Fully human, fully divine

Jock Stein September 29, 2023 2 0

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John 6: 41-50 (NRSVA)

41 Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ 42 They were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’ 43 Jesus answered them, ‘Do not complain among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, “And they shall all be taught by God.” Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.

The original story in Exodus is about people who complained. They complained about their life under Egyptian slave-drivers. They complained about Moses. They complained about the lack of food in the wilderness. And when they got it, after initial euphoria, they complained about it too.

So we should not be surprised that people complained about Jesus, especially when he linked himself with the old story and claimed that he was fulfilling it as the heavenly food, the bread of life. ‘We kent his faither’ they were saying in verse 42. Yes, Jesus was ordinary enough to grow up in a real family, he is fully human as well as fully divine.

Nor should we be surprised when people complain about the Christian message today, whether they say it’s not as spiritual as Hinduism, or not as practical as Humanism. Actually, the only thing that makes sense is the traditional belief that Jesus is both human and divine – and that’s all that really matters, denominations have always been something of a sideshow.

PRAY:

Lord Jesus, give us humble hearts and simple mouths, to say thank you at all times, and to put away niggles, and grumbles. We may groan at times, but it will be a lament which holds on to your compassion, a lament which prays the Psalms, a lament which remembers how you suffered the complaints of your own people, and let their anger drive you to the cross, for them and for us.

O God our Father, we remember those who suffer today for the gospel, and all who suffer for the sake of what is right. Work out your good purpose through the mystery of suffering, even as you went with Jesus to the cross, redeeming the sins of the world, opening the door to eternal life, and promising that all shall be well – and all manner of things be well. And everything through your beloved Son Jesus whom we call Messiah, Christ. Amen.