An 11-year-old girl named Abby went to the refrigerator and grabbed a grape flavored juice box. She shoved the straw into the box, and took a sip. And then she paused for a minute. She took the juice box to her sister, and said, "Here, taste this, and tell me if it tastes like church."
Now, why would she think it tasted like church? Because Grape juice is what a lot of churches put in their Communion cups. And that puzzled Abby! It tasted like communion - but they weren’t in a church building at the time and there were no communion trays. There was no communion bread, and there was no communion cups. Despite the fact that she wasn’t in a church bldg. at that moment the juice box tasted like church because it tasted like… communion!
In our text today in John 6 – what we’re reading about SOUNDS like church. It sounds like communion. And so, a lot of folks will use this passage to explain the Lord’s Supper. But there’s a couple of problems with that. First Jesus hadn’t died yet!
In I Corinthians 11:23-26 Paul wrote: “I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
You see, when we take communion we proclaim Jesus’ death. But you can’t proclaim something that hasn’t happened! His body hadn’t been broken yet and His blood hadn’t been shed. And, there’s no communion trays in John 6. And there’s no communion cups. There’s NOT even a piece of bread anywhere in sight!!! So, what’s going on here?
Well, just the day before, Jesus had fed these very people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes. It’s called the “Feeding of the 5000”, where Jesus fed 5000 men, along with their wives and children. And there were 12 baskets of food left over.
These people had had a free lunch, and they wanted more. So they hunted up Jesus the next day and came back for… seconds. They didn’t really WANT Jesus. What they wanted was a free meal. But now, Jesus - as He often did - turned this situation into a teachable moment. You want bread… I’ll give you bread. In fact, I’ll give you living bread and when you eat of this bread, you’ll never die!
BREAD??? What kind of bread was Jesus talking about? Well, Jesus said “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” John 6:35
Many in the crowd became confused & offended by what He taught them that day. And so, ultimately, “many of his disciples turned away and no longer walked with him. (John 6:66) But what did Jesus say that could possibly confuse/offend the crowd? Well, it was when Jesus talked about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. Jesus said: “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” John 6:54-56
Those were the words that confused & offended His audience, and those words have continued to confuse lots of other people ever since. Remember, Jesus wasn’t talking about the Lord’s Supper here. There’s no cups of juice or plates of bread setting around. The only bread he ever gave these folks was 24 hours earlier when He fed the 5000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. So, if Jesus isn’t talking about the Lord’s Supper… what’s He talking about?
He’s talking about hungering and thirsting for HIM. Do you remember in the Beatitudes, Jesus said “blessed are those who hunger and thirsting for righteousness”? It’s the same concept here. Jesus is essentially saying “Blessed are you when you hunger and thirst for me!” That’s why Jesus said “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” John 6:35
How do I satisfy my hunger for Jesus? … I COME TO HIM! How do I quench my thirst for Jesus? … I BELIEVE IN HIM! That’s how I eat His flesh and drink His blood. It’s not a physical thing any more than hungering and thirsting for righteousness is physical. Now, granted, there are those who believe IT IS physical. When they partake of “the Lord’s Supper” (which they call the Eucharist) they BELIEVE that they are literally eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking His blood. It’s called “Transubstantiation.”
Now, the following is a CATHOLIC description how they prepare for this experience of their belief that the bread and wine turn into the flesh & blood of Jesus. “The Catholic Church teaches that after the valid words of institution by an ORDAINED PRIEST, Christ is really, truly, and substantially present in every discernible particle of what appears to be bread and wine. For this reason, the priest dresses the altar and PURIFIES THE VESSELS in a particular way designed to prevent any particle or droplet from getting discarded or treated with any degree of disrespect. For this reason, every (preparation room of a church) has a special sink called a sacrarium that empties directly into the ground rather than into the sewer system, so that any remaining particles are properly buried when the vessels are washed. These practices are a sign of tremendous respect for Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.”
Now think about this for a minute. The RIGHT person (the priest) has to say the RIGHT words (the blessing at the RIGHT time or the bread and wine WILL NOT turn into the flesh & blood of Jesus. Thus, if that priest doesn’t do all that, a good Catholic can’t partake. In addition, in order to prepare for the transformation (of turning the bread and wine into the flesh and blood…) the priest has to purify vessels that will hold them. Because, if he doesn’t – he shows disrespect for the flesh and blood of Christ. And once the wine has been transformed into the blood of Christ it can’t change back to wine, and it has to be disposed of. And it can ONLY be disposed of in a special sink that empties out onto the ground.
