GLUTEN-FREE BREAD TO EAT - (3)

John 6: 1-69 – Part 3

”Whoever eats this bread will live forever.” John 6:58

Read the story here: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%206:35-69&version=NIV

Listen to story here:  http://www.biblegateway.com/audio/dramatized/niv/John.6

Everyone wants to live forever.  So why – as soon as Jesus said: “Whoever eats this bread will live forever”—did the crowds desert him?

It was because of one simple word: eats.  Jesus’ Jewish audience was very careful with what they ate and with how they ate it.  There were ceremonial food laws that covered all the “dos and donts," and Jesus was breaking several of them. 

First off, Jesus switched from saying “eat this bread” to saying “eat my flesh.”  That is where his faithful Jewish followers got off the train. They had very strict rules about eating flesh.  Some meats were kosher and some were not.  What Jesus seemed to be proposing wasn’t kosher!

Second, no Jew would consume the blood along with the flesh, because the life was in the blood.  And here was this man telling them to “Drink my blood.”  What was he, a vampire!?

And finally, was this man insane!  What person in his right mind would insist that people must “eat his flesh and drink his blood.”  If he really did mean this as a figure of speech, then why did he keep repeating it and driving home the point?  He KNEW how angry and upset this audience would become if they took his words literally, so was he trying to drive them away?

Good question.

No, Jesus wasn’t driving them away, he was separating them.  He knew that many in the audience didn’t believe him, and that is why they kept grumbling and arguing. They were offended and scandalized, when they should have been amazed and transformed.

First, they got offended when he told them he came from heaven.

Then they were scandalized when he seemed to be proposing cannibalism.

They weren’t really listening.  If they had been, they would have heard and accepted his explanation: “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are spirit and life.”

The ones who had already written him off, left; the ones who really believed who he was, stayed.

Which one are you?

GLUTEN-FREE BREAD FROM HEAVEN - (2)

John 6: 1-69 – Part 2

“I am the bread that came down from heaven.” John 6:41

 

Read the story here: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%206:1-51a&version=NIV

Listen to story here:  http://www.biblegateway.com/audio/dramatized/niv/John.6

I am bread.  Every age and culture understands that bread is physically life-giving. It has been called the “staff of life.”  So the comparison we talked about in Part 1 – I am the bread of life – was a universal metaphor:

But today’s metaphor comes from an ancient Jewish story that everyone in Jesus’ audience knew: God fed Moses and the Israelites in the desert a bread that fell from the sky and collected on the ground every morning.  Bread from heaven, literally.

Jesus and the crowd of people who had been supernaturally fed by him just the day before had a long discussion, and that story was background to the discussion.

So, the crowd had followed him because they got their bellies full.

But when Jesus had fed the 5,000, and given them an object lesson so they would experience his desire and ability to care for their needs, he wasn’t focused solely on the physical needs.  These people were.

After they tracked him down, he instructed – “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you”

He had the big picture – eternity – and he kept trying to get them to look deeper, to look UP.

Instead, they asked him for his credentials!  The irony of their request, after he had just fed 5,000 of them with one small boy’s lunch, didn’t derail Jesus from the point he was making.  He tried another angle.  Hey, remember that bread, that “manna,” God gave the Israelites in the desert so they wouldn’t starve?  That’s me.  I am “the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (v33)

At first they seem to get it, because they say: “Give us this bread always!”  But really, they are still just focused on physical bread.  The minute that Jesus stops speaking in figures of speech and states directly: “For I have come down from heaven,” they turn on him. 

They are offended because he is equating himself with God.  They grumble: Who do you think you are!  We know your parents, Mary and Joseph! Ha! Like you really came down from heaven!

He knows that they are grumbling and many don’t believe him, but then he clearly states the spiritual lesson of the bread: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

Wow.  At that point I’m wondering why they didn’t bow at his feet in gratitude and amazement.  Everyone wants to live forever. 

Instead, they desert him in droves.

In tomorrow’s blog, find out why.

Friended by Jesus - (3)

Part 3  (John 15:1-15)

“I am the vine, you are the branches.”  What a comforting analogy.  I am connected.  I am alive.

Even so, it is more than a little frightening to know that you can CHOOSE to depart from the true vine and therefore end up destroying yourself.  Is it hard to stay, or easy to go?  How will you know whether you are really connected?

Read the story here: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2015&version=NIV

Listen to the story here: http://www.biblegateway.com/audio/dramatized/niv/John.15

Now comes one of the most powerful parts of Jesus’ comparison to the vine: 

 The simple test of whether a branch is connected or disconnected is --- FRUIT. 

By fruit every gardener knows that the plant has reproduced itself, as Genesis1:12 says: “…trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.”  The test of “fruit” means: Does the follower of Christ reproduce that which he has become through Christ -- a new believer?

Furthermore, the simple way of remaining connected is this: “OBEY my commands.”  Having a free will gives us the ability to choose continued connection with Him, and the way of choosing to connect is choosing to obey.

Choosing to remain in LOVE simply by acts of obedience would be a no-brainer except for two unfortunate things:

One, our stubborn, fallen will responds : “I hate to obey!”

And two, our mind complicates things by asking: “Obey what?”

No problem.  Jesus simply states:

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”

How simple. Even a child could understand it.  And who would want to do anything else?

So how did his followers/servants get promoted to “friend” status?  ---Because He has just let them in on THE inside secret---the key to living, if you will. 

My entire plan for your future life on earth is that you remain in my love by loving each other as I have loved you.  You will end up fruitful and joyful, and my Father will be glorified.

Jesus “friended” me first.  And I am choosing to remain his friend.

How about you?

"Friended" by Jesus - (2)

Part 2  (John 15:1-15)

“I  am the vine, you are the branches” 

 

Jesus compared himself to a vine, his disciples to branches, and his Father to a gardener.  He created a detailed comparison that instantly connected with his audience.  EVERYONE knew how vines grew, how they were pruned, and how they produced fruit.

With this comparison he was telling them HOW TO LIVE.  If you are connected, you will flourish.

Read the story here: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2015&version=NIV

Listen to the story here: http://www.biblegateway.com/audio/dramatized/niv/John.15

But in any use of figurative language there are some things that are alike, and others that are certainly NOT alike.  Most people will intuitively understand which parts are different.  In our example of the lemon (Part 1), if you are about to give your friend a piece of hard candy to taste and you say it is “like lemons,” they will understand you are NOT saying that a candy is a fruit.  However, in more complex comparisons like the one with the vine, it is sometimes necessary to be clear about which of the aspects of the comparison are NOT alike.

So, with the vine and branches comparison, the disciples are NOT mere mindless, soulless plants.  They are not connected to the vine apart from their own CHOICE of will.  This departure from the comparison becomes clear by the use of one verb:

“Remain…”

A branch cannot CHOOSE whether to attach or detach from the vine.  A person can.  Jesus is saying to them:  “You are a person with free will.  You will have to CHOOSE to stay connected to me.”  Then He makes the choice of staying connected eminently desirable by saying, “Remain in my love.”  Who would want to leave love?!

Even so, it is more than a little frightening to know that you can CHOOSE to depart from the true vine and therefore end up destroying yourself.  Is it hard to stay, or easy to go?  How will you know whether you are really connected?

What do you think?