61 Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining, so he said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what will you think if you see the Son of Man ascend to heaven again? 63 The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

Jesus comes to embody what we are meant to be. Think about God’s love. Jesus is able to receive his Father’s love. 100%. The Bible says, “Perfect love casts our fear.” In other words, fear cannot co-exist with God’s complete love. Jesus has no fear. If I am to be like Jesus, am I able to receive the Father’s love so completely that I have no fear?

The answer is, “No.” Not without the His Spirit. A better question is, “Am I able to receive his Spirit and learn to receive the Father’s love?”

The answer has to be, “Yes.” There is no other way. Jesus says it like this. “Human effort accomplishes nothing.” There is nothing human-led that is going to be able to cast out fear, make me secure and give me peace. It is the Spirit alone who gives eternal life. Life the way the Father means for me to live.

This is why God calls us to pursue his Spirit. God calls us to realize he loves us.

You see if I hope God loves me it is not enough. If I start with the fact that God does love me and I have faith in this, then I am able to receive his Spirit. What is faith?

The Bible says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

Faith is being sure and certain. If I am sure and certain God loves me, even though I can’t see God, that’s faith?

Yes, this happens because the Holy Spirit brings this faith. Jesus embodies what it means to have complete faith in what the Father is doing.  Jesus becomes the intersection between heaven and earth. So, because he embodies what we are to be, the things of heaven, like perfect love and no fear, can be ours like they were for Jesus when he walked the earth.

ME

What are human ways you tried to attain peace in your life?

60 Many of his disciples said, “This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?”

I am a human being. So are you. How are we then to live? The answer comes from Jesus. Jesus comes into our world to embody what we are meant to be.

The question we are to ask ourselves this morning is this. Am I ready to be who Jesus is in his relationship to his Father?

Jesus says, “I only do what I see my Father doing.”

If Jesus is my model and he comes to embody what I am meant to be then I am willing to do what Jesus does. So, the question I ask myself this morning is, “Am I ready to do what Jesus would do if he were me?”

Here is the great challenge. What if I find it hard to accept what Jesus would do? What if I find it hard to accept his teaching?

Not all his teaching. Just the stuff that makes me uncomfortable.

In today’s lesson from John 6, we see Jesus has many disciples besides the 12 he chooses to be his closest students. Jesus has been teaching some things that are making many of these disciples uncomfortable.

“This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?”

But, I don’t think it is the things Jesus teaches that I don’t understand that are the problem. It is the things I do understand.

Like love your enemy.

Who is my enemy? Well, who are the enemies of Jesus? They are the people who are trying to do him harm. So, my enemy is someone who is trying to do me harm. Someone who is working against me.

By that definition, to love my enemy is to work for the good of someone who is working to do me harm. But, why do I want to have good come to someone who doesn’t want good come to me? This is a hard teaching.

ME

What is a hard teaching of Jesus for you?

John 6

58 I am the true bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will not die as your ancestors did (even though they ate the manna) but will live forever.”

There we have it. When we believe that Jesus died our sins and that we will be raised from the dead at the end of time, living with him forever…Well, that starts now. As we feed on Jesus he lives in us. Again, this is a metaphor, we are not zombies, but, feed on Jesus never die. Another metaphor comes to mind.

Jesus is the bread of life, and the Bible is the word of life. We can speak of feeding on God’s Word, can’t we? If you want to find abundant life now, it is awesome to consider what feeding on God’s Word can do. The key message that Jesus died for us and that he raised from the dead that we too might be raised is the good news. This is what we are invited to trust. But, the Bible also gives us words to guide our lives. Words to give us the path to living in the Kingdom of God now. The model and teaching of Jesus gives us what we need to flourish no matter what is happening around us.

Take and eat. Take and drink. How many ways does God have to reveal himself until we understand he is our God and we are his people? God is with us, now.

ME

How does today’s teaching help you understand the importance of gathering to worship?

