One of my new favorite passages of scripture. Jesus' followers remind me of religious church going people. Look at their questions and responses...
Jews: v. 28 "What must we do to do the works God requires?"
Jesus: v. 29 Definition of the work of God:"believe in the one he has sent."
Jews: v. 30 "What miracle/sign then will you give that we may see it and believe"
Basically saying, Proof you are from God, Jesus. They give an example of their forefathers and Moses with the miracle of manna from heaven that God provided through Moses His servant.
v. 32-33 Jesus basically states he has no need to prove it. Moses had to prove it because he was a man who God worked through. Jesus doesn't need to prove it because he is God, he is the sign. Hence why he says "For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
Jews: v. 34 The Jews then see that they need to get the bread in order to have eternal life so they tell him, "Give us this bread"
v.35 Here Jesus shows that he cannot give them the bread because HE IS THE BREAD! They aren't believing in him!! How can he give to them what they refuse to take?!?
The issue here is this: It is the same issue as it has been over and over again whenever Jesus talks with his own people. They do not believe in him. To go back to why this reminds me of religious church going people...
To the Jews in this passage, it is not just enough to believe in Jesus. You see in their response, "what must we do?" "what works does God require of us" and Jesus responds with, "believe in the one God sent" that's it! All that is required of us by God is to believe in Jesus, that HE is the Son of God, that HE is God, that HE is the bread of eternal life, that HE is the only way to eternal life. After we do that, the only thing that is required of us--all that's left is for us to just follow him by our works. See, this passage is just another of the many where it states that it is faith then works. The Jews were seeking works and then faith. "show us a sign then we will believe in you" where as Jesus said, "believe in me, and then do as I say"
Since they were refusing him Jesus then goes and basically says, "you want works? eat my flesh and drink my blood" if they had faith first this wouldn't have been such an issue for them to grasp and understand. The fact is though, they didn't believe and since they didn't believe they could not understand the significance of what Jesus was teaching them.
How in the world are we to understand what God wants from us, to find our "purpose" when we are not believing in Him? When we put our works, our good deeds, our own ways to a good spiritual life, before believing in Jesus. What does he say to the Teachers of the Law when debating with them?
"And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life." John 5:37-40
Here again, they are "working" to attain eternal life. They study their Scriptures all day, they know their Law inside and out, yet they refuse to go and believe in Jesus to have eternal life.
What does Paul warn Timothy about in 2 Timothy 3? You see that he starts to explain the habits of those who are godless, in particular he mentions men who are kind on the outside but their intentions are evil. Here's one way he describes how they are unfruitful and evil,
"always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth." 2 Timothy 3:7
Hm. Here it is. You may always attain knowledge and learn about the truth, but if you never acknowledge it as truth, then it will be one of the many ways as to tell whether or not you are truly one who follows God, who loves God.
I come from a background where knowledge is such a virtue to have. I always have a desire to learn and to attain knowledge. When I look back on my life and see how much knowledge that I have attained from the Bible yet questioning whether or not it is truth and I compare it to someone who just recently became a follower of Christ and how much they crave the knowledge but have so much passion and love for Jesus, how am I different from the Pharisees here? Life. Jesus is eternal life. If I don't believe that, and I just study that, I don't have that life.
How did Jesus describe it to the teachers of the law?
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean." Matthew 23:27
I don't know about you, but when I walk into some churches, it feels like this. I have such a desire to see life breathed into those hearts on Sunday mornings. We get so caught up in our ministries, our good works, our deeds, we neglect going to Jesus and therefore we decay inside.
Now, when reading chapter 23, if you read it in parts, and not take in the whole chapter you miss the whole passion in Jesus. You see, he curses their religiosity, but then his heart is broken for them. Look at verse 37
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing"
How heartbreaking!
So many times I have gone around looking down on those religious people, that self-righteous pride, the self-righteous arrogance, and I think to myself, "you guys are idiots" and I look on them with spite. Jesus did not look on the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law with spite! After he curses them he cries for them. He mourns for them! Our God is not a spiteful vengeful god. He is a loving God, desiring us to come to him!
My whole perspective on this has changed. My heart cries out and mourns for the religious, the do-gooders, those who are trying to attain their salvation and get their eternal security in what they do rather than going to God and loving Him and seeking HIM!
These people do not need to be debated with, they do not need to be slandered, they need to be loved, they need our cries, our tears to God in prayer.
How many times have you read this verse and never once thought to direct it towards someone else rather than your own sin?
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise" Psalm 51:17
Are we becoming broken for these people before God? Or are we ignoring that, and just judging them?
The Spirit will move when God's people come together and pray in brokenness over the lostness of our country, over the spiritual decay of these white washed tombs.
Let us not fall into the trap of these sins. What does Paul warn the Galatian church in chapter 6?
Galatians 6:1 "Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted"
We are all at risk to fall into the same sins as those who are in them. The reason I have passion for these religious people is because I use to be one of them. I would never admit it to myself, but my whole perspective on reading and writing and praying to God and about God was about me trying to be good, be trying to please God, me trying to attain the best possible knowledge out there. I would become overwhelmed, and when I fell into sin, I felt shame and guilt. The ironic thing is that I was brought up in good churches, that taught truth, but I viewed my circumstances in this sin for some strange reason.
The more I spend time in God's Word, with God's people, among the lost and broken, among the self-righteous and spiritually rich individuals who don't "need" to just believe in God, the more God takes me out and sets me apart in His Son, Jesus Christ.
My identity is no longer in my morality nor in my sin. My identity is in Christ. I am just as broken, sinful, self-righteous, and spiritually rich as the next person. Yet I have been set free from all those things, and now I am under my Savior and my God's wing, secure for eternity.
I'm amazed by this story. From Genesis to Revelation. God, who when he curses us and puts us in time out, sits with us through our time out. Where's my evidence of this? Genesis 4:1 soon after Eve has been cursed with pains in child birth what happens? "she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man."
God cannot be mocked when we sin, no doubt. (Galatians 6:7-8) Yet he will not despise us. (Psalm 51:17) Nor does He take pleasure in our spiritual decay or the death of souls. (Ezekiel 18:23,31-32)
Sigh. Love abounds. Justice prevails. Yet freedom is here, for all those who believe.
I love You, God.
