In John 6 we see that Jesus had acquired a large crowd of followers. He had just fed a multitude of 5,000 men (plus women and children) and had walked on water. Needless to say, he was a pretty popular guy!
It was at this time that Jesus said some curious things: "I am the bread of life... I have come down from heaven... This is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day."
Think for a moment of the claims that were made right there! Based on the context of John 6, to say, "I am the bread of life" was to say, "I am from God and will give life to the world." Please do not lose the significance of this statement and what it would have meant for the Jews who were listening to Jesus.
If I place myself as a Jew who listened to Jesus that day, I cannot imagine what I would have been thinking... "Wait a minute, did this man really just say that he is from God?" "He cannot be the eternal bread that gives life?" "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?" "How can he say that everyone who believes in him will be raised up in the last day... only God can say that!"
In the ensuing passage, Jesus explained to the congregation (they were in a synagogue) that He offers Himself to the world as the manna that will not lead to death, but to life. He said: "This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever."
As the world would understand it, the response of the crowd was not positive. In fact, they grumbled: "'This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?' As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore."
Interestingly enough, Jesus did not appear to be upset by the sudden decline in His popularity ratings. He made no change to His message and made no new promises. This seems to be characteristic of how Jesus dealt with those whom He interacted with while He was on earth. He did not entrust Himself to men because He knew the fickleness of their hearts, and that the truth could not be changed to fit the desires of man.
How do I as a Christian relate truth to the world around me? How does the church as a whole? Are we afraid to offend? I think that the greatest fear that I have as a Christian is the fear of offending others with the truth... the truth that Christianity is demanding. It demands repentance. In my future posts, I plan to develop the biblical concept of repentance a bit further.
"There is a common, worldly, kind of Christianity in this day, which many have, and think they have enough - a cheap Christianity which offends nobody, and requires no sacrifice - which costs nothing, and is worth nothing." - J.C. Ryle
JE
no doubt, the call to repentance is one of the most consistent themes in Jesus' ministry.
ReplyDeleteperhaps the more difficult challenge -- for believers of any era -- is knowing how to effectively communicate the truth of the Gospel to the culture at large. just as Jesus communicated vis-a-vis the OT text to his Jewish audience, and Paul used the words of Euripides to the Athenians, Christ-followers too must be wise, humble, and uncompromising in their message.