Was Jesus a radical?
Did you ever notice that Jesus was a radical individual? I’m not just talking about His flipping tables or scattering the money changers in the temple with whips and cords. Imagine seeing Jesus spitting on dirt to give sight to the blind, washing his disciple’s feet, sticking His fingers in people’s ears to make them hear, touching tongues, and on top of it all, dealing with demons, raising the dead, and of course, silently going to a Roman cross when He could have easily wiped everyone out with a glance towards heaven! Pretty radical.
I think of all the intense actions that Jesus did, what was most radical about Him were the things He said. His claims of course... all the ‘I Am’ statements about Him being God, His radical challenges to His followers, His parables, His boldness towards the Pharisees and much more. But of all the radical, odd, and seemingly bizarre things that Jesus said, I believe the most challenging to process are His words in John 6. Jesus tells His listeners that in order to follow Him, abide in Him and have eternal life, we must literally ‘consume’ His flesh and blood. It’s enough to make anyone a bit uncomfortable - unless of course, you’re John the Apostle and you explain it as well as he does in the sixth chapter. (I’m kidding of course, I wish he could of ‘fleshed’ it out a bit more. :-)
I hope you can read the sixth chapter of John before tomorrow. And if you’re up to the challenge, read Exodus chapters 12 through 17. I know, it’s a lot, but trust me you’ll be amazed when you see the parallels. These are some of the things we’ll be discussing during tomorrow’s worship service tomorrow at 11:00 AM.
