THE NEW TESTAMENT BIBLE STORY #10

THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  BIBLE  STORY  #10

ESPECIALLY  WRITTEN  FOR  CHILDREN

Chapter Eighteen:

Bread of Life and False Traditions

JESUS SPEAKS ABOUT HIMSELF AND MANY FALL AWAY

     The people who had come across the sea of Galilee, mostly

the ones from the five thousand whom had been miraculously fed,

finally did locate Jesus and said to Him, "Teacher, when did you

arrive here, we've been searching for you."

     "Truly, it is indeed so very true, you do not come here to

me because of the signs and miracles and teaching that I do, but

because you ate your fill of the food I provided for you from the

loaves. You should not be working so hard for the food that is

physical and soon is gone, but for the food that endures to

enteral life, which I the Son of man can give you, for on Him,

that is me, God the Father has set His seal of approval."

     At hearing this the people answered, "Well alright then,

what must we specifically do to be doing the work of God?"

     "This is the work of God, that you BELIEVE IN Him whom 

He has sent," replied Jesus to them.

     "Well, what sign can you give us that we can see and believe

in you?" they quickly answered Jesus, and continued, "What work

do you perform?  Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as

it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.' "

     In answer to this Jesus said, "Of a truth, I say to you, it

was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father 

gives to you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is 

that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world."

     "Great," the crowd said, "then Lord, give us this bread for

all times."

     Jesus looked at them, knowing they hadn't understood what He

was meaning, and said, "I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE; he who will 

come to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never

thirst. But I've told you already, you have seen me and yet you

still do not believe in me."

     These people were indeed pretty dumb, as "dumb as a fence

post" as the saying goes. They had been witness to miracle after

miracle, and had been witness to the five loaves and two fish

that Jesus had blessed and how it had fed five thousand people,

till they were all full and satisfied. They were still looking

for some "sign" or something from Jesus to back up what He was

saying. They just did not see the light. And part of why they did

not Jesus goes on to tell us.

     "All that the Father gives me will come to me; and he that

comes to me I will certainly not turn them away. For I have come

down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him

who has sent me. And this is the will of Him who has sent me,

that I should loose nothing of all that He has given me, but will

resurrect them all at the last day. For this is also the will of

my Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes in Him

should have eternal life; and I will raise them up to life

eternal at the last day."

     Yes, it is the Father that must call people, take away their

blindness as we have seen, draw them to Himself through and 

by the means of His Holy Spirit. All that the Father calls to Christ

Jesus, the Father wants to see in the resurrection, wants to give

eternal life to in the resurrection at the last day of this age,

when Jesus returns at the sound of the last trumpet, to establish

the literal Kingdom of God upon earth for a 1,000 years and then

for all eternity as Revelation chapters 19 through 22 show us.

     The Jews now began to snicker, then they murmured at Jesus

because He had said, "I am the bread which came down from

heaven."  They went even further and said among themselves, 

"Why is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother

we know? Is not this man, just a man like all others born of a

father and mother, how does He known declare to us that He has

come down from heaven?"

     Jesus knew what they were saying and told them, "Do not talk

and discuss among yourselves these things that you cannot

understand. For no one can come to me UNLESS the Father DRAWS

him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in

the prophets, 'And they shall all to taught by God.' So, every

one who had heard and learned from the Father does come to me. 

I do not mean that people have seen the Father who have learned

from Him. Only those who have come from where God is have seen

the Father. But it is truth, very real truth, that he who

believes has eternal life. I AM the BREAD of LIFE!"

     We have seen in the previous recent chapters, and we shall

see again in coming chapters, and we do see here in clear words,

that the Father has a PLAN of SALVATION. It is His plan to teach

every human who has ever been created to know about Himself

and Christ Jesus. All people will sooner or later be taught of

God, but for some it is not in this first physical life time.

ONLY those who are drawn and called by the Father can come 

to Christ. The rest are left in spiritual blindness, for another

time, another day of salvation, when they will be raised to

physical life and the prophecy of the last verses of Revelation

chapter 20 will be a reality.

     Back to the words of Jesus:

     "Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and they died.

This is the bread that comes down from heaven, that a person may

eat it and not die. I am the LIVING bread which came down from

heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live forever; and

the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my

flesh."

     On hearing these last words the Jews disputed among

themselves saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" 

They were confused and bewildered at what Jesus was saying, so

Jesus went on to confuse and puzzle them even more with these

words, "Of truth I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the

Son of man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you. He who

eat my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will

raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my

blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood

abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I

live because of the Father, so the person who eats me will live

because of me. This is the true bread that comes down from

heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died. He who eats this

true bread will live forever."

     Now, Jesus said all these words to the general public that

was in the synagogue, as He taught  at the city of Capernaum.

     These words even puzzled some of Jesus' disciples like as

never before. Some said among themselves, "These are words hard

to understand, who can listen to them?"

