Today’s passage is challenging. The passage is difficult in two ways; first, it is difficult to understand, as it requires unpacking a figure of speech, a metaphor. What does it mean, really, to “eat the flesh” and “drink the blood” of Christ? So it’s difficult to understand. And perhaps more significantly, it’s difficult to accept. Which in turn makes it more difficult to understand, because when we want to avoid accepting what the text teaches, we come up with convoluted interpretations to persuade ourselves that it must mean something different. So this text challenges not only our mind, but our faith and our strength, the strength of our commitment to believe and obey what God has told us in his word, no matter how uncomfortable it makes us.
That’s not just my assessment, by the way. It’s the reaction of those who heard these words for the first time, from Jesus himself:
“When many of his disciples heard it, they said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?’” “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.”
– John 6:60, 66
There is always a risk, when you speak difficult truths clearly and unapologetically, of both the message and the messenger being rejected. Jesus, knew that, and he did it anyway. He wanted to make sure that people understood what they were either embracing or rejecting.
But you didn’t come here this morning for “easy”, did you? No. I didn’t think so. Let’s dig in then. To set the stage, Jesus has just performed a miracle. Two actually. One was witnessed by multitudes of his followers, as he transformed five loaves and two fish into an amazing quantity of food, enough to fully satisfy five thousand people, with baskets full of leftovers. As they say in the South, they had “all day preachin’ and dinner on the grounds”. The second miracle was witnessed only by a few: later that same night Jesus walked across the Sea of Galilee to join the Twelve as they were rowing their boat to Capernaum. The following morning, the crowd, who had apparently camped out for the night, looked for Jesus and couldn’t find him. They knew that the Twelve had taken the only boat, and that Jesus hadn’t been in it when they departed. He wasn’t anywhere in the crowd. So where had he gone? They got in some other boats that had recently arrived, and went to Capernaum, “seeking Jesus”.
When they arrived, they got more than they bargained for. They asked Jesus, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” and how did you get here, I think is the unspoken second question. But Jesus doesn’t answer them directly. He doesn’t explain that he had walked across the Sea of Galilee to join the Twelve in their boat. Why not? Wouldn’t that have been impressive? Yes it would. But their response to his first miracle was already inappropriate, and he didn’t want to give them another reason to go off course. Here’s the problem, as stated by Jesus:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” – John 6:26-27
In other words, Jesus intended for the miracle of the loaves and fishes to be a sign, not just an act of compassion that met their need for physical nourishment, but a sign that pointed to him as the source of life. As he states a few verses later,
32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” -- John 6:32-33
The fact that the loaves and fishes Jesus provided never ran out, but fed five thousand people with baskets full of leftovers, was intended to demonstrate that Jesus was the divine source of spiritual nourishment that never runs out, never fails, but sustains his people eternally.
“35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. . . .40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” – John 6:35, 40
As he put it to the woman at the well, earlier in John:
13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” – John 4:13-14
What was the woman’s response? Do you remember? She didn’t understand:
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” – John 4:15
She thought Jesus was talking about physical water. And in the same way, the crowds who followed Jesus to Capernaum were focused entirely on the physical bread he had given them.
34 “They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” – John 6:34
And as a result, Jesus stated that, although they were “following” him in a sense, they viewed him only as a miracle worker, perhaps as a prophet or teacher, but not as who he truly was, the Son of God, the source of eternal life that God had sent into the world. They had seen the miracle, but they didn’t understand it. They didn’t grasp the significance of the sign. Jesus was offering them himself, the bread of life, the source of eternal life. But all they wanted were more rye loaves to feed their bellies. What a tragedy. And so Jesus’ conclusion was this:
36 “But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.” – John 6:36
So my first challenge to you this morning is this: why are you here? Why are you seeking Christ? Is it for what he can do for you in this life? Is it for more, or better, “bread”? Is it to feed your temporary hunger, your temporary thirst, to meet your temporary need? Yes, Jesus can meet your need for finances, your need for physical health, your need for a job, your need for a husband or a wife or a child, your need for escape from a threatening situation. He can. And it’s good and appropriate to pray that he will. When those requests are granted, it’s a cause for great rejoicing. Just like the crowds in this story rejoiced when the Twelve disciples started passing around the huge plates of bread and fish. They weren’t hungry any more! Their bellies stopped grumbling! But if and when Jesus meets your immediate need; if you rejoice in that blessing and it ends there for you, as it did for them, the risk is that Jesus will say to you that “you have seen me and yet do not believe”.
