Eat This!

John 6:51-59

The day before Jesus speaks these words, he had done amazing miracles. He’d healed a whole bunch of people. He had done a bunch of teaching. And then at the end of the day, he had fed the 5,000. He had five little lobes of bread, a couple of fish. And with those five little lobes of bread and a couple of fish, he fed 5,000 males, plus women, plus children, 15, 20,000 people perhaps, who knows? And the people are excited. They wanna make him king because if Jesus can feed them, wow, he’d be the greatest king ever, right? And Jesus says, uh-uh, we’re not having any of that. I did not come here to be an earthly king. And so Jesus dismisses the crowds, and then he sends the disciples away. Talk more about that in a few minutes. During the middle of the night, Jesus catches up with the disciples, rolling across the sea of Galilee. He gets in the boat with them. Peter walks on water, that whole cool deal. The next day, we’re in Capernaum, and the crowds have found him. And Jesus doesn’t really welcome them. Instead, he confronts them. He says to them, basically, you’re not here because you believe the sign that you believe that I’m the son of God. You’re here because you had your bellies filled, and you’re hoping I’ll fill your bellies again today. That’s why you’re here. It’s all selfishness and earth-focused. Well, the crowds aren’t real happy to hear that, but Jesus just kinda keeps pushing. And he makes claims about himself. He says I am the bread of the life. No one can come to me unless the Father draws him, like you and I just sang a couple of moments. Greek word for draws him has the idea of dragging somebody in, kicking and screaming. That God has to pull us to himself because by nature, we have no interest in coming to God. And the crowds are continuing to get more tense. They’re continuing to get more bothered. They’re continuing to mutter and to complain about this, and to talk to one another. And that’s where we pick up our text. Jesus says I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves. How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Jesus said to them, very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in them. 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. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread himself will live forever. He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. On hearing it, many of his disciples said, this is a hard teaching. Literally, who can listen to it? Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, does this offend you? Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before? The Spirit gives life, the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you, they are full of the Spirit in life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe, and who would betray him. He went on to say, this is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them. From this time, many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. You do not want to leave too, do you? Jesus asked the 12th. Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God, the Gospel of the Lord. – Praise to you, Lord Christ. – In the name of Jesus, the bread of life, and whose words are eternal, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, what a rollercoaster for the disciples. Jesus was getting oh-so popular. What are the disciples thinking? I’m guessing the disciples are thinking something like this. We’re Jesus’ closest followers. Jesus is gonna set up this strong, powerful earthly kingdom. We know that those thoughts were happening over and over again. James and John’s mom comes to Jesus. Let my son sit at your right and into your left, even after Jesus has risen from the dead and is about to ascend. Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom in Israel? They had this idea that there was gonna be this glorious earthly kingdom, and that was by far the prevailing sentiment in Judaism those days, that the Savior was gonna be this powerful earthly king. And it seems to be happening, doesn’t it? They watch Jesus and he does all these miracles, and he does all this great teaching, and feeds the 5,000 with just five little loaves of bread, two fish. This has gotta be it. Man, when people hear about this, it’s gonna be awesome. The crowds are gonna swell from 5,000 to 50,000. Hey, can you imagine the disciples just sitting there thinking, oh man, we’re gonna be powerful? We’re gonna be at the top of the government. We’re gonna be famous. We’re probably gonna be rich. This is gonna be great. I think that’s why Jesus sent them away. Because when the crowds want to make him king by force, I wouldn’t be surprised if the disciples were right there cheering them on. And Jesus has to say to them, “Boys, time for you to sail across the sea. “We’re gonna have to talk about this.” And now comes the next day. And the crowds come, and the disciples were probably excited. Great, they’re back, this is awesome. But what does Jesus do? Man, he just pushes them. One thing after another after another. And you can tell that the crowds are starting to get antsy, and they’re starting to mutter, and they’re starting to grumble. And you’d maybe have expected Jesus to say, “Guys, maybe I’ve given you too much for today. “Let’s stop there.” Well, we’ll talk some more. And this is a lot of deep theology. Let’s hold on. That’s not what he does. When the crowds are muttering and murmuring, he ups the ante. If you don’t eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, you’ve got no life in you. Now, Jesus isn’t talking about physical eating and drinking, nor is he talking about the Lord’s Supper. What he is talking about is he’s talking about believing in him. Remember, this whole event happens in the context of the feeding of the 5,000. They’ve ate a meal, they’ve fed their bellies, so they’ve got food on their minds. And so Jesus talks to them using that picture. And that whole idea of eating my flesh and drinking my blood is just an unusual way to say, “Believe in me.” And if you don’t believe in me, you’ve got no life in you. