Bible Verse: John 6:35-52
Full Sermon Transcript
WELCOME
Well, everybody, good morning. Good to be with you guys. I was walking in late because I was mingling out there and I just walked in and I heard the sound of the band and you’re singing and I loved it. Actually, it just made me so deeply appreciate. There’s a guy up there named John and another volunteer named Gary that they serve every Sunday mixing and turning dials to make the band sound amazing and to make it so you can hear me. And so very rarely do we thank people who serve behind the scenes, but can we thank Jonathan and Gary just for what they do?
Yeah. And he’s now embarrassed. There’s a reason he sits back there. He doesn’t want to be seen. But thank you, brother. Yeah, good morning guys. Great to be with you. Thank you so much for being here. And if you’re watching online, thank you guys for watching online. Today we are wrapping up this series questions Jesus wants to ask you where we’ve been going through and saying, okay, Rabbi Jesus, teach us. And he asks questions and we dare to take them off the page and ask them of ourselves as his students. And this has been powerful. I mean, I’ve enjoyed just the questions that we’ve gone through. I kind of want to do a 2.0 next year because there’s so many questions of Jesus we didn’t get to, but along the way, he’s asked us questions about our grief or about our doubts, about our fear, about our anger.
And you’re just like, “What is it you want me to do for you? ” And today we kind of wrap it up with this question that really kind of puts all of the questions in perspective. It’s a question about just a relationship. So more than what can he do for me, like a question about who he is. And it’s not so much going to Jesus looking for a handout all the time, but like looking not just to his hand, but to his face and wanting to connect with him.
CANDY
And today’s question gets to that. It’s kind of like my daughter. Every day when she gets out of school, she walks across the street from Mingus Brooke over here and then comes down this hallway to my office. But on the way is the office of Oralia Garcia, our operations director. And Oralia has on her desk a dish of candy.
And every day my daughter comes walking by this dish of candy and asks Ms. Oralia for some candy and she says, “Yes, of course.” And she takes the candy and then goes on to my office. And it was starting to get a little transactional, a little assumptive. The request was a little bit shorter words and just a little bit like, “Hey, Mr. Raleigh.” Are they grabbing the candy? I’m like, “Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.” She has the candy there. It’s not about the candy. It’s about the conversation, honey. So, can you please just ask Ms. Oralia about her day or maybe tell Oralia about your day? And so that’s my challenge to her. And she started doing that, asking Oralia about her day because it’s not about the candy, it’s about the conversation. And I think that’s sometimes how we can approach Jesus.
We’re always looking for what he can do for us rather than just looking for him, the connection, the relationship that when we say our mission statement that you see on the wall there is to experience Jesus. We want you to experience him, not just what he can do for you, but him. And it’s okay. It’s okay. If you come here today, I get it. You come here with a grief you want to talk to Jesus about or you want Jesus to do something for your marriage or your finances or you have a new business venture and you come here to hear a word of what Jesus has to say about thing and hoping that God can intervene in your situation. I get it. That’s okay. That’s okay. But I just don’t want to get lost in all of that relationship. And neither does Jesus, as we’ll see in this question that he asks because it’s really about your connection with him.
He cares for you far more than what he can do for you.
BREAD KING
And so, this question comes to us from this account that a first century follower named John has in his memoir, his biography of Jesus and it’s right after this famous feeding of the 5,000. And this happens up in northern Israel in this place called the Sea of Galilee and on the north side of that is some hills there and that’s where he feeds the 5,000 people and it’s this miraculous event. Even if you haven’t grown up in church, you probably have heard the phrase the feeding of the 5,000 where Jesus takes five loaves of bread and two fish and miraculously multiplies them and feeds the crowds. And it’s this incredible moment. But there’s something that happens in people as Jesus scratches this itch for them. There’s something that happens that they start looking to Jesus for what he can do for them, not for him.
15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
John 6
):nd so they start thinking, “This is the bread king. I never have to cook again.” And like if you cook for your home, you know like, “Okay, what’s for the menu tonight?” Just the pressure of that. But in this existence, it’s much more hand to mouth existence. We would equate it with abject poverty today. Just this idea that their next meal is guaranteed and he’s going to feed us forever. Let’s make him king. And actually John has this little line that he throws in there. Take a look what it says. Jesus knowing they intended to come and make him king by force withdrew again to a mountain by himself. They wanted him to be their bread king. “We will make you king. We’re going to make you do what we want you to do, Jesus. We’re going to put you in our box. This is our expectation that you are going to meet for us.