When Jesus answers our prayers for physical and temporal blessing, he intends that we look beyond those blessings to him as the true source of everything we need, not only here and now, but more importantly, eternally. He wants us to rejoice in those things, not just for what they are in themselves, but for what they signify – that Jesus is the source of our life; that he is the one who provides everything we need; not only in this life, but in the life to come. Is that your perspective? As you look back on all of the ways in which God blessed you in 2018, and you give thanks for, and rejoice in, those things, as you should, does it end there? Or do you pause to think about what those blessings represent, which is that in Christ, we have a source of abundant life and blessing, not only for this life, but for eternity.
Let me ask another question, which is really just the same question in a different form. What is the source of your life? And by that, I mean, what is it that energizes you, gets you up in the morning, gives you the strength to persevere? What is it that you desire, that you seek after, that long for, that you dream about, hope for, love, and strive after? What is it that you look to, to give you life? To make life worth living? Is it prestige? The dream of accomplishments that will cause others to honor and admire you? Is it wealth? The ability to purchase what your heart desires?
Perhaps it’s love that motivates you. The ideal of a perfect relationship, one that fulfills the longings of your heart. Or perhaps what keeps you going is the drive for self-expression, the urge to put your stamp on the world. It could be power, or pleasure, or safety and security, or revenge, or the desire to experience as many places, and people, and things as possible. Maybe your dream is to be an Instagram star with thousands of followers! An “influencer”. A YouTube sensation!
What is the source of your life? What is it, fundamentally, that causes you to open your eyes when the alarm goes off, to keep putting one foot in front of another, to keep thinking, and planning, and working, and hoping? Because if it’s something other than Christ, you’re off course. And you’re going to be disappointed, because none of those things will ultimately satisfy. Those things are not life; they’re just a temporary and limited version of the real life that comes from Christ. They may be fine in their proper place. But not at the center. Not as the motivating principle of our life. Christ is the center. Christ is our life. The multitudes who ate the loaves and fishes didn’t understand that. Do you? Do you? I hope so. Because when you finally grasp that and hold on to it, it changes everything.
As the apostle Paul writes:
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” – Galatians 2:20
It is “Christ who lives in me”. As Jesus said:
““I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” – John 8:12
“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” – John 10:10
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” – John 14:6
“And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” – John 17:3
And John writes later:
“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” – 1 John 5:20
Life. Abundant life. Not those pale imitations, those imposters. But real, lasting, incorruptible, eternal life. Jesus is our life, now and forever. Can you say that’s true of you? Can you say that Christ is the source of your life, today, this morning? When you get up tomorrow and go off to work, or to school, or you begin your day caring for your children, will it be your relationship with Christ that is the source of your life? If not, it can be. Just look to him in faith. Ask for his help. Ask him to change your perspective, to change your values, to draw you to himself, to show you what real life can be.
Let’s go on to another hard thing in the passage. Hard for them and hard for us today. It has to do with why the crowds rejected Jesus’ message. In spite of the miracles they had seen, in spite of the fact that it was Jesus himself who was bringing them the gospel message, the good news of eternal life through faith in him, many didn’t believe. They rejected the good news. Verse 66 tells us that they “turned back and no longer walked with him”. Why? Was Jesus not persuasive enough? Did he lack oratorical skills? Did he fail to utilize the most up-to-date evangelistic methods? Perhaps his sermons were too blunt; perhaps if he had been a bit more seeker-friendly, a bit more encouraging, things would have been different.
