Let us go back in time and
imagine what is happening. Capernaum is a small fishing town on the shores of
the Sea of Galilee; it has a population of 1500. We are very close to the home
town of Simon Peter, Andrew, James, John and Mathew.
It is the Sabbath, a day of
meditation, of prayer, of renewal and reconnecting with our maker, creator of
all that is, seen and unseen.
The Jewish Christian movement
although quite young, has grown. The synagogue is packed and Jesus is
preaching.
Suddenly he says “I am the bread
of Life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me
will never be thirsty.”, but some people know him, they know he is the son of
“Joseph” the carpenter.
Then he goes on and finishes
them all of with ““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”
Imagine the grumbling, the
tumult, and the disapproval of people whose dietary and culinary rules forbad
and still forbid the eating or drinking of blood.
Why is Jesus saying this? Should
we all become blood thirsty cannibals or vampires? What does he mean and why does he deliberately
scuttle his following.
I believe that Jesus is no
longer satisfied with a bunch of lukewarm followers. He wants true believers,
followers who assimilate totally his teaching and decides then and there to
concentrate his efforts on the Twelve,
The ones he skilfully chose. He
knows what lies ahead and wants to prepare them to make the ultimate sacrifice.
Only then will his movement
stand the test of time.
Peter Gysen
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