3. Eternal life when?

Launching the Vision

16 August 2009

John 6:35, 41-51

You join us in the Wesley Theatre in Sydney, as we continue our studies in John 6. This is a chapter which includes the fourth and fifth signs: Jesus feeding the five thousand and walking on the water, as well as the first ‘I am’ statement … that is ‘I am the bread of life’ (6:35).

Following the two signs there is, in keeping with the style of John, a large discourse on a theme; here it is the bread of life, which concludes with a call to discipleship.

Jesus’ coming is typically interpreted in terms of the materialistic attitudes many displayed at the feeding of the crowd … we can discern this from the response of Jesus in verse 38. This serves to introduce us, in this context, to one of John’s great themes – Eternal Life.

Text:
“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life.” (6:47)

Later in the gospel, John states that his purpose in writing is that his readers might have life (20:31). This is a theme of cardinal importance to John. Light and life are introduced in the Prologue and recur frequently – and John particularly uses the term ‘eternal life’. You cannot dispense with the fact that ‘eternal’ means something akin to ‘endlessly in a world beyond this’, but it also relates to ‘life of a different quality or on a different level’ … it is a spiritual reality, but it has begun in the here and now. A common fault in much religion is to see faith and life as something we either strive or hope for in the future.

Jesus makes it clear that this life:-

has entered the world as we know it.
has enveloped the whole of our experience.
calls us to apply new life in our day-to-day existence.

This life is available to all … it is expressed in the words of the old hymn, ‘Whosoever will may come’. The offer is free and unrestricted – and it spans the social and religious divides of the day. Earlier in this gospel, we have seen how it is offered to Nicodemus, who is from the religious establishment, and also to a Samaritan woman.

Let us look a little closer at what eternal life means for us:

It is a gift from God too easily misunderstood

As we have established, it is a gift that is received now … and this is very different from how some people talk about eternal life. Nothing could be further removed from the ‘harps and clouds’ picture of heaven and eternity that too often determines people’s thinking on this theme.

When Paul wrote to Timothy, he encouraged him to grasp the gift – ‘Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.’
(1 Timothy 6:12)

This sits neatly with the words that C S Lewis expressed when he asked, ‘Where, except in the present, can the Eternal be met?’

In this section in John, there are responses from various people to what was happening and being taught: the crowd, the Jews, and the disciples. Let me look at some of these responses:-

There were those who grumbled – v.v.41 and 43

Jesus knew what was going on in the Jewish religious leaders’ minds. They were said to ‘grumble amongst themselves’. When John uses the term ‘the Jews’, as he does frequently, he does not make a distinction of a particular group, but they become like an opposition party to all that Jesus was doing and saying … attitudes which eventually will lead to the cross.

The term ‘grumbling’ is a rare but significant word and is translated ‘murmuring’ by some. Although it is uncommon in the New Testament, there is an undeniable allusion to the Old Testament – for when Moses and Aaron led the people in the wilderness and God supplied their needs, we read, ‘The whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron’ (Exodus 16:2) and later in the same passage and context, we are told God heard their grumbling. For early readers, it would be familiar language from the Passover context … and the seder meal.

I suspect grumbling is something we can all relate to! J B Priestly confessed, “I have always been a grumbler. I am designed for the part – sagging face, weighty underlip, rumbling, resonant voice. Money couldn’t buy a better grumbling outfit.”

There were those who refused – v.50

The point which we cannot miss is that each invitation has the possibility of refusal. There is no doubt that people refused the offer of life. It is always possible that people will choose a way which is not the way of God’s kingdom.

Verse 50 has a clear Eucharistic feel to it, bringing a section to a close, but it has much more to say. John suddenly introduces the concept of ‘eating’ which is in keeping with the theme of the whole chapter.

The receiving of the ‘Bread of Life’ is distinctly different from the provision in the desert of the Old Testament. When the Children of Israel ate in the desert, they still died … but this bread feeds for ever! How could anyone refuse such a gift? But the plain fact is that people did – and do.

