John 6:35, 41-51
More Than What We
Know
August 12, 2018 James
Sledge
The bread of life; the bread that
came down from heaven; the living bread that came down from heaven. If
you’ve been around the church for much of your life, these sayings may not
register as particularly problematic. But think about what odd statements they
are. Jesus says he is bread, living bread at that, and bread that came down
from heaven. It’s hardly surprising that “the Jews” complain about this.
(Jews, by the way, is a term used in
John’s gospel to designate Jesus’ opponents and not all those who follow the traditions
of Moses. Jesus and his disciples are Jews after all.)
I would think that many Jews who
heard Jesus talk about bread that came down from heaven – and I include Jesus’
own followers here – would immediately have thought about the manna that the
Israelites ate in the wilderness when Moses led them out of Egypt. That was
truly bread that came down from heaven. And Jesus clearly wasn’t manna.
Then there is the whole “came down
from heaven” thing. Unlike manna, Jesus wasn’t found out of the ground early in
the morning. He showed up just like any of us did, born as a helpless little
baby. Some listening to Jesus knew his family. They knew without a doubt that
he had not come down from heaven.
Many of Jesus’ opponents were
religious leaders, and they “knew” lots of things about scripture and God and
how to be a good member of God’s chosen people. And along with obvious things
such as knowing Jesus’ mom and dad, there were religious problems with what
Jesus said. For Jews, and for early Christians, heaven was God’s home. People,
living or dead, didn’t go there. To be from heaven was to be divine, and
scripture clearly said that God was one. Jesus couldn’t be from heaven.