And this is how you’re going to dance for us, monkey. This is how you’re going to be the genie for us. This is the candy and the dish, right? And Jesus is like, ” No, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is not why I came to you guys. I am not going to fit your box of your personal agenda or your political agenda. I am who I am and this is the mission I’m on and I’m not going to acquiesce to your petty demands. “And so he withdraws. He withdraws. And he eventually ends up in Capernaum and the crowd finds him in Capernaum. Now, how big was the crowd that he fed? How big was it? 5,000 people. And really it’s 5,000 men if you read the text. So it’s probably more than that. Now they find him in Capernaum on the Sabbath day right here.
This is the synagogue in Capernaum, just to kind of help you visualize the scene. Actually, the synagogue, you can see how big people are there for perspective. It’s a fourth century synagogue built on top of the first century synagogue that Jesus was in. So it’s maybe expanded and updated a little bit, new and improved, but the bones are still there of just like, this is what the building looked like. So do 5,000 people fit in that room? No. Again, this is to get the perspective of like it is standing room only. It is shoulder to shoulder with people. People are leaning in the windows. People are leaning in the doors. It is like fighting to get the best seat in the house. It is a packed place. And Jesus sees this group of people, but he didn’t come to grow a crowd. He came to grow a kingdom.
And when people are coming to him because their bellies have been filled, he realizes that they’re coming to him with ulterior motives. They’re coming to him not for him but for what he can do for them.
And so he raises the bar. He is absolutely okay with raising the standard of what it means to follow him and thinning the herd. And he starts talking to them in this synagogue. He starts talking to them about how he came to give living bread and everyone’s like, Ooh, living bread. We’ve had the other bread. This is a new menu item. This is like the McRib. I am excited for this limited edition, whatever living bread is. And that says, always give us this bread. Forget that other bread. Give us this bread forever, this living bread. And Jesus is like, you want this bread? Okey. And he says,” I am the living bread.
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.
John 6
Me. It’s not about what I can do for you for you guys. It’s about who I am. I am the living bread. Me. “And the living bread that came down from heaven and whoever eats this bread, what? Yeah, whoever eats this bread will live forever. Jesus, are you saying,” Yep, this bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. “And when he says this, people lose their minds because it sounds like he’s promoting what? Cannibalism. Yeah. I mean, it is actually in the first century Rome when they were persecuting Christians, this is part of the reason why Christians were accused of cannibalism and they accused Christians of being necromancers because they would meet in cemeteries because they didn’t have a church building, so they would meet in cemeteries and they would talk about how Jesus rose from the dead and then they would talk about how they would celebrate and eat the flesh and drink the blood of their God. And Romans were like, ” Come again.
“This is unsettling because in the ancient world, pagan religions, you would bring your foods to the gods. You could see this today if some people put food outside of a statue of Buddha at a Chinese restaurant. If you’ve ever seen, you would bring your food to the gods. Here, the God gives you himself as food. Wow.
52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give his flesh to eat?”
John 6
And this was unsettling. And for Jews then they hear this. This goes against their culture. This is taboo in the religion. You don’t eat the flesh of man. This is so disturbing, unsettling and offensive. My flesh is food. And the Jews obviously then begin to argue sharply among themselves. You can kind of imagine. He says this in the synagogue and then everyone, it just turns into chaos and pandemonium and nobody can hear anyone and everyone’s arguing and they go, ” How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
How does he plan to do this? How is this man going to give us his flesh to eat? “And you know the disciples are like, ” Hey Jesus, we’ve got a good crowd here. We like this crowd. Let’s kind of tone down the rhetoric. Let’s ease. Let’s not be so offensive, Jesus. Maybe bring it down a notch.
52 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 on the last day.
John 6
“Jesus is like, ” No, no, no, no. I’m going to double down. “And he doubles down quite literally because it says, Jesus said to them very truly, right? There’s a few times he does this in this text actually in the original language it’s amen and amen. So truly, truly. The word amen, by the way, I don’t know if you knew this, it means truly. So when you pray, God, I praise you for who you are, you’re wonderful and awesome. Amen. You’re saying not all done. You’re saying it’s true.
