John 6:52, illustrated by The Brick Testament
delivered on 9 August 2009
by Rev. Dr John Evans
In the gospel account today we read, “Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said “I am the bread of life that came down from heaven” (Jn 6:41). Why, we may ask, would any one complain that Jesus was the bread of life? Why, as John says, would the Jews complain?
The week past had been one in which shock was a certain theme. Omar Farah, the Somali leader here in Carlton, in the media interviews we did together to calm down hostility towards the Somali community, was quite clear. “He and the Somali community were shocked that one of the residents here on the Carlton estate is allegedly associated with a terrorist plot within Australia.” And Omar was obviously shocked. Then there has been the appalling case of the shock jock, Kyle Sandilands in Sydney and his lie detector stunt with a young teenage girl about her sexual life. And so he and his colleague got their comeuppance, and they were dismissed from their program . . . But then, these two incidents would seem to be the exceptions which prove the rule.
Because nothing today seems to scandalise us any more. Or shock us. It might not please us, but we actually are not scandalized or surprised. The language used in public discourse, the incidents portrayed on our televisions, the behaviour of our so-called celebrities can all be appalling. Just take the behaviour of footballers, and what passes as normal within sections of that sub-culture. Or perhaps it is the drunken or drug affected violence we see on our streets. We have become desensitized to it all. Events which would years ago have outraged our community or the church, are accepted now as being commonplace and normal. What was regarded as an obscenity years ago in the courts, would today be dismissed as being polite conversation or acceptable.
Of course what we have happening is the media, in pursuit of ratings (read: profits), is upping the ante at every turn. What new reality TV show can we devise to reach the lowest possible denominator of our audience? But then it is not just the media. I find it hard to believe that governments would throw away rights like habeas corpus, and that the British and American governments would even think that torture is acceptable. However, somehow this happens. And there is hardly a general expression of outrage or shock.
And the message of the Christian church also loses its edge and impact. Our words and claims seem lame – that is just the sort of thing that those quaint Christian folk do. And yet, surprising and challenging others is really part of the core mission of the church. What do we say? Our task is not just to comfort the afflicted, but to afflict the comfortable. Even in the church, the role and place of Jesus has lost its edge – they become familiar. Our stories and talk of Jesus are like comfortable slippers – easily worn and with no surprises.
Today it is hard to be shocked or surprised. Our senses are dulled. Perhaps we are tired of it all. If we do raise a head of steam about an issue, it usually about our own petty ideas and sensibilities – some nimby thing; not in my back yard, we say. We will let all of these other matters, the big picture shifts and changes, quietly pass us by, unless I am personally affected. Complacency and cynicism, apathy, become the prevailing community attitudes.
However, in our text, it seem to be very different in the time of Jesus. Our text says the Jews complained; grumbled about him. But actually was it any different from today?
Manna from heaven (The Brick Testament)
We read the Jews grumbled and complained because of his claim that he was the bread of life. “I am the bread of life come down from heaven”. Now John is obviously wanting us to think here of the great historical parallel of the Children of Israel being led by Moses through the Sinai peninsula wilderness. The Jews complained then, and they were again complaining. Then they complained about everything. They complained about the food – the manna from heaven. No doubt it was boring food, and there was a certain sameness and regularity about it, but if you have seen the Sinai peninsula, there is no other source of food there. It is dry, arid, and a rocky desert. The Children of Israel complained and wished that they were even back in Egypt, back in slavery. Amazingly lousy food was worse that being a slave and in bondage. I think they were into petty complaints.
And here, what are the complaints about Jesus? They also were very strongly on the petty end of the scale, rather than being critical of any big picture. This claim of Jesus being the bread of life – is not examined for its own sake and what it might mean. Rather they are saying
Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know.
Here is the classic put down, in the face of something that sounds rather amazing – Jesus is the bread of life, eh, don’t we know this bloke! I would suggest this is the classic nimby style of complaint. I know Mary and Joseph, how dare their son say he is better than me and my family. Pettiness in the extreme! Not a complaint about a general shift in human history.
