I am back with another installment of the Shimmering Points of Scripture. This week we take on a passage from John 6:51-59. Jesus says he is the true bread that has come down from heaven. If we want eternal life we must eat his flesh and drink his blood.
The first point that shimmered for me was the fact that as I studied the passage, I quite frankly was a little creeped out. I think that is most people's reaction to this passage too. Even within the passage, the Jews who were always trying to catch Jesus with his own words heard this and said essentially "What the...!" This passage and a few others were pointed to also by detractors of the early church and said these people are cannibals! Jesus is going for a little shock value here, but he does have the background to back up what he is saying. It was pointed out that ultimately Jesus is talking about being all consumed by himself. When we live our lives consumed with the flesh and blood of Christ we are transformed into something greater than we could possibly be on our own. The contemporary use of metaphor was also pointed out in terms of what is happening in the passage. For example today the football coach may tell their players that "I want you to eat, sleep, and drink football!" However, the players don't go home and ask for their football to be fried up and eaten our pureed and drank. Good point!
The second point that jumped out is that Jesus is the life giving bread. He is making a reference to the Lord' supper which the reader of the Gospel would already know. When he says we must eat of his flesh and drink of his blood we can refer to the bread and the wine of communion. But even greater than that is understanding why he is saying this in context. Earlier in chapter 6, Jesus has performed the miracle of the feeding of the multitudes (or the 5000 or the 4000). He multiplied the loaves and the fish but that miracle only fed people for a day. Jesus says that he is the one making all of this possible. He is the bread that has come down from heaven. If we want eternal life, we must partake of him fully. We also must understand this in the context of the Exodus event which Jesus refers to in our passage. Jesus says that the ancestors ate manna in the wilderness (bread from heaven) but they died. Jesus is sent by God too, but if we eat and drink from him than we shall live eternally. In these 2 contexts we see that Jesus is pointing to the ultimate source of life, which is located in him.
The third point that jumped out for me is that we must ask the question, Who is the giver of grace? God is the giver of all grace and God gives in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus then gives this grace for all to hear and respond to. Grace is not ours individually to give, nor is it the church's to give. The church is a custodian of that grace but not a dispenser. God's grace is not about us or what we want, but it is about sharing that grace with others. We are not the arbitrators of grace, we are the communicators. When the invitation is made to take the bread and drink from the cup, it is the invitation from God that is made explicit in Jesus. It is for us to give freely as Jesus gave it to us. How people respond is up to them. It was also pointed out that we don't just experience grace on Sunday morning. We are Gods hands, we are God's feet.
Jesus, in John's Gospel does not institute the Lord's supper, he does not explicitly say what the greatest commandment is, "To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself," but they are implied here. When our focus on these, then we can better communicate the good news of Gods grace.
Well, that is it for this week. Please feel free to share your comments or other questions, and check back again as we wind down our summer series on the Shimmering Points of Scripture.
No comments:
Post a Comment