What I just said is true. You’re awesome and almighty. And when you ask God to help you with your finances or in your marriage or whatever, and you say,” God, please come by your spirit and deliver us. Amen. “You’re saying it’s true. You can do this. I believe it. And when you confess your sins and you say,” God, I have sinned against you. This is what I’ve done. I’ve lusted. I’ve cheated. I’ve lied. I’ve stolen. Amen. “You stop dodging. You stop trying to avoid responsibility and you accept it and say,” It’s true. I did this. Amen. “And when we say God forgives you for your sins, you say,” Amen. It’s true. “I love that. Just a little factoid to think about the next time you pray. You’re saying truly. And here in the text, he says,” Truly, truly. Actually, quite literally doubling down. Truly, truly.
“So this is like a verbal way of saying, get your highlighters out, double underline red pen, star on the margin, really important what I’m about to say. You think it’s something else. You want it to be one way. It’s another. Truly, truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man, you know what? And not just as flesh, unless you 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 on the last day.
55 For my flesh his 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.”
John 6
And he continues,” For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. “And they’re like, ” So you mean symbolically, right, Jesus? “This is like a representation figuratively. You don’t actually literally give us your body and blood. You’re saying in the spiritual sense, you do some kind of transaction where you give us your body and blood. And he’s like, ” Guys, my flesh is real food. My blood is real drink. “Any questions? I don’t know what other words I can use. Truly, truly, I tell you my flesh is real food. My blood is real drink. And he continues,” Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in them just as the Father sent me and I live because of the Father. So the one who feeds on me will live forever because of me.
60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
John 6
“Man, when he says this, John notes on hearing this, “many of his disciples said,” This is a hard teaching.” This, is hard. Who can accept this? “And the synagogue that was packed to the guild starts leaving because they can’t swallow pun intended what Jesus is saying. They want him to water down pun intended what Jesus is saying, but he doesn’t.
61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them “Does this offend you?” 66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
John 6
And the synagogue starts to thin and Jesus looks at these people who want the candy and not the conversation, who want what he can do for them but not him. He looks at them and he says,” Does this offend you? “Here’s our question from Rabbi Jesus to you, his students. Does this offend you? And I think there’s a few levels to this question. There’s the first level of cannibalism. I think that’s what Jesus is addressing. This offends you? This offends you. Okay.
So it offends you. I think so often we try to put God into these little boxes all the time and this offends us because we can’t save ourselves. We can’t do anything to add to our salvation. This offends us because we have this doctrinal understanding of what God does or a political agenda or a personal agenda and Jesus just refuses to fit in it and it offends us. I think there’s this faith aspect. This offends our faith about what we think God can do. So I don’t usually get to talk about communion directly. And if you’ll allow me a slight detour, it’s not really a detour, it’s just expounding on this idea of communion and why we think this is so important. And I want to deepen your faith. Maybe you didn’t come to church today for some deep theological thing, but Jesus kind of took us there.
ABOUT COMMUNION
And I want to deepen your faith because I think it’s good to have depth. I think it adds to our celebration and our gathering. And so if you’ll allow me just a moment to kind of talk about why we believe what we believe about communion and how we understand passages like this, because I think there’s just so much here that God has for us and I don’t want us to miss it. So when we get to difficult texts like this, things where we’re just like, say, huh?
There’s really two things that we do that I do. It’s kind of a rubric or a set of principles to help me understand the passage. And I kind of want to give these to you. So two principles to handle hard teachings so you don’t start walking away from him. The first one is to remember scripture has authority. Do you guys remember this fall I had a table here and I had the word scripture on it and I sat on top of the table and I said, That’s one way to handle scripture is to put yourself above it. I get to decide what it’s saying. I get to pick and choose, oh, that is a contextual or that doesn’t really apply today and I can like put myself in authority over scripture. That’s one approach. The other approach is to put yourself under the authority of scripture.
And so then I sat under the table and I said, what it says is what it says. And I submit to the authority of scripture. That’s my posture. It says what it says and I submit to it. So that’s the first way to look at this. I can look at this and go, “This is a hard teaching. I don’t like it. ” And in some faith traditions, and I don’t mean to speak disparaging of other denominations, but they will avoid this chapter because this doesn’t fit their idea of what is happening in communion, especially if it’s like a symbolic meal and he’s not really present and this is something I do for him versus the other way around is something that he does for us. This is a hard passage. I’ll just go ahead and not read this one because it confuses. It doesn’t fit in my theology.
