Author: Jeff Englund

John 6: 58b-61

“‘ Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.’

He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you?'”

 

Are you offended, or are you starting to get it? Do you understand that Jesus is trying to tell us about a different kind of life? The flesh dies and is done. The spirit, that part of you that is really “you,”  lives on and in Jesus that will be raised up on the last day. It wasn’t just the repetition that was getting to his audience though, it was the idea of eating Jesus that was driving them nuts.  Continue reading “Nuts”

John 6: 55-58a

” For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just 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. This is the bread that came down from heaven. “

Once again, just to be very clear, Jesus repeats himself: Continue reading “Repetition”

John 6: 54b

” … and I will raise them up at the last day. “

I continue to marvel at how much information is packed into the words that Jesus said while here on earth. The first half of John 6: 54 foreshadows the elements of communion; the bread and the wine. The second half is a much different kind of statement. Jesus transitions from the metaphorical to the literal. He also speaks in an uncharacteristically direct way.

Jesus says, “…and I will raise them up…”

No waffling here about who will be raising up the dead. Continue reading “No Waffles”

John 6:54a

” Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life…”

In this passage from John 6, we are with Jesus and his disciples when the crowds who had wanted to make him king by force finally catch up with them. Having fed the 5,000 with all the bread they could eat, Jesus is now using the fact that they all ate as much as they wanted as a metaphor for the “real bread” of life which is Jesus himself.

Jesus restates his theme about eating his flesh and then adds the phrase, “… and drinks my blood…” This had to rattle the people there. Continue reading “Blood”

John 6: 53

” Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”

Here Jesus expounds on the concept of life. Without Him in you, there is no life. How is that possible you ask? My heart beats! My lungs breath!! I can see, and speak and hear! Am I not alive?

While all of this is true, Jesus defines life differently. Continue reading “Life”

John 6: 52

‘Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”’

This is a good question! How can this man give us his flesh to eat? How, indeed?!

Let’s look at this as a metaphorical equation of sorts (from verse 51):

Jesus = living bread
Jesus comes from heaven
Eating the living bread = eternal life
Living bread = Jesus’ flesh
Jesus gives his flesh for “the life of the world.” Continue reading “A Metaphorical Equation”

John 6:51

” I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

Yes, we probably could have lumped all of these bread comments into one batch and baked the whole thing together, but this is three minute Bible not 51 minute Bible or some such thing. So in keeping with the three minute theme, we are visiting familiar territory again. Continue reading “Repetition”

John 6: 49-50

” Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die.”

Throughout the Gospels, there is a battle that rages between Moses and Jesus. Unfortunately for the Jewish leaders, the battlefield existed only in their minds. In reality, Jesus and Moses both serve the same God and both taught the same lessons about serving God: Love God above all else and your neighbor as yourself. Continue reading “Moses vs Jesus”

John 6: 48

“ I am the bread of life.”

My neighbors have a cat. They also have two dogs and several kids. Because of the dogs mainly, but maybe because of the kids, too, the cat spends a lot of time outside, and most of the time seems to spend that time in my yard. After several years of trying to chase the cat out of my yard, I finally gave up and decided to be friends with the cat. I even gave her a name, a “street name” if you will. I call her Smudge because she is a light colored cat with a dark smudge of color across most of her face. Continue reading “Smudge”

John 6: 47

” Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.”

This is one of those verses that presents the Gospel in its simplest form. The one who believes has eternal life. Wow. That is pretty simple! But simple is not always easy to do, nor is it always something we can easily grasp.  Continue reading “Simple Gospel”