We are going to get into a series that deals with the hard sayings of Jesus
We like to talk about the attractive part of Jesus’ sayings:
· Jesus is risen from the dead
· Jesus offers peace and joy and Comfort and reassurance when we need it
· The promise of heaven to those who believe
· Healing for all
· Jesus loves us so much
· Jesus accepts us unconditionally
These items are very popular in churches today. But Jesus also had a number of things that are hard, even offensive to say, which turn general ideas about life on their head, such as:
Dying in order to live
Losing in order to find
Going down in order to go up
Freedom in the midst of slavery
Success through failure
Focusing only on the attractive side of the gospel may fill the pews, but leave the heart half empty. Before we begin, we need to ask ourselves the question: “Why is it that these other parts of the gospel are ignored or overlooked?” It is because these sayings of Jesus contain thoughts that challenge our self-centredness, and threaten our carnal nature, and thus become downright offensive to us? That is what occurred when Jesus was teaching in his hometown. Listen to what happened:
Matt 13:54-57: Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers.?”, they asked. “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at him.
So we are going to focus on these hard sayings of Jesus in the next few weeks, because they are equally important truths, which will add depth and meaning to our discipleship, and strike at those things which encumber our lives and prevent us from being the kind of disciples Christ wants us to be. If we refuse to face these issues, although we may call ourselves Christians, we cannot really call ourselves disciples.
1Peter 2:6-8: For in Scripture it says, “See, I lay a stone on Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.”
Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone.” And “A stone that causes men to stumble, and a rock that makes them fall.”
It’s interesting that the Greek word for stumble is Scandalon, from which come the word scandalize, which means “to be offended”. We find passage after passage in which after Jesus has spoken, the people are offended. One time Jesus went to the temple to teach, and the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him and began to question him. Jesus told them a couple of parables and then said to them:
Matt 21:41-44: Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.’ Therefore I tell you that the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”
Notice this last verse:
If we fall on Him we will be broken to pieces
If we don’t fall on him we will be crushed.
There is the alternative: either way, we are going to be broken! But the first part of the text says that if we stumble because of Christ and are broken, then we are in a position to be made truly whole. Jesus is the only one who can break us thoroughly when we come to Him by faith. Stumbling, or falling, becomes the occasion for faith.
The second part of the text speaks of judgment. There are those who never respond in faith to their fall over that stone. We might say, then, that a lot of these sayings constitute the demands of discipleship.
The Bread of Life
John 6 starts with the episode of the miraculous feeding of the 5,000.
And the people were delighted. They followed Jesus everywhere. This was a good deal. Politically, it was a great move, to feed the poor and the hungry (and themselves, too, incidentally). Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, with drew to a mountain by himself (V15). The disciples got into a boat and crossed over to the other side of the lake. Jesus came to them walking on the water.
When the crowds realized that Jesus was no longer with them and one of the boats was missing, they crossed over to the other side and found Jesus. They began to ask for more miraculous signs, and for more bread and fishes. Then Jesus announced to them that He was the bread of life, and that whoever came to Him would never go hungry or be thirsty again. The people began to grumble among themselves, because He said that He was the bread from heaven.
John 6:43-58: “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus said “no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day…I tell you the truth: I am the Bread of Life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that came down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. 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.” Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, 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 him 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 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. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.”
In the verses that follow the passage we just read, many of the disciples remark that this was a hard teaching, and a little further along it says that many of them turned back and no longer followed him. What they stumbled on is the same thing people stumble on today: the fact that more is required than just hearkening to the words of Jesus. We must be united with Him by faith. We must let our lives flow into Him, and His life flow into us. This is what he meant by the eating of His flesh. We nurture on His spiritual goodness. We receive His righteousness, and thus we are saved.
A little while after the episode that we just read, Jesus makes clear to His disciples that this statement of feeding on His flesh is not to be taken literally: John 6:63: The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
Of course the Communion is the best enactment of this concept. Matt 26:26: While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying “Take and eat; this is my body.”
The powerful metaphors Jesus uses of eating His flesh and drinking His blood was designed to convey the idea that a share in the eternal life of God is granted to those who come to Jesus by faith, enter into union with Him, feed on Him, and draw their life from Him.
The Anglicans and Episcopalians Book of Common Prayer sum up this concept beautifully in their readings for Holy Communion: “Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on Him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving.”
To feed on Christ in one’s heart by faith with thanksgiving is to eat His flesh, drink His blood, and so have eternal life. Do you feed on Jesus? Are you willing to share in Jesus’ eternal life by faith? Are you willing to feed on Jesus in your heart with thanksgiving?
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