6.4 Time to Change Filters?
I understand touchdowns. Balls and strikes make sense. I was raised playing American football and baseball. So, the first words out of my mouth when I saw rugby and cricket were, "What in the world are they doing?” I could not get my head around it. I even have trouble with "offsides" in soccer. In today’s segment, the same happens to Jesus' listeners, who are so entwined with their sense of physical reality that Jesus’ spiritual reality does not compute. Listen, Chapter Six……
41 Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Exchange this scene for one in which 100 baseball fans see a game of cricket for the first time. Some will immediately dismiss it, while others will be interested in learning more about it. Aren't we all like that? What is the reason? We have a filter through which we view life, and watching cricket through your baseball filter will never work.
“We must look at the lens through which we see the world, as well as the world we see, and that the lens itself shapes how we interpret the world.”
Gary Powers posted recently, “All of us process what we see, hear, or feel with some type of ‘filter.' That filter is developed through our life experiences, choices, and, for the most part, what we have come to