Transformation--The Ongoing Invitation

Transformation, in the Scripture, is an ongoing invitation.  John 6 is one of those discussions about transformation that Jesus had with disciples and others who listened.  He was telling the group that He was the bread that came down.  They could eat of Him and never be hungry again.    

The Jews (verse 41) complained about Him..."is now this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  How is it then that He says, 'I have come down from heaven?'"  (verse 42)  We think "we know" something of Christ, but it is based in the physical.  There is a message of transformation...come up to a higher place, see through the eyes of Spirit.   

He cautions us to not murmur against each other (verse 44).  I take it to mean that we should not murmur against Him either...seeing in Him the limitations of the flesh..."is not this Jesus?"    Jesus tells us that no one comes to Him unless the Father calls them.  Verse 45: "It is written in the prophets, And they shall be taught by God.  Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me." 

Jesus is not a God that excludes people.  This is such good news to each of us.  Again, He calls us to transform our thinking and being.  At one point, the disciples got bent out of shape because others were casting out demons in Jesus' name.  They thought it was just about them.  They had a spirit of the Pharisees.  They were better.  Jesus tore that lie down!  His door is open, and it includes you and me and any that have in someone way been taught by God.   

He was talking to them about eating His flesh and drinking His blood.  This really upset them.  They refused to see more than the carpenter's son.  They refused to move beyond the physical to the spiritual teaching.  Verse 63:  "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life."  Jesus was trying to move them to an understanding that without His flesh and blood they had no way to move from the physical to the spiritual path.   

He is our spiritual sustenance.  The Kingdom of Heaven is neither eat or drink, but righteous, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.  Righteousness is God's and comes from God.  Peace is from Jesus...My peace I give unto you.  Joy in the Holy Ghost is the transformation that comes from the first two, neither of which come through us.  Praise the Lord...we would find some way of taking credit for it.   

Our spiritual arrogance, just like the disciples, seeks to find some way in which we are better than others.  We spend so much time and energy in fighting over doctrinal differences.  Oh, that we were known for what we are for instead of what we are against.  We don't seem to have a way of separating the person from what they believe.  Jesus said that what we have done to others, we have done to Him.  Do we believe that God can be trusted with His own defense...if He needs one?   Do we know with certainty what we believe so that we have no place in our lives to be defensive over anything else that someone else may believe.  I speak these words, not to be harsh, but as a reminder for each of us.   

If we will spend extra time in the "red words," we will see the gospel that Jesus taught.  It is important to see Jesus in this light.  I think that much of the discord that the apostles and disciples experienced with each other in the early church is because they started getting away from the "red words."  They became too involved in building the church kingdom on earth (physical) instead of the spiritual kingdom that is internal. 

In 1 Corinthians 11:29, we are told to "rightly discern the body and blood of Christ.  Because we do not, there are many sick and dying.  In John 6, the Lord is saying the same thing in another way.  Let us see His words as body and heavenly DNA that can help us transform....move from the physical to the heavenly and spiritual.  By beholding Him, we become changed.