Sunday School | Red Letter Words - John 6

Introduction

You doing well? Seeing friends? Eating food? We're glad you're here. Okay, got to tell you before I forget, because I absolutely will not remember at the end, we will not have class or there's no adult or children's Sunday school next week on Thanksgiving weekend. So, is this Thursday, that weekend of Thanksgiving. We will have church, so come and worship, but there'll be nothing upstairs or downstairs in the ten o'clock. So, nothing here, and then we'll pick it back up the week thereafter. Same thing is true, like, at Christmas, like, on Sunday. I'll show you this now. Christmas is on a Sunday this year, and we're going to have one service on Christmas morning at ten in this hour. Same thing, almost 95% sure.

Is there a staff member in the room? I think we're doing the same thing New Year's Day. Brian, is that right? Christmas and New Year's Day are both one service at ten a.m. That's true, Steve, that's true? Okay. So, that's the weird schedule for the rest of the year, is normal church next week but no class at ten and then Christmas morning and New Year's Day, one service at ten a.m. But no Sunday school. Cool. All right, that's what we're doing.

Starting a New Series

All right, so here's what we're doing, you guys. We are starting a new series. We started it last week, and it's called Stuff Jesus Said. And what we began last week was to solicit from you questions about the passages or the topics or the, well, passage, things that Jesus said, and you can give me that information. You can say, Explain to me Mark 14. You know, you could say, What's up with that parable about the blah blah blah? Rare? And the way that you do it is if you and we got a whole bunch of input last week, but we can do it again if you want to. I'm not gonna bother putting it on screen. But you would go on your phone to menti.com, menti. So jot this down. It's menti.com. When I looked at it today, I'm almost positive they changed the access code, which is so unhelpful. I don't know why they don't just keep that fixed. But as I pull it up today, the access code is it's eight digits. You go to menti.com, menti.com, and you would enter in 6 72 08819. 672088167208819. 9, unless they change it again.

Okay? And that is where you can go and you can tell me, Hey, could you explain this? Or What's to do with that? And if you never do that ever again, that's okay because we've got reams of input already. But you can go on and you can vote and you can do that. Jenny. What's your guys' number? Yes, ma'am. So it's menti.com, menti.com, 67208819. Groovy? And so that's just the way that you can jump in and be like, Ask a question. And I went through it this week and looked at it. You guys had lots of great input, and it was so interesting to me to see there were definite clusters of questions that either multiple people asked about, which is a little bit extraordinary that anybody would ask the same thing because there's so much to work from. And then folks would upvote it. So I think it may be that the most recurring question was about John chapter six. And in any case, it was certainly one of them if I total missed count, but we're going to start there.

The Main Text: John 6

So John six. What's that about? What happens in John chapter six? You guys remember? They all leave — What's that? They all Him. They all leave Him. That's the end of the story. That's right. That's right. There's basically three kind of things that go on in John chapter six. First thing that Jesus does is he feeds 5,000. And then he walks on water, and then he has this discourse about how he himself is the bread of life. And that discourse is what causes people to leave. I don't think it was the free food that made people walk away. It was the things He said in that third phase.

So first, He does this miracle of feeding 5,000. He's done that that shows up, by the way, as oftentimes John is unique. John will cover information that Matthew, Mark, and Luke didn't cover. We call Matthew, Mark, and Luke what do we call those? Do you know? The synoptics. They look the same, have the same viewpoint. And so there's often very different material in John from the synoptics. This is one of the places where there's carryover, although John gives us one feeding. Mark shows us that there are two different times that Jesus, you know, multiplied the bread. But first that happens, and then there's going to be it's so interesting because the feeding of the 5,000 is absolutely thematically linked to Jesus' discourse about being the bread. We'll talk about that in a minute. And then almost as a throwaway, he just slips in there, Oh yeah, in between this and this, he walked on the water, and then we got into this conversation.

And it's so amazing that Jesus has done so many absolutely extraordinary things that walking on water is like it's like an order between the bricks. You know, it's just this whatever, no big no big deal. If I walked on water, it would be a big deal. Right? But for Jesus, it's just like a day you know, it was a Tuesday, I think, you know? Okay? So, the questions though were about what were the questions about? What do you guess? Was it about was it John six? Were people asking about Jesus feeding the 5,000, Jesus walking on water, or the things that He said? Things He Of course, it was the things that He said, right? Now, in John six, this discourse, these things that he said after he fed the 5,000, is filled with controversial language. It's controversial today. It was incredibly controversial when he said it. I mean, it literally is one of the moments in Jesus' story where the crowds just dissipate and they all go away.

