Walking or Remaining?
John 6:51-69 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 52At that, the Jews argued among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53So Jesus said to them, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. 54The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the Last Day. 55For my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink. 56The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like your fathers ate and died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.”
59He said these things while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. 60When they heard it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching! Who can listen to it?” 61But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, asked them, “Does this cause you to stumble in your faith? 62What if you would see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63The Spirit is the one who gives life. The flesh does not help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. 64But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning those who would not believe and the one who would betray him. 65He said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me, unless it is given to him by my Father.” 66After this, many of his disciples turned back and were not walking with him anymore. 67So Jesus asked the Twelve, “You do not want to leave too, do you?” 68Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
“Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69). Amen.
The teenager was a little aloof. He kept people at arm’s length – especially after the fire.
The teen’s neighbor was shooting off fireworks on the Fourth of July, when one of the fireworks landed on the roof of the teen’s house. The house caught on fire and became unlivable.
Thankfully, insurance allowed the family to buy a different home in a different town. But the teen – who already had difficulty making friends – now lost all his childhood friends, his neighborhood, and his church in the move.
The pastor in his new church invited the teen to become involved in their church youth group. Things went well for a while. The teen was beginning to connect with other teens and was making new friends. Until the youth group had a bonfire. The teen became agitated. None of the other youth knew what the problem was. Even though they tried to help, nothing worked. From that moment, the teen and his family little by little pulled away from the youth group and the church and began walking away from Jesus.
Sadly, this is nothing new. There are many Christians who are on the fringe and can easily walk away. Perhaps you know someone who has walked away from Christ and his church. Or maybe you are that person who had walked away for a while … but by God’s grace he has
brought you back to walking with Jesus. Or perhaps you could walk away in the future when something or someone offends you.
You may have noticed that worship attendance in churches is down. Since 2020 faithful church members became less faithful in their worship attendance. Less faithful attendees became even less faithful. Those on the fringe disappeared. The walked away from Christ and his church. They are gone.
Jesus knows this walking away will happen. It happened to him. After Jesus fed the five thousand, the people wanted more bread from Jesus. So, Jesus used this desire for bread to teach how he is the Bread of Life. Anyone who eats of him will live eternally. Jesus taught, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever” (John 6:51).
The people understood that Jesus was not really teaching cannibalism when he talked about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. Jesus taught, “The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the Last Day. For my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him” (John 6:54-56). The people knew that eating Jesus as the Bread of Life equated to believing in him.
Flesh and blood go together. This is a way of describing the whole human being. Jesus is referring to accepting his human person as the person of the Messiah. With all this talk of being the Bread of Life, eating his flesh and drinking his blood to receive eternal life, Jesus is making a claim on people’s lives as their Lord.
And that’s where they had their problem. Many of these people are part of Jesus’ larger group of disciples. These disciples were willing to go to school and be students of their rabbi. But they stopped following Jesus when he claimed to be more than a rabbi and be their Lord.
John writes, “When they heard it, many of his disciples said, ‘This is a hard teaching! Who can listen to it’” (John 6:60)? This teaching was offensive to them. Like your teenagers with their geometry, they grumbled, “This is too hard!”
Like a teacher who can see everything going on in his classroom, Jesus can see his students grumbling with each other in the Capernaum synagogue. Jesus asks them, “Does this cause you to stumble in your faith” (John 6:61)? The Greek for “stumble” is our English word “scandal.” This teaching tripped them up. They stumbled over it. They were trapped by it. This teaching of Jesus as the crucified Christ and also the Lord of life is the dividing line for all humanity. We either believe it or reject it. Follow or walk away. Let Jesus be Lord or make ourselves little lords.
People still walk away from Jesus. People can be upset about the style of worship, the time of worship, and even the temperature of worship. In 20 years as pastor in Racine, I’ve had as many conversations about certain doctrines of the Bible as I’ve had about the thermostat.
Sadly, there is always something that we sinners will find to become upset with in the church, the pastor, or the people. We use that something as an excuse to grumble, become offended, and
walk away from Christ and his church. Whatever it is, we feel that others aren’t listening to us. We desire to be little lords.
