Lessons from John – Part Five

The Hard Lesson: The Bread and Wine

First – I am thankful that, because of the Thanksgiving Celebration, I was able to spend three full days examining this lesson and drawing out from it (or maybe better said, recognizing in it) the truth that I believe brings Life and Light.

What John reveals, if deciphered solely from his gospel, would remain a bit of a mystery or at least an untenable doctrine for most of us. But the Word of God is not solely intended to be understood as separate writings of witnesses or scholars or scribes – though it is a compilation of those. The full understanding of the Word in any specific sense is found in the entirety of its contents. And so, with this lesson, we will follow the pattern used in the second of this series and draw not only from John’s insights, but from those of his contemporaries, as well as from the writings of the Old Testament.

In fact, I believe to establish the basis of the lesson, we are best served by going to the rules associated with the covenant between God and the sons of Israel that we refer to as the Mosaic covenant. Specifically to the details associated with the sheaf of the first fruits – which initiated the counting of the seven sabbaths of the Feast of Pentecost.

Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect for a burnt offering to the LORD. Its grain offering shall then be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to the LORD for a soothing aroma, with its drink offering, a fourth of a hin of wine. Until this same day, until you have brought in the offering of your God, you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new growth. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. Lev. 23:9-14

I would be remiss if I did not set the frame for the passage above by reminding us of the words the LORD God spoke to Moses to share with the people of Israel when they arrived at the Mount of God in Exodus 19:5-6:

“Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Ex.19:5-6a

It was God’s intent for the people He had rescued from Egypt, at the time appointed (of which He had spoken to Abraham), to be His representative nation to all nations of the earth. And that, in order for them to be that, they were called to obey His voice and keep His covenant. It is important to recognize that the covenant that He had made with Abraham is the covenant of which He speaks here to Moses. (If you are interested in reviewing those details you can find them here.) For that to happen, they, the whole nation, would be His priests.

When they, however, became terrified of Him after He had spoken the Ten Words with the thunder and lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the smoke rising from the mount, they begged Moses to be their intermediary (Ex.20:20-21). When they then made the golden calf – because he delayed in coming while receiving God’s commands – Moses reproved them. It was the tribe of Levi who stood with him at that time (see Ex.32:25-28); so, it was the tribe of Levi alone, who became His priests and His possession (see Num.3:5-13).

Therefore, when we read the details of the Laws and the Feasts with their offerings and sacrifices and the duties of the priesthood, we should remember that these details came after the people chose plan “B”.

Leviticus 23:9-14 provides a description of what we now know as the Feast of Weeks, leading to the Day of Pentecost and the sacrifices that were to be offered when the first sheaf of the harvest was brought to the Lord. In the details of the sacrifices and offerings, especially in our place under the New Covenant, when no more animal blood is needed (or accepted), we might lose track of the real purpose: to honor the LORD God as the Provider of all of their needs.

Just as the lesson of the manna was the practical means by which they would gain the understanding of God’s provision associated with the Sabbath day. And the year of the Ram’s Horn (the “yobel” – though we have learned to call it the “Jubilee”) was intended to prove His faithfulness in providing them security and plenty in the land of promise. So too was the waving of the first sheaf – and its offerings – a lesson of God’s faithfulness, His desire to commune with them, and an encouragement for them to trust Him.

Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect for a burnt offering to the LORD. Its grain offering shall then be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to the LORD for a soothing aroma, with its drink offering, a fourth of a hin of wine. Lev.23:12-13

As for the male lamb of one year; the “burnt offering” was significant in that it meant that the entire sacrifice was to be burnt (nothing was set aside for the priests to eat) as a soothing aroma to the Lord. The indication is that the drink offering and the grain offering would also be combined with the animal. The entire offering becomes a type of the Lord partaking of a meal, prepared for Him by His people.

A hin is approximately a gallon, so here we have a quart of wine. An ephah is about 21 quarts, which would give us about a gallon (dry measure) of fine flour mixed with oil – so dough to be cooked and wine as a drink offering, to be poured out. A forecasting for us, as we look back along the timeline; but a very practical lesson to them of the importance of recognizing God’s presence and His desire to be the source of their “daily bread”. And they were told that this was “to be a perpetual (the word often translated “everlasting”) statute…in all your dwelling places.”

(Without going too far afield, it is worth noting that the bread that was to be set out on the Table in the Holy Place each week, was twelve loaves (one for each tribe) of the same size loaf as was noted above. And it was to be eaten by Aaron and his sons “in a holy place for it is most holy to him (Aaron) from the LORD’s offerings by fire, portioned forever.”)