Jews, modern Jews do this with Isaiah 53. It’s this chapter prophesying about who Jesus is and what he’ll do. And their readings in the synagogue, they’ll do Isaiah 52 and then the next week they’ll go to Isaiah 54 and they’ll just skip Isaiah 53 because it’s too confusing. It sounds like Jesus. And I sit there and go, “Yeah.” And I don’t want that for myself. I want the whole word of God for my life. I want to take it all in and consume it all and to let it all have its way with me. And so when there’s a section, I don’t try to avoid it. I just read it and go, “God, what are you trying to do here?” Same thing when we do our baptism primers and we do baptism, I sit down with people and I just read the passages about baptism where it says, “In baptism, your sins are washed away.
In baptism, your sins are buried with Christ. In baptism, you are raised to life. In baptism, you’re clothed with Christ. In baptism, your sins are washed away. In baptism, you’re adopted in the family of God. Baptism now saves you. These are the passages.” And I love reading it with people because they go, “Oh, that’s what God is doing in baptism.” And the same thing when it comes to comedian, I don’t want to avoid this section of scripture because it’s hard for me to understand. That’s the wrong approach, which kind of gets then to the second approach. When you have a hard teaching, the other thing you can do is to remember scripture, interpret scripture. This is, to use a fancy word and not trying to impress you, but it’s called a hermeneutic principle. This is an understanding of how to read something. You don’t read a passage of the Bible in isolation.
Nothing is in a silo. You can just read the passage, but you have to understand the greater context of that, but also the whole of scripture is one message, right? And so if you’re reading something and it seems off, but then you find it somewhere else, the point is scripture interprets scripture and it helps you understand what is the message that God is trying to communicate. It all works in concert with one another. It doesn’t compete with each other.
When we bless the cup at the Lord’s Table, aren’t we sharing the blood of Christ? And when we break the bread, aren’t we sharing in the body of Christ?
1 Corinthians 10:16
And so, when it gets to this, that makes me go, “Okay, well, what are the other passages of communion?” And there’s really those two. One is the night of communion and the other one is the Apostle Paul writing to a church in Corinth about communion. And when you go to Paul’s words about communion, he doesn’t pull back. He doesn’t talk about figurative or symbolic.
Look at what Paul says. One Corinthians chapter 10, “When we bless the cup at the Lord’s table, aren’t we sharing in the blood of Christ? Aren’t we? ” And when we break the bread, aren’t we sharing … Actually, the word is participation. Aren’t we participating in the body of Christ when we do this together? And then he talks about in the rest of that passage, eat the bread, drink the wine, eat the bread, drink the wine, body, blood, body, blood. I mean, he doesn’t mince words. And then he gets to Jesus on the night of his betrayal. When he institutes the meal, you look at the words he says there and he says like, “Take this is my body. Drink. This is my blood.” He doesn’t say this represents my body. He doesn’t say this symbolizes my body. He says, “This piece of bread is my body. This wine is my blood.”
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 mu 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.”
Matthew 26
There’s a famous account of John Calvin who became the father of Presbyterianism and Martin Luther of Lutheranism. They’re sitting around the 1500s and they jived on 99% of the issues, but they couldn’t get together on this. John Calvin was like, “This is just a representation.” And Luther famously slams his finger down repeatedly on the word est in the Latin and in the Greek. It is, right? And he kept on pointing his finger at it saying, “This is, this is. ” And he goes, “Is means is. ” And it’s this famous account, right? So long before Bill Clinton was like, “Well, that depends on what the definition of the word is, is. ” Some of you remember that. Long before Bill Clinton did that, Martin Luther was like, “You guys, is means is. It’s what it is. ” And so when I look at these passages together, it changes the way I approach this meal.
Actually, that word take, I think this is important too. It’s not grab it. The word there in Greek, and again, I’m not trying to impress you, but I think it’s nuanced and it helps us understand these passages. The word there is lambano. It means most often receive.
Hold out your hands and receive. That’s your job. Let God do what God does. You just receive it. Your job is to not worry and wonder and be confused with how God is doing it. Your job is just to let God do it and you receive it. That’s your job. Just receive. The analogy I always give, maybe this isn’t helpful, but it seems to be helpful for people when I explain it is to talk about lights. Look at the lights right now. Look at a light. Find a light. Look at one. Okay. The light that you’re looking at, whatever light bulb you’re looking at, unless you’re an electrical engineer like my father-in-law, everybody else in the room doesn’t really understand how those wires and filaments all twist together and connect with electricity to make light. You kind of know, but you don’t really know, maybe.
And then that light bulb, you don’t really understand how that wire then runs through the walls. You know that it does, but it connects with the circuit breaker that’s right outside this door. And then that circuit breaker somehow runs to the transformer outside and then runs to the power line outside and then down to the power plant and connects to the grid and then somehow connects with Hoover Dam.
