The One Who Unites and Divides
John 6:25-71
"Now", said the white queen with great precision, "let's consider your age to begin with. How old are you?"
"I'm 7-1/2 exactly," replied Alice.
"You needn't say exactly," the queen remarked. "I can believe it without that. Now, I'll give you something to believe. I'm 101 years, 5 months, and a day."
"I can't believe that," said Alice.
Can't you?" the queen answered in a pitying tone. "Try again. Draw a long breath and shut your eyes."
Alice laughed, "There's no use in trying. One just can't believe impossible things."
"I dare say you haven't had much practice," said the queen. "When I was your age, I always practiced 2 hour a day. Why, sometimes I believed as many as 6 impossible things before breakfast."
That's Lewis Carroll in his Through the Looking Glass commenting in his deceptively childish way on the mystery of faith. Why is it that some people manage to believe things that others find absolutely unbelievable? Is faith just a matter of effort? Like the queen said: "Hold your breath and shut your eyes." Can you believe anything if only you try hard enough?
We who live on this side of the "looking glass" know faith is not really like that. There's all the difference in the world between faith and mere wishful thinking. Holding your breath and shutting your eyes is not to believe but to "make believe". And, when you think about it, anything you have to make yourself believe isn't really believed anyway. I've noticed that real belief seems to take place without personal effort. As Alice put it, "It's no use trying. One just can't believe impossible things."
Yet, many people say we say we do. I do. I believe some things that a lot of people in our world find hard to believe. That's the mystery of faith. Many people find it impossible that I've been to school as long as I have and I still believe that God became a man and walked about on the earth and did miracles and died and then rose from the grave!! Alice and others could be excused for calling that impossible, couldn't they?
I'm a Christian and I don't feel I'm forcing myself to believe the impossible. I simply believe what I am convinced is true and God has confirmed to me repeatedly both in my studies and in my experience of life. But, still, many wonder how can we Christians believe in God becoming man, blood washing away sin, resurrection from the dead? Is it just gullibility and ignorance? That's what some people accuse us of. And no doubt, but there are naive and gullible Christians, but not all -- not all the millions throughout history and all over the world. And that brings us to John 6. And today I have one small but significant goal: that you'll leave this place knowing whether you truly believe in Jesus.
The Turning Point: Some believe and most don't
John 6 describes a major turning point in Jesus' ministry. From a human perspective, in one chapter we see Jesus go from popularity to unpopularity. From "success" and growth in followers to diminishing "success". At the opening of John 6, we see Jesus' acclaim soar as he performs miraculous healings (6:1-4), feeds 5,000 people with five barley loaves and two small fish (6:5-15), and walks on water in the midst of a storm (6:16-24). Crowds are clamoring after him (reminding us of the last presidential campaign here in the USA). But, by the end of John 6, most of the crowd of "disciples" are grumbling about Jesus (6:60-65) and then abandoning Jesus (v. 66). As we know, this anti-Jesus momentum that starts in John 6 would escalate until Jesus would be betrayed by one of his closest followers and hanged on a cross.
We need to ask, "What happened between John 6:24 and 6:60 that turned people against Jesus?" To summarize the development, people went from "belief" to unbelief in Jesus for three reasons:
Reason1 for unbelief: High Hopes – Left Unfulfilled
6:14-15 sets the stage. The people in Galilee thought he was surely the Messiah after he had fed 5,000 people and so, in their enthusiasm, they intended to put him forward as they king immediately. But, Jesus withdrew from them. Still, the people keep following wherever he went.
I want you to notice that this happened in Galilee. Galilee was kind of like a 1st century Cal-Berkeley or University of Chicago. By that, I mean that he Galileans were generally the politically extreme people in Israel who looked for ways to rebel against the Roman establishment. They believed the Messiah was to be a prophet like Moses. In their minds, Moses had been a freedom fighter liberating Israel from Pharaoh. So, they thought, the Messiah, will come and liberate us from an oppressive government.
Added to that, not only did this miracle happen at Galilee, but it also happened during the Passover. Passover was to the Jews what the 4th of July is to the Americans -- except even more emotional. Every year at Passover, Jewish people commemorated how God had triumphed over Egypt and set them free. They thought, "Next year, Messiah might come and set us free again. This was their dream while they were under the oppression of Rome. Their hope was for a different and better world for themselves and their children.
Putting it together, you can see what transpires here: When Jesus fed the multitude this indicated that He might be Messiah. And in Galilee on the Passover, Messiah's coming meant the promise of political freedom. "We're taking our country back!" they shouted. So, in v. 15, they cry out, "Let's make Him King." Yet, even while they were talking, Jesus was escaping.