     Jesus knew that even some of His disciples murmured at the

words He had spoken. He knew what was going on in their minds, 

so He spoke to them saying, "Are you offended by the words I've just

spoken? Then what if you were to see the Son of man ascending

where He was before? Here is the meaning of my words. It is the

Spirit that gives life, the flesh is not important, it will not

help; the WORDS that I have spoken to you in all my teachings,

they are spirit and they are life. But some of you I know, do

not believe."

     Jesus knew all along who really did not believe and who

would betray and go against Him. So He said to them, "This is why

I told you that no one can come to me UNLESS it is GRANTED to

them by the Father."

     In one sense Jesus may have had in mind His followers

partaking in the NT Passover by "eating His flesh" (the bread)

and "drinking His blood" (the fruit of the vine), but only in

symbol form, not in any literal sense as the bread and wine

becoming His literal body when eaten, as the largest "Christian"

church on earth teaches. Here we again see (covered in chapter

15) the ones who believed only ON the surface with Jesus, and

ones who believed in a deeper IN or INTO Jesus. The only "on"

Jesus believers, thought He was fine and good as long as He

performed to their wishes and desires, as long as He spoke words

that were not too far out in left field, to their minds. 

     Believing ON Jesus is just a surface thing, it doesn't go

down very deep. Many can believe that Jesus did live as a human

being, that He was a mighty instrument in preaching words about

God ... why most of Islam teaches that Jesus was "A" prophet of

God, but it goes no further than that. That kind of belief is ON

Jesus, as acknowledging He lived, preached, and died. Believing

IN Jesus, means you believe INTO, or WITHIN, Jesus. It is a DEEP

belief that not only believes Christ existed, but believes He

existed as God in the flesh, that He was the VERY SON of God the

Father, a human that was sinless, that lived a life FAR above

what ANY other human being has ever lived. And it is a belief in

Jesus that transforms the very mind, thoughts, words, and

actions, of the one so believing. 

     For further expounding on this DEEP INWARD belief I refer

you back to chapter 15 and the sub-heading "Jesus Remembers Those

Who Did Believe And Repent."

     After all these words from Jesus, it was just too much for

some of His own disciples, and they drew back, packed their bags

so to speak, and departed from Him, no longer wanting to be a

part of those who went about the towns and villages with Him.

     Seeing this, the departing of some of His disciples, He

looked at the chosen twelve and said, "Will you also go away and

stop following me?" Simon Peter was the one to answer for the

twelve, "Lord, to whom shall we go? It is only you that has the

words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to

know, that you are the Holy One sent by God."

     Looking intently at the twelve Jesus then said, "Was it not

I that chose you, the twelve, yet one of you is a devil."

     Jesus was thinking of and referring to Judas the son of

Simon Iscariot, for it was he, one of the twelve, who would later

betray Him to the religious authorities, who would desire to have

Him put to death (John 6:25-71).

     If we notice carefully the words Jesus said here, we can see

clearly that He taught very plainly that He came from heaven,

from the Father. He taught that He existed in heaven with the

Father before He came to earth as a flesh and blood human being.

     We see that Jesus was not meaning to say people should try

to literally eat and drink His blood. But some thought that was

exactly what He was meaning, or they just found it so hard to now

understand His words, and so kind of revolting, they just walked

away from Him, and no longer were counted among His disciples.

But, it was all as Jesus had said, only those called by the

Father, only those who were being led by the Holy Spirit, having

their minds opened to the truths of God, that could come to Jesus

and stay with Him in any case. And for them the words He taught

and making them a part of their lives, was eating His flesh and

drinking His blood. Believing IN Jesus as well as believing

ON Jesus, would mean they had eternal life, and would in the last

day be resurrected to immortal glory in life eternal.

FALSE TRADITIONS CONDEMNED BY JESUS

     As usual the scribes and Pharisees were not too far away

from Jesus at all times. The Pharisees were in every community,

they were the "religious party of the people" but the scribes

were mainly found in Jerusalem. When some of the scribes came

from Jerusalem they banded together with the local Pharisees.

They happened one day to see Jesus' disciples eating food with

unwashed hands, and they called this sort of thing "defiled

hands." The Pharisees had taught the people to wash their hands

before eating, but this washing of hands was not what we may do

before we eat. It was a ceremonial type of washing, a ritual

process, washing all the way up to the elbow. When they came

from the marketplace, before eating, they would go through a

ritual of purifying themselves with water. It was a somewhat

elaborate washing system. There were many other purifying and

washing rites that they did with various cups and pots and pans

and vessels of bronze, even tables and beds. Well, it was all

traditions that the Pharisees and scribes had added to the

religious system for the people. It was way and far beyond what

God had ever instructed in the Old Testament. It was all man made

rules and regulations, but passed off as something God had

decreed to be done. Of course God had decreed no such practices.

It was all false traditions that had no bearing on true holiness

with God.

     The pompous scribes and Pharisees, believing their

traditions were God sanctioned, came to Jesus and said, "We see

here that your disciples eat with unwashed hands. Why do they do

this and eat with defiled hands? Why do they not follow the

traditions of the elders?"