It does. You could draw a line from that light bulb all the way connecting wires to Hoover Dam in Nevada. I think it’s Nevada? Nevada. Now we’re not getting power from Hoover Dam. I get it. But the point is you could draw a line from that light bulb all the way to Hoover Dam, finding wires that are all connected and you don’t need to understand any of that to be able to receive the light, to be able to enjoy it. Your job, whether or not you understand how the light is getting there doesn’t change whether the light gets there. You just sit and receive it. Lombano.
“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is there anything too difficult for Me?”
Jeremiah 33:27
And that’s how I approach comedian. Jeremiah 32:27, great verse. Jeremiah, the prophet goes, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” No.
So why would it be too hard for the Lord to give me his body and blood and the bread and wine of communion? Oh, you can’t do that. Why? Who am I to limit him? If I can believe, think about this and we could so easily and readily go, “Yep, God made the world with just a word. He spoke and it exists.” Miracle. God parted the seas. God makes the walls of Jericho fall. God walks on the water. God makes a donkey talk. He makes an ax head float. He does miracles after miracles in the Bible, but he can’t do that. What? Who are we to say what God can and can’t do? If he says, “This bread is my body and this wine is my blood.” Okay. And I love the fact, the thought that when you come forward, you are tasting another miracle of God every time we celebrate this meal together.
And so yeah, because scripture interprets scripture and because we put ourselves under the authority of scripture, we believe, teach and confess that Jesus gives us his body and blood in the bread and wine of communion for the forgiveness of sins just as he promises in his word.
It’s death, it’s meaning. The beauty is that you taste a death that is not your own and you drink a life that is not your own and it’s credited to you in this meal. Yes, please. Now when Jesus says this, some people have a hard time with us teaching and it says they walk away. In John six, verse 66, by the way, there’s some scribe a long time ago who thought he was really creative to make six, six, six be this verse about people walking away from Jesus. And some guy putting a number, he’s like, “No, that’s going to be John 6:66.” It’s kind of a little factoid, but from this time on, 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.
John 6
And then Jesus looks at the 12th as the synagogue empties out and it’s just a few dozen people left. He asks, “You don’t want to leave too, do you?
Are you going to leave me too?” I know this is offensive, but I’m offended. It’s almost like you can hear the sarcasm in his voice when he says, “Does this offend you? Y’all offend me. I’m the one who’s laying down my life for you and you’re complaining. I’m the one giving you myself. I’ve come to dwell with you and for you to know God just as God knows you and to be in fellowship and communion with you and you’re grumbling, this offends you. I’m offended. I am suffering and dying in your place. You’re offended? I’m offended. You just want the candy. You don’t want the conversation.
You don’t want the connection. You don’t want the fellowship and the relationship, but I want to be with you. “
68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
John 6
And I love Peter’s response. I Simon Peter looks at Jesus and he says, Lord, to whom shall we go? You. You have the words of eternal life. Where else are we going to go? You set the agenda. We want you more than what you can do for us. We want to connect with you and have a relationship with you and that’s my challenge for you this morning. As you come here, I know I am looking at a room full of people who have so many things they want from God and that’s okay. He’s the God who looks at you and asks the question, “What do you want me to do for you? ” He’s the God who looks at you and says, “Why are you crying?” He’s the God that looks at you and says, “Why are you afraid?” He’s the God who looks at you and says, “Why do you doubt?” He cares about what you want, but more than what you want, he cares about you and he wants a relationship with you and to connect with you and abide with you.
And so in a few moments, you’re going to come forward with communion. I know a lot of you are living in the question. You’re waiting for certain answers about certain things. You’re struggling through some doubts or confusion or some difficult situations. I know. But while you wait for God’s answers and you come forward for what you want, remember that God is giving you what you need. He’s giving you himself. And so as you come forward, my friends, come with a heart to connect more than a hand to receive because that’s the essence of what he’s doing in this meal. He is giving you himself.
PRAYER
Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, forgive us when we look for a handout and don’t look in your eyes. When we treat you like a genie or candy in a dish and we miss the fact that more than anything, you want to connect with us and abide with us and be with us. So God, I just pray for all of our relationship with you that you would use this moment where we receive your body and blood and the bread and wine of communion for the forgiveness of our sins and you give us yourself that it would deepen our relationship with you. And it’s in your name we pray. Truly, truly amen and amen.