That there was something sacred in the bread and wine was first seen in the story of Abram’s rescuing of his nephew, Lot (the full story can be found in Genesis 14). Along with the implications of God’s blessings and Abram’s prowess (at about 85 nonetheless) is the mysterious story of the King of Righteousness (the meaning of the name) who was the King of Salem (peace) who met Abram in the King’s Valley and brought out bread and wine. We are told that this man was a priest of God Most High (“El Elyon”) and that he blessed Abram. And that Abram gave him a tenth of all (Gen.14:17-20).

The meeting would most likely have been “written off” as the meeting of a pagan king by Abram (the prevailing explanation of many Hebrew scholars today) if it were not for what we find in the letter to the Hebrews. And of course, that particular New Testament writer draws predominately from David’s recognition, in his Messianic Psalm (110, and especially verse 4), that the Messiah was to be a priest forever according to the manner of Melchizedek.

The LORD has sworn and will not be sorry, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” Psalm 110:4

It is this verse that the writer of the letter to the Hebrews weaves in as he expounds upon this character in the story, likening him to Christ – or maybe even more:

So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him, “YOU ARE MY SON, TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU”; just as He says also in another passage, “YOU ARE A PRIEST FOREVER ACCORDING TO THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK.”

In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been brought to His end, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. Heb.5:5-10

What we just read is a simple analogy that the writer is making between Jesus’ high priestly ministry, as our intercessor under the New Covenant, and the story of Melchizedek. Again, if he left it there, there would be no real mystery. But he does not:

For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace. Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually.

Now observe how great this man was to whom Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth of the choicest spoils. And those indeed of the sons of Levi who receive the priest's office have commandment in the Law to collect a tenth from the people, that is, from their brethren, although these are descended from Abraham. But the one whose genealogy is not traced from them collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises. But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater. In this case mortal men receive tithes, but in that case one receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives on. And, so to speak, through Abraham even Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.

Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron? For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also. For the one concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests. And this is clearer still, if another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become such not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life. For it is attested of Him, “YOU ARE A PRIEST FOREVER ACCORDING TO THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK.” Heb.7:1-17

Ultimately, the writer is trying to drive a fairly clear and, maybe, even obvious point to his designed audience (those of the Hebrews who have accepted Jesus as Messiah, but who we know still struggled with reconciling the Old with the New).

For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priest, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, a Son, made perfect forever. Heb.7:26-28

I know – it would seem that I have drifted far afield of the topic of this lesson from John. But, in reality, I may not be more than the “rounding of a corner” from being “back on track”.

Jesus is the High Priest that was foreshadowed in Aaron and his sons – and in a very real way by Melchizedek (some theologians accept that He, as a Christophany, was the One who blessed Abram and received from him a tenth of all). But as we will see He was also the Sacrifice to be offered.

In our lesson from John, the hard lesson (according to those who followed Jesus), he presents, from the words of Jesus, a very real opportunity to be shocked – not unlike Abraham would have been when the Father told him to take his son, his only son, whom he loved, and to offer him to the Lord.

The lesson begins on a mountain in Galilee. And the gathering represented a crowd larger than any modern evangelist could hope to attract: Jesus has drawn some five thousand men (not counting women and children) who are anxious to hear Him teach. We are told (and without the bit of history we just covered, we may have missed the importance) that the Passover was drawing near. As we know, the waving of the first sheaf, which was the act of acknowledging, at the very beginning of the harvest season, the Lord as the provider and sustainer of life, and that typically was done on the day after the sabbath that came after the Passover. That this occurs in proximity of that event is notable.

John suggests that because the people (all of them) needed to be reminded of their Source of provision…Jesus challenges His disciples to “buy bread so that these may eat”. Since the economics of that task were well beyond their reach, they began to search for another answer. Andrew, we are told, finds the “first fruit” in the five barley loaves and two fish that a lad was willing to share. “But,” they say, “what are these for so many people?”

But Jesus…(words that quite often, bring tears to my eyes).

Having given thanks, our Lord distributes to them all, the sustenance of the loaves and the fish – with twelve baskets (one for each of the disciples) of leftover bread. And the people recognize Him as the Prophet of whom Moses had spoken – the Coming One! And, as far as we are told, this ended His teaching, at least on that mountain side – because they were ready to make Him king!

Rather than allowing them to take Him and proclaim Him as king, Jesus slips away and goes to the mountain top to be alone with His Father. His disciples, on the other hand, get into a boat and attempt to cross the sea from Tiberias to Capernaum. It is here that we are told of Jesus walking on the water and calming the storm and delivering His disciples to the other side of the sea…and though great as these miracles are, they are ancillary to the lesson we are centered on. At least until He is asked the question:

“Rabbi, when did You get here?” John 6:25

(It is hard not to pull on that thread…but I will resist!)

