One of my favorite gospel passages is John 6. Over the years, the depth of Jesus’s words sinks a little more into my heart. This is a place Jesus gets to the heart of what it means to follow him. This is one of those places where Jesus works intentionally to shrink the crowd. He has chased almost all of them away by the end of the passage.
His disciples are barely hanging on.
THAT is life with Jesus. We’re barely hanging on sometimes because he is WORTH IT to us, but the ride gets a bit scary.
What we really want is the transactional Jesus. This is the crowd in John 6. He had fed them. They wanted to make him King. That’s how it goes, right?
This is too often how we treat Jesus.
“I’ll follow you, Jesus. Aren’t you lucky? But first, I need this sign.”
Jesus is not impressed.
He will not trade transactions. He calls to to HIM. To eat his flesh. To drink his blood. To participate in HIS LIFE.
I’ve been weary of transactional Christianity for years and this passage calls me deeper into a relationship that still scares me from time to time. I’ve ditched the transactional and hold on for the scary relational ride. What a ride it’s been.
Apprentice 2 Jesus 