And it's really pretty stunning. So there were several different questions. Let me read you the way they were phrased. Here's what I got.

Questions about Jesus' Words in John 6

John six. This is my body. Why not take him literally? The crowd seems to have done that.

John six. Eat my flesh and drink my blood. There's no further question, just the observation of that.

And then John six, What does it mean to eat my flesh?

All that is to say, all three of those questions and all the folks that upvoted that were saying, What is the deal with Jesus telling us to eat His flesh? I think some of the language here of this is my body, that language doesn't actually exist in John six. Jesus never says, this is my body, but somebody is making a pretty reasonable connection between the language of John six and things that Jesus said. Where does that phrase, This is my body, actually show up? When is it? At the Last Supper, communion.

That is the Last Supper. So John six is not the Last Supper, but there's some obvious thematic connections there, folks are asking that. And so the question seems to be, when we take the bread at a communion celebration, when we're celebrating the Lord's table or the Last Supper or the Eucharist or whatever you want to call it, is it carbohydrates, or is it protein? Is it bread, or is it flesh? What is it how are we to take that? And I think that's probably the ultimate question behind all this. It's a question, I think, about a doctrine that is known as transubstantiation, meaning the substance is changed. Trans change substance. Is the substance being changed? What is going on with that?

Understanding Transubstantiation

We're gonna that's gonna be as far as we get today. We're gonna unpack all of this, I think. Robin? Yes. So, the Catholic church teaches a doctrine the language of transubstantiation is specifically the Catholic naming of this. That's what they call this. And so Catholics believe that the bread becomes flesh, and the and the wine or grape juice, as it were, becomes blood. And that we are when Jesus said, this is my body broken for you, he was being literal. And when he says that, you know, this is this is the blood of the covenant shed for you, that it's that's also being literal. And so that every time the Mass is celebrated, a miracle takes place where the elements are changed. They are transed. Right? The substance is changed from bread to flesh, from wine to blood. And so that's a Catholic doctrine.

Anglicans and pretty much nobody outside of Catholicism teaches that or officially believes that. And in fact, if you want to be Anglican about it, we're not going be drawing from Anglican doctrines books on this, we're drawing straight from the Scriptures, but the official Anglican statement on transubstantiation is, and I quote, that it is repugnant to the Word of God. Okay? So, that's a starting point, right? But let's take a look at the text.

Jesus’ Discourse in John 6

Alright? So, John six. We're go to John six twenty-six, and we'll just kind of get we'll try to draw everything from the things that Jesus said.

For Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you're 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. On Him, God the Father has placed His seal of approval."

They asked Him, "What must we do to do the works that God requires?" And Jesus answered, "The work of God is this, to believe in the one He has sent."

So they asked Him, "What miraculous sign will you give us that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?" And then they very helpfully offer a suggestion. "Our forefathers ate manna in the desert, as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"

This is a very thin veil on this. They're like, prove it and give me something to eat, and I will accept that as proof. And you could say, Well, you know, I just did that yesterday. Right? And I've done all these other signs. But they're like, Yeah, but you might want to do it again. And maybe do it again tomorrow.

So Jesus says, "I tell you the truth, it's not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it's my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. The bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

They said, "From now on, give us this bread." And he was like, that's what we wanted. That's it. Cough it up. And Jesus says, and I'm sure in words that were very disappointing to them,

"I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes 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."

Jesus then emphasizes again,

"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."

He continues,

"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, me, will live forever."

He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. And here it is, Dan, on hearing it, many of His disciples said,

"This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"

The Meaning and Controversy

So, this is what we're trying to understand here. So, what is he saying other than eat my flesh and drink? What does he mean to convey in this? Lily?

Just to extend that he is eternal life. So, I mean, I think he's talking about abiding in him. Like, he's our very life source. That's part of why the manna in the desert — I mean, that perhaps that was part of why their clothes never wore out. No one became sick in the desert. They were eating the bread of heaven. But Jesus said, I am an even greater bread. Yes. Eternal life, not even life of God.

So, just as the manna from heaven, which was, I don't know if he even said that it was literal bread, but it was literal food. I mean, were these honey wafer weird things? Even as that sustained their life for forty years in a barren land, he's like, I'm like that, only more so. Right? I am the greater thing. I am bread, but I'm better bread. Yes? Catherine?

It made me think of the scripture, taste and see that the Lord is good. And what that's saying to me is that start watching what he's doing, try that, try what he says, listening to what he says, and then doing it, then it becomes a part of you as if you aid him. Yes. So all the biblical language that we are to partake of him, we're not really observers of him, but there is to be some kind of a uniting of ourselves with Him.