It's into that background that Jesus' words are spoken in vv, 26-27: Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.
Jesus is offering spiritual eternal bread rather than worldly baker's bread. He's offering freedom -- but it's freedom from guilt and an old way of life rather than freedom from a government. But, the people didn't expect that -- or want that. To accept this kind of Messiah was to lose all the things they had hoped for – for so long! Jesus was offering something so much better than what they had hoped for – but they couldn't see it. For them, it seemed only like loss – loss of a dream.
When my father came to Christ (when he was 30) followed by my mother, they became 100% committed to the church and to the Lord. They were constantly being told that if they took their kids to church, kept us away from the wrong crowd, had devotionals in the home, etc. etc., that we would all turn out well. This was their hope. This was their life. We never missed anything – and I mean anything – at church. But as my brother and sister got into their teen years, everything seemed to go amiss. My brother chose to reject the faith and mocked at the church. My sister rejected all my parents' values – getting into a very dangerous and destructive lifestyle. (I want you to know that both of them came back to the Lord – but it was after many, many years.) At the very worst times, I remember hearing my parents behind closed doors wondering why everything had gone wrong. They said, "This doesn't work the way it's supposed to. Maybe we've been deceived or we've deceived ourselves." They almost gave up. What they had hoped that their church going would bring them was not happening in the way they had envisioned. If you can understand that at all, then you can understand what the Jewish people felt when Jesus said, "I didn't come to do what you had hoped I would do. What I will do is far better than your dream – but you must trust me."
Reason 2 for Unbelief: Huge Claims – Found Shocking
6:40-42: "My Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?"
This is one of those extraordinary claims Jesus makes – like many others that fill the Gospel of John.
In John 4, Jesus had claimed to be living water – the only one who can quench an inner thirst for something that lasts. Here, Jesus claims to be the bread of life, i.e., the only One who can satisfy the human soul.
Look at what Jesus says about himself. He claims to have:
1. A divine origin – I have come down from heaven in v. 38. He makes the same claim six times in this chapter. Somebody saying he'd arrive in a flying saucer would have the same effect.
2. A divine mission – I will do the will of him who sent me in v. 39. That's nice. What is that will Jesus? To be a pastor or a missionary? No, He declared, "My mission is to raise the dead!"
3. A divine ministry – I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry in v. 35. Jesus claimed to be the only One who can satisfy the deepest human hunger. Baker's bread can't do that – not for long. Prosperity-- education can't do it. Politics can't. Only Jesus can.
So, go to any clergyman in town and say, "I have a longing in my soul." Any of them worth anything will direct you to God. He will say, "God is the answer to that hungering in your soul. You must find Him or remain empty." But Jesus didn't say that. He said, "Come to ME. He who comes to me will never hunger. You don't need something. You need someone. You need me."
But, you see, this was bread they couldn't swallow. And these exclusive claims to be the only way to God remain an obstacle in the path of faith for many, many people in our world. Walter Alexander, who has spent so much of his life Singapore and other parts of the world told me that this is the teaching of Jesus that causes so many to turn away from him – all over the world. In many places, people for decades have gone forward in meetings and have claimed to turn to Jesus – doing it in large numbers. But when they learn of these exclusive claims of Jesus – that he must become the single God and lord of their lives, they turn away. And, I think that's true increasingly in the USA also. What do you do with these claims Jesus makes?
And, there is a third related reason people choked on Jesus' message.
Reason 3 for Unbelief: Huge Demand – Found Unpalatable
6:51: I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. 6:56-57: Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 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.
John 6 takes place a year before the final supper Jesus had with His disciples and thus a year before His death. In these verses, Jesus foresees His death and tells of it. He speaks symbolically of the "bread" (i.e, his body) He will give for the world. In saying this, He is saying that the world is made up of sinful people who need to be forgiven. But this forgiveness and eternal life He's talking about can only come to sinful people as a result of His own violent death on the cross. Jesus can give us life only by giving up His.
And, he says here, we receive this life by receiving him. By eating his flesh, Jesus is saying something very similar to what he said to the woman at the well, i.e., you must bring me fully into your life. And, if this God from above comes into our lives, he will take over. Jesus is saying here that we must give up control of our lives to him if we will find life. He must become the Lord of our lives if we will live. And, that's the very thing that most of us don't want to do.
