Sermon: "Just Read It"

Sermon: "Just Read It"

Scripture: John 6:56-69

Theme: John 6:63 - "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life."

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Introduction:

Have you ever heard the phrase, "I can read you like a book"? It’s often used to describe someone who seems to be transparent, whose thoughts and intentions are easily understood. But what if the book in question isn’t just a static, unchanging collection of words? What if it’s something alive, something that speaks directly to the heart, continually revealing new depths of meaning and truth?

Jesus invites us to engage with His words in precisely this way. In today’s scripture, Jesus tells His followers, "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life" (John 6:63). Rather than focusing on the mere physicality of things—on the flesh—Jesus directs us to the spiritual reality that gives true life.

My relationship with the Bible is not a romance but a marriage, and one I am willing to work on in all the usual ways: by living with the text day in and day out, by listening to it and talking back to it, by making sure I know what is behind the words it speaks to me and being certain I have heard it properly, by refusing to distance myself from the parts of it I do not like or understand, by letting my love for it show up in the everyday acts of my life.

—Barbara Brown Taylor, The Preaching Life (Cowley, 1993), 56.

Seeing His Face

One day missionary Amy Carmichael, who devoted her life to rescuing girls who had been dedicated to a life of slavery and shame in Indian Hindu Temples, took some of her children to see a goldsmith refining gold in the ancient manner of the Orient. The man sat beside a small charcoal fire. On top of the coals lay a common red curved roof-tile, and another tile over it like a lid. This was his homemade crucible. The man had a mixture of salt, tamarind fruit, and burnt brick dust which he called his “medicine” for the purifying of the gold. He dropped a lump of ore into the blistering mixture and let the fire “eat it.” After awhile, the man lifted the gold out with a pair of tongs, let it cool, and studied it. Then he replaced the gold in the crucible and blew the fire hotter than it was before. This process went on and on, the fire growing hotter and hotter. “[The gold] could not bear it so hot at first,” explained the goldsmith, “but it can bear it now; what would have destroyed it helped it.”

As the children watched the gold being purified in the fire, someone asked the man, “How do you know when the gold is purified?”

The man’s answer: “When I can see my face in it [the liquid gold in the crucible], then it is pure.”

When the Great Refiner sees his own image reflected in us, He has brought us to purity and maturity.[1]

[1]Robert J. Morgan, Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations, and Quotes, electronic ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000), 106–107. ________________________________________

The Offense of the Spirit:

The teachings of Jesus often challenge our expectations. In this passage, some of His followers are offended by His words, particularly the call to eat His flesh and drink His blood. They misunderstand His symbolic language, thinking He speaks of something literal and physical, something offensive and even grotesque. Yet, Jesus isn’t talking about the flesh in a literal sense; He’s pointing to a deeper spiritual truth.

To these divided and confused followers, Jesus offers needed clarification: “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life” (John 6:63). He’s emphasizing that the real source of life is not found in the physical or material but in the spiritual, in the words He speaks—words that are alive, inspired by the Holy Spirit.

The Face of Christ

In his book, When There Is No Miracle, Robert Wise wrote about hearing a man named Cecil Henson tell his “death story” many times. In 1940, Cecil was pronounced dead for twenty or thirty minutes, and after his resuscitation and recovery, he was a different man, no longer angry and now ready to pour himself into the raising of his young son Van (who later became a successful oral surgeon).

Cecil said that during his period of “twilight” he encountered Jesus in person. In those moments he looked fully into the face of the risen Christ and saw Him in all His glory.

Robert Wise said, It is Cecil’s description of His face that has gripped my imagination through the years. He saw the face of Jesus as a marvelous mosaic made up of a hundred small facets. Each piece added a shade or line to the total picture. So in looking into this composite face he could see the countenance of Christ. But as he looked, he could see a hundred parts.

The startling realization was that the mosaic pieces were not tile, metal, or glass. Each small section was a clear, distinct, cameo of someone’s face. As Cecil stared fixedly at the face there was a pulsating fluctuation between the total face and the cameo sections. One minute he could see the Face and then in the next he was aware of hundreds of faces.

In awe Cecil began to recognize what was revealed in each of those cameos. They were all people he knew. Moreover, they were all people who had loved him and given him kindness during his life. He could see an aunt and an uncle. And there was his mother and on the other side his father’s face moved into focus. School teachers, friends, associates, people who had already become part of conveying the human picture of Christ.

Overwhelmed in worship and amazement, Cecil bowed before the risen Lord. In the lingering moments of that experience, anxieties, fears and doubts were healed. When Cecil “returned” to start his life again, the face of Jesus guided him through the years ahead. Christ and the Cross remained sufficient for him until, over twenty years later, he died.[1]

[1]Robert J. Morgan, Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations, and Quotes, electronic ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000), 105–106.

Jesus is calling us to move beyond a superficial understanding of His teachings and to engage with them on a deeper, spiritual level. His words are not static; they are living, breathing, and active, full of the Spirit and life.

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The Necessity of Deeper Faith:

This misunderstanding and offense among Jesus’ followers highlight a critical point: faith in Jesus must involve more than an initially positive response. It must continually open itself to fuller revelations of truth and deeper invitations to trust. The crowd who initially followed Jesus for His miracles and teachings found themselves challenged by His words. And as the challenge deepened, many turned back and no longer followed Him.

This moment of decision comes to all of us. There always seems to be an opportunity, tragic as it is, to turn back. Following Jesus isn’t a one-time decision; it’s a daily, ongoing journey that requires a deeper, more sustained faith. When Jesus’ words challenge us, when they don’t align with our expectations or desires, will we turn away, or will we press in deeper?

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The Ascension and the Spirit:

Jesus hints that His future Ascension might change their minds: “What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where He was before!” (John 6:62). The Ascension would be a powerful validation of His identity and mission, showing that His call to eat and drink His flesh and blood is not about physical consumption but about receiving Him fully, spiritually.

Yet, even without this future vision, Jesus provides the key to understanding His teaching: “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing” (John 6:63). This is the crux of the matter—life results not from physical acts or rituals but from “eating” the word of Jesus, receiving His teachings as the life-giving, Spirit-filled truth they are.

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The Dark Clouds of Defection:

As many of Jesus’ disciples turned away, the Twelve remained, though their confidence may have been shaken. Jesus questions them, perhaps testing their resolve: “You do not want to leave too, do you?” (John 6:67).

Peter’s response is both poignant and powerful: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). In this moment, Peter recognizes a truth that transcends all the confusion and offense: Jesus alone has the words that lead to eternal life. There is no alternative.

Even as Peter speaks these words, Jesus knows that the faith of His disciples will be tested, and that one among them will betray Him. Yet, even this betrayal, this failure, will be used by God to fulfill His purposes. God’s purposes emerge, even from within the failure and fickleness of human faith. What seems like the end will be the beginning of new life for all who believe.

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Conclusion:

“Just read it.” This simple command carries profound implications when we consider the words of Jesus. We are not reading lifeless text but engaging with words that are spirit and life, words that have the power to transform us, to draw us deeper into the mystery of faith.

When faced with the challenges and offenses that Jesus’ words might bring, we are invited to go deeper, to trust more fully, and to recognize that, like Peter, we have nowhere else to go. Jesus alone has the words of eternal life.

So, let us read His words—not just with our minds but with our hearts, allowing the Spirit to bring life to us through them. And in doing so, may we find the strength to remain faithful, even when others turn back, knowing that in Him, we have everything we need.

Amen.