Jesus, an offence

I was reading John 6 this morning and was struck by the directness of Jesus speach. I know that He was not one to beat around the bush but from vs. 53 - 58 it seems that Jesus says things to not only enlighten but to shock and offend.

Previously Jesus said that He was the bread of life, that He has God's approval and that all should believe in Him. For those people these were very strong words, no one had ever claimed to have this direct connection to God before. They challenge Him and want Him to give them this life giving bread every day. He then goes on further by insisting that He is the bread of life and that all that come to Him will never thirst or hunger again. This is strong stuff for the religious crowd of the day. They question Him because of course Jesus is the son of Joseph the local carpenter, where does get off making these claims.

Now most people would stop here and leave well enough alone. The crowd was stirred up enough so why create an even larger hornets nest. But Jesus looks them in the eye and reiterates what He said before, that anyone who wants to come to the Father must go through Him. (Jesus)

Then Jesus goes even further in vs. 53ff when He says that they must eat His flesh and drink His blood in order to receive this eternal life. What an offensive statement this must have been for those around Him because they did not understand what He meant. As I read this I was stunned by the enormity of the offense these words would have held. They would have seen Jesus as being an advocate of human sacrifice. We know now what He meant by this but when He said it they had no clue what He truly meant and He does not immediately clear it up with the assembled mass of people He was speaking to. He did however have their attention.

This reminds me that even today Jesus will offend our tender sensibilities in order to shock us into making a choice of having real relationship with Him or not. Like the image of sacrifice that He leaves with this group we must understand that there is pain and personal sacrifice that we must endure in our pursuit of intimacy with Him. In fact I believe that we can only accomplish what He has designed for us if we walk in that kind of intimacy. He truly does want all of us and we need to go beyond the lip service of giving all to the understanding of what giving all means for each of us. It can be a hard road but the reality of relationship that it produces is worth the pain.

Blessings,
Glenn

Last night when we were reflecting on rest and what it really means I was struck by what Jesus said in Matthew 11:25. Specifically the fact that the father hides his secrets from those who think they are wise but shows these same secrets to those who follow him in childlike humility. He goes on to say int verse 28 that all who are weak and heavy laden can come to Him and He will give them the rest they need.

What I did was make the connection between childlike faith and finding rest in Jesus. If we come to Him with that open faith of a child trusting in the fact that He will be with us and guide, then no matter what is happening or where we are He will give us rest deep in our souls. I want that kind of rest and peace and to receive it I need to have a real childlike faith.

This reminds of the account of Mary and Martha. Comments on this are many but there is something specific in Jesus reply to Martha that really impacted me and relates to this call for childlike faith. When Martha complains to Jesus that Mary is not helping her (Luke 10:38-42) Jesus reply is simple yet difficult. He says: "My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about." Here Jesus lauds Mary for her childlike adoration of Him to the exclusion of Mary and the housework. That is what we need total devotion to Christ in all we do. He says that it is the one and only thing worth being concerned about.

I believe it is in this place that we can find true rest. It is so simple yet so hard because, I believe, it flies in the face of what we perceive as societies norms. We are called to constantly try to achieve and Jesus says trust in me, I will give you rest and then accomplish all of my purposes for your life. This is where I want to live.