LOVE POWER
Prayer
Praying On The Journey With Christ
A Commitment To Encounter Christ Through The Gospel Of John
Object:
John 6:41-59
Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." 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'?" Jesus answered them, "Do not complain among yourselves. 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. 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. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" So 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. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever." He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.
COMMENTARY
The dispute that Jesus' listeners got themselves embroiled in with one another was a secondary point. They had practical questions about "how" a person could eat the flesh and drink the blood of another, while Jesus was teaching them that the Father draws people to faith, draws them to Christ, like a stream in a desert place draws life to itself.
The busy, active work of the Father is further illuminated by calling him "the living Father," as opposed, perhaps, to dead ancestral fathers. This is no father descended from others. This is the author of life, the originator, the sustainer of it all. This is not fatherhood as we normally understand it. This is creator God whose synonym is love.
The motivation of this love God has also revealed. It is for the "life of the world." In complete agreement with John 3:16, it is "the life of the world" that is the object of his love. Although it becomes intensely personal, when it is us he has targeted for his favor, the big surprise is that the draw we feel to love is a gift from the Father. It is evidence, primal evidence, of his individual work in each of us. Any impulse to love is evidence of his individual work in us. Without him, we would never do it ... we would never love, not another, ever.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, you've done it to us. You've drawn us to love. Maybe we haven't loved very well or very often, but we've done it. We haven't always gotten all the love we've wanted from others, but what came, came from you. Thank you. We see love everywhere on special days. Hospitals filled with anxious loved ones sitting there, waiting for a miracle. We see it on the street, through recognition of another's humanity. We see it between persons, one looking into the window of the soul of another. Marvelous love. Infiltrating the world. Saving it from disaster. Love, the most awesome experience, the rarest event in the cosmos, the one thing void of selfishness, the one phenomenon that will be forever inexplicable, except it comes from you.
Lord Jesus Christ, you, alone, have seen the Father. You are his perfect reflection, the magnet that draws all lovers to God. You are the image we see when we think of God. All people who love will one day worship you, because you are love incarnate, love within us. You are not only the perfect example of love, but also love loving, even now. Who can resist you and have peace of mind? Who can refuse you and pretend you aren't near? Who can ever love or be loved, without it being you in the middle, you as the bread, you as the drink that makes it happen?
Your love is life, the only life that matters. Your love is the life of the world, the heartbeat, the pulse. Your love is no mere emotion or sentiment; it is the power to live without fear, with an expectant eye on doing so forever.
Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, your Spirit fills all life with love. Hear now the echo of your words, by what we say to others. See now the reflection of your work, by what we do. Feel now, the strength of your compassion as evidenced by ours. As we are fed by your Son, we taste eternal life. Come, now, abide with us, and we with you, forever. Amen.
Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." 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'?" Jesus answered them, "Do not complain among yourselves. 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. 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. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" So 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. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever." He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.
COMMENTARY
The dispute that Jesus' listeners got themselves embroiled in with one another was a secondary point. They had practical questions about "how" a person could eat the flesh and drink the blood of another, while Jesus was teaching them that the Father draws people to faith, draws them to Christ, like a stream in a desert place draws life to itself.
The busy, active work of the Father is further illuminated by calling him "the living Father," as opposed, perhaps, to dead ancestral fathers. This is no father descended from others. This is the author of life, the originator, the sustainer of it all. This is not fatherhood as we normally understand it. This is creator God whose synonym is love.
The motivation of this love God has also revealed. It is for the "life of the world." In complete agreement with John 3:16, it is "the life of the world" that is the object of his love. Although it becomes intensely personal, when it is us he has targeted for his favor, the big surprise is that the draw we feel to love is a gift from the Father. It is evidence, primal evidence, of his individual work in each of us. Any impulse to love is evidence of his individual work in us. Without him, we would never do it ... we would never love, not another, ever.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, you've done it to us. You've drawn us to love. Maybe we haven't loved very well or very often, but we've done it. We haven't always gotten all the love we've wanted from others, but what came, came from you. Thank you. We see love everywhere on special days. Hospitals filled with anxious loved ones sitting there, waiting for a miracle. We see it on the street, through recognition of another's humanity. We see it between persons, one looking into the window of the soul of another. Marvelous love. Infiltrating the world. Saving it from disaster. Love, the most awesome experience, the rarest event in the cosmos, the one thing void of selfishness, the one phenomenon that will be forever inexplicable, except it comes from you.
Lord Jesus Christ, you, alone, have seen the Father. You are his perfect reflection, the magnet that draws all lovers to God. You are the image we see when we think of God. All people who love will one day worship you, because you are love incarnate, love within us. You are not only the perfect example of love, but also love loving, even now. Who can resist you and have peace of mind? Who can refuse you and pretend you aren't near? Who can ever love or be loved, without it being you in the middle, you as the bread, you as the drink that makes it happen?
Your love is life, the only life that matters. Your love is the life of the world, the heartbeat, the pulse. Your love is no mere emotion or sentiment; it is the power to live without fear, with an expectant eye on doing so forever.
Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, your Spirit fills all life with love. Hear now the echo of your words, by what we say to others. See now the reflection of your work, by what we do. Feel now, the strength of your compassion as evidenced by ours. As we are fed by your Son, we taste eternal life. Come, now, abide with us, and we with you, forever. Amen.