Satan will use any excuse to tempt us to walk away as soon as our church is not scratching the itch we feel.
The itch we feel ultimately is that we don’t want to accept Jesus as Lord. We can become upset with him when we are enduring an illness or struggling in this economy or grieving a family member’s death or really anything else where we feel like Jesus should be listening to us. We can also become offended by one of Jesus’ hard teachings like the roles of men and women or the doctrine of fellowship or the necessity of forgiving even our enemies. We grumble and walk away because we want to be little lords. We don’t want to accept Jesus as Lord. Because as Lord, he is going to make a claim on our lives.
Jesus knows his larger group of disciples are grumbling as he concludes this discourse on the Bread of Life. He finishes his sermon with this point: “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe” (John 6:63-64). John comments, “Jesus knew from the beginning those who would not believe and the one who would betray him” (John 6:64).
John adds, “After this, many of his disciples turned back and were not walking with him anymore” (John 6:66). Jesus knows many of his disciples will stop believing and walk away from him. He knows Judas will betray him. So, what does Jesus do? Well, I’ll tell you what he does not do. He doesn’t soften his message. He doesn’t make his teachings less hard. He doesn’t give the people what they want to hear. He gives them what they need to hear. He doesn’t feed their sinful nature’s sweet tooth. He wishes to feed their spiritual soul with the Bread of Life.
Jesus keeps preaching. He keeps teaching. This is where we see our Savior’s love. He knows many of these disciples will walk away … but he keeps preaching. He knows Judas will betray him … but he keeps calling him to repentance for the whole next year.
Jesus knows many of us will become offended, upset, on the fringe at some time in our lives. There will be some excuse we will use to walk away from Christ and his church. What does Jesus do to keep you here and connected to him? Here is Jesus’ great love for you. Jesus keeps doing the same thing he did to bring you here and bring you to faith. He keeps feeding you the Bread of Life.
The Bread of Life you hear and believe in the Scripture readings, sermon, and hymns.
The Water of Life you received and remember in your Baptism.
The flesh and blood of Jesus for you to eat and to drink in the Sacrament of the Altar for forgiveness now and eternal life later.
Jesus descended from heaven to earth to be laid in a manger. He walked and taught during his ministry. He was raised up on the cross and laid in the tomb. He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. He did all this so those who believe in him can rise from the dead and ascend to be with him in eternal life.
Jesus challenged the remaining twelve disciples, “You do not want to leave too, do you” (John 6:67)? Simon Peter answered, “Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69).
I pray that you respond to Jesus by remaining with him. Where else are you going to go? Jesus alone has the words of eternal life.
Respond like the Old Testament Israelites did to Joshua’s challenge. Joshua asked the Israelites at Shechem, “Choose for yourselves today whomever you will serve—whether the gods that your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household—we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15)! The people responded, “We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God” (Joshua 24:18)!
Dads, you are the head of the household. You take the lead and, Lord willing, your children will follow. You cannot lead only by talking. You must also lead by doing. Present a good example. Let your children see you casting away the idols of the world and serving the Lord in all faithfulness. Joshua was the leader, hoping that Israel would follow his lead.
Mothers, you are following your husband with your children. Allow him to lead. Nurture your children in their faith. They see dad leading. They see you trusting his leadership. They are going with you following where their father is going.
I pray all of you respond and remain with the Lord. Even if you must stand in a small group, that’s OK. You are standing in good company with Joshua, the Israelites, and the Twelve.
There will be times we will end up on the fringe. Or times when other Christian we know are on the fringe. We are all in danger of being offended and walking away from Christ and his church. The devil will tempt us with the false gods of our culture and the sugary sweet tastes of our world. Like God’s Old Testament disciples of the Israelites and Jesus’ New Testament disciples of the Twelve, you have a choice to make. Will you be offended, grumble, and walk away to be your own little lords? Or will you continue to follow Jesus as Lord and remain? Amen.
“But as for me and my household—we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15)! Amen.