Intimate
Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!” Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’” Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand.” (Matt. 15:1-10)
Jesus could be a difficult man to some. I’m not saying that he was unkind, or a hard person to get along with; nothing like that. The fact is that Jesus was Love Incarnate. But what I am saying is that Jesus did things that rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. He refused to play by the rules of the religious establishment, and he challenged many popular ideas about who God was, including who God wasn’t. And he said some things that were really difficult for people to accept – things with which we still struggle today.
For example, Jesus said that he was the bread of life, the living bread that came down from heaven. (See, John 6:33, 35, and 51) This statement implies that Jesus existed with God before his physical birth. At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus, but we also celebrate the Incarnation – God coming in the flesh. God sent us Jesus so we would know God. This one truth (that we cannot know God without coming through his provision for us, Jesus) is perhaps the most difficult yet necessary concept of the Christian faith. But it’s not possible to truly be a Christian and not believe it.
I know. That sounds too narrow, too dogmatic and too intolerant. But in reality, it’s simply believing what Jesus Christ plainly said: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) The Bible clearly teaches that “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” (1 Tim. 2:5) and “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
The truth is, however, that what may sound narrow to us is actually a huge embrace. This invitation to life with Jesus is open to everyone. No one who asks to join in is left out; no one who walks through the door is pushed away. All who come to meet the living God are welcome. I’d say that’s pretty inclusive.
People
in Jesus’ day were also confused by his talk of giving up his life for others.
He said, “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.” (John 6:51) And we’ve heard this so often that we may
have forgotten just how strange a statement it really is. But this bread discourse is, in effect, a long decrescendo.
In other words, it's a long speech that gets softer and softer, and more and
more intimate. This is the climax of the movement of relationship between the
listeners and Jesus. Jesus is describing the intimacy of relationship that
exists between him and those who believe in him, and eat the bread that he
provides.
The
understanding of the bread that was given at the feeding of the 5,000 is then
made very explicit in terms of relationship. The relationship is a relationship
of intimacy, and in that intimacy people will find spiritual life. They will
find eternal life by being part of this intimate relationship with Jesus and
with God. The words are not pronouncements so much as they are descriptions of
intimacy. And one of the key words in the middle of this story is the word
"live,” or “abide." In Greek, this word, meno,
means "to
remain,” or “to stay." It means to be in an ongoing, intimate relationship
of love and trust: you and me; I in them. It is an intimacy of contact and of
togetherness, of literally being one body. And that's the metaphor: oneness. Thus,
whoever eats this bread, whoever enters into this relationship, this
relationship of spiritual identity, will live forever in that spirit, that
spirit of love.
So what
matters in the telling of the story is to communicate that intimacy, that love.
The climax of this discourse is Jesus saying that what he will give for the
life of the world is his flesh. This is a passion prophecy that he will die for
the life of the world. He will literally give himself for the sake of the
world, for the sake of those who are in the world; those who are in
relationship with him; those whom he loves. This climactic part of the discourse
is an appeal from Jesus to his listeners to enter into that intimacy of
relationship and to remain; to stay; to abide in that intimacy of connection.
But why would John use such radically concrete language here that is clearly so offensive? One of the reasons may be that John was trying to break through the sense of alienation, separation and distance from God that was present in his culture. These words are about God in Jesus being intimately present with everyone who believes — not distant, but close. This is also true of religious experience in worship, the scriptures, and being part of a faith community. The discourse ends with an invitation to a closeness of relationship that is radically different than what was the norm in the ancient world, and even today.
The cross is offensive, repulsive, even shocking – but necessary. It is an essential part of the Christian story. As 1 Corinthians 1:23-24 tells us, “We preach Christ crucified; a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” Yet those listening to Jesus had no idea what was coming, despite being told. They could only listen and decide for themselves if this man was the Christ – or just crazy.
C.S. Lewis, said the following about Jesus’ claims:
I am trying here
to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about
Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept
His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was
merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral
teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he
is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your
choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or
something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill
Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let
us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher.
He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. (Mere Christianity, pgs. 40-41)
I believe Jesus made statements to intentionally thin out the ranks. I know that sounds kind of harsh, but I think Jesus wanted to weed out the fair-weather followers who really weren’t followers at all. John tells us that some of the people who walked with Jesus decided to drop out: “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” (John 6:66) John wrote that stark observation on the heels of Jesus saying, “this bread is my flesh” stuff. And while I’m sure Jesus was sorry to see them go, I believe he preferred having a few true believers around him compared to a throng of fans who said they believed in him but did little to change their lives.
I think that God is more interested in quality than quantity, although he wants all to come to repentance. (2 Pet. 3:9) So the question with which we are faced is whether we’re true disciples of Jesus, or merely fair-weather followers. Will we finish the race with joy, or give up if it makes us unpopular, or when things get a little tough? Frankly, when we first come to Jesus, it’s all about our needs. We don’t wake up one morning and say, “I need to glorify God and seek his will for my life!” Instead, we wonder, “Why is my life so empty and meaningless? What happens when I die?” So, we come to Jesus. We discover prayer and start to talk with and hear from God. Initially, we pray for what we want and need in life. We come to church and want to learn all we can and be as blessed as possible. And there’s nothing wrong with any of that.
But as we grow and mature spiritually, we start making some discoveries. One is that faith is about glorifying and seeking God. When we seek to be holy, we find we are happy – not from seeking happiness, but from seeking God. We discover that prayer is not about what we want, but about what God wants. We find that developing and using the gifts that God has given us is a blessing at church, and a blessing to those with whom we come into contact. It’s not that we don’t need to keep learning and growing, but that we also need to be serving and giving.
That’s when we become true disciples, because anything else would be …. well …. crazy.
Grace,
Randy
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