Jesus begins a message (we are later told that it was spoken in the synagogue (the “gathering place”) in Capernaum) that ties back to the provision that God had given the children of Jacob in the wilderness and of their absolute dependence on God for it. In it He is trying to help them understand the real spiritual lesson the Father was giving Moses and the people:

“Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”

And so the mysterious language begins. The seal that was set, was the abiding of the Holy Spirit – the Anointing – that declared Him as Messiah. However, the people are more focused on the “food” and ask Him what work they need to do to “work the works of God” in order to get it. They are told to “believe in Him Whom the Father sent.”

The people are undaunted and demand that He do for them what was done for the people in the wilderness – provide daily food – if He is to earn their loyalty.

[To be fair, this event occurs at the end of the winter season – which means that the storehouses were likely growing bare. They also were living under the oppression of both the Roman government and the religious leaders (who on their own imposed significant sacrifices on the people). Because of their oppressions they tended to be both superstitious and impatient. Though it would be more in line with God’s promises to recognize that, because they had drifted away from His promises, they were oppressed…]

Jesus reminds them that it was not Moses but God who gave the bread in the wilderness. And then He expands the mystery:

“For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world (“kosmos”).” John 6:33

To which they reply – “Give us this bread, always.”

Jesus’ response was to the crowds (He is not wrangling with the pious or well-trained religious leaders – at least not yet). It may seem that He is speaking over their heads – though (if you will excuse me) in reality He is speaking below their heads and to their hearts!

[There is much to understand here, but rather than even attempt to break it down, I would encourage us to read and really meditate on what He is saying – all that was said to them, matters to us today as well!]

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:35-40

What comes next is indeed a shift – because the religious leaders (who have clearly begun to mix in with the crowd) begin to banter and accuse. In response to their spiritual pride and hard heartedness Jesus does as the Father did with Pharoah – He matches their hard hearts with increasingly challenging words.

The Jews (for that is how John refers to those who resisted Jesus) themselves were offended at His words, reminding one another that He was the son of Joseph, One whose father and mother were known to them…and all that that implied.

Jesus either hearing them or discerning their hearts, answers them.

Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.” John 6:43-51

And so, there it is! Jesus pushed them to their breaking point – and it is impossible to perceive that as anything other than a purposed, provocative endeavor. That He is decisively intermingling the natural life and the spiritual seems clear – but for those whose spiritual eyes were squeezed shut (some of which did not accept the idea of eternal life at all) the distinction was ignored – in the classical sense of the word: “they could not understand because they were absent the knowledge.”

Taking it as we know He meant it (and we know that by both His words in the remainder of this passage, but also in the expanded description that we find in the other gospels of the deciphering of these words), we can understand Him to mean that the Father sent Him in order to provide the means of eternal life to those whom He calls and who respond to Him. Jesus also continues to tie-in the iconic experience of manna in the wilderness with the ante-type of that ongoing miracle: Himself.

And had He left off there, though they would still have rejected His attestation, they would not likely have been provoked to rage. But, in the inspiration of the Father, He did not leave off: He declares Himself the bread of life and then declares His flesh to be that bread!

And the Jews began to fight with one another. The phrase is an interesting one, in that it does not present an opposing perspective. It is as if we are being told that they all agreed that what they heard Him say was ‘that to have eternal life they must eat His flesh’ – and yet they were so enraged, that even in their consensus they were contentious.

His provocation does not stop there. (By the way, there are those who consider that this event was purposefully as divisive as it was because of what was noted after He had fed the five thousand men (plus women and children) in the ante-typical act of the first fruits. We were told that the people were ready to make Him their king and so He left to go by Himself to the mountain – for it was not God’s plan, nor was it His time! I happen to find that a reasonable perspective.)

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.” John 6:53-58

In examining the original language, there is a significant amount clarification that can be understood as the specific words that Jesus chose to use are reviewed. For example, when He says “eat” (the word is “esthiō” – a word akin to “edō” that means “to eat”) and “drink” (the word is “pinō” a primary verb that means “to drink”) and “flesh” (the word is “sarx” a primary noun that means “flesh”) and “blood” (the word is “haima” of uncertain origin that means “blood”)…well, you get the point. This was purposefully not metaphor or even symbolism – in the purest sense of the word. It was provocation; and it appears to have been done to shake some foundations and see who remains standing after the shaking stops!