But that’s not the explanation Jesus gives them, and us. What does he say, as he perceives them grumbling among themselves, reacting against his claim to have been sent from God.
“Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” – John 6:42
In other words, Jesus, we know you’re not from heaven. You’re from Galilee! We know where you grew up! We know where you were born! We know your family! Who do you think you are?
In response, Jesus says,
““Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” – John 6:43-44
A few verses later, he restates the point:
“64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) 65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” -- John 6:64-65
There you have it. The answer to why some didn’t believe. No one comes to Christ, in fact no one can come, unless the Father draws him, unless it is granted him by the Father. And all who are granted faith, all whom the Father draws, do come, and are raised up by Christ to eternal life on the last day. All whom God the Father gives to Christ, every one of them, will come to faith; none of them will be lost.
37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” -- John 6:37-40
Who are those who look on the Son and believe in him, those who have eternal life, those who are raised up on the last day? Those whom the Father gives to Christ.
Now, this is a shock to the system, isn’t it? We understand that not everyone comes to Christ, not everyone accepts the gospel. We know that some will reject even the clearest, most loving presentation of the good news, which is that we can have forgiveness of sins and eternal life through faith in Christ. But we assume that everyone could do that, we assume that everyone has at least the capacity to believe, to repent, to embrace the gospel. But in fact the opposite is true. It isn’t that some of us have that capacity and others don’t. If that were the case, then Christians could point to something in themselves that made the difference, something that made them more receptive to the gospel, something that made them more open, more spiritually sensitive, more insightful, more open minded. We would have something to boast about. But the reality is that none of us, in our natural state, has that ability. Left to our own devices, we would all, every one of us, reject Christ. We would all turn away from him. It is only when God works in our heart, only when he opens our eyes, that we even have the capacity to believe.
Is this really in the Bible? It is. For example, listen to Luke, the author of Acts:
“When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.” – Acts 11:18
Repenting wasn’t something they had the innate capacity to do. It had to be granted them by God.
What does the apostle Paul say?
“For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake” -- Philippians 1:29
Faith in Christ, belief in the gospel, is something that is granted, something that is given by God. It is not something we have the natural capacity to do. Again,
“And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth” -- 2 Tim. 2:24-25
Now you may say, that’s all well and good, but obviously something is wrong in your interpretation of these verses, because I know that I have complete freedom of choice. I’m not under any constraint or compulsion, I can choose to believe or not to believe, I can choose to repent or not to repent, I can choose to follow Christ or reject him. And certainly there is some truth in that. We do have free will. We can freely choose whatever we want. But what we can’t do is choose what it is that we want. Let me say that again. We can freely choose whatever we want. But what we can’t do is choose what it is that we want. I’ll give you an illustration of what I mean. Think of a food that is utterly repugnant to you. Stinky cheese. Blood sausage. Tripe. Haggis. Sushi. Whatever it is that makes your stomach turn. Imagine how it looks, how it smells. Do you have something in mind? Good. Now, I want you to regard that food as something delicious, something desirable. I want you to imagine yourself eating it, and not only eating it, but enjoying it, loving every bite. You can’t do it, can you? Could you choose to eat it? Yes. But you couldn’t just choose to love it, to desire it, to see it as something delicious, to want it.
And so here’s the issue. The problem is that following Christ is more than just a decision to adopt a new way of life. It’s more than just a choice to reform, or to put aside certain sinful practices, or to do good deeds, or to start attending church. Coming to Christ means loving him, not just tolerating him; it means seeing the gospel as something beautiful, something desirable, something attractive, something you love. And in our natural state, absent the work of the Holy Spirit in our soul, we do not view Christ in this way. In fact, in our natural state, we view the gospel as something that is, not only false and foolish, but actually repugnant. We don’t see its beauty; on the contrary, it seems ugly and distorted.
