Proper 14 Series B study notes

 

John 6:35, 41-51

Proper 14 Series B 

Rev. Dr. Daniel J Brege

“I will raise him up.”

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. John 6:40

In Sunday’s Gospel (3-year series), Jesus repeats several themes.  Let us begin by concentrating on the resurrection theme repeated by Jesus in this pericope.   In verse 39 Jesus, speaks of all that the Father has given Him, promising, I will raise it [all] up on the last day.  Then, from a slightly different angle, in verse 40 Jesus says that each person who looks on the Son and believes in Him, He will raise him up on the last day.  A third time Jesus promises that an individual drawn to Him by the Father, He will raise him upon the last day [v 44].

Christianity, the proper continuation of Judaism, believes in and proclaims the resurrection of the body.  The ultimate sign of God’s curse upon this creation was and is physical death.  The ultimate sign of the New Adam’s victory is His resurrection from the dead. To demonstrate and prove His actual physical resurrection Christ showed the Apostles His death wounds, He then had the Apostles touch Him and He ate in their presence.

Even as Christ called forth from death Lazarus, Jairus’ daughter and the youth and Nain, so He will at the end of days call forth all who have died.  Jesus spoke of this in John 5: Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out [28,29a].  Of this resurrection Saint Paul was inspired to write: As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive… For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality [1 Cor 15:22, 52-53].  

So whether our bodies are consumed in fire, consumed by vicious beasts, dismembered, buried at sea, or—like most—buried in the ground, all the dead will hear the voice of Christ and rise.  This miracle is not only a miracle of re-creation, but it is a miracle of redemption.

Holy Scripture is emphatic that all the dead (believers and unbelievers) will physically rise.  Unbelievers will get what they have wanted—no God.  They will live, physically, in the horrible realm of Satan, without the presence of any of God’s mercy.  It is true that in our current era people live in Satan’s realm, for he is the “ruler of this world”.  However the current world has many good things, and of greatest significance is the fact that it has the redemption created by Christ’s death and resurrection. Because of God’s merciful presence, this world still sees some good and pleasant things, but the next realm of Satan will have none of God’s goodness.  Into this realm the resurrected unbelievers will be cast.

So why then will Christ raise believers to an unimaginable eternal bliss?  It has nothing to do with our merit. It is because Christ is the bread that came down from heaven [Vv 33, 38, 41, 42, 50].  The eternal Son of God took into Himself humanity, that He might feed humanity with the bread of life. And eternal life is given because He is the bread of life, the bread that gives life eternal [e.g. Vv 33, 35, 40, 50].

In order to “bake” this bread for mankind, the Son of God had to die and rise from the grave. He had to establish the “dough” of this bread by giving His flesh and blood at the cross, and coming out of the “oven” of the tomb, the bread was ready to be consumed.  Observe Christ’s discussion about this flesh and blood in Vv. 53-58.

How then does one eat of this Wonder-Bread?  It is consumed by faith, and that faith is wrought in the hearts of people by the power of God [Vv. 29, 37, 39, 44, 45].  Jesus says succinctly: No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him…Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life… I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever [Vv. 47-48, 44, 51].

And since it is our bodies that will rise on the last day, God has established a literal food of life to be consumed by our bodies.  Luther and several other theologians have remarked that to eat of the Lord’s body and blood in the Eucharist, is to eat of that which raises the very body which consumed it.  Already around the year 105 AD, Ignatius declared that the Lord’s Supper is the “medicine of immortality.”  Of course the Lord’s Supper is only eaten to one’s eternal health if it is eaten in faith.  So by faith eat of the Bread of Life, and He will raise you up, eternally!

Summary:  What else can one say:  Jesus is the bread of life.  Three words, actually verbs, pop out this week.  All three (καταβαινω, πιστευω and εχω).  John employs them powerfully here to make three points:  Jesus came down to earth; Jesus came down to earth that we might believe; Jesus came down to earth that we might believe and thus have life.  Here.  Now.  Also, this week I include a quote of the Small Catechism to solve a thorny issue...

Key words:

καταβαινω ("descend" or "go down"; it appears seven times in chapter 6: 16, 33, 38, 41, 42, 50, 51, 58 in various forms). The use of this word throughout John and especially John 6 reminds us that John is an incarnational Gospel (as are all the Gospels!).   While John 6 pushes this in a new direction, the idea of God moving toward earth, coming down, has occurred already in John:  The Spirit descends at Baptism (1:33); Jesus refers to Jacob's dream where angels descended at "Bethel," foreshadowing Jesus; Jesus also "goes down" to heal an official's son (4:47) and lastly, Jesus simply said he descended from heaven (3:13).

One could simply be reminded that Jesus in John's Gospel is not an eagle like philosopher above it all; Jesus is not some Gnostic or docetic savior; rather he is a flesh and blood, incarnate Son of God. John 6 is all about the Eucharist; and the Eucharist is the summation of all things.  In this case, the Eucharist is the summation of all other downward movements by God.  It includes the Spirit empowering, it includes heaven's gates opening; it includes healing of mortals.  In Jesus, Bethel (house of God) becomes Bethlehem (house of bread).  Jesus is full divine yet fully flesh. (σαρξ)

σαρξ ("flesh"; just about every verse in section 6:51-63) Jesus says two puzzling things:  First, that σαρξ is useless; but that on the other hand, we must eat of his σαρξ.  John's Gospel is not anti-flesh; yet it wisely points out the limits of flesh.  So why does Communion help?  As Jesus says, "It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life."  Jesus words make his flesh, the Communion, have life and Spirit!  

To put it another way, courtesy of Luther: "It is not the water indeed that does them, but the word of God which is in and with the water, and faith, which trusts such word of God in the water. For without the word of God the water is simple water and no baptism. But with the word of God it is a baptism, that is, a gracious water of life and a washing of regeneration in the Holy Ghost, as St. Paul says, Titus, chapter three: By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, that, being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying." http://bookofconcord.org/smallcatechism.php#baptism

πιστευω ("believe"; the word appears 85 times in John's Gospel).  This might just be the most important word in John's Gospel.  Worth noting is that faith only appears as a verb:  It is always an action.  In other words, "Faith" doesn't exist in John's Gospel, but believing does.  

It is not by intellectual assent that we live, but fully trusting in God.  Sadly, it often takes us to get to that moment where all hope has been lost that we actually begin to trust...

Grammar:  Present tense and εχω

The present tense means something is happening right now and on-going.  Jesus says, "the one who believes is having eternal life."  It does NOT read "the one who believes will have eternal life."  It simply says, "the one who believe HAS eternal life."  Eternal life begins here and now in a relationship based on believing in Jesus Christ.

Source: 

http://lectionarygreek.blogspot.com/2012/08/john-63541-51.html