B, Pent 9 Proper 13 - John 6:24-35 "To be or not to be" (Part 2 of 5)
“To be or not to be that is the question!” This phrase is one of the most famous lines in world literature. These words are the musings of Hamlet, prince of
To be or not to be, that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing, end them. To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
Hamlet considers death. In fact, he considers suicide! Should he go on living or should he go about dying! It is similar for Christendom when it considers the same question, “To be or not to be?” Having been given salvation, by the grace of God, through Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, at baptism, the question maybe asked: Do I want to be in Christ, and if so, is that enough, just to be?
To be or not to be, maybe it is not just “to be” but “to do” as well! Many Christians grapple with the question of being, some of whom in their deliberations choose not to be, and commit spiritual suicide by rejecting salvation through the free gift of grace as they sin against the Holy Spirit, and reject the faith that leads them to the forgiveness won by Christ on the cross.
Others choose, in their questioning, to doubt the perfection of Christ’s being, but rather than “not to be”, they are led into the confusing and misleading world of doing things for their salvation. As if being in Jesus needs to be topped up with a little bit of our own doing to get us over the line of eternal life.
So just like Hamlet who gambles whether to be or not to be, those who reject the gift of God’s being and those who doubt the completeness of his being, end up walking on the slippery slope of spiritual suicide too.
To be or not to be – to be or to do – perhaps that is the question? Or perhaps even asking the question is a danger sign for us, as our minds are tempted to look for something else rather than just be content to be – to rest in the arms of Jesus like a child does in its mother’s arms.
Today we look at John 6 — Jesus’ being and how the crowd was focused more on his doing for their own selfish gains. And in doing so, we can reflect on how humanity continues in the traditions of the old Adam. We can let the light of Christ shine on our struggles to just accept his being with us. We can be honest about our falling to the temptation to look for miraculous signs to please the desires of our sinful nature. But even so, we are called to hear that although we struggle with our carnal desires, Jesus still comes to us – he still wants to be with us, and he works to refocus our desires “to do” back to a desire just “to be”.
24 Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to
28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” 29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
30 So they asked him, “What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 “Sir,” they said, “from now on give us this bread.”
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:24-35 NIV)
The crowd looked for Jesus; they wanted to be with him, that’s for sure — but not for the sake of his being. They didn’t want the Holy Son of God, they didn’t want the second member of the Holy Trinity, they didn’t want Jesus Christ their Saviour from sin! No, they wanted a magician, one who could snap his finger and please them; one who could break the bread and divide the fish so their bellies would be full. In the spirit of the Old Adam, the crowd’s insatiable appetite gives them no peace as they hunt for Jesus. They work to find the miracle man who can give them what they want.
But Jesus, knowing the nature of the crowd, from which he had earlier escaped when they wanted to make him a king by force, answers their question, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Answers them, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” Jesus calls them to be with him, the Son of God, God the Son, sent from God the Father to be in the world and give life to people. Or to put it another way, to give being to those who were trapped in the deathly grips of doing, but failing.
However, as soon as Jesus says this to them, after having had their fill of miraculous bread and fish, they once again demand a sign to believe. They wanted Jesus to do something again. No doubt, do something to appease their fleshy desires once again. To be or not to be, their sinful desires allowed them not to see, they chose not to believe in the one God had sent. Instead they saw his being as a means to a quick but temporary fix.
To be or not to be, “eternally”, this is the real question! To be in a state of willingness or gladness to be in Christ is in fact not the question, but rather is the answer. And Jesus says just that: I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will “never” go hungry, and he who believes in me will “never” be thirsty. What Jesus says is this: My being is your food for life. You who are content to be in me will “never” “ever” be hungry or thirsty. In fact, Jesus wants us to believe, when your allow him to be in you, trusting in him, you will be in a state of eternal peace.
Jesus goes on to say to the crowd, “…as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:36-40)
Jesus comes not to do but to be who the Father has called him to be and that is: to be the Saviour of you and me. And the crowd who came to Jesus with such misguided intentions came only because the Father allowed them to come. And so too with us. We come to Jesus, even with our sinful intentions, not of our own volition, but because of the work of the Holy Spirit whom God has placed in us at baptism, and in us every time we hear the true and pure gospel.
So to be or not to be, is not the question at all! Rather it’s just “to be”! Our work as Christians is to be in a state of willingness, to let Jesus make us who God has originally created us to be. When we get caught up in the unbalances of asking the doubtful question “Should we not to be?” we quickly find ourselves on the slippery slope of spiritual suicide.
We are called to believe with the ears of faith, to hear Jesus say, “I AM”! Or to use incorrect English to make the point, we are called to hear Jesus say, “I be — I is!” This Jesus who claims “to be” is God. The Son of the same “I AM” who led and fed Moses and the Israelites after they were baptised into God’s being and presence in the Sinai wilderness after being cleansed from the tyranny of the Egyptians in the Red Sea.
Set you hearts on being with the One who is with you — Jesus, the great “I AM”, who is and will be forever. Be in his being; trust in his vicarious death and resurrection. Be willing to believe “all” your sins are forgiven. Be content to be nothing for that is what you are. But be joyful to be everything in the eternity of God’s grace for that is what God wants you to be. And trust in the way Jesus comes to you through physical means for your eternal physical and spiritual wellbeing.
To be is to be in Christ. Not to be is to not be in Christ. There is no question or decision to be made; the answer is to carry on in his being. There is one body and one Spirit — just as you were called to one hope when you were called — one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:4-6)
There is much confusion in the church today, just like the five thousand with the unquenchable appetite for Jesus’ doing; many of us allow ourselves to be tossed to and fro because of our insatiable appetites and desires. Whipped into a frenzy, we are tempted to run after a Jesus to appease our desires for a quick and temporary fix. But it will spoil, and leave us in the same dangerous plight as Hamlet, entertaining the suicidal thought, to be or not to be.
Being in Christ brings maturity, and with maturity comes peace as we once again become content to lie back in the arms of our Saviour’s being! So be in the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching. Be in Jesus who says, “I am, I have been, and I will be! Be in me into eternity!”
Next week we will examine how we no longer need to feed on the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which has long since soured in bellies of our sinful desires. We will hear how the bread of life who has come down from heaven, is our tree of life in paradise, and how it’s God work to draw us to Jesus and raise us up at the last day. Amen.
