The Point of No Return

Recently a conversation group at our church has been trying to decide our next topic and one of the suggestions was the "Blood of Jesus", amongst other topics.  Yesterday as I was praying I felt led to read from Leviticus 17, which turns out to be about the blood.  Here are some of the verses from that chapter - Leviticus 17:11-14 NIV:

[11] For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life. [12] Therefore I say to the Israelites, “None of you may eat blood, nor may any foreigner residing among you eat blood.” 

[13] “ 'Any Israelite or any foreigner residing among you who hunts any animal or bird that may be eaten must drain out the blood and cover it with earth, [14] because the life of every creature is its blood. That is why I have said to the Israelites, “You must not eat the blood of any creature, because the life of every creature is its blood; anyone who eats it must be cut off.”

This was one of the essential dietary laws of the Jews, not eating blood, and today it is still practiced in some streams, and we would know it as part of the Kosher requirements.  This morning as I was revisiting these passages I wondered about how strange Jesus' declaration in John 6, and at the last supper about his blood, must have sounded to a people who for centuries were told not to consume blood!  Not only was it forbidden, but there were penalties for the consumption of blood, as noted above.  I don't know if they actually followed through with cutting people off from the tribe by the time of Jesus, but it was certainly known to be wrong.

Into this culture, we then have Jesus saying the following - John 6:43-60 NIV:

[43] “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. [44] “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. [45] It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. [46] No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. [47] Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. [48] I am the bread of life. [49] Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. [50] But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. [51] I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” 

[52] Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 

[53] Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. [54] Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. [55] For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. [56] Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. [57] Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. [58] This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” [59] He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. 

[60] On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

I think John is severely understating the response to this teaching!  

We read this with some understanding of Jesus' passion and death, and  the reason Jesus shed His blood, but none of that would have been present to the people hearing this.  They clearly understood the role of blood in the sacrificial system of the Temple, but Jesus wasn't talking about that system when He delivered these words, the previous discussion was on the Manna, and His previous miracles of multiplication of food. 

In my mind, it seems that the Father is about revealing the real foundations of what Jesus is going to do in the near future, and He has Jesus start to lay the framework here.  I don't believe the Jews at that time understood the Messiah was coming to lay down His life for them, or that He was going to fulfill the law, and become the perfect sacrifice.  I believe their thoughts were that He was coming to lead them to victory over their enemies, who happened to be the Romans at that time.  They expected someone greater than David, but of his lineage, who become king over them once again and established His kingdom, through which the Jews would all be blessed.  I would imagine that Isaiah 53, the suffering servant song, would not have been understood so literally as we do now.

This clearly was a turning point in Jesus' ministry, for John notes that many left Jesus as described in John 6:66-67 NIV:

[66] "From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. 

[67] “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve."

In addition to losing followers, Jesus is now absolutely going forward down the path that leads to His death!  

As I was reflecting on these verses, and the impact, I saw a picture of a mother bird in her next pushing the fledglings out of the nest, forcing them to fly for their first time.   While not a great faith picture, it does represent a point of no-return, one could say, for the young birds either fly or fail.  

In the same way, I think this was the point of no return for Jesus, for from this time forth He begins to prepare the disciples for His death.  Also from this point forward the arguments about who Jesus is, escalate, for in these quoted verses, He clearly alludes to Himself as the Messiah, the One who gives eternal life, the One who knows the Father, the One sent from Heaven.

Let us not be offended by hard to understand language, or difficult theological principles, but let us continue to pursue the one who has the words of life, the one who has been given the power and authority to grant eternal life!  Let us press forward into the deeper revelation, into deeper understanding, into His very presence!

Amen and Amen!