John 6

57 I live because of the living Father who sent me; in the same way, anyone who feeds on me will live because of me. 

Now, we can begin to see the picture of what it means to be connected to Jesus. Jesus is connected to God the Father and the Holy Spirit who are three in one. The Holy Trinity. Jesus invites us into as intimate a relation and communion with him as we can imagine. We are not eating human flesh when we eat the bread of communion or drinking blood when we taste the wine, but Jesus is present there is a unique way. And as the bread and wine of communion are consumed, because the nutrients of the bread and wine are broken down and used, he becomes part of us.Part of our body itself.

So, in a sense, after receiving Holy Communion, we are bringing Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to the world through us.

ME

What are some of the symbols of Holy Communion that are meaningful for you?

John 6

53 So Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. 54 But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day. 

When you are a kid at worship, you don’t always appreciate the majesty of worshiping the living Lord. In fact, you might get a little restless. You might even get distracted. You might be bored.

That was me when I was at worship with family. I would usually sit next to my mom. She was always a great stooge for my humor and so even in worship I would try to get her to react.

I remember singing songs and changing the lyrics a bit. We would sing, O God Our Help In Ages Past, for instance, and this verse would come up:

A thousand ages in Thy sight

Are like an evening gone;

Only I would sing,

A thousand ages in Thy sight

Are like an evening gown;

And then we would snicker, and mom would poke me.

There were other songs as well, but, my favorite was when we sang, Sons of God. It was a popular Bible camp song we would sing in church. It starts like this.

Sons of God: Hear His Holy word, 

Gather around the table of the Lord 

Eat His Body, drink His Blood 

And we’ll sing a song of love 

Allelu, Allelu, Alleu, Alleluia!

Only I would change it to this.

Sons of God: Hear His Holy word, 

Gather around the table of the Lord 

Eat His Body, drink His Blood 

We are vampires full of love…

Well, you had to be there. But, when you think about it, we do have a very strange way of speaking, based on what Jesus says.

This has caused Christians to be considered strange and perhaps evil since the beginning of the church. During the early church when non-Christians would eavesdrop on a worship service and hear “Take and eat this is my body, Take and drink, this is my blood…” they thought something diabolical was happening.   

With the popularity of vampires and zombies now a days, these words of Jesus must be pretty interesting if you don’t know the Bible and you don’t know about Holy Communion. We can see that this metaphor Jesus is using to describe what is going to happen on the cross, he will give his body and blood for that we may live forever, can cause confusion for those who don’t know him. But, we do know him.

ME

Do you have memories of worship with your family growing up? What are they? If not, ask a friend.

John 6

47 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes has eternal life. 48 Yes, I am the bread of life! 49 Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died. 50 Anyone who eats the bread from heaven, however, will never die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.”

Jesus is getting deep here. He is having a debate with the Jewish leaders at Passover time. He uses passover themed teaching to show that he is the Messiah come from God. Jesus is using symbolism to speak of his place as God coming to earth and fulfilling God’s plan of using Israel to save the world.

“Anyone who believes has eternal life.” That is anyone who is believing what Jesus is saying about himself. He is using the phrase “I Am” to describe himself. This is the name God reveals is his own name. So, Jesus is saying, “I am God,” when he uses phrases that begin with “I am.”

48 Yes, I am the bread of life! 49 Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died. 50 Anyone who eats the bread from heaven, however, will never die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.”

The bread of Passover is a theme of God’s presence with his people as they are escaping from Egypt in the Exodus. This is the pivotal event of the whole Old Testament. Then a form of bread, Manna, miraculously rains from the skies to feed the Israelites in their wilderness wanderings after they have left Egypt. But, the manna only lasts day to day and is a temporary solution to their hunger. Jesus is saying he is the real bread who comes from God and if anyone eats him they will live forever. And then he uses the word, “flesh.”

The word for “eat” here is literally our word, “Gnaw” or “Munch on.” If you gnaw on this flesh you will love forever. Better than manna.

ME

How many “I am” sayings do you remember? Which has the most meaning to you?