“The Controversy”

Scripture: John 6:51-59

Last week, we read of Jesus’ pronouncement that he is the true manna of heaven, the “bread” that brings us life eternal. He was comparing himself to the manna that fed and sustained Israel for 40 years of wilderness living, and while that manna had to be gathered every day for its nourishment, the Bread of Life is received once and sustains forever. The manna of the wilderness could only sustain and nourish day by day, and even though it was God-given, every one of the people would eventually die. But this Manna would nourish and sustain through eternity.

It was a holy and blessed promise, but nonetheless, the people questioned it, and misunderstood it, and were turned off, especially by last week’s ending verse – “This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (v. 51) So that is exactly where we will begin this week.

Read John 6:51-52

Scholars have debated the significance of these two verses for a long time. Some believe that they were inserted by an unknown editor in a future time, in order to bring a sense of the sacraments into John’s work; others state that only Protestants find these words strange – that Roman Catholics, in their appreciation and understanding of the concept of transubstantiation, are the only ones who can understand; and others state that these are truly John’s words, and even though this gospel is generally devoid of sacramental theology, this is his understanding of what Jesus would be teaching theologically regarding the significance of the Last Supper.
There is no simple solution to the controversy, and I expect that it will never be completely satisfied, but regardless, we can take this to be a spiritual statement regarding the life-giving gift of Jesus to all who believe.

But for Israel of 2,000 years ago, eating human flesh was not only disgusting, it was actually a divine curse (Leviticus 26:27-33). And consuming blood – any blood – was just as bad, and maybe even worse. It was believed that life resided in the blood, and to drink blood symbolized the taking of life away from another, and using for your own purposes. (Leviticus 17:10-14) And not only was the very thought of eating a man’s flesh appalling, the idea that anyone would carve off a portion of his body to give to another was unthinkable!

In the societal context of that day, and, quite honestly, that of today, too (!), the eating of human flesh and the drinking of blood was nothing short of pagan ritual at its finest. The Jews were right to be indignant, at least in a worldly understanding of Jesus’ words.

Of course, the physical act wasn’t what Jesus was calling them to be about. He was speaking metaphorically, he was speaking of a spiritual feeding.

Read John 6:53-56

Remember our discussion a few moments ago that the blood was believed to contain the “life presence” of an individual or animal? In this context, consider Jesus’ words in verse 53 - “I tell you the truth, unless you eat [my] flesh … and drink [my] blood, you have no life in you.” Blood and flesh were soundly based in “life” concept, and the Lord is telling us that any life outside of him is no life at all. Still, to equate this to a gift was still quite a stretch for the people.
And Israel had little or no understanding of the Holy Spirit as yet, and therefore if, instead of “flesh and blood”, Jesus had said “The Holy Spirit will bring new and eternal life to your worldly bodies by faith in me”, it would have made even less sense to them! The time had yet to come when the Lord would teach about the Spirit, and that this new Advocate would only come after he had left the earth.

And as if the issue of “flesh and blood” weren’t bad enough, verse 54 caused even more conflict. The idea of resurrection and eternal life was prevalent in teaching by the Pharisees, but for the Sadducees, it was not a recognized concept. This was just one more divisive statement for Jesus, but then, what else is new?

And that last verse – if we eat and drink in him, we can remain with him – just added more strangeness to the equation. We are always being separated from each other by something - travel, work, family, and especially death, so this doesn’t make any sense, either. How in the world can anyone remain with Jesus forever? The practicality of life says that this is impossible – that it is ridiculous!

Read John 6:57-59

Jesus had been teaching about “Father God”, and most had figured out that the Lord was really talking about “Jehovah”, except that Father implied that there were at least two others involved – a mother and a child. But that was a minor point for discussion when compared to the rest of this lesson!
And the fact that Jesus had been sent by the Father was not a big issue, either. After all, Jehovah God had sent many prophets to the people, and more were coming all the time. But he throws in this concept of life one more time, and now God-given life is not only for him, but for us, too. But wasn’t life evident in us simply because we exist? Oh sure, God breathed life into Adam (Genesis 2:7), but that was it – wasn’t it?

Are you following all this? Are you beginning to understand why Israel had such a difficult time in accepting Jesus as the Son of God and the Son of Man? We’ve had 2,000 years to study and digest and discuss and debate, trying to get to the essence of all that Jesus taught, and we still struggle with the words of Jesus. But Israel was getting it fresh, with no explanation and no concept of what these strange words were all about! No wonder they thought that Jesus was crazy!

The Lord’s teachings have always been controversial, but this is some of the hardest teaching that he ever offered. Sometimes the newness of his lessons brought others to him. It surprised people, it made them think in a new way, it went against the status quo (which some folks liked!), and it was always in such an authoritative way that no one could ignore it. (Matthew 7:28-29, 9:8) But most of the people just couldn’t get past the fact that Jesus taught counter to the Law of Moses, and this set them against him right from the start. And some things never change.

All of the created order – regardless of its form – does not change gracefully. Valleys and volcanic islands grow and recede in violence. Plant and animal life dies and putrefies and takes on a horrendous odor. Have you ever thought about the child’s pain in receiving new teeth? And the labor associated with child birth! And school – the learning and relearning of facts and processes – this, too, can be a major struggle for us. And have you read Revelation recently? The end times are going to be more violent and abrupt than anything we have ever known!
We aren’t comfortable with change; we don’t like change; we have a terrible time in accepting change. But change is exactly what Jesus has always been about. Unfortunately, our brand of learning and relearning isn’t always done in God’s way. We rationalize based on what we already know, which isn’t always reality. But God’s change, God’s correction, God’s newness is always right, is always true, and it can always be trusted.

Jesus offers us God’s truth, and while we want the Lord’s way to fit nicely into our way of thinking, it seldom, if ever, does. The fact is that in John 14:6, Jesus sets the standard for the world – “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” And whether we like his way or not, it’s the only Way of God.

Seek the truth of Jesus’ words, and not just the surface appearance of them. And when we do, Jesus’ call on our life becomes much clearer. (Matthew 7:7-8) But some will always stumble over the literal sense of his teaching, and next week, we will see where those footsteps lead us.