What do You Mean?

Just as the living Father sent me

and I have life because of the Father,

so whoever feeds on me shall have life because of me (John 6:58).

 

What does Jesus mean by "the living Father?"

 

What does He mean by 'sent me'?   

 

Jesus, as John the Baptist, clearly saw Himself as One Who was "sent." 

 

There must have been Someone Who was the Sender, Someone "living," Someone Who directed Jesus' mission on earth.  Jesus took on His mission in obedience to Someone else, not Himself.  He even prayed that the cup could pass from Him, but if it could not, then He would accept it in obedience.  If there is no "Father," then Jesus was entirely delusional and not to be believed.

 

What does He mean that He has "life because of the Father"? 

 

In another place, He says that the Father has life in Himself, and that the Father has permitted the Son to have life in Himself (Jn. 5:26) and to "give life" to all who come to Him.

 

What does it mean to "feed" on Jesus and to "have life" because of Him?

Surely those who do not "feed" on Jesus have life also? 

 

If we say that Jesus was the epitome of human life, if we say that He gave us the path of life, I think we owe it to Him to at least ask questions of Him:  What do you mean?  What does this mean?

 

In His day, many people shook the dust off their feet and walked away:  Who can accept these things? they asked.  Those who remained asked Him questions:  What do you mean?

 

If we refuse to ask questions of Him, if we just say "these things are too hard to understand," we will never have any relationship with Jesus at all.  He will remain to us a historical figure who lived and died, with some impact on the world -- but we will not have communion with the "living" Person of Jesus Christ.  We will not "feed" on Him.

 

Our pastor occasionally wears a t-shirt that reads I can explain it to you, but I cannot understand it for you.  I like that a lot, because our "explanations" are only our understanding, not someone else's.  When 'two or more' disciples are gathered together, the Holy Spirit enlightens their understanding and brings them into accord spiritually as they speak together.  If we would understand the words of Jesus, we must ask for that enlightenment from the Holy Spirit, and His job -- and His joy -- is not only to show us great and wonderful truths, but in the process to bring us into relationship with the "living" Jesus and with the 'living" Father. 

 

Life is communion, and to be in communion with the Living Father, the Living Son, and the Living Spirit is to be in communion with all of nature and with one another.  If we do not 'feed' on the Bread that comes down from above and gives life to the world (Jn. 6:33), then we have no life in ourselves.

 

God -- the Living God -- the Person of God---may be hard to approach for some people who have been taught to fear Him, not in a healthy, but in an unhealthy, way.  But Jesus showed Himself as the most approachable Person on earth -- and His mission was to reveal the Father to us, to embody in His Person the Person of God.  When I look around me, I wonder if, after all, He failed in His mission.

 

You can live as close to Me as you choose.

I set up no barriers between us;

neither do I tear down the barriers that you erect.

--Jesus Calling: Nov. 5