It is tempting in any spiritual tradition to pick and choose, taking those parts we like and leaving behind the aspects of the teaching we find difficult or challenging.
Many of the people who benefited from hearing Jesus’ teaching in person, and were considered his “disciples”, responded to his words with frustration,
When many of his disciples heard it, they said, ‘This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?’ (John 6:60)
When Jesus refused to moderate his tone and accommodate himself to the sensitivities of his audience
many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. (John 6:66)
Jesus understood that, in order for anyone to open to his teaching, something must resonate in the depths of their being.
And he said, ‘For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.’ (John 6:65)
It is a challenging statement. Is there anyone to whom it has not been “granted” to come to truth, light and love? If a person was born into the world with no capacity to appreciate beauty, would such a person be condemned for failing to see the beauty of life?
Jesus told his struggling disciples,
It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. (John 6:63)
Spiritual reality can only be received by the spirit. Flesh alone does not have the capacity to perceive the things of the spirit.
There are people who appear to have no interest in anything other than “the flesh”. The realm of the spirit seems to be completely foreign territory for some people. It is as if the spiritual microchip is simply missing from their hard drive. They are not bad people. In some cases, people who show no propensity at all for the life of the spirit, may be kinder and more loving than many of us who spend our lives concerned with matters of the spirit.
The disciples who deserted Jesus in John chapter six did not turn away because they were any more wicked or heart-heated than anyone else. They were driven away by a question Jesus asked.
But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, ‘Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of man ascending to where he was before? (John 6:61,62)
Jesus uses the image of “ascending” to speak of the realm of the spirit. But the important thing to see here is that Jesus claims to be able to coexist in spirit and in flesh without distinction. For Jesus there is no division between the realm of the flesh and the realm of the spirit. In himself Jesus broke down the duality. The problem for those who rejected Jesus was that they were living in a bifurcated world, refusing to see the unity of all being.
Judas son of Simon Iscariot is the archetype of the disciple who turns away from Jesus. Jesus called Judas “a devil”. The Greek word translated “devil” is diabolos. It is a compound word made up of dia, “through” and ballo, “to throw”. If we throw a stone through a window, the window shatters. Diabolos is the force of fragmentation. It breaks things apart. It separates flesh and spirit.
Jesus demonstrated in his own person that spirit and flesh are united. They are not separate forces pulling in opposite directions. But, when we determine to live only in the flesh we are only partially alive. It becomes impossible for us to perceive the realities of the spirit that “gives life”. Focused exclusively on the “flesh” it becomes impossible for us to perceive that which is naturally “granted by the Father”.
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March 20, 2012 at 8:49 am
jaqueline
“And he said, ‘For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.’ (John 6:65)
It is a challenging statement. Is there anyone to whom it has not been “granted” to come to truth, light and love? If a person was born into the world with no capacity to appreciate beauty, would such a person be condemned for failing to see the beauty of life?”
It is interesting that we read this statement as a statement of exclusivity, of the Father withholding something from anyone; forgetting that it is the Father who gives everything. But today for some reason, it reads differently. ‘Grant’ is the same as ‘Gift’ isn’t it?
Isn’t this:
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted ( given to ) him by the Father.”
a reminder that salvation is a GIFT not a work that we perform ourselves? Isn’t it a companion to Paul’s :
“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. …. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of (granted by) God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
March 21, 2012 at 5:40 am
Christopher Page
this is lovely and helpful. Sadly John 6:65 is frequently used in exactly the opposite direction to justify exclusion.
I also affirm absolutely the affirmation in your second comment of the fruit of the Spirit as the only truly reliable evidence of the work of God’s Spirit in a person’s life. It is incomprehensible to me how often people seem unable to affirm this important reality.
March 20, 2012 at 8:58 am
jaqueline
“In some cases, people who show no propensity at all for the life of the spirit, may be kinder and more loving than many of us who spend our lives concerned with matters of the spirit.”
And the reverse is true isn’t it…that those who seem full of interest in the spirit might hardly be examples of the best of humanity.
I wonder if that is why Jesus and Paul, John and all point to the presence of Love ( ie, patience and joy and peace and kindness etc…) as is the only reliable evidence of the spirit.
March 23, 2012 at 9:19 am
Tress
Jacqueline, is one of your etc. Wonder!(not Wonder? ) but wonder at creation itself ,
“Consider the lilies of the field…..”is not that appreciation of the creation of which we are part ,that which links us to to the larger dimension to which we aspire?
May 17, 2012 at 5:27 am
John 7:1-13 – Travelling Lightly In The World (see March 20, 2012) « In A Spacious Place
[...] has been nine weeks since I last posted on John’s Gospel (see March 20, 2012 http://inaspaciousplace.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/john-660-71-granted-by-the-father/). This morning seems a good time to resume looking at [...]