Bread of Life (always!) John 6:56-69

John 6:56-69 Gospel reading for Sunday 26th August 2012

This week we have the dramatic conclusion to the 'Bread of Life' series of readings.

A few things to note:

1. Finally in verse 63 if we read it carefully, Jesus makes it clear that the whole bread of life / flesh and blood imagery requires a spiritual rather than a physical interpretation. 
2. Some of his disciples however, were brave enough to put into words what most people were probably thinking ... "this is a hard teaching." 
3. [A critical piece of theology is uncovered in verse 65 ... "no-one can come to me unless the Father enables them" ... in other words we may have all of the best intentions of taking Jesus on board and getting close to Him, but we cannot do that by our own efforts ... God actions that. For a second opinion see St Paul's view in 1 Corinthians 12:3 "no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit."  (Also articulated by Luther in his explanation to the third article of the apostles creed).]
4. But in the end, a number of people walked away! 

So it was all too hard. The message of Jesus did not strike a chord. Why did many people walk away? What happened to them?

Fast forward almost 2000 years. Our Lutheran schools are full of people who have 'walked away' from the message of Jesus. Amongst many of our families, somewhere going back a recent generation or two, chances are that some ancestral family members were strongly committed to the Christian faith. What happened? Why have they walked away since? 

This surely challenges us to search for a (Christian) spirituality that resonates with young people and families ... that encourages them to hang in there and stay part of the crowd.

Do we need to be careful about initially using too much full-on "flesh and blood" language that has the potential to be counter-productive and scare people off?

Jesus always was and always will be "The bread of Life" ... but are we serving up the bread in a fresh and palatable form that appeals to the appetite of people these days? (Sure God does the drawing, but as His agents, wouldn't He want us to be smart about the way that we go about the task of making ready for Him to do the final enabling?)

Nev