I’m a Disciple…Get Me Out of Here!
Text: John 6:56-69 23 August 2009
Celebrities are paid £25, 000 for lost earnings when they sign up to go into the Australian Outback to live in the jungle. Ant and Deck host the reality program which raises money through viewers calling in and interacting with the program. They influence the nature of the Bushtucker Trial and evictions from the camp. The Bushtucker Trial is a challenge which involves participants encountering animals snakes, spiders and other creepy crawly creatures. One celebrity had to swim crocodile infested with marksman poised to shoot any that might attack. The show has been criticised because the jungle scenario is not as genuine as portrayed to viewers. Supposedly, the filming area isn’t far from a top rate hotel and is covered by canvassing for the sake of the TV crews. Critics are quick to point out that most of the celebrities are has-beens looking to revive their careers. However, whatever their motives may be, when they find themselves looking down the gun barrel of a task that terrifies them they must wonder, “Is this worth it? Can I really go through with this?”
“Can you go through with it? Do you want to change your mind and leave?” Jesus’ fan base has been shrinking rapidly. Enthusiastic crowds are the snow of spring melting away as they square with the immensity of what it means to be a follower. It’s only the core group that remains - the twelve. “Do you also wish to go away?”
In the shimmer of seconds before Peter replies his mind flits back over the time that has elapsed since Andrew had first announced to him that he had discovered the Messiah. It had begun with the thrill of being named ‘Rock’. Peter had always thought of himself as a tough guy. Going with Jesus resonated with his thirst for the thrill of adventure. There was no shortage of excitement as Jesus restocked the wine supply from well water…challenged market forces in the temple…struck up a conversation with a woman - and a Samaritan woman at that… healed the ill and the lame…sorted out a catering calamity with a packed lunch…and stilled a storm. The more he saw and the more he heard, the more Peter felt sure that Andrew had been right: Jesus was the Messiah.
“Do you also wish to go away? Can you go through with it? Do you want to change your mind and leave?” Jesus’ searching words forced Peter to look deep into his heart. His instinct was to say ‘Yes’ but there was another part of him that was petrified by the things Jesus was saying.
Peter’s mind drifted to the crowd that came to Jesus the day after they’d been fed. The crowds follow Jesus and when they find him he’s blunt with them, “You’re not interested in the signs I’m doing. All you want is another nosh up. Don’t work for food that is here today and gone tomorrow but for the food that never goes off. The food I’m putting on offer has no sell by date: it brings lasting life. It’s given by the Son of Man who has the seal of approval from God the Father.”
The crowd wonders what the criteria for doing the ‘works of God’ are. Jesus informs them that ‘the work of God’ is to believe in the one he has sent. The crowd want a sign that they can see so that they may believe. They want Jesus to perform a work in the same way that Moses provided manna from heaven for them to eat. Jesus assures them that the source of the manna was not Moses. Rather the Father who supplied manna then gives true bread now. God’s bread gives life to the world. The irony is that the crowd is looking for a sign when Jesus is standing right in front of them!
Jesus announces, “I am the bread of life.” He claims to satisfy hunger and thirst…to give life that lasts…to resurrect all who have fed on him. Just as Jesus did not want to lose any fragments of bread at the feeding of the thousands so he will not lose anyone who comes to him - seeing and believing - will have eternal life.
Peter could see that Jesus’ words were ruffling a few feathers. There were those who could not stomach his claims to being bread from heaven and so they began a personal attack. “His father was Joseph. We know his mum and dad well. He’s from Nazareth not from heaven!”
Jesus tells them to stop their complaining. Only those drawn to him by the Father can come and receive resurrection on the last day. He who believes has been taught by the Father and receives the one he has sent by God and so receives Jesus, the bread of life. The Israelites ate manna in the wilderness but ultimately died. Anyone who eats of the living bread will live for ever.
The crowds came after Jesus wanting bread for their bellies. Instead, they were offered a way of life. They wanted the buzz of being around Jesus…of having their physical needs met. They wanted a kind of believing that made life easy.
