So, the picture above isn’t frozen yogurt, or soft serve ice cream. No, it’s processed chicken. The kind of chicken that goes into chicken patties and chicken nuggets.
Because it’s a pulp of all sorts of parts of chicken, it ends up coming out pink. And because it’s crawling with bacteria, it’s soaked in a disinfectant and then re-flavoured artificially, and then dyed with artificial colour to make it look like normal chicken again. (original picture reblogged from here.)
But no, i’m not using the bcec website to discuss food standards, or whether or not we should eat fast foods (you can discuss that yourselves). But i do want to draw a connection to the message I gave this past Sunday.
In John 6, Jesus feeds 5,000+ people, and at the end they’ve all eaten to the full. Later on, he gets into a discussion with people about bread – and the bread of life. The people are gathering around him because they’re hoping to get some more physical food out of him. And Jesus is talking about this bread of life – this greater kind of food – or rather, this greater kind of “life nourishment.”
His main point being – that he is the Son of God, and he’s offering full life to those who want it.
At this point, people’s conceptions of Jesus are confronted. Some thought he was a prophet. Others thought he was a teacher. And still others were just hoping for some more free food. But here Jesus stood, declaring that he was God. And that was a hard thing for people to believe.
Towards the end of John 6 it says:
On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.”
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
It’s interesting, because some of the disciples heard what Jesus said, evaluated who he was, and then decided to turn away. They would rather live their lives as they were than accept Jesus at his word.
But when the 12 disciples were asked, Peter responds beautifully.
“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
For Simon Peter, why would he turn back to something else? Jesus has the words of eternal life. He is the only true God. If you know the real thing, what else can compare to it.
So if you know Jesus is the real thing – if you know that he has the words of life – why would you follow anything else? When you know God, the decision is simple. Why settle for a processed substitute?
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These were some thoughts from our current series The Remarkable Life of Jesus and our Strong and Courageous Life in Him. The message from John 6 is available here, and all our previous messages are available on the Sunday messages page.