Transcending and Escaping or Engaging and Transforming
Thank You!
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Herb Montgomery, July 27, 2024
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Our lectionary reading from the gospels this week is from the gospel of John:
Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Festival was near.
When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were frightened. But he said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.” Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading. (John 6:1-21)
This reading is one version of the feeding of the multitude stories in the canonical gospels. John’s account is wholly independent from any of the others: it’s not based on Mark’s two versions like those in Matthew and Luke. The Jesus story was originally told through an oral tradition of the miracle stories of Jesus. And although all of the gospels may have had a common ancestor in these stories, John’s version is a bit different.
For starters, unlike Mark’s, Matthew’s and Luke’s versions, John’s story isn’t about food justice and making sure the material needs of everyone in the Jesus community are being met. John is using this story for a narrative purpose: to set up the bread of life controversy in verses 16-71. This controversy, which has roots in the gnostic desire to transcend death, is only mentioned by John’s gospel and also is very out of place with what we would expect a Jewish rabbi like the synoptic Jesus to say:
“‘Here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.’ Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.’” (John 6:50-56)
The bread of life controversy in John has always been a source of debate within Christianity, and, I believe, a distraction. John’s gospel uses the feeding of the multitude story to set up a theological debate whereas the synoptic gospels use various versions of this story to teach about resource-sharing, mutual aid, feeding the hungry, and clothing the naked. Meeting the material needs of those in our communities resonates much more deeply with me than arguing over what Jesus meant by drinking blood and eating flesh.
In true Johannine fashion, when the people try to make Jesus king by force, Jesus departs. In John’s gospel, Jesus’ kingdom is not material but ethereal (John 3:3, 5). Unlike the synoptics’ kingdom theme, the kingdom in John has very little to do with challenging, confronting, or changing anything about how the kingdoms of this world operate (John 18:36). In the synoptics, the kingdom theme describes that which has come from God to impact and transform our present world. But in John, Jesus kingdom is about transcending our present world with all of its challenges and transforming death into a portal to postmortem bliss.
I’ve made it no secret that my soul resonates more deeply with the synoptics’ version of the kingdom. We should be about transforming our world, not escaping it. We should be about making our present world a safe, compassionate, just home for all, not becoming so heavenly minded that we’re no earthly good.
It is also true that in the synoptic gospels Jesus rejects being king. In the temptation stories of Matthew and Luke, Jesus refuses a position of power at the helm of the kingdoms of this world. This could be argued as a rejection of the empires of this world and their peace through military violence: Jesus’ kingdom in the synoptics is about bringing about peace on earth through distributive justice.
John’s rejection of kingship is quite different. The Johannine Jesus rejects being made king by force because he is much more concerned with giving his followers a way to transcend the injustice in our world than with engaging and transforming it.
All of the gospel communities would have had a lot to say to those in the Christian “moral majority” today seeking political power to enforce their version of morality. Jesus followers historically have never handled political power well. When Christians have become “king,” we have tended to deal more death than give life. And while I do believe there is a time and place to influence how our societies are shaped in our effort to make our world a more just home for everyone, the morality of the Christian right isn’t about making our world safe for everyone and ensuring that everyone has enough to thrive, but about enforcing their beliefs regarding how they believe everyone in society should behave. Those beliefs are worth taking a look at and challenging.
Lastly in this week’s reading from John, we have a version of the story of Jesus walking on water. This story portrays Jesus as transcending our material existence. In the synoptics the story demonstrates the power of Jesus and Jesus’ teachings to transform our material world. For John, Jesus is above it all, leading us on a path of transcendence.
What does this have to say to us today?
A focus on transcending this world comes from John’s gospel. But as Jesus followers, we must allow ourselves to be confronted by the fact that that focus has not always produced good fruit. Coming away to rest and be refreshed is not transcendence or escape. It’s to recharge so we can continue our work. The synoptic gospels admonish us as Jesus followers to engage our world, to transform it, to work alongside others working to shape our world into a home for everyone, a home where everyone has their needs met, a home that is safe, rooted in distributive justice, and founded on compassion and the recognition that each of us bears the image of the Divine and is part of one another.
