Do You Want to Leave; or “Man, That is GROSS”

Jan. 3

Read: John 6:52-71

Do You Want to Leave; or “Man, That is GROSS”

“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. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” - Jesus

We sang a hymn at our church this last weekend that was about a “fountain filled with blood”. Here is the opening verse:

“There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins; and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.”

I can remember years ago when I had a non-Christian friend of mine visiting from Germany and he came to church with me. We sang that same hymn, and the look on his face was priceless. I have never felt more odd or uncomfortable in a church service! Sometimes we don’t really think about how the words and imagery of Christianity can actually be pretty gross… and sometimes they do not make sense on the surface. I mean, a “flood” of “blood” is pretty disgusting and how could jumping into a fountain of it help with your “stains”… sounds to me like there would be a whole bunch of new “stains” to deal with! (I am not volunteering for laundry duty after a fountain of blood dunk.)

The truth of the matter is that often times Jesus’ words are graphic and do not immediately make sense. They are “hard” and provocative. (cf.v.60) They are downright offensive and sometimes even a little “gross”. Jesus looked at the crowds and said:

“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.” - Jesus, v.53

The crowds responded about how you would expect them to… scratching their heads, maybe a face-palm or two, furrowing their brows, and dismissing Jesus as a crazy man. Was he some sort of cannibal? Even his own disciples were caught off guard. They begin to say amongst themselves, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” (v.60) It is like they were saying “no one wants to hear that! That’s just gross. I mean come on Jesus… what are you saying here?!… who can listen to that?!” But Jesus does not relent. He doubles down. He continues to press. And what happens? A bunch of the disciples LEAVE. (v.66) That is right… the quit. They gave up. They stop following him. They walk off… and Jesus seems OK with it. It is a unique picture of Jesus that potentially stands in contrast to the ways we have been taught to think about him. This is not a Jesus who is desperate to get some people to follow him… he doesn’t even chase after them and say, “come on guys… come back… I’ll stop the creepy flesh eating and blood drinking talk…” Nope. Jesus just watches them walk off and then turns to the twelve to ask them, “Do you want to go away as well?” (v.67)

The hard truth is that the words of Jesus are often extreme and challenging. Jesus knew full well that talking this way would drive people away… discourage them in a sense… from following him. There is actually no “casual” way to genuinely follow Christ. Sooner or later, if you are actually listening to him and what he is saying to you, you will come to a point where his words will be challenging… and may not even immediately make sense to you. This talk of eating Jesus’ “flesh” and drinking his “blood” would get a little more context at the end of the story after the last supper and his death and resurrection… but it never stops being “extreme” or polarizing. I think it is a dangerous place to be when the words of Jesus stop being radical and extreme! Sometimes in life, Jesus is going to call us to something… he is going to say something to us that we will need to trust him with and it will get more clear as we walk in faith with him… or we will just quit and walk away.

Peter’s response to Jesus in this moment is iconic. Anyone and everyone who has truly experienced the work of Christ will understand what he means. When asked if they wanted to leave, Peter replied on behalf of the twelve:

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” (v.68,69)

Where else are you going to go? What - actually WHO - else is there that has any REAL life to offer? You can run after all of these other things… things that the “flesh” tries to lead you into; but in the end, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all.” (v.63) Peter calls Jesus’ words the “words of eternal life”. As hard or challenging or even cryptic as they may be at times, Jesus’ words are the words that will actually bring life. We will all be faced in our lives with moments Christ will speak to us… call us to himself… and what he is asking will sound radical and off the wall…it will challenge our resolve. Jesus is going to speak “hard sayings” to his followers. In those moments, we will be tested and see if “it has been granted to us by the Father to follow Jesus”. (v.65) If Jesus has never spoken a hard paying to you… maybe it isn’t Jesus that you have been listening to? Father give us permission, strength, and resolve! When the things of this world or our flesh calls us away, may we respond like Peter and genuinely say: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” Love you guys! - JDP