John 6:35, 41-50 continues the story of Jesus at Passover, offering a discourse on the bread of life, while verse 51 opens the discussion of the Last Supper by John.
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. The “bread” here is the wisdom as revealed by God through Jesus. We find this emphasis in the Old Testament. Amaziah urges Amos to go to Judah to earn his bread and prophesy there (Amos 7:11-13). Those who eat and drink from Wisdom will not hunger or thirst again (Sirach 24:21). Wisdom will feed the bread of learning and give the water of wisdom (Sirach 15:13).[1] Those who serve the Lord will eat, drink, and rejoice at the Messianic banquet (Isaiah 65:11-13).[2] Only now is Jesus prepared to give the manna so hotly desired by the crowd. However, notice what "manna" they get: Their nourishment takes the form of the first of Jesus' "I am" statements that run through John's gospel. The crowds have their hands out but do not have open hearts. The bread from heaven is the flesh and blood of Jesus. The work of Jesus fulfills the Old Testament. The crowd surrounding Jesus knows what it wants, knows it is in dire need, but persistently identifies wrong solutions to solve the desperate e human condition. Jesus’ own identity is different from that of Moses, Elijah or any of the other prophets of Israel. He is the one who can uniquely speak of God as “my Father.” Regarding the purpose of what God is doing, the bread that God provides is not simply to sustain the physical lives of some people for some particular period (as with Israel in the wilderness). Its purpose is to give life to the world (verse 33) and bring eternal life (verse 27). Whoever comes to me, meaning this bread is relational, will never be hungry; whoever believes in me, emphasizing the relational quality of the bread, will never be thirsty. Since this bread is relational, it will offer its benefits forever to those who relate themselves to it. Jesus can do his because he is the resurrection and life (11:25 and that those who receive Jesus will never hunger or thirst (also 4:13-14). The gift of this bread is for here and now. Jesus' presence inserts the eternal into the earthly, the divine into the very midst of our human, day-to-day lives, as the bread of life. By turning to this bread by faith, one participates in the enduring gift today. John contrasts the historical food and drink of the wilderness with that which Jesus offers in the gift of himself. In Jesus the presence of God is available daily. Jesus is not only our ete4rnal bread but also our daily bread.
John 6:41-42 work with the image of the murmuring theme in Exodus. As is common in Johannine scenes, this crowd's mutterings against Jesus stem from their inability to perceive Jesus and his words along any but strictly literal lines. John re-emphasizes the similarities and contrasts between the old manna in the wilderness experience and this new notion of a bread of life that the text directly ties to Jesus. 41 Then the Jews, that is, the ones who disrupt Jesus and become his enemy because they take the statements of Jesus literally rather than receive them by faith as of divine origin,[3] began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” John takes advantage of the Jewish identity of the "complaining" crowd and recalls their own unique history. Those listening to Jesus begin to "murmur" against Jesus and his gifts of heavenly bread even as the ancient Israelites began to "murmur" or "complain" against Moses - first out of hunger (Exodus 16:2,7,12), then against the monotony of the manna diet (Numbers 11:4-6). 42 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’?” "The Jews" base their complaint against Jesus' claim to be bread that "came down from heaven" on the fact that they have known him from his childhood; they know his family home, his parents, and his earthly roots. John, who provides his readers with no infancy narrative or virgin birth scenarios, is unconcerned with Jesus' earthly, physical history. In keeping with John's insistence that Jesus and his message are about spiritual truths and spiritual realities, Jesus does not even address this issue with this belligerent crowd. He only chides them - as Moses had earlier to his band of grumpy Israelites. 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. In verses 44-50, in terms of structure, some see elements of Jewish preaching style in quoting a text and commenting on each word while using the whole context. Some see Jewish Passover readings coming into play.[4] 44 No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me. The faithful reader, John trusts, will easily perceive the crowd's wrong-headed conclusions. Indeed, since Jesus' divine origins are only admissible on the grounds of faith, there is no reason to set them up for debate. The implication is not that the Father excludes some people in advance. The assertion relies on faith. Jesus stipulates that even those who have faith in him do so because they have received that ability to have faith as a gift from God. This is a tension drawn out by John's text repeatedly. Humans have a responsibility to seek faithfulness. However, even that seeking process is possible only by an initial gift of faithfulness from God. One does not reject unbelief and grasp for faith without the aid of divine assistance. Further, I will raise that person up on the last day (cf. vv. 39, 40, 44, 54). This persistent theme serves to remind the reader and listener that it is only Jesus, the true bread of life, who can impart the gift of eternal life to the faithful. It is an eschatological message aimed at eliciting endurance in the present age. John is the only New Testament author to write of the last day as one in which Jesus will awaken the dead. The return of Jesus in the Easter event is not yet as such his return in the Holly Spirit and is not yet the return at the end of days. In all of this, we have to do with the one new coming of the one who came before him. [5] 45 We find written in the prophets, which we find only in approximate form in Isaiah 54:13, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ This sounds like it contradicts the previous eschatological message, emphasizing the universal thrust of this teaching. It insists that all who have heard the voice of God will come naturally to Jesus. Judaism insisted that one needed to learn Torah for God to teach the person. They looked forward to a perfect, inwardly active divine instruction as one of the blessings of the eschatological time. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. The arch stretches from the first attraction of grace to the final fulfillment of the salvation granted to the believer. This suggests an inward voice of God. Yet, what form does it take? It would not seem to mean a mystical experience. If we take learning in its normal sense, then a symbolic sense is not likely. Corresponding to the inner attraction exercised by God there must be an external teaching, that is, the teaching of his messenger. In fact, this simply reveals the combined action of the inward attraction of the Father and the external hearing of his Son in whom he reveals himself. The faith laid on a person is a duty in the word of Jesus and at the same time made possible by the word of Jesus is a complex process. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. John is engaging in his circular argument about the gift of faith and the ability to maintain integrity of faithfulness. The assertion implies an added dimension to this theme of bread and life. Whereas previously the focus has been on a future eternal life (cf. v. 27 - the Son of Man, an eschatological figure, "will give you"), this statement places the gift of eternal life in the realm of the here and now - whoever believes "has eternal life." Jesus' presence inserts the eternal into the earthly, the divine into the very midst of our human, day-to-day lives. 48 I am the bread of life. The crowd only needs to believe this to participate in the enduring gift. Proclaiming himself as the true bread of heaven once again enables Jesus to contrast his living bread with the historical gift of manna. If Jesus is the bread, he is the wisdom revealed by God to whom we need to relate throughout the course of our lives if we are to receive its continual nourishment of our lives. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.
In the novel Wuthering Heights, by Charlotte Bronte, Cathy says to Heathcliff, because of you, and your love and presence in my life, I feel “more myself than I am.” At its best, human love and relationships will have this effect. Such relationships can make us better than we would have been without them. Yet, too often, we must admit, relationships in which we have invested our time and energy bring us down. Our time seems to hunger for an experience that makes us feel life deeply. No wonder we move from one high experience to the next.[6] It may be a religious experience, such as crystals, pyramids, channeling, and angels. A political ideology or movement may make us feel as if we are part of something grand. We tend to get our emotional and spiritual food from sources that do not make us whole. As a result, we are starving as human beings. I offer an analogy. Some books we should simply taste. Some books we should swallow. Some books are worth chewing and digesting.[7] America has become a spiritual and religious buffet. We can learn much from various traditions. Yet, dangers lurk there as well.
We can learn other ways John invites us to consider Jesus as the focus of our lives through the other “I am” statements in his gospel.
• “I am the light of the world” (8:12; 9:5) — Jesus is good 4U because his presence in your life sheds light on the very real dilemmas we face in these troubled times.
• “I am the gate” (10:7, 9) — Jesus is good 4U because he protects us and he offers us “abundant” life (v. 10).
• “I am the good shepherd” (10:11, 14) — Jesus is good 4U because he knows you intimately (v. 14) and lays down his life for you (vv. 15, 17, 18).
• “I am the resurrection and the life” (11:25) — Jesus is good 4U because he is the promise of God that life and hope have victory, even when death and suffering seem so powerful.
• “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (14:6) — Jesus is good 4U because he shows the “way” to God.
• “I am the true vine” (15:1, 5) — Jesus is good 4U because he supplies you with the necessary nutrients for a life that will bear the fruit of love and grace.
Such statements make no sense apart from the traditional doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation.
Harper Lee wrote an award-winning novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird." The main character is a little girl, Jean Louise Finch, who goes by the name of Scout. Her father is a man of integrity and principle by the name of Atticus Finch. One day, Scout came home from school and told her father about some problems she was having with the teacher and several other students. In an effort to help her get along better with others, Atticus gave her the advice of learning a simple trick that will help her get along a lot better with many types of people. The trick was to understand a person by considering things from the point of view of that person. He even used the image of climbing into the skin of the other and walk around in it.[8]
God, infinitely and qualitatively different from any individual human being, took up human flesh, felt pain as we do, suffered as we do, and died, as we do. God, if you please, climbed into our skin and walked around in it. Can you really believe that? Our answer is so important. You see, so many people take offense. The Jewish faith and the Muslim religion looks at Christians and thinks Jesus is our idol and that we worship at least two gods, and maybe three. The secular person considers the notion of a Jewish man from Nazareth 2000 years ago being God as offensive and incomprehensible. However, if what John says is true, then it becomes the most significant truth you will encounter in your life. You will need to order your life around what Christ wants.