Now this sort of complaint, is really just saying well let him be, he is not affecting me. In fact he is quite interesting; he does all these bits of healing around the place. But now that he is claiming something for himself above his station in life – I will complain and grumble. It is a bit like what I remember happened to me in Albury in my first placement. Our small congregations met in the Thurgoona neighbourhood house – and generally, we did not have an impact on our local new housing estate about the great claims of our faith. That is, until I spoke out in support of public housing being located at Thurgoona. Then I got hostile complaints from residents who feared their property values would fall. The obvious self interest led to the complaint – but the enormity of the other claims about Jesus or God did not engage them.
It seems to be similar here. And Jesus has two styles of response – which are instructive for us today.
If I can deal with the second one first. Jesus seems, at this point, to escalate the claims about himself. So if being the bread of life does not get your attention, then try these.
1. Look I am really better than Moses – God, through Moses, gave the grumbling Children of Israel, manna. But they then died. . . as we all will (vs 48) Jesus however, says “This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.” (vs 50) Now that is a scandal – to say you are greater than Israel’s greatest hero. . . let alone you offer eternal life.
Then there comes the next claim
2. “The bread I will give for the life of the world is my flesh!” Of course there can be several interpretations on what this may all mean – certainly it has something to do with Jesus’ anticipated death upon the cross. . . and also our service of holy commuion. But you can see – this a dramatic “upping the ante” as we say.
Today how do you attract attention? How do you get into the media? How do you get people’s attention? Simple. Make more and more dramatic or outlandish claims. We do it in personal conversation – as one swaps yarns of more and more our more amazing levels of achievement or behaviour. There is nothing like a little bit of exaggeration to get attention. And so what we have here is John indicating that in the face of people just not getting the importance of who Jesus is, and just trivializing his claims – he endeavours to explain who he is in increasingly more strident, grand, perhaps disturbing terms. Indeed as next week’s bible readings will indicate, this claim of bread being flesh, gets his complainants talking and engaged. Jesus equals, bread, equals flesh is some claim, and will get people engaged.
So it is true – the more outlandish one makes the claim; the complaints and grumbles will happen and attention will be gained. And we see that even today in the life of the Church. Pastor Danny Nalliah of Catch the Fire Ministries works on this principle in this town – he, and others are sort of religious shock jocks.
And this approach is not to be dismissed. I am not suggesting I any way agree with Catch the Fire ministries – indeed I was somewhat horrified to see what they say on their website when I was preparing this sermon; but at least that principle of surprising seems to be even used by Jesus. I guess we should not overdo it.
There is however, another response of Jesus – which is both understandable and at the same time perhaps frustrating. Howeve,r at the end of the day it is reassuring. Jesus simply says
Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me … and I will raise that person up on the last day. (vs 44)
Jesus does not present a long argument against these petty complainants, nor offer a demonstration or a proof. Apparently, there is no way to “argue” them into accepting that Jesus comes from above. Their world is a closed world – impervious to the claims of Jesus. Only if they cease “complaining” can they be open to hear and be taught.
This is just a realistic assessment then, and now. People operating with closed systems, whether they be inside the church or out, cannot be argued into believing that Jesus is more than the bloke from Nazareth. All the historical evidence in the world, and the most persuasive logic, will fall on deaf ears. The point is – it takes the action of God to evoke faith.
No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father (v.44)
The evangelist John cannot ignore the self-centered, closed worlds of those to whom an invitation is given. He also cannot ignore the divine magnetic force that pulls humans out of those worlds to faith. The Greek verb translated as “drawn” in v. 44 appears again in John 12:32: “And I, when I am lifted up (that is on the cross) . . . , will draw all people to myself.”
Neither God nor Jesus as the agent of God is willing to let human resistance go unchallenged. We in the church might plug away with the attention seeking claims – and I suppose that is what we did with the media release during the week. But at bottom, it is not the spectacular stuff that will get the attention and transform lives: the faithful work of the church and the integrity of the followers of the Christian story will.
The good news is that in time people will be drawn (an interesting and powerful word), by God’s grace and love, into a new understanding and being. We ourselves will be drawn into God’s grace and love, despite our best attempts to avoid the big claims and just snipe away with petty complaints. And here is the big claim:
I am the bread of life come down from heaven.
