John chapter 6 tells of a great multitude of people, at least 5,000 plus accompanying women and children, thronging Jesus and the disciples for a free lunch. They had eaten their full the day before in the wilderness, and now they had followed Jesus back across the lake to Capernaum for another meal. This time Jesus wasn’t serving loaves and fishes, but the bread of life. No free lunch today.
Jesus told them to stop looking for food which perishes and instead search out the “bread of life,” which is accessed, he said, by believing on him whom God sent. Another place, another time, Jesus had preached to another crowd that they should not be anxious for food and clothing, but instead seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness.
The stress for discipleship is believing on Jesus. Actually it would be better translated believing into Jesus. Belief suggests a decision in which the old life is left behind and we enter into a new life based entirely on following Jesus. The transition into implies a continual movement from one to another, where our entire life is spent becoming more deeply grounded in Jesus and less involved in the world. Continual transformation.
I think of baptism here, where we transition into the kingdom through the grace of baptism after making a declaration we are leaving the past behind and committing to a lifetime of serving Jesus. We promise to be loyal to Christ’s church with prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness.
This didn’t set well with the “food for lunch bunch.” They wanted fish and chips to go. Many of them began to leave, disappointed and disgusted. Religious folks complained. It looks to me like Jesus was intentionally weeding out the crowds, separating the consumers from the committed. Jesus then looked angrily at his disciples. “Will you leave, too?” he asked.
Since everything Jesus did in his Galilean ministry is for the training of the twelve, I have to ask how this might have affected them. My observation is that it would cause them to realize they have signed on for something far more intense than “vacation Bible school,” with fun and games with a little Bible thrown in. Discipleship under Jesus was more like boot camp than VBS. They had to count the cost and determine if they could stay the course.
It appears by now they had made up their mind. “Where else would we go?,” Peter asked on their behalf. “You are the only one who has the words of life!”
It occurs to me that we do unchurched people a disservice if we lure them to fun things at church and let them believe Christianity is fun and games and free meals. Jesus made it clear the kingdom is not about fun and games and free meals, but about the self-sacrifice of taking up a cross to follow Jesus.
Discipleship is about formation. Forming people into the image of Christ as they believe into Jesus, the one whom God sent.
Jesus told them to stop looking for food which perishes and instead search out the “bread of life,” which is accessed, he said, by believing on him whom God sent. Another place, another time, Jesus had preached to another crowd that they should not be anxious for food and clothing, but instead seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness.
The stress for discipleship is believing on Jesus. Actually it would be better translated believing into Jesus. Belief suggests a decision in which the old life is left behind and we enter into a new life based entirely on following Jesus. The transition into implies a continual movement from one to another, where our entire life is spent becoming more deeply grounded in Jesus and less involved in the world. Continual transformation.
I think of baptism here, where we transition into the kingdom through the grace of baptism after making a declaration we are leaving the past behind and committing to a lifetime of serving Jesus. We promise to be loyal to Christ’s church with prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness.
This didn’t set well with the “food for lunch bunch.” They wanted fish and chips to go. Many of them began to leave, disappointed and disgusted. Religious folks complained. It looks to me like Jesus was intentionally weeding out the crowds, separating the consumers from the committed. Jesus then looked angrily at his disciples. “Will you leave, too?” he asked.
Since everything Jesus did in his Galilean ministry is for the training of the twelve, I have to ask how this might have affected them. My observation is that it would cause them to realize they have signed on for something far more intense than “vacation Bible school,” with fun and games with a little Bible thrown in. Discipleship under Jesus was more like boot camp than VBS. They had to count the cost and determine if they could stay the course.
It appears by now they had made up their mind. “Where else would we go?,” Peter asked on their behalf. “You are the only one who has the words of life!”
It occurs to me that we do unchurched people a disservice if we lure them to fun things at church and let them believe Christianity is fun and games and free meals. Jesus made it clear the kingdom is not about fun and games and free meals, but about the self-sacrifice of taking up a cross to follow Jesus.
Discipleship is about formation. Forming people into the image of Christ as they believe into Jesus, the one whom God sent.
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