint against him, Jesus pointed to God the Father. God initiated the action by sending Jesus; and takes action by drawing people to Jesus. And Christ does his part by raising those people up at the last day; and teaching them about God’s actions of deliverance.

When it comes to the earthly ministry of Jesus, seeing is believing, and hearing is learning. Trust what you see with Jesus; and believe it. Have faith in what you hear from Jesus; and learn from it.

I Am the Bread of Life, by Joseph Matar

I like Jesus. I like metaphors. Jesus is a metaphor guy. I like that. Jesus said that he is the bread of life. Those who come to Jesus are satisfied. Those who eat him, live forever. This isn’t cannibalism, it’s a metaphor. The bread that Jesus gives for the life of the world is his flesh.

Metaphors help us relate to the concept, and grasp the message. If you’re hungry, just looking at a loaf of bread isn’t going to help you be satisfied. Obviously, you have to eat the bread and do more than see it, smell it, and touch it.

What’s more, people do more than eat once. We eat repeatedly, every day, at least a few times a day, in order to be healthy and alive.

Come and see Jesus. But do more than that. Ingest him. Take Jesus into your life. Let the bread of life come into you and thoroughly satisfy you. And do it every day. Do it several times a day. Make sure your soul is continually full of Jesus.

Then, you will have life to the full, an abundant life, filled with good things and right relationships.

Jesus is the bread of life. He is the great “I am.” And so much more.

Yet, perhaps at first glance, Jesus is just one person amongst a panoply of historical characters and religious figures. However, if we will but taste Jesus, we will come to see something very different about him. He’s more than a human being, more than a compelling teacher, and more than a miracle worker.

Jesus may appear, to many, as nothing more than a common person. But there’s really nothing ordinary about him, at all. Taking the time to have a good look at the Gospel of John, and watching Jesus move from village to village, and person to person will help us see a rather uncommon person who was no ordinary human being.

He moved to the beat of a different drum, and danced an alternative jig. And if we observe more closely, we can see the other two dance partners with him.

And with our two ears, when he says, “I am,” we can respond with an emphatic, “He is.”

Merciful Father, you heard the prayers of your people in the wilderness and fed them bread from heaven despite their sin. Graciously hear us today and feed us, too, with the Bread of Life from heaven, our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

For the Life of the World (John 6:1-21)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes, by James Tissot, 1886

After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. 

Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. 

Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” 

Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place, so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. 

When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”

When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going. (New Revised Standard Version)

Christ Walking on the Waters, by Julius Sergius Von Klever, c.1880

The Deliverers Moses and Jesus

The Apostle John intended us to see the link between Moses and Jesus. God used Moses to bring deliverance of the people from slavery through a miracle at the Red Sea. The Lord also used him for a divine provision of manna in the wilderness.

And the Lord Jesus brought about a deliverance of the disciples from anxiety through a miracle on the Sea of Galilee. Christ also brought a divine provision of food in the middle of nowhere for thousands of people.

The miraculous displays by Jesus happened at the time of Passover, the very time that Jews celebrate the deliverance from Egypt. Just as divine power was exerted at the time of Moses in the original Passover, so also divine power likewise showed itself with Jesus in the supply of food and control of the sea.

What’s more, today Christians everywhere around the world remember God’s saving events with the elements of bread and cup, recalling divine deliverance and provision, and finding relief from their fears and anxieties.

A Miraculous Provision and Distribution of Food

It’s no coincidence that Jesus is pictured as sitting on a mountain – reminiscent of Moses on a mountain receiving the divine law and wisdom. The gathering of people around Christ was so great (thousands of them) and the need for food equally as great, that Jesus questioned his disciples concerning resources for such a large crowd.

Christ, of course, could have circumvented his disciples and simply provided the needed foodstuffs without them. Yet, he didn’t, on purpose. Always the rabbi and teacher, Jesus intended to give the disciples a lesson they wouldn’t forget.

After ascertaining that the only food available was a boy’s five barley loaves and two dried fish, Jesus knew that this was plenty, in order to feed up to 5,000 people. It was enough, because Jesus is enough. Only a small amount is needed to fill the bellies of thousands.

Sacramental Living, by Charissa Jaeger-Sanders

And, what is more, for those with the faith to see it, a little communion wafer and a small swallow from a cup is more than enough to satisfy and satiate the hungriest of faithful and penitent people.

Not only did the people eat as much as they needed and wanted, but there was also so much remaining food that the twelve disciples collected twelve baskets of bread. They could keep on ministering, providing, and distributing for people because little is much when God is in it. Long after Christ’s death and resurrection, his followers continued to give with the divine largess from Jesus.

Walking on Water

It had been a full day of teaching and miraculous ministry, in the full light for all to see. Christ’s power, however, is also operative at night. The darkness is not able to subdue continued miracles from Jesus.

For the Apostle John’s writings, darkness is almost always a theological statement, denoting that there are dark forces operative on this earth. And those powers definitely did not like Christ’s effective day of ministry.

The actual physical storm symbolized the chaotic and angry response of the sinister elements in the world. But despite the terrible conditions, Jesus calmly walked on the sea as the new Moses who takes charge of the water.

The disciples abject fear turned on a dime into exuberant joy, as they realized it was indeed Jesus who entered the boat. In addition, they experienced an immediate place of safe harbor.

Christ was standing in the divine tradition of bringing people from stormy circumstances and evil situations to the safe haven of God’s presence.

Jesus saves people from their fears and anxieties, their travails and ills, and their guilt and shame. Christ also provides everything we need, both material and immaterial. And he does it for the life of the world, for everyone who comes by faith.

Gracious Lord, you are the Sustainer of the hungry. Like a mother, you long to feed your children until each is satisfied. Turn our eyes to you alone, so that, aware of our own deepest longings, we will reach out with Christ to feed others with the miracle of your love. Amen.