Concrete [Lent 4; St. John 6:1-15]

The sixth chapter of St. John is one of the most hotly contested chapters in the Gospels for the simple fact that Jesus is making claims in it that should not be possible. He says things like He is the bread of life, that He is the bread of heaven, that His flesh is meat, His blood is drink, and that if you don’t eat them you have no life in you.

What Jesus leads into all this with is the Feeding of the 5000, which coincidentally coincides with the Passover meal. All of this combined is too much for many disciples and after Jesus speaks of the eating and drinking business, they leave Him, possibly to never come back.

They leave because they believe Jesus and it is disgusting. They leave because they know Jesus is serious and they can not stand for any of that physical stuff; its just too messy. Thus, even some Christians today flee from the Word of God for this same reason. Instead, they take it as metaphor saying that Jesus meant this spiritually.

Because it is too hard to understand, verbatim, and you still want to believe that the Bible is God’s Word, you simply put this entire chapter in the realm of spirituality. The lie is that Jesus just wants a relationship with you and He expresses how intimate He wants it by using the meal and this “bread talk” simply to illustrate it.

Jesus didn't mean it, because how can eating and drinking do such things? You also believe that physical things, such as eating and drinking, are so base and common that they can’t possibly cause salvation in a person.

In place of the Word of God, then, false teachers add Commandments. The 42^nd Commandment is “Thou shalt have a relationship with Jesus”. Though the Word no where says this, nor gives stipulations for it; it is required and they will ask you, “Do you have a relationship with Jesus Christ?”

The only way to have a relationship with Jesus, according to them, is to give your heart to Him, follow Him, get closer to Him, etc. All of this only in a spiritual sense. Really, how can you give your heart to anyone? You would die. It is only metaphorically that you can, so, in other words, you don’t really.

How do you follow or get closer to Jesus? He is not here in front of you. He is not walking around; It is not possible except in a flimsy, weak, spiritual sense. It all becomes a word game with these false teachers and therefore a side show. For you need to supply proof of all of this. You need to show how good your relationship is, how much your heart is His, and how closely you are following.

You, you, you and nothing to do with Jesus.

Repent. The problem with this “spiritual only” line of thinking is that there are no indications for it in the Bible. Not only are there no guidelines in Scripture for having a relationship with Jesus, but no where in John 6 does Jesus say, “Hear this parable” or “my flesh is similar eating” or any other metaphor language.

Jesus is both God and man. Jesus knows what He is saying. Jesus knows what He is doing. He does not mince words and He does not take them back, even when many turn away because of them.

The true promise of God is so much more substantial than a relationship and so much more concrete than a personal decision. For the Promise of God has flesh. The Promise of God has blood and the Promise of God is born of a virgin and dies on a cross.

Jesus sets before you how this relationship is going to go. He is the Giver and you, the Receiver. Jesus is going to give His kingdom, His righteousness, and His Body and Blood. He is going to create heaven and earth, sustain all living things, and redeem you, a lost and condemned creature: a very one sided relationship.

Jesus is going to demand your whole heart, only to give you His clean heart. Jesus is going to demand your whole life, only to give you His eternal Life and He is going to demand your belief when He sets a meal before you and tells you that this gives the forgiveness of sins.

Now, there are things for you to do in this life, but getting yourself closer to Jesus or giving Him anything is not a part of the program. Not only does Jesus have all things already, but He is giving them to you, not the other way around. You thinking you are accomplishing something in this “relationship” by doing or saying certain things is quite ludicrous.

Christ does not only work on a spiritual level, as if the infinite cannot be contained by finite things.  Working that way would have left redemption incomplete, because Jesus’ sole purpose on earth was to win and secure your salvation. His work was to redeem the entire world in order that you hear and believe.

Yes, God is Spirit, but He also has a body. At this very moment, there is a man in heaven who is running the show. He has a body and a soul and He holds all of creation in His hand. More importantly, He holds the Church so close, that His flesh is meat and His blood is drink indeed; so much closer than any relationship could be.

Yes, our God is a physical God. He not only feeds 5000, but 5000 bazillion. All the baptized of all time have sat down to physical board with Jesus. All have been invited to have a foretaste of the feast to come. All have been called to take and eat and take and drink that they would not die.

With Jesus, there are no abstracts. There are no mysteries as to how we get closer to Him, how we receive Him, or how to be saved by Him. Jesus accomplishes all things. He submits to the Law, suffers and dies guilty of our sin, rises again to new life, and grows and sustains His Church.

Jesus decides whether or not the Church will grow one year or not, the next. Jesus decides whether you will have Faith or not. Jesus decides whether you will hear Him or not.

And since He died on the cross, we know these things are for us, for free. We know that Jesus is the bread from heaven, which when eaten, one will never hunger again, and we know where and when He offers this bread.

It is not a feeling. It is not simply a spiritual matter. It is not how well you are doing at anything.

It is an act of God. It is a real eating and drinking. It is dependent upon Christ and Him dying and rising again. If that is true, then this bread, sitting here, feeds more than 5000 people. If Jesus is true God and true man, then this bread and this wine is the Lamb’s High Feast from which we gain victory and strength to remain in the one true faith, unto life everlasting.

Rejoice! Our God is concrete, not abstract. Our God is physical as well as spiritual and He gives you an already completed and perfect relationship with Him and an already completed and perfected meal with Him.