Modern life presents us with so many options that the temptation is to leave our options open. We may never make the foundational commitments that will give us a full and meaningful life. Of course, you may find some fulfillment in other paths. However, John seems convinced that shaping the best life we can is a matter of ultimate commitments. He invites us to consider the soul. People do not talk about the soul very much anymore. We would rather construct a resume than craft a soul. Yet, a resume is cold comfort when you are going through the inevitable trials and struggles of a human life.[9] Too many of us are content to lead little lives. Such an approach to our lives is a crime against God as well as a crime against our best self. So much more is within us. We can lead bigger lives. We have received so much life and yet, too many of us have used so little of it. We have feelings, dreams, and hopes we have never used. If we are not careful, we will disappear in all this unused life.[10]
I offer a prayer. Lord, I come before you this day as one who is empty. I have tried to satisfy my hunger in the wrong places. I have attempted to act as if I were self-sufficient, in need of no source of nurturing outside myself. I have been like a person with a cold who, when passing the bakery, cannot smell the fragrance of baking bread. Bread of heaven, feed me until I want no more. Fill me with your Spirit. Feed me in your love. Nourish me with the food that forever satisfies. Amen.
John 6:51 begins a discussion that concludes with verse 59, continuing with Jesus at the Passover delivering the discourse on the bread of life. This part of the discourse uses the σάρξ imagery, thereby raising the question of whether this discourse becomes sacramental, and a version of the Lord ’s Supper in John. The Eucharistic language of verses 51-59 seems clear. We best understand these verses if we locate them in the Last Supper tradition. Implicit Eucharist themes in the previous segment become explicit here. The verses resist over spiritualizing the Eucharist.
Verse 51 marks the beginning of a distinct Second Discourse on the bread of life. It begins simply enough by repeating the message delivered in verses 35-50. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Jesus makes explicit the difference between that manna and the “bread” he now offers. The presence of God, as found in the presence of the life of Jesus, makes this bread accessible daily. Jesus is not only the eternal bread; he is to be our daily bread. The bread of life Jesus offers promises deliverance from death. The theology of John makes it clear that he is speaking of a spiritual deliverance here. John 11:25-26 obviously denies any conclusion that believers will somehow avoid genuine physical death if they are participants in the bread of life. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh (σάρξ).” John invites us to devour Jesus. Of course, it is a grotesque image if we cannot get by the merely literal level, we need to think poetically rather than literally, scientifically, and mathematically which some imperial authorities in the early life of the church could not. In fact, one of the strangest topics I came across was the charge by Roman Empire authorities that early Christians were cannibals. When I first read about it, my reaction was, “Where did they get that.” In fact, one of the finest defenders of the faith in the early church, Justin Martyr, wrote eloquently to assure the imperial court that this was far from the case.
[1] Amos 7:11-13
11 For thus Amos has said, 'Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.'" 12 And Amaziah said to Amos, "O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, earn your bread there, and prophesy there; 13 but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom."
Sirach 24:21
21 Those who eat of me will hunger for more, and those who drink of me will thirst for more.
Sirach 15:3
3 She will feed him with the bread of learning, and give him the water of wisdom to drink.
[2] Isaiah 65:11-13
11 But you who forsake the LORD, who forget my holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny; 12 I will destine you to the sword, and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter; because, when I called, you did not answer, when I spoke, you did not listen, but you did what was evil in my sight, and chose what I did not delight in. 13 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: My servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame;
[3] "The Jews" John struggles with throughout his gospel are a specific group of disruptive believers that had their existence within the myriad of forms taken on by first century Judaism. This crowd's mutterings against Jesus apparently stems from their inability to perceive Jesus and his words along any but strictly literal lines. Since Jesus' divine origins are only admissible on the grounds of faith, there is no reason to set them up for debate. It is important to note here that John's identification of this crowd as "the Jews" is a far more specific term than it seems. These "Jews" are ethnically Jewish, but "the Jews" John struggles with throughout his gospel are a specific group of disruptive believers that had their existence within the myriad of forms taken on by first-century Judaism. To declare all of Judaism the "enemy" of Jesus based on John's peculiarly combative opponents would be a gross error.
[4] Raymond Brown in his commentary mentions Borgen and Guilding in these matters.
[5] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.3 [69.4] 294.
[6] Joseph Marechal distinguishes between a judgment of reality and a feeling of presence, in The Meaning of Meaninglessness.
[7] Francis Bacon, “On Studies.”
[8] "First of all, if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
[9] Novelist and former New York Times columnist Anna Quindlen captured this well in a commencement address at Villanova University when she observed: "People don't talk about the soul very much anymore. It's so much easier to write a résumé than to craft a spirit. But a résumé is a cold comfort on a winter night, or when you're sad, or broke, or lonely, or when you've gotten back the test results and they're not so good.
[10] Willy Russell, in his play Shirley Valentine, has Shirley say toward the end of the play: What I kept thinkin' about was how I'd lived such a little life. An' one way or another even that would be over pretty soon. I thought to meself, my life has been a crime really -- against God, because ... I'd allowed myself to live this little life when inside me there was so much. So much more that I could have lived a bigger life with ... Why, why do y' get ... all this life, when it isn't used? Why -- do y' get ... all these ... feelings an' dreams an' hopes if they can't be used. That's where Shirley Valentine disappeared. She got lost in all this unused life.
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