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” They respond. They don’t seem to have a problem with the concept. They have a problem with it being Jesus. The Greek construction makes that clear. How can this guy from Nazareth do that? And again, wouldn’t you have expected Jesus to kind of back off? That’s not what he does. Steady trumps on the accelerator even harder. Oh, does that offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before? See what Jesus is doing? He’s making a super clear claim that he is God. Before I was in heaven, I came down here to the earth, and guess what I can do? I can and I will ascend back to heaven again. He’s making a crystal clear claim that he was the true God who has always existed. The world’s one and only savior. And the crowds are mad. This is a hard teaching. Who can even hear it is the thought of the Greek. And they start to melt away. And they start to leave. And not only are they leaving, but they’re leaving angry and muttering. Can you imagine the disciples? What’s going on? They’re mad. Our dream jobs are slipping away. Jesus, we can’t set up this powerful kingdom if you’re pushing the crowds away. Jesus, what are you doing? I bet you their castles in the sky were crumbling. (congregation laughing) And so Jesus asked them, “You don’t wanna go away too, do you?” We’re not told what was in their heads. I wonder if some of them thought, hmm, maybe we should. I mean, maybe this isn’t the route. Maybe we are wasting our time. Maybe Jesus isn’t gonna do what we hoped he would do. Maybe Jesus isn’t gonna set up this great kingdom. Maybe we’re not gonna get these wonderful positions of power and glory and wealth and fame. Maybe. But here’s what we know. Peter answers wonderfully. Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And maybe, just maybe, this was sort of a turning point for the disciples to start to maybe kind of get the idea that Jesus wasn’t here to set up an earthly kingdom, but that he was here for our eternal life. Because at the end of the day, what do you and I really, really, really, really, really need? New car? No. Better house? Nope. New clothes, new shoes? No. Better diet? No. I’m not discouraging you from eating right. (audience laughing) But at the end of the day, what’s going to happen? We are going to die. At the end of the day, what do you and I really, really, really, really, really need? We need words of eternal life. That’s what we really, really, really, really, really need. And to whom shall we go to find them? Jesus. Jesus is the only one who could live in your place, who could die in your place, who could rise in your place. Jesus is the only one who can ultimately say to you, “Take heart, my child, your sins are forgiven.” Oh, we can say it, but it’s ultimately Jesus’ authority that’s behind it. Jesus is the only one who could say, “Surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.” And that will include even that day when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Jesus will be with us. Jesus is the only one who can say, “In my father’s house there are many rooms. I’m going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” Only Jesus could actually do what he promised to do in this text that is, “Ascend to heaven.” Which he did visibly in front of his followers after he rose from the dead. Only Jesus has words of eternal life. And was it that we really, really, really, really, really, really, really need? It’s words of eternal life. For to state the obvious, only that will be eternal. I don’t have many chances to tell vicar stories. Vicar’s gonna hear lots of vicar stories in the next school year. It’s one of the fun things about senior year is they share all their vicar stories with each other. But I have one to tell ya. I have vicared in Benton Harbor, Michigan at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church. Old congregation, their building, I’m pretty sure is, was older than our building is here. Beautiful building, stained glass, cool stuff. But the part about it that I remember the best are the front doors. The front doors were huge. They were probably 10 foot tall or something like that. Big wood doors. And they had huge handles to open up the doors. And on those door handles was carved words of eternal life. And I always thought, could there be any better way to enter into the house of the Lord than to be reminded I need words of eternal life and I’m going to get them here in this place? It’s always stuck with me. Where else do I need to be? Than in the house of the Lord. Hearing words of eternal life. Oh, there’s one better place. Heaven. Does heaven have a door? I don’t know if I know what we get there. But if it does, you think it just might be possible that carved on the handles we might read words of eternal life? I’m thinking maybe so. Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Lord Jesus, keep bringing us back to you over and over and over again. Amen.