This might be a bit of a stretch, but I wonder if this is not an occasion where John's narrative is speaking on two levels. On the one hand Jesus probably said this. On the other maybe John is arguing that people who come to the Church will never go hungry. Here is my argument. John's gospel was the last to be written about 90 AD. This is WELL after Paul has written. In fact most Christians had probably read Paul's letters. That means that they would already know that the Church is the body of Christ. All those who claim, "Jesus is Lord" are members of this one body. If that is true then whoever goes to Jesus' body goes to the bread of heaven. The Church is, therefore, the bread from heaven. Whoever goes to the Church will never go hungry.
But is this actually true? Whenever people are hungry and they go to the church are they guaranteed to be fed? I have no idea if people would be or not. If, however, one goes to what is supposedly a church and walks away hungry, then can that place truly be called the Church? If some walk away from the body of Christ hungry, have they really come to Jesus or was it a cheap imitation?
1 comment:
Ryan, I often ask the same question, literally and spiritually (for distinction purposes). I ask the question, "Why are we here?" Better yet, I tell my students that they have better things to do than to come and act like they like being here, with the intent to make them realize that "Church" is sacred and should be life-giving, not life-draining. This is the tension that we will always find ourselves in within the local church. Blessings on your ministry brother.
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