Arthur Pink developed a link between refusing and unbelief: ‘None but the Lord himself can afford us any help from the awful workings of unbelief, doubtings, carnal fears, murmurings. Thank God one day we will be done forever with “unbelief”.’ Though I am reluctant to put unbelief up too often as a reason why people do not respond, it has a point to make.

Barnabas Lindars identified grumbling as a quite specific meaning for John which is anticipated in this verse and explained by what follows.

There were those who argued – v.52

Notice the strong words used to describe their reaction: ‘Then the Jews began to strongly argue amongst themselves …’ (v.52). Could it be the deduced responsibility in what Jesus was saying that caused their rift? Merrill C Tenney wrote, ‘They took literally the figure of eating his flesh. Unless one has spiritual perception, spiritual truth makes no sense whatsoever!’

This reaction is strong, but is not uncommon – for Nicodemus also failed to grasp how a thing like this could happen (3:4 and 9). But in this immediate context, they turn on each other. There is nothing worse than people arguing amongst themselves. I recall some words which draw a helpful distinction: ‘Discussion is an exchange of intelligence; argument is an exchange of ignorance.’

It is worth noting that they are arguing about the very things which ought to draw them together:-

A faith which is received.
A meal which is shared.
A gift which is eternal life.

It is a gift received in our lives - now

Our text has the words, ‘Very truly I tell you …’ This is the translation of the double ‘amen’ that comes at the beginning of significant statements in John. They strongly underline what follows … which we must hear.

The way the sentence is constructed makes it clear that the gift of life is now offered … and this is not awaited in some future hope, but received in our lives now!

It is life-empowering – v.33

Just as physical food gives us what we require to live now, so spiritual food empowers our being now and gives to all that we mean by life. The nature of the disciples is that they want this bread now and always (34), but Bruce Milne, in his commentary, sums up the situation fairly when he concludes, ‘In apparent expression of some stirring desire they ask for the bread from heaven, though how earth-bound their understanding remains will emerge as the conversation continues.’

In John, life is the abundant gift of God (10:10) and he gives examples of what this freedom means:-

Freedom from thirst (John 4)
Freedom from lameness (John 5)
Freedom from hunger (John 6)
Freedom from sin (John 8)
Freedom from death (John 11)

It is life-sustaining – v.48

This life does more than merely satisfy the one possessing it. John stresses the overflowing quality it produces. He gives us more than we shall ever need … and fills our life with his presence.

John Lennon in the 1970s is recorded as saying ‘Life is what happens when you are making other plans.’ But Jesus offers a gift now … which sustains us in all kinds of ways:-

Sustains a vision of how life can be lived.
Sustains a hope to which we can continually aspire.
Sustains us with a call and a mission to serve others.

Erwin Lutzer, the Canadian evangelical leader, wrote, ‘Better to love God and die unknown than to love the world and be a hero; better to be content with poverty than to die a slave to wealth; better to have taken some risks and lost than to have done nothing and succeeded at it.’

It is life-transforming – v.51

This gift of eternal life transforms how we live now. It is illustrated time and again throughout the ministry of Jesus. The first sign of John was at Cana in Galilee, where water became wine … and it forever describes the transforming power of Christ.

This transforming power is a word to the Christian community, for it:–

makes the church a community which reflects his character, life and activity.
gives the church a wider and holistic mission to offer up all of life to God.
enables the church to be a peace-giving message to a broken and divided world.
creates in the church a spirit of worship which exalts God and offers life to others.

It is a gift which impacts every part of our life and service

This gift of life is not just a personal invitation … it gives shape to every aspect of our mission to the world, but its roots are always in the events of Jesus Christ. It makes us:-

A devoted people to a cause greater than ourselves.
A gracious people who embody the message of forgiveness.
A people who long to know more of the gift to please God and serve others.

It brings the future into the present

The whole thrust of John’s teaching is that eternity has broken into our present experience … eternal life now!