In the same way you know this, right? You know that your body is made out of the food that you have eaten. Do you know this? So, your muscle fibers used to be either a cow or a cashew or a soybean. Do you know this? Like, it is your body is making muscle out of protein. The energy that enables you to move used to be wheat. Your ability to move, what you physically are, is the food that you are eating. And Jesus is absolutely saying, I am the thing that will repair your very self, that will build your very self, that will sustain you, that will make you able to do all kinds of things.

Stuart? Well, spoiler alert, sloop sermon. Absolutely. This is it. He is it. He is what you need. He is all you need. He is the very essence of all you need. Yes. Period. Yes. Full stop. He is the he is what you need. In the same way, except more than, that you need to eat food today, you need to eat him. Okay, and we'll get back to, we'll unpack the metaphor as we go. Robin?

Something that's confusing, you know, I understand taking him in every day and learning from him, like, and he had become part of my DNA, so to speak. But you'll never hunger again. You'll never thirst again. He said the same thing to the woman at the well. Yes. But there is still hunger. There is still thirst. Yes. And that to me, that's kind of — okay. Good.

So, what's confusing here, and you're right, so in John four, has he the same — okay, I'll come to you in a minute, Scott. Let me respond to this and I'll jump over there. He says in John four, with the woman at the well, If you drink this water, you'll never be thirsty again. And you could think because it sounds like, I mean, is what it sounds like. It's like it's some kind of a magic thing, not that as you keep drinking it and it keeps satisfying you, but you just drink one sip and then you're good. Same thing with the food here. You eat this, you'll never be hungry again.

And there's two problems with that. One is that Jesus is not a once and done — it's not like, I met Jesus when I was 12, and then it's been great ever since. I need to eat him every day, right? And then the other problem is, I think, if we're being a little more honest about it, is like, I know Jesus. I've known him. I've walked with him for thirty years, and I still want a new motorcycle, right? Like, there's just this thing. It's not as if. And then I never again had any other competing wants. I have all kinds of competing. So you could hear that, you could think, Oh, I drink one sip and I'm good. Well, no, I need to drink every day, first of all. And then second of all, and all competing things, they didn't die. I wish they died, but would anybody say, when you sing a song, Jesus, you're all I need, is there anyone in the room that doesn't think they're lying when they say that? Right?

So, this is an underlying — there's more going on here than just some like, take a pill and you're done, right? For sure. Scott? Yes.

Okay, so Jesus is so and Scott's kind of anticipating a little bit where I want to go, that he's giving — he's speaking so to repeat, Scott. He so Jesus is speaking to this mixed audience of Jews and Gentiles, and all have different understandings, just as in this room you all have different understandings. Some of you approach this question from a different starting point, then somebody over here addresses this or begins to think about this question. I do think that Jesus is giving a metaphor. He wants to be understood, ultimately, but he knows that he will be misunderstood, and would rather be — Don and I talked about this — he would rather be misunderstood than ignored. And so he turns this up so loud. He keeps saying it and saying it and saying it, such that the crowd's like, What in the world is with this psycho? Because he's literally — I mean, he says it over and over and over again, right? Eat my flesh. Drink my blood. He's willing to be misunderstood, and he is misunderstood. And in fact, one of the absolute motifs of John's Gospel is that everything Jesus said was misunderstood. One of the ways the question was framed here was, "This is my body. Why not take him literally?" The crowd seems to have done that.

Now again, that quote is actually from the Lord's Supper, which we'll bring that in a little bit. So, let's talk about taking him literally. First of all, and you've probably observed this and experienced this, we get literal wrong all the time. What does the word literal mean? What does that mean? I can't hear you. Somebody is murmuring. Actual reality. So if I were to say it's literally raining cats and dogs, that would mean that cats and dogs are falling from the sky. Okay? And so literal is to say we use the phrase literal we should use the term literal when we're being — we could be misunderstood as being metaphorical, but we're not. Okay? So I could say, "It literally rained three inches in an hour." And you may think, Well, that's a lot of rain. It probably wasn't three inches. I'm like, No, no, actually, literally. It really was three inches in one hour. It was a deluge. Okay?

But the problem is, we have started to use the word literal to mean emphatically in the exact opposite of its meaning. It was poor. I mean, it was literally raining cats and dogs out there. We would say that and then no one would blink because we know you're not being literal. So, if we're going to be proper about literal, it just means there's nothing metaphorical about this straightforward language. With that said, go back. We'll just do a quick survey in John. In John two, Jesus said, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it up. What did they think he meant? They thought he meant the building, and they were wrong. In John three, Jesus says, to Nicodemus, you must be born again.