Now, does that strike you as a bit odd? Well, it should! The Bible never mentions a priest blessing the bread and cup. The Bible never mentions cleansing special vessels to hold the bread & juice. And the Bible never talks about a special sink you have to use to dispose of the leftover blood of Jesus.
NONE OF THAT STUFF IS EVER MENTIONED IN THE SCRIPTURES! And that’s because those practices are all doctrines of men, not God. Jesus said “in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” Mark 7:7
I’ve just spent time telling you what this passage doesn’t mean. Now, let me tell you what it DOES mean. This whole conversation about eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking His blood started because the people Jesus was talking to had followed Him from the other side of the Galilee looking for a free lunch.
The problem was, they came to Jesus because they wanted His bread… but they didn’t really want HIM. It’s an age-old problem. Churches like ours will hand out food/clothing/assistance to the needy. AND WE SHOULD DO THAT! GOD SAYS WE OUGHT TO DO THAT. AND THAT IS WHAT A CHURCH SHOULD BE KNOWN FOR.
But then we invite these folks to church, and they rarely (if ever) show up. I mean, they’ll tell me that they’ll come… but they don’t. But we just helped them out… why don’t they come?
BECAUSE THEY HAVEN’T HUNGERED AND THIRSTED FOR JESUS!
Now, here’s the deal, when we give to the poor, when we help the needy, we’re telling the world what kind of God we serve. We serve a God who LOVES THEM. I’m so proud of the folks who do the food pantry/ free lunches/ clothing giveaways. You can’t buy space on a billboard that will tell the world more about our Jesus.
Now, what I find interesting about our text this morning is that when Jesus told the crowds things they didn’t want to hear they walked away. When Jesus talked about eating His flesh and drinking His blood - when He said things that made them uncomfortable - the crowds never bothered to find out what He meant. They just decided they didn’t want what Jesus was selling.
FRANKLY, THEY DIDN’T WANT JESUS
But then, Jesus turned to his 12 disciples and He asked them "Do you want to go away as well?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God." John 6:67-69
DID YOU CATCH THAT? The 12 Apostles heard the same words the rest of the crowd heard… but they weren’t offended. They might have been confused… but they were never offended. They followed Jesus, no matter what He said, or what He did, they knew He was the Holy One of God who had the words of eternal life. And these were the men who turned the world upside down for Jesus. And the way they turned the world upside down was by wanting nothing but Jesus and preaching nothing but Jesus.
A lot of people never talk about Jesus because they’re afraid they’ll offend someone. But the Apostles weren’t afraid. And a lot of the early Christians weren’t afraid. Why weren’t they afraid? Because they loved Jesus more than life itself.
So, never apologize for talking about Jesus, even when it offends others.
CLOSE: A few years back, there was an 18-year old High School student who was suspended after he passed out letters containing an evangelical message to fellow students at his school. His name was Eric Bast, and he served a five-day suspension from Oak Hills High School in Cincinnati, OH for passing out 3,000 personal letters to schoolmates. His letters explained how they could can have a personal relationship with Christ and avoid spending eternity in hell. He had obtained a list of students for every home room in his school, and enlisted 30 volunteers to help him put his letters in envelopes, and then delivered them to each home room. He says, “I had this idea to write a letter to every person at my high school, explaining who Jesus Christ is and what our sins have done to separate us from God.” Through his letters, he says he tried to explain “how Jesus could save us from those sins and forgive us, and pretty much just give everyone the opportunity to commit their lives to Christ.”
According to Principal David Vannasdall, Bast was punished because he disrupted the learning environment and because he failed to get administrative approval for the letter distribution. But the 18-year-old says his “disruption” has resulted in a positive impact at school among non-Christian students, and on fellow Christians as well. Apparently, his letter made a real impression on several of his unbelieving schoolmates. Their reaction was to realize “Man, this guy put this much time into it: it’s got to be at least real to him -- really, really real. So maybe I should look into this a little more.” At the same time, he adds, “People all over the school that were Christian said, ‘Wow, I realize that I’m totally not living for God, because I don’t tell any of my friends, let alone every person.’”
Once his five-day suspension was behind him, Bast made plans to follow up his evangelical letter campaign with witnessing. He said the letter distribution effort had already led to numerous opportunities to share his faith with students. (2004 AgapePress all rights reserved)
INVITATION