“14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.” -- 2 Corinthians 2:14-16
To the person who does not know God, we “smell” like Christ, and Christ to them smells like a rotting corpse. “A fragrance from death to death”. Their feelings toward Christ are visceral, innate, fundamental. Such a person cannot just choose to desire Christ, or to see the gospel as something lovely, when every time they come in contact with it they smell the stench and decay of death. That only changes when God changes them.
Another analogy the Scriptures use to describe us in our natural state is that we are blind and deaf, simply unable to perceive the beauty of Christ and of the gospel.
“3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” – 2 Corinthians 4:3-4
That’s the bad news. But the next verse gives the good news, the antidote to this blindness. It is the power of God to open eyes and to change hearts.
“3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” -- 2 Corinthians 4:3-6
Throughout the gospels, when we read of Jesus opening the eyes of the blind, this is what it is trying to tell us. That he has the power, not only to heal physical blindness, but to overcome spiritual blindness as well, the blindness that we all by nature are cursed with. The bad news is that people are blind. The good news is that leading them to Christ isn’t about how persuasive we are, or how charming, or how intellectual we are. It isn’t about how well we answer their questions. It’s about the power of God to open blind eyes.
I realize that this doctrine raises a lot of questions. We can’t answer all of those questions this morning, and that’s OK. Theological maturity is a process. I’ll give the apostle Paul the last word on this doctrine:
“28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” -- Romans 8:28-30
For God, opening our eyes, enabling us to see the beauty of Christ and of the gospel, enabling us to respond in faith, is not an isolated event, but is part of a process; part of his sovereign and loving purpose for us as his children. It began in eternity past, and will continue into eternity future. He knew us, and had a plan for us, before we ever came into existence. And when he opened our eyes and called us to himself, that was a part of his plan. And that plan will succeed, utterly and completely. As Jesus says in this passage,
“39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.” -- John 6:39
I’ll close by returning to Jesus’ statement that we must “feed” on him. Here are his words:
“51 “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.” -- John 6:51-57
What is Jesus talking about? Is he referring to the Lords’ Supper, the Communion service that we had last week, when we eat bread and drink grape juice in commemoration of Jesus life, death, and resurrection? No. Those things are not the feeding on Christ that is spoken of here, they are the symbols of feeding on Christ. They are not the thing itself, they represent the act of feeding on Christ. So what is it? Simply put, to feed on Christ is to live by faith. To take him into our lives, to receive him into ourselves, such that it is his life that is being lived through us. Again, as Paul puts it,
20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” -- Galatians 2:20
By faith taking Christ into our hearts, into our minds, into our lives, such that it is his life that energizes us; his life that drives us; his life that sustains us, and guides us. That’s what it means to feed on him.
And how do we do this? Let me make it very practical. We’re almost done. Jesus is the word of God. As John’s gospel told us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Jesus is the Word of God. The Bible is also the Word of God. And the way we take Jesus into our lives is to take this Word into our lives. And we accomplish that by doing two things.
First, we hear it. We read it, we study it, we listen to it being preached. We think about it, we try to understand what it means and what it means for us. We read other books about the Bible, although those are secondary. But we take in the Word.
Second, we respond to it. We do what it says. We adjust our attitudes, our perspectives, our behavior, our thinking, and our relationships in order to bring our lives into alignment with what the Bible says. We hear and we respond. As James puts it:
22 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” -- James 1:22-25
That’s really all there is to it. It isn’t complicated. Slow and steady wins the race. If you made a resolution to get more fit this year, you wouldn’t try to accomplish that by running fifty miles once a month. You’d maybe run 20-30 minutes a few times a week, every week. Taking Christ into your life through his Word is the same. A little bit every day, or several times a week, so that over time it permeates your thinking, and your attitudes, and ultimately changes your life. As Paul wrote in Romans:
“2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” – Romans 12:2
It’s a process of transformation. Let’s each make it our resolution today to feed on Christ by feeding regularly on his Word, so that the transformation he desires for us will be accomplished, so that his life, more and more, shines through us. Amen? Amen.