An ugly atmosphere develops as the opponents of Jesus question how it is possible to eat the flesh of Jesus. It’s not the first time Jesus has been misunderstood. Nicodemus couldn’t fathom how someone could re-enter their mother’s womb after Jesus talked about rebirth. He didn’t understand that Jesus was talking about a spiritual birth. The woman at the well thought Jesus was talking about a magical kind of water that would slake the thirst once and for all. She didn’t understand that Jesus was claiming to be living water. Now we have Jesus’ opponents thinking that he is suggesting some form of cannibalism!
Jesus ratchets the tension up a notch. Peter often wished that Jesus would say what he meant instead of using language that was open to so much misunderstanding. Jesus refused to ‘dumb’ down. “If you want a relationship with me then you have to eat my flesh and drink my blood.” Peter could feel his stomach turn. He could handle Jesus the bread of life, who fills the hungry and quenches the thirsty. But to realise that the food is Jesus’ flesh and the drink is his blood is too much. Yet it is the consuming of Jesus that expresses the life giving intimacy of the life that we have in Jesus. Jesus was sent by the living Father to live and bring life. Consuming Jesus the bread of life in flesh and blood sent from heaven will surpass the manna in the wilderness. Manna did not prevent a natural death. Jesus will bring a life that never ends.
Peter remembered that it was at this point that Jesus’ opponents disappeared leaving the disciples to chew over Jesus’ teaching. A lot of the disciples were struggling. When they heard, “I am the bread of life from heaven. Eat my flesh and drink my blood” it was a case of “I’m a disciple…get me out of here! Jesus has gone one step too far for me. How can I take on board a flesh eating blood drinking faith?”
Jesus, aware of the grumblings asks, “Are you offended by what I’m saying? If what I’ve said about bread, flesh and blood puts you off, what will you make of the Son of Man going back to where he came from? How will you react when I go to my Father via death on the cross? When I say that the flesh is useless I’m telling you that no human willing or doing can cut the pathway to the Father. It’s the spirit that brings life. When I say eat my flesh and drink my blood, these words are spirit words…life words…words calling you to take my being into your being by believing in me. You can’t believe in me by yourself. Coming to me is a gift of the Father. Your efforts - your flesh - can never create a relationship with my Father. It is only my flesh and my blood that can make you a child of God.”
Jesus is not taken by surprise by those who do not believe. He even knew the one who was going to betray him. Peter sees the last disgruntled disciples walk away He hears Jesus’ question to the twelve. It’s a question that forces them to crystallise their thinking about Jesus. “Do you also wish to go away?” There’s a part of Peter that wants to run after the rest. There’s a part of him that wants to go back to the safety of fishing nets and boats. There’s a part of him that isn’t sure what Jesus is on about. To say ‘Yes’ to Jesus is all or nothing. To say ‘Yes’ means an intimate relationship with God that Peter is not sure he can sustain. The other disciples may have been lost in their own similar thoughts.
Peter blurts out, “Lord, what other option do we have? Who else has what you have? You have words that bring life that never ends. Since we set out following you we’ve come to believe and know that you embody the Holy God.” Peter doesn’t get everything that Jesus has said about being the bread of life…eating flesh and drinking blood…or what route the ascension would take. But he knows Jesus well enough to realise that going to any other person or listening to any other words will end in a cul-de-sac of death.
Why did you and I come to Jesus in the first place? Why did we want to follow him? Did we think it would be a great adventure? Did we believe that there would be an emotional high…a lasting joy…enduring success…safety from harm? Did we think that following Jesus was adopting a set of beliefs about him and living by a list of rules to make us holy? Or perhaps you thought following Jesus might help you to be a better person, a valuable member of society, and help you to be involved in social change for the good.
So what happens when Jesus offers a challenge - when the adventure turns to a Bushtucker Trial - when having Jesus as a friend means dying with a strung up criminal - washing feet…doing dirty work…loving the unloveable? What happens when joy disappears and the depression sets in? What happens when following Jesus doesn’t protect us from illness and accidents? What happens when our belief statements are shaken…when our answers become questions…when our rules for holy living are no longer fit for purpose? What happens when Jesus says, “Eat my flesh and drinking my blood…share my life…share my death…share my rising…let me give you life”?
Will we dissipate with the crowd looking to get an endless supply of bread from Jesus? Will we be offended with Jesus’ opponents by the sheer cost of discipleship - the death involved in being raised to life? Or will we bring our incomprehension and fears to Jesus and say with Peter, “Lord, to whom can we go?” 
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