     Jesus answered with some exasperation, and a little anger,

"Oh it is of a truth that Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites,

religious pretenders, when he wrote 'This people honor and

worship me with their lips, but their heart is FAR from me. In

VAIN do they worship me, teaching as doctrines of God what is

merely the precepts and invented ideas of men.'  And what do you

do as a way of life? You leave off doing the commandments

of God, while you hold fast to the traditions of men."

     He further went on to say, "You sure do have a fine way of

rejecting the commandments of God, in order to keep your own many

made traditions. For Moses wrote, 'Honor your father and mother';

and 'He who speaks evil of his father or mother, let him surely

die'; but you say, 'If a man tells his father or mother, what you

would have gained from me is Corban' (that is, given to God) -

then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or

mother, so you make void the commandments of God through

your traditions which you hand on to people. And many such like

things you do to cast away what God has command."

     What does this thing about "Corban" mean, and how did it

void the commandment of God about honoring your parents? This is

how it went. If someone had say $10,000 or maybe a $100,000 they

could "dedicate" it to the "church" - which in this case was the

Pharisee religious synagogue or "religious work" of the

Pharisees. They did not have to give it over to them at the time

it was dedicated to them, it could be dedicated to them

any number of years in advance to the actual handing it to them.

Maybe it was dedicated with the stipulation they would not

receive the money (land, house, etc. that could be sold

for money) till they died. If then, their father or mother became

in need of physical help, the child could say, "Well I cannot

give you any of my money, or sell the land for money to help you,

because I've dedicated it to the 'church' " (the Pharisee church

in this specific case of our Gospel story).

     And so with this clever move on part of the Pharisees, based

upon man made rules and "theology" traditions, they had people

disobeying the very clear commands of God, by following their

self made religious traditions.

     And that was only one example Jesus gave. He said that they

did many other such things with their invented traditions, which

also had people disobeying other commandments of God.

     Jesus called the people to Him and said, "Listen and

understand, it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a

man, but it is what comes out of his mouth that defiles him."

     His disciples came to Him and told him how the Pharisees

were offended by what He had spoken. Jesus simply replied, "Every

plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up.

Just let them alone, let them be, they are blind leaders, and if

a blind man should try and lead another blind man, they will both

fall into the ditch or into a pit."

     Sometimes to teach and uphold the commandments of God,

either by word or by action, and to reveal the falsehoods of a

so-called "religion" towards God, it will offend some people.

Sometimes there is no way around it, the truth often cuts people

and they may get offended, even if the truth is presented in the

kindest way possible. Though I doubt Jesus was trying to be

gentle and kind here with the Pharisees.  He was probably

stone faced and very upset in the tone of His voice, as He

uttered these words to the Pharisees. They were after all

pretending to be "godly religious leaders" and Jesus knew

how false and damaging was much of their theology. This was not

the first time the Pharisees accused Jesus of not being truly and

correctly "religious." Now, on Jesus' part it was time to call a

spade a spade, and as they say, "to let them have it between the

eyes."

     Sometimes in life, situations arise when it can be no other

way. This was one of those times.

     But, even the disciples were puzzled again by the parable,

not offended as the Pharisees were, but still puzzled, and they

asked Jesus to explain clearly what He was meaning.

     "Are you still without understanding?" Jesus said as He was

answering their bewilderment. "Do you not see that whatsoever

goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and so passes on and

out? But that which comes out of the mouth, really comes from the

heart and mind, and this defiles the person. For out of the heart

comes evil thoughts, hate, adultery, sexual immorality, theft,

false witness, slander, coveting, deceit, pride, an evil eye,

silly foolishness. These and other such things are what defiles

a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a

person" (Mat.15: 1-20; Mark 7: 1-23).

     We need to note here that the whole context is talking about

"washed hands" or "unwashed hands" as we eat food. It has nothing

whatsoever to do with God's clean and unclean foods laws. The

context is clearly the Pharisees disputing with Jesus over His

disciples not washing their hands, in their special ritual way,

before eating food. The Pharisees put more importance on making

sure there was not one speck of dirt on the hands before eating

food, than some of the commandments of God. Jesus was showing

where the real priority should be.

     Some translations at the end of Mark 7: 19 say, "Thus he

declared all foods clean." The translators want you to think this

is part of the original Greek, and that Jesus was making void the

clean and unclean foods laws that God gave in Leviticus 11 and

Deuteronomy 14. But such words are not found in the original

Greek. The Greek reads, "...but into the belly, and into the

waste-bowl goes out, purging all the foods."

     Yes, of course, if some dirt is on your hands and you eat

without washing them, some dirt may get on the food and into your

mouth, but the body's automatic cleaning system will take care of

the matter and clean it out through the bowels. Some dirt in the

bowels from food does not defile what comes out of the mouth via

the thoughts and intent of the heart and mind. Again, the whole

context here is concerning washing the hands or not washing the

hands before eating food with your hands, and has nothing to do

with God's clean and unclean food laws.

              .................................

Written October 2002