Pushback, Then and Now
The text this week is John 6:35, 41-51. This overlaps by one verse (35) from last week. It is Jesus telling the crowd that He is the bread of life. He immediately gets pushback from the Jews who are opposed to Him. They question His claim that He is the bread that has come down from heaven. They remind everyone that the earthly Jesus is the son of Joseph and Mary, so how can Jesus be from heaven?
This is not so different from the reaction by many today. There are a lot of folks who think that Jesus was “a good guy”. They endorse His teachings about peace and love. They dismiss though, the claims about Jesus being the Son of God (if these folks even believe in God), as well as the Resurrection. I, on my journey back to the cross went through the “Jesus is a good guy” phase.
The Boldest Claim Ever
Jesus responds, not in some sort of cryptic parable, but in a statement so bold that the Jewish leaders likely ripped their cloaks in shock. In Verses 43-48 Jesus lays it all out: “Jesus answered them, ‘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. It is written in the prophets’, And they shall all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.”
It is imagery that may seem a bit alien to us, but it was crystal clear to those to whom Jesus spoke. He is explicitly claiming the status of the divine. He is the one whom the Jewish people have been waiting, the Messiah. He also makes it clear in Verse 47 that it is belief that saves us for eternal life. We must simply trust in God’s good and gracious word.
Can We Respond Boldly?
The author C.S. Lewis once posited what he called a “trilemma”, as opposed to a dilemma. He said we can view Jesus as one of three things. Jesus is either a madman, who thinks He is the Son of God, but is in reality crazy. Or Jesus is a con artist, who knows that He is not the Son of God, but is bamboozling others for notoriety’s sake. Or He is exactly who He claims to be, the Son of God.
We can reject, outright the conman theory. What con artist would put Himself at risk of Roman retribution for notoriety’s sake? It’s not like Jesus went around collecting a lot of money and living large like a Joel Osteen.
We can likely set aside the madman theory as well. If Jesus was considered a madman then the authorities, both Roman and Jewish would have likely dismissed Him. As it was the authorities took His claims seriously, and saw those claims as threatening. They may have not believed Jesus, but they certainly thought that Jesus was serious.
That leaves us, the faithful at least, with the reality that He is exactly who He said He was. It is this third way, the reality of the Resurrection that informs all that we are as Christians. It is this faith that brings us to the Scriptures. It is this faith that sees us giving public witness. It is this faith that sees us trying to do good works in His name in response to God’s gifts of grace upon grace. In the end, our response should mirror our Lord’s bold response. He stated clearly who He was. We should state just as clearly and boldly that we believe Him. Then we go out and obey Him.
Praise Be to God