I long for the day when Christianity in the U.S. makes the news for pushing that agenda.
Discussion Group Questions
1. Share something that spoke to you from this week’s eSight/Podcast episode with your discussion group.
2. How does the Jesus story help you engage our world around us? Share and discuss with your group.
3. What can you do this week, big or small, to continue setting in motion the work of shaping our world into a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone?
Thanks for checking in with us, today.
I want to say a special thank you to all of our supporters out there. And if you would like to join them in supporting Renewed Heart Ministries’ work you can do so by going to renewedheartministries.com and clicking donate.
My latest book Finding Jesus: A Fundamentalist Preacher Discovers the Socio-Political and Economic Teachings of the Gospels is available now on Amazon in paperback, Kindle and also on Audible in audio book format.
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If you would like to listen to these articles each week in podcast form, you can find The Social Jesus podcast on all major podcast carriers. If you enjoy listening to The Social Jesus Podcast please take a moment to like and subscribe and if your podcast platform offers this option, consider taking some time to leave us a positive review. This helps others find our podcast as well.
You can watch our new YouTube show called “Just Talking” each week. Todd Leonard and I take a moment to talk about the gospel lectionary reading for the upcoming weekend. We’ll be talking about each reading in the context of love, inclusion, and societal justice. Our hope is that our talking will be just talking (as in justice) and that during our brief conversations each week you’ll be inspired to also do more than just talking. If you teach from the lectionary each week, or if you’re just looking for some thoughts on the Jesus story from a more progressive perspective within the context of social justice, check it out, you might like it. You can find JustTalking each week on YouTube at youtube.com/@herbandtoddjusttalking. Please Like, Subscribe, hit the Notification button, and leave us a comment.
And if you’d like to reach us here at Renewed Heart Ministries through email, you can reach us at info@renewedheartministries.com.
Right where you are, keep living in love, choosing compassion, taking action, and working toward justice.
I love each of you dearly,
I’ll see you next week.
New Episode of “Just Talking” Now Online!
Season 2, Episode 22: John 6.1-21. Lectionary B, Proper 12
Each week, we’ll be talking about the gospel lectionary reading for the upcoming weekend in the context of love, inclusion, and social justice. Our hope is that our talking will be “just” talking (as in justice) and that during our brief conversations each week we’ll be inspired to do more than just talking.
If you teach from the lectionary each week, or if you’re just looking for some thoughts on the Jesus story from a more progressive perspective within the context of social justice, check it out at:
New Episode of The Social Jesus Podcast
A podcast where we talk about the intersection of faith and social justice and what a first century, prophet of the poor from Galilee might have to offer us today in our work of love, compassion and justice.
This week:
Season 1 Episode 15: Transcending and Escaping or Engaging and Transforming
John 6:1-21
“A focus on transcending this world comes from John’s gospel. But as Jesus followers, we must allow ourselves to be confronted by the fact that that focus has not always produced good fruit. The synoptic gospels admonish us as Jesus followers to engage our world, to transform it, to work alongside others working to shape our world into a home for everyone, a home where everyone has their needs met, a home that is safe, rooted in distributive justice, and founded on compassion and the recognition that each of us bears the image of the Divine and is part of one another.”
Available on all major podcast carriers,
Or at this link:
Now Available on Audible!
Finding Jesus: A Fundamentalist Preacher Discovers the Socio-Political & Economic Teachings of the Gospels.
by Herb Montgomery, Narrated by Jeff Moon
Available now on Audible!
After two successful decades of preaching a gospel of love within the Christian faith tradition Herb felt like something was missing. He went back to the gospels and began reading them through the interpretive lenses of various marginalized communities and what he found radically changed his life forever. The teachings of the Jesus in the gospel stories express a profound concern for justice, compassion, and the well-being of those in marginalized communities. This book navigates the intersections between faith and societal justice, and presents a compelling argument for a more socially compassionate and just expression of Christianity. Herb’s findings in his latest book are shared in the hopes that it will dramatically impact how you practice your Christianity, too.
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