The Holy One of God
Elaine Poproski Download: Audio
Sermon Notes:
At the 4:14 mark, the song, “In Remembrance of Me” will play. This song was written by Buryl Red and Ragan Courtney (© 1972, renewed 2000; Van Ness Press) and performed by Robert Kochis. CCLI License #147254.
Scripture: John 6:56-69
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Read more…
Looking to Sunday
by Elaine Poproski
“When many of His disciples heard it, they said, ‘This teaching is difficult…’” (Jn 6:60).
That’s what happened when Jesus started comparing Himself to bread and telling everyone if they eat Him they’ll live forever. If we’re honest, probably most of us would have reacted like the disciples did. And it’s not the first time Jesus said something weird, either. A few chapters earlier, in conversation with a man named Nicodemus, Jesus told him that the only way to see God’s kingdom is to be born a second time. To which Nicodemus responded: Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born? (Jn. 3:4). If the whole idea of being “born again” weren’t so entrenched in our evangelical vernacular, I expect most of us would be just as confused as Nicodemus was.
Jesus said a lot of hard things. Sometimes the things He said were hard because they demanded so much of His listeners. (Remember when He said that those who want to be His disciples have to deny themselves and carry a cross daily? [Lk 9:23]. Or that time He said it isn’t enough to love our neighbours; we have to love our enemies as well? [Mt 5:43-44].) Other times the things Jesus said were hard because they were confusing. I think all Jesus’ talk of bread and Him being bread was confusing. But I think something else was also at play here in John 6. I think if the words were just confusing, the people probably would have stuck with Jesus. I mean, if you’re going to follow a guru, surely you expect to be confused at least some of the time. But the people didn’t stick with Jesus. In John 6:66, we read that “many of His disciples turned back and no longer went about with Him.” I think, maybe, the people listening to Jesus weren’t as confused as I sometimes imagine them to be. Perhaps they understood exactly what Jesus was saying: that He, the prophesied Son of Man who is the Word of God and in whom lives the Spirit of God, is the path to eternal life – to God.
As you prepare for Sunday, I encourage you to read all of John 6:56 – 69 in a few different versions. Perhaps begin with the NRSV or the NIV. Then move to a looser translation like the New Living Translation or the Good News Translation. And then, for good measure, try reading it in The Message and again in the New King James Version. If you can’t access all these translations, do what you can to read the passage in at least a couple different versions. Compare what you read. What are the consistent ideas? Where do you see different versions offering different meaning? Don’t get trapped in the word-for-word comparisons; consider the overarching ideas, instead. What is it that God might have you hear from these ancient words penned by John?