The Cup of Blessing: Part II

"They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” 33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread."

--- Luke 24:32-35

The evangelist and teacher Ravi Zacharias has written a number of books. Among them is one called "Jesus among other gods". The point of this book is to examine Jesus Christ and see if he really is unique, or if it is true that all religions are really the same. In this book Mr. Zacharias makes a profound statement. A statement that gets at the very heart of Christianity. If you examine all other religions you will find teachers who point the way. Muhammed says, if you follow my teachings you will be righteous and a friend of God. Buddha says if you follow my teachings you will find enlightenment and freedom from suffering. Hinduisms prophets and mystics claim that their teachings show the way to enlightenment. Mr. Zacharias points out in his book that Jesus alone, among all others says "I am the way, the truth, and the life...". Jesus alone says "I am the bread of life", "I am living water, drink of me".

Too many christians in the protestant world have missed this point entirely. We have confused Jesus with his teachings. Its not that his teachings aren't important, or that they don't need to be obeyed, but HE is the bread of life, HE is the way, the truth, and the life, HE is the water of life. Jesus said "He that believes IN ME will never die".
In protestant circles we talk alot about 'relationship'. We say its all about relationship, not religion. That is true, but we have missed the true significance of those words. When it comes to answering the question "how does one have a relationship with Jesus" we answer with, reading the bible, praying, singing, etc. All those things are good and necessary and they are part of relationship God. They are not what our relationship with Christ is founded upon, however.
Part of the problem here is that we have defined our "relationship" with Christ as like those that we have with friends, but the relationship that Jesus intends is much more intimate and something much greater and deeper than any simple friendship.


So what is this relationship, and where do we find it? The first clue I offer up is the event described in Luke 24 which I have quoted at the end of my last post, and at the beginning of this one. The road to Emmaus. In this passage Jesus appears to some of his disciples who are journeying from Jerusalem to the town of Emmaus. As they walk they are discussing the crucifixion and the rumors that Jesus' tomb was empty. Jesus joins them on the road and asks what they are talking about. They do not recognize him and begin to tell him of the events. Jesus responds by giving them what undoubtedly was one of the greatest teachings on the fortold death and resurection of the messiah, ever given. Luke tells us that beginning with Moses and the prophets Jesus explained EVERYTHING in scripture concerning himself. I can hardly imagine how amazing a teaching like that would be... and yet... these men who had known him for three years, heard his teachings, walked with him... did not know him. They did not recognize him.

So at the end of their day's journey they reached the town of Emmaus and these men asked Jesus to come in and stay with them because night was falling. Jesus came in and as they settled down for supper, Jesus, the guest, became the host. Luke tells us that Jesus took bread and blessed it (just as he had at the last supper) and then he broke it and gave to each of them (just as he had at the last supper). In that moment, in the breaking of the bread, they knew Jesus. Then he miraculously vanished from their sight. They were amazed.. they recalled how their hearts had burned within them at the truths He taught them while they walked, but they had not known him then.
Immediately these men who had spent the entire day travelling leapt up and ran back to Jerusalem that night. They found the Apostles and told them how the risen Christ had appeared to them, and that they had known Jesus in the breaking of the bread.

It is so significant here that we see, Jesus taught them all about himself from the scripures, but they never knew him till he blessed the bread and broke it for them. We can know about Jesus from teaching and study, but that is not how we know Him.

One of the most controversial passages on this topic is John chapter 6. It was just as controversial when Jesus said it as it is now. The result of what Jesus taught in this passage was that many of his followers left him because what he said was to hard and strange for them. We will begin looking at this passage in verse 25.

25 When they found him on the other side of the
sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered
them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw
signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not labor for the
food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son
of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”
28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”
29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him
whom he has sent.” 30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that
we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate
the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven
to eat.’” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was
not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true
bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread
always.”

The context of this passage is that Jesus has just finished feeding the five thousand. The next day the crowds came looking for him again.
Jesus makes a point of framing the conversation in terms of food. He tells them that they come looking for him not because they saw signs and wonders, but because they themselves ate their fill of the miraculous loves and fishes. He then tells them not to labor for temporal food, but for eternal food, food that leads to eternal life. He says that this food is the food that the Son of Man will give to us.

The people seem to ignore what Jesus is sayin, perhaps they didn't understand it, but they redirect the conversation "what must we do to be doing God's works?". Jesus answers them, redirecting back to his original points "the work of God is to believe in him that God sent." Here again we see the subtle distinction that our belief is not in teachings, but in Jesus himself.

The people continue in their misunderstanding and ask " What sign do you do that we may believe you." Note that they do not get the distinction between believing Jesus, and believing in Jesus. The theme of food continues as the people suggest to Jesus that in the days of the exodus, Moses gave them bread from heaven, mana. Jesus corrects them and says that it was not Moses who gave them bread from heaven, but it is the Father who now, present tense, give them bread from heaven, and that bread is "He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." The people still do not understand that he is speaking of himself, and they ask him to give them this bread from heaven. We continue the passage in verse 35

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall
not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to
you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father
gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of
him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should
lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son
and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the
last day.”

Here, Jesus finally lays it all on the line. He has been telling them from the beginning that He is the food of eternal life, that the work of God is to believe IN him, and they have not understood. Jesus finally says "I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. He lays bare their own hearts that they have seen and heard him from the beginning but the truth is that they do not believe. This statement, as we shall see angers many, but Jesus has just begun to get controversial.

41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came
down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose
father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to
me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last
day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’
Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— 46 not that
anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread
of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This
is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.
51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this
bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the
world is my flesh.”

The people were upset by Jesus claims because they did not believe in him. Jesus goes on to tecah "whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life." The point of this teaching from the beginning has been about spiritual food. It is about food that brings eternal life. The message is that Jesus himself is that food. It is not enough to believe teachings, to do works, (though those things are good and necessary) we must feed on Jesus Christ himself. Jesus makes this final point in shocking terms. "If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." To the jews, as to us today this is shocking. Many try to avoid the shock of this statement by making the same mistake that the Jews had been making all through this conversation, by thinking that Jesus is not talking about himself, he's talking about his teachings. The reason Jesus makes this shocking statement is so that there can be no doubt exactly what he is talking about. He is not talking about moral codes, teachings, or anything like that, he is talking about himself.

52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying,
“How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and
drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and
drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever
feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the
living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me,
he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from
heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live
forever.” 59 Jesus said these things in the
synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.

The Jews are already suitably outraged because Jesus has said that he came down from heaven, that he is the bread of life and because he has said he will give his very flesh to be the bread of life for the world. Jesus pushes one step further with the statment "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." Now this conversation has gone beyond offensive, beyond insane, and into sacrelige. Jesus here touched on something absolutely forbidden under Jewish law, drinking blood. Jesus then says something that is crucial to our question of relationship. "for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him."

Food and drink sustain life. Jesus framed this conversation in terms of food and preceeded it by doing a miracle of feeding people. He began the conversation by telling people to seek food that brings eternal life. He claimed to be the food and drink which brings eternal life. The whole point, and what these people can not believe is that its not about works, its not about a moral code, its not about teachings.. ultimatly it is all about Jesus. Does he abide in us? and we in him?

We have just begun to delve into this topic but for the sake of the reader I will make this a to be continued. I will pick up where I left off in John Chapter 6 and continue with the question of how we know Jesus, and what our relationship is really meant to be....