I am preaching tomorrow from John 6:35, 41-51. Jesus there declared to the large crowds hoping for a free lunch that he was the bread of life. That was quite offensive to the “Jews,” or religious leaders self-appointed to check out and approve all the new rabbis. “Isn’t this Jesus, son of Joseph, whom we know?” It seems they let familiarity breed contempt.
But they also let their own agenda breed contempt for God’s plan through Jesus. They had their own ideas of how and when God would manifest the Messiah, the bread from heaven, and they were darn sure it didn’t include Jesus, son of Joseph, the carpenter. Just give us another free lunch like you did yesterday and we’ll be on our way.
The way Jesus responded is instructive to our masculine quest. “I am the bread of life,” he maintained. He continued to insist it was through him, not the Jewish sacrificial system, that men could approach God. He continued to say, “This is who I am.” Jesus remained thoroughly masculine and refused to be redefined by repeated attempts to “bring him into line.”
In our culture, even at church, there is overwhelming pressure to conform to prevailing opinions and behavior patterns. In the same way Eve gave forbidden fruit to her husband standing with her and bid him conform to her disobedience, we have unrelenting pressure to drop our individuality and come in and “be like one of us.” We need to understand clearly that the pressure to “come in and be with me, like me” is inherently feminine, and without missional and moral reference points (see the post below), it leads away from obedience to God. Even if the collective purpose is admirable and noble and does a lot of good things, if it is opposed to what God has told us to do it is disobedience. God does not justify our weakness to conformity as easily as we do.
I do not want to give the impression that femininity is wrong, it is not. God created the female but he created her to be joined to her husband to live into his mission and moral compass and not the other way around. If the man she is joined to has no idea of his mission and moral standard (or fails to act on it as did Adam) she will be frustrated and eventually fall into Eve’s pattern of adopting her own. She will then want him to join her. If that happens it is not her fault, it is his.
If Jesus had given in to the unrelenting pressure to conform to the expectations of his time he would have failed, just as Adam failed. He would have yielded to the uninformed feminine. The opportunities to perform signs on the terms of the people he was trying to reach would have been useless, however dramatic. Everything had to be on Jesus’ terms, fully defined and fully adhered to. He had to continually say, “This is who I am.”
Jesus was completely masculine. He was separate. Though fully human he also was fully divine, with the mark of the Holy Spirit placed on him at his baptism. He had a solitary wilderness experience where he went away for 40 days to discover his identity and purpose. He then rejoined the first century Hebrew culture to become prophet to Galilee and ultimately sacrifice for our sins on his terms relative to his mission and moral compass. At no time did he ever back down. He never meant to be included, he always sought to include.
Paul put it this way: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1, 2). Our “reasonable service” or worship is living as set apart or sanctified unto God, not conforming to those around us.
Men, like Jesus, we need to be able to say, “This is who I am.”
I love this photo of rebels captured during one of the battles of the War Between the States. They are standing by the pile of logs, awaiting transport to the POW camp. I love the message that their facial expressions and body language shout to the world. “We may have been captured, but we are not giving in. This is who we are!”
But they also let their own agenda breed contempt for God’s plan through Jesus. They had their own ideas of how and when God would manifest the Messiah, the bread from heaven, and they were darn sure it didn’t include Jesus, son of Joseph, the carpenter. Just give us another free lunch like you did yesterday and we’ll be on our way.
The way Jesus responded is instructive to our masculine quest. “I am the bread of life,” he maintained. He continued to insist it was through him, not the Jewish sacrificial system, that men could approach God. He continued to say, “This is who I am.” Jesus remained thoroughly masculine and refused to be redefined by repeated attempts to “bring him into line.”
In our culture, even at church, there is overwhelming pressure to conform to prevailing opinions and behavior patterns. In the same way Eve gave forbidden fruit to her husband standing with her and bid him conform to her disobedience, we have unrelenting pressure to drop our individuality and come in and “be like one of us.” We need to understand clearly that the pressure to “come in and be with me, like me” is inherently feminine, and without missional and moral reference points (see the post below), it leads away from obedience to God. Even if the collective purpose is admirable and noble and does a lot of good things, if it is opposed to what God has told us to do it is disobedience. God does not justify our weakness to conformity as easily as we do.
I do not want to give the impression that femininity is wrong, it is not. God created the female but he created her to be joined to her husband to live into his mission and moral compass and not the other way around. If the man she is joined to has no idea of his mission and moral standard (or fails to act on it as did Adam) she will be frustrated and eventually fall into Eve’s pattern of adopting her own. She will then want him to join her. If that happens it is not her fault, it is his.
If Jesus had given in to the unrelenting pressure to conform to the expectations of his time he would have failed, just as Adam failed. He would have yielded to the uninformed feminine. The opportunities to perform signs on the terms of the people he was trying to reach would have been useless, however dramatic. Everything had to be on Jesus’ terms, fully defined and fully adhered to. He had to continually say, “This is who I am.”
Jesus was completely masculine. He was separate. Though fully human he also was fully divine, with the mark of the Holy Spirit placed on him at his baptism. He had a solitary wilderness experience where he went away for 40 days to discover his identity and purpose. He then rejoined the first century Hebrew culture to become prophet to Galilee and ultimately sacrifice for our sins on his terms relative to his mission and moral compass. At no time did he ever back down. He never meant to be included, he always sought to include.
Paul put it this way: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1, 2). Our “reasonable service” or worship is living as set apart or sanctified unto God, not conforming to those around us.
Men, like Jesus, we need to be able to say, “This is who I am.”
I love this photo of rebels captured during one of the battles of the War Between the States. They are standing by the pile of logs, awaiting transport to the POW camp. I love the message that their facial expressions and body language shout to the world. “We may have been captured, but we are not giving in. This is who we are!”
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