Some of those who were ready to make Him king, began to grumble at the saying. To them He says:

“What then, if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” John 6:62-64a

“For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been gifted him from the Father.” John 6:65

“Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a slanderer?” John 6:70

As it was for them, so it is for us. The difficult things we learn will either shake us and knock us off of our foundations of faith or they will shake us and prove that those foundations are unmovable. That bad things happen to good people or that good things happen to bad, can be difficult lessons. That the Father allows either contradiction has led “many of His disciples to withdraw and to no longer walk with Him anymore”.

For those who, like the twelve, echo Peter’s sentiment; “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God”, our ability to recognize that His ways are higher than ours will bring strength to our faith.

And also to us, there is another layer to what has been left here in John’s lesson.

For that, we can go to any of the other three gospels (Matt.26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:14-23), I will draw from Luke.

And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” And in the same way He took the wine cup after they had eaten, saying, “This wine cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.”

(Matthew has it as: “poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”)

In all three accounts we find similar details described. Jesus makes it clear that the types (the bread from heaven and the drink offering of wine), are defined by the ante-type (His body and His blood – that is poured out for the forgiveness of sins), and are then re-cast as the bread and the wine cup of the New Covenant.

Though the original “supper” occurs when they celebrate the Passover together, this particular bread and cup are shared after that feast and stand alone; as the transition from the Old to the New is marked.

Paul reaffirms their importance by focusing on the command from Jesus to “do this in remembrance of Me.”

---

Our first letter to the Christians in Corinth was likely written around the same time as the letter to those in Rome. As may be known, Paul, at the start of his third journey (around 54 AD) spreading the good news of Jesus Christ, stopped in Ephesus for an extended period. This was due in part to his finding some teachings from Apollos that, though full of zeal, demonstrated a bit of ignorance regarding the foundations of the faith. Most notable was Apollos lack of knowledge of the baptism and fullness of the Holy Spirit as an important part of a believer’s enablement for the purposes of God. While in Ephesus he learned that Apollos had gone to Corinth with Aquila and Prisca and that, with the banishment of those of Jewish heritage ending with the seating of Nero as Emperor in Rome, Aquila and Prisca were returning to their home in the capital city.

And so Paul wrote to those in Corinth, those to whom he had ministered just a few years before. Paul was clearly trying to both address the basics of Christian fellowship through this letter, while not presenting himself as sectarian. It is this attempted balance that, even today, causes some to misunderstand the particulars that he addresses. And though we are not here to address those in general, it does help us understand, at least in part, some of the language that he uses relative to the “table of the Lord”.

As for our topic, Paul, in our chapter 11, is addressing what he believes to be issues that are becoming distracting to the overall purpose of getting together as members of the house that the Lord is building for those He has called. And though, at some level, his concerns are cultural, at their core they can be applied even today: “together we are the body of Christ who gather in His name to give Him honor and praise and to strengthen and encourage one another.”

For Paul, anything that distracts from that core idea should be tempered. And everything that comes from God and reinforces that core tenet should be practiced. So he discourages getting together over a meal in such a way that those who are needy (or just late to the meeting) have less to eat; while those who have plenty or who get to the home early can indulge themselves.

He then reminds them of a way to both honor the Lord and His sacrifice as well as encourage and strengthen all who come together: the “Lord’s supper” with His disciples.

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. 1Cor.11:23-26

The rest of our chapter 11 and on into the next, continue with Paul’s reinforcement of this important teaching. It is of great importance that we realize that we are all a part of the body of Christ and that we each have a role, a place, a gift or gifts that we should share with one another in our endeavor to glorify God and demonstrate His love and faithfulness to the whole world! To, as Peter echoes (1Peter 2:9) and John calls out (Rev.1:5) be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation to our God.

---

In this lesson from John we see the powerful interweaving of the Old and New covenants, not just in doctrines or concepts but in actions and deeds. The prototypical reality of God’s desire for fellowship and family is seen as early as His direct interactions with Abram (not just in chapter 14 of Genesis, but chapter 18 as well). They are then codified in the Levitical offerings and sacrifices, with a consistent, underlying truth: God is our Provider!

Jesus brings all of these revelations forward into His teachings to His followers. In His prayer (”give us this day our daily bread”) and in His miracles and in His establishing a means for us to bring to mind (“as often as we do”) the power and purpose of His sacrifice. The wine demonstrates His shed and poured-out blood; the bread demonstrates His body – in both His flesh and in His people throughout the Age.

For Paul – in his encouragement to those in Corinth – remembering Jesus’ death was inclusive of all that led up to it and all that comes after, as a result of His laying down of His life – not least of which is the Body of Christ and its members in particular.

For us – I fear that, because we tend to not gather in a way that accommodates doing so, we miss the opportunity to recall His Love for us as frequently as we might. But at the very least – as often as we do, “do this”, we should make sure that our hearts are focused both on what He has done for us AND what He would have us do for one another!