In our gospel reading for today, Jesus again presents himself as the bread that came down from heaven, that we should eat his flesh and drink his blood and therefore live forever. And for many of his growing crowd of followers, this revelation is too much for them to handle. In THEIR judgment, Jesus has gone too far, and is asking them to accept something too difficult to accept. But Jesus does not back down or soften his words when they start to complain, in fact, Jesus issues them a further challenge. Jesus is not looking for APPROVAL – he has come instead to bring words of spirit and life to the ones HE has chosen....
It is at times like this – after a very successful Vacation Bible School, where we brought the Word of God to over 100 different children – that I grudgingly have to admit that Facebook has its uses. Personally, I loathe Facebook, but it is very likely that it was the vehicle for some families in town to become aware of our VBS, and bring their children. Why do I loathe Facebook? Several reasons – it has been DESIGNED to be addictive and it is the social media platform that can brag to be the largest consumer of people's time; it is very efficient in messing up people's marriages by reconnecting old flames that shouldn't be reconnected; and it has an insidious control over the viewpoint of news that you see...if you are unfortunate enough to rely on Facebook for your news. And then there is the big thing – Facebook has blazed the trail of turning people's lives into a constant seeking for approval. It was the pioneer of using a system to track for every photo, meme, funny story, and pet video, how many different people “liked” it. You now know instantly whether your cute grandkid photo is as popular as your neighbour's cute grandkid photo, based on how many “likes” it has received, in full view of everyone on the system. Thanks to Facebook, now EVERYTHING is a popularity contest – a popularity contest that now boasts over 3 BILLION judges. And your grandkid photo only has four “likes”? How pathetic...
If Jesus was hoping in our gospel reading today for his disciples to click “like” on his new teaching, he would have been greatly disappointed. Because his disciples thought this new teaching - that Jesus was the bread that came down from heaven, that they should eat his flesh and drink his blood – they thought this was crazy. “Who can possibly judge this as acceptable?” And many of the disciples chose this occasion of disapproval as the time to part ways with Jesus. Did Jesus react by retracting his statement? Absolutely not! In fact, he added more fuel to the fire by telling the disciples that their whole outlook was wrong. The teachings of Jesus are the words of spirit and life; the disciples' JUDGEMENTS of his teachings were of the flesh, out of the mind of man, and useless. And Jesus reinforces this outlook by the way he reacts to Peter's grudging APPROVAL - “Listen, Peter, I chose YOU. YOUR judgment of ME is of the flesh, and useless. Any faith you have in me is not of your own judgment, but has been granted to you by the Father.” Jesus has no need...no desire...to be “liked”.
As the church – the body of Jesus on earth – we absolutely CRAVE to be “liked”. Is that Bible passage too harsh for someone new to the church? Better take it out of the lectionary. Is Jesus calling for radical commitment in that parable? Better water that one down, make sure people are “comfortable” with their lives as is. Can't we make Jesus more inclusive, more popular, more progressive, more positive, more able to be “liked” by the masses? And shouldn't we make OURSELVES more inclusive, more popular, more progressive, more positive, more able to be “liked” by the masses? Because we would NOT want to provide an occasion for some disciples to disapprove, and part ways with us. Unfortunately, as the church, our craving to be “liked” is out of step with our Saviour. I'm not saying we should TRY to be DISLIKED, but the APPROVAL of those around us cannot be our GOAL.