What makes God’s Word life-giving?
John 1:11-13; 6:26-58; Deut 8:3
My uncle once filled up a rental car at a petrol station, but when he started the ignition, he heard clunking noises and despite pushing down on the pedal to accelerate, the vehicle moved sluggishly. There was smoke coming out of the exhaust and he soon realised that he used the wrong fuel! The engine was seriously damaged, and the mistake proved to be a costly one. While the effects of feeding our lives spiritually with the wrong things may not have the same immediate effect, it is as damaging as misfuelling a car. As we continue our Advent reflections on the Prologue in John’s Gospel, it is worth asking ourselves, where we get the ‘fuel’ for our lives, what we feed ourselves on.
Manna and the Bread of Life
John’s associations in our passage build on the Jewish understanding of God’s Word as light (e.g. Ps 119:105; John 1:4) and life (Deut 30:15-16, 19-20; John 1:12-13). Moses’ farewell speech develops the latter by interpreting the manna as a pointer to what feeds our lives. Israel had no access to ordinary bread in the desert and relied on God’s provision of manna ‘from above’. It taught them that what truly sustains us is not physical bread alone, but what comes out of God’s mouth, i.e. His commandments, His Word (Deut 8:6). Jesus alludes to this when he defines His food as doing God’s will and work (John 4:31-34; i.e. what God commands Him to do). When Jesus later miraculously feeds the multitudes (John 6:1-14), the timing of this event near Passover (John 6:4) immediately recalls the exodus and the wilderness wanderings. Unsurprisingly, the conversation quickly turns to the miraculous feeding with manna (John 6:30-31). It is at this point that Jesus identifies Himself as the Bread of Life (John 6:32-35), the point John is making in the Prologue by connecting Jesus as the Word that gives life.
The response to Jesus
The Jewish response of grumbling and rejection of Jesus (John 6:41-42, 52, 66 cf. John 1:11) is shocking. Here is a group, who in Jesus’ own words, search the Scriptures because they think they have eternal life in them (John 5:39) and rightly so, since God’s Word leads to Life. Yet these people do not recognise Jesus of whom those words testify (John 5:39). Why? Jesus says that they do not accept Him because they do not love God (i.e the Father; John 5:42). Since Jesus is in unity with the Father’s aims and character and comes as His representative (John 5:43), His rejection highlights the Father’s rejection. The people do not recognise Jesus’ family resemblance with God because they do not follow and truly know God. The love for God (v.42) that the Jews here lack is not primarily an emotion. Rather, love is a covenant term and involves a relationship with commitment that includes the will, mind, heart and strength (Deut 6:4).[1] In other words, it is an all-out faithful and joyful living for God.
What makes the Word life-giving?
It is easy for us to shake our heads and tut-tut at the Jews, but we too can uphold God’s Word as our guide, follow its principles enthusiastically but lose sight of the God it points to. Alternatively, we may allow our commitment for Him to grow cold and look instead for the source of life and for fulfilment in material things, experiences, or in techniques to manage stress, emotional pain and the like. Yet, Jesus says that He is the source of Life and those who read Scripture (God’s words) should seek and come to Him, God’s ultimate Word.[2] He gives Life to us most obviously by dying our death on the cross and paying for our sins (John 3:16) and when we entrust our life to Him (believe), we receive the benefits. However, Jesus’ discussion of eating His flesh to benefit from His life (John 6:51-58) also evokes for Christian readers the Lord’s Supper, where we are periodically reminded of our ongoing need to trust in Jesus’ sacrifice for our life.[3] He is our life support, our daily bread for spiritual life. As Christmas approaches may we carry on or renew our reliance on the life received from the Lord rather than on other forms of sustenance.
[1] While the English ‘heart’ is primarily used in association with emotions, the Hebrew term sees it mainly as the seat of the will and mind. The soul is one’s inner being (which also includes the emotions). Thus, Deuteronomy 6:4 is saying that loving God means an all-out commitment to Him in relationship.
[2] When Jesus says that Scripture testifies about Him (John 5:39), we might think of messianic passages, but these form only a small portion of the Old Testament and many of them only make sense in the light of Jesus’ actual ministry and the cross. Thus, trying to find Jesus in every Old Testament passage will only lead us to twist Scripture’s meaning to say something it does not. Rather, the Old Testament testifies to God’s character and plan to save us (realised in Jesus), and to principals of living (embodied in Jesus). In this sense, Scripture is a testimony to Jesus. To use a human example, the Old Testament is not like a photo showing Jesus, so that when He arrives, we instantly identify Him. Rather, it is more indirect evidence, like having a friend whose features we know so well that when his son turns up at our doorstep, we recognise the family resemblance and acknowledge the connection.
[3] The point Jesus is making about eating His flesh is the metaphorical or symbolic sense of feeding on Christ. In other words, we trust in what He has achieved for us for salvation and continue to do so day-by-day. It is not the Lord’s Supper itself that gives us life as if the rite had some magic attached to it. Rather, it is a tangible expression of a spiritual reality of feeding on and living by Christ’s sacrifice.
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