The life is appropriated now …

as we ‘See’ what it means to believe … more than eyes are involved.
as we ‘Believe’ … seeing and hearing are useless without faith (6:40, 63 and 68)

Hans Küng, who has written extensively about the Church, declares, ‘Jesus proclaimed to sinners, to human beings doomed to death, that they could be saved only by a radical faith, a wholehearted conversion and new obedience to the one God.’

It allows the past to be put into perspective

So many examples emerge every day of people who cannot let go of their past. This gift of eternal life does not eradicate the past, but allows us to live in the present and the future without the past taking us prisoner.

How many women and men who are numbered as great achievers would have succeeded if they had kept recalling their past … past hurts and difficulties? This is embraced in the gospel:-

The past is a place where lessons can be learnt.
The present is a place where we build on such lessons.
The future is the security arising from the lessons.

A General Oglethorpe once said to John Wesley, ‘I never forgive.’ John replied, ‘Then, sir, I hope you never sin.’

It makes it possible to live in the present with an eternal hope

If our life is ‘in Christ’, the focus for how we live then makes it possible to give ourselves to others and to the world in a way that is forever life-giving.

To gain the hope of Christ is to discover a focus that will not dim, despite difficulties and opposition to the loving purposes of God.
To receive hope is to open the door to opportunity for the hopeless.
To be filled with hope is to receive a reward in itself.

Dorothy Day was relentless in her commitment to social justice and peace … and especially her devotion to the poor. She even went as far as to say, ‘I firmly believe our salvation depends upon the poor.’ She was a bohemian living in New York City in the early part of the twentieth century. She never budged an inch from her pacifism and her opposition to the sexual revolution of the 1960s. Some hailed her as a saint … she discouraged this in the words, ‘Don’t call me a saint. I don’t want to be dismissed so easily.’

Our believing and receiving eternal life should not lift us out of the everyday challenge of the struggles that confront us, but give us power to be able to emerge positively and alive in the midst of them. However, it is an all-important hope for the Christian.

Over the triple doorways of Milan Cathedral, where Bishop Ambrose established his preaching reputation, are three inscriptions spanning the magnificent arches.
Above one is carved a wreath of roses, with the words, “All that pleases is but for a moment.”
Over the second is a cross, with the words, “All that troubles is but for a moment.”
Underneath the great central entrance to the main aisle is inscribed: “That only is important which is eternal.”

Eternal life is not ephemeral and distant … nothing so:-

empowers people to live now.
engages us to share in the struggle to make life worth living for others.
energises us to use every fibre of being to share the good news with others.

The revelation of his identity as ‘The Bread of Life’ uncovers an invitation. As he opens his life, he encourages us to hear, to come, to believe. Jesus, as the bread of life, finds the deepest part of human existence, the spiritual person, and continues to satisfy us in the here and now!

Joan Benny, daughter of the comedian Jack Benny, had to be persuaded to write about her life with the famous celebrity. ‘After all,’ she said, ‘we had a happy home life and I didn’t have any juicy tid-bits of scandal and abuse that some children of celebrities had and were eager to tell all about it.’

Joan Benny remembers Sunday mornings as being her ‘special time’ with her father. ‘Daddy would wake me up for breakfast about 7.30. Then we’d head outside to go for a drive somewhere. Daddy would get into the car and turn the ignition key. Inevitably, nothing would happen. He would push and pull every button on the dashboard, twist all the knobs, and pump the accelerator, but the motor still wouldn’t start.’

At length he would say to me, ‘Honey, the car just won’t start until you give me a kiss.’ So I did, and it did – and off we went. For a long time I believed there was some kind of scientific connection between kissing and the car starting.’ In writing about her life, Joan Benny tells that her father had a wonderful sense of being fully alive and it was infectious to those around him.

The Christian should be the most life-filled person on earth. It would be a tragedy if people simply lived on the minimum or by the very basics of getting by. We recall what Jesus is recorded as saying elsewhere in John:
‘… I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.’ (John 10:10)

Christian Life