Remember that Jesus was talking here to people who, up to this point, had claimed to be his followers. In John's Gospel, we constantly read about people who claim to believe but then it comes out that they do not believe. There are many who one day are called disciples but on the next are not disciples. These people liked Jesus and his miracles. They loved his teaching. They even thought he was the Messiah. They tried to make him their "president"! They were not "anti-Jesus" people like many others were in that day. There are probably countless people like them in church throughout the world this weekend – so we had better listen carefully when Jesus speaks to people like this.
Note this: Jesus was always much more direct with false disciples than he was with absolute non-disciples. Those who had an outward coating of belief always seemed in more danger than those who acknowledged they didn't believe at all. As Jesus said elsewhere, "Many will call me Lord but do not know me – and I do not know them!" 1) Real disciples surrender to Jesus. 2) Non-disciples say they don't believe in Jesus at all. 3) False disciples say they believe but live for themselves anyway. Jesus here is forcing people who "believed" but didn't really believe in him to make him Lord of all or not Lord at all.
In every church you will meet real disciples who have been transformed by Jesus. They run their businesses differently because of their faith. They handle job loss differently. They love singing praise to God. They love to learn the Word. But then there are also those who just show up at church settings. And then, if something goes wrong or if something bores them, they are ready to give it all up and leave. False disciples are into the "faith" only for what they can get out of it. But Jesus says here, "I will come into you and take over. Will you surrender to my lordship?" Only then will you really live!"
I contend that false disciples are those who know the message of Jesus is true but have never come to grips with the Lordship claims of Jesus. Look at v. 60, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" The word "hard" does not mean hard to understand but hard to swallow. What Jesus means by "eat and drink" is what makes us tick – what we live for. What makes you tick? Career success? A certain relationship with someone? Sexual activity? Being with friends – so if they don't go to church anymore, you won't either?
John 6:60-69 is the ultimate DTR moment – "defining the relationship" encounter. Many, many people had tried to keep Jesus into a little Messiah-box. They thought, "I already know what Messiah will do, i.e., he'll do what I want him to do. But, Jesus wouldn't fit there. He still doesn't! It's like a fellow student in grad school said to me "My God wouldn't judge sin. My God would make life-changing demands of me." I said, "I suppose he wouldn't. But, then your god is a god you have created. The God of the universe is God. If you will find the life he made you to have, you must surrender to him as God." But, that's the very thing this student wouldn't do.
So, in v. 66 many left Jesus. Some, I'm sure went with their friends. "My friends aren't here anymore so I'll leave too." Some went back to what was comfortable for them. Some went out to try to find another god to do for them what they wanted him to do.
But some remained and found life in Jesus. Peter shows us the way. Jesus asked if he and the twelve disciples would leave too. In Peter's response we see the irreducible minimum of what it means to follow Jesus. There are two parts: loss and life.
#1: Loss: the acknowledgement that all other things must be lost as our gods – as our sustenance. "Lord, to whom shall we go?" Peter is like the woman at the well. The water jug wouldn't work to give her life. He's like the man at the pool. "I cannot get there and no one and nothing in this world can heal me." Peter is saying that he has nothing else to turn to. As Martin Lloyd Jones said so provocatively, "Anyone who has any conceivable alternative for real living other than Jesus is not a Christian." We surrender control of our lives to Jesus. Where will that lead? I cannot tell you – in the short run. For most of these disciples it led to death in their service to Christ. But Jesus promises it will lead to life – abundant life now and eternal life in the future. But, he has to be in charge – not me. Not you.
#2: Life: Life through surrender to the Living One. We believe and know you are the Holy One of God. As Paul said in Philippians 3, "I may have lost those things that were my dreams and my hopes and my identity before now that I have come to Jesus. But, there was no life in them anyway. They are rubbish in comparison to the "surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus... my Lord."
The recent mining story in Chile illustrates some of this. 33 miners were in darkness for 69 days. There seemed to be no hope. But, one route was developed to get them out of the darkness. But, there only hope of escape was in a small cubicle just wider than their shoulders traveling nearly a half a mile on a winding path through rock. But, there was no other way to the light. They couldn't get out themselves. They had to surrender control, step in to the small capsule, and discover where it would lead.
Jesus promises that when we trust him in that way, he will lead us to light and to true life. He declared, "I shall lose none of those who come to me. Everyone who believes in me will have life. I am the bread of life." Will you believe him? Will you say, "Nothing else before you, God. Nothing else will be my bread – my sustenance – the center of my life."
Greg Waybright • Copyright 2010, Lake Avenue Church