A Story: Ethel and Tom

Sometimes what is happening is not immediately clear

This is the case in our Gospel reading for the day.

Firstly, Jesus in v35 declares that he is the bread of life; the bread that gives life; the bread that is the staple diet of living. Related to this is that Jesus offers this bread to all who will come. There is an open invitation to all who would come. One of the staggering things about the ministry of Jesus was his capacity to welcome and include all those who wanted to follow him. Thus zealots and tax collectors, fishermen and prostitutes, rich as well as poor found themselves being taught by the carpenter from Nazareth.

Whilst Jesus embraced all who would come, he also expected people who followed him to change; repent, if you will: do an about turn.

–       Zealots were to lay down their arms

–       Tax collectors were no longer to take more than their due

–       James and John, the sons of thunder, were to keep a check on their temper

–       Those who were wealthy were to make sure their wealth did not keep the poor in chains

–       The Pharisee was not to stop keeping the law, but not to make it (the Torah way) a burden for others.

Jesus challenged the ethics of how people lived their lives; on a practical; and yes, moral level.

Secondly, the writer of the Fourth Gospel, who I do take to be John, the son of Zebedee, has the Jews to begin to grumble about Jesus, and in particular that he claims to be the bread of life. They grumble for two reasons, one they seem to know who Jesus is; his relatives still live amongst them, and here Jesus is (this comparatively young man) claiming to be from heaven. The second reason they grumble is that Jesus does not fit their expectations of what messiah was to be. Welcoming all and touching those who were untouchable, spending time with the unclean, and being prepared to heal the servants of their roman oppressors, was not the kind of thing the messiah was supposed to do. The sort of messiah Jesus was could not be boxed.

Within this passage, the writer is using the experience of the people of Israel in the wilderness as a backdrop against which to interpret the life of Jesus. In the wilderness, the people were fed manna (from heaven) each day. The people also started to grumble against Moses for leading them out of slavery in Egypt. This wilderness experience was not what they expected of being free. God did not fit their particular box.

I wonder how many times we create God in our own image, and find ourselves frustrated to learn from experience that God cannot be sealed in a specific space.

Thirdly, in his response to their grumblings, Jesus too evokes the experience of their spiritual ancestors; reminding those with him of God’s care and provision of the past. He then breaks with the past, by declaring that the bread on offer now, gives life: and those who eat it will not die.

The author of the Fourth Gospel does not describe the events of the Last Supper or the institution of the Eucharist a la the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke). In this chapter, the writer does come close to developing his own understanding of the Eucharist with his description of Jesus as the bread of life.

The Eucharist is open to all who will come.

Jesus offers the bread of life to all who will come.

The Eucharist is open to all who will come as they are.

Jesus offers the bread of life to all who will come as they are.

The Eucharist is open to all who choose to have faith or believe.

Jesus offers the bread of life to all who have faith or choose to believe.

Receiving the Eucharist is not, nor ever should be, a neutral act. Indeed within our Anglican tradition, it is the great feast in which heaven and earth unite and Christ is the host; which of course can mean a number of things.

Fourthly, welcome, inclusion and grace are all hallmarks of the Christian community; but they are complemented by faith and belief. At the end of John 6, many who hear Jesus choose to leave and not follow him. They do so because sometimes the simplest of things; faith in Jesus can be the most difficult.

Jesus does not keep us captive if we would rather not follow him. Peter’s response to Jesus’ question as to whether the closest of his disciples too want to leave is informative

 “Lord, there is no one else that we can go to! Your words give eternal life. We have faith in you, and we are sure that you are God’s Holy One.”

Thus in conclusion, through today’s gospel reading

We understand that Jesus welcomes. The story of God in both the Hebrew Bible and New Testament is one of inclusion and embrace, from the calling of Israel to the contents of the Parables.

We understand that Jesus calls for faith and change. It was Dietrich Bonheoffer, a German pastor and martyr, who said the call of Jesus was the challenge to ‘come and die’; putting Christ before all else. No wonder many in Jesus’ own day found it difficult to follow.

Let us pray for grace and courage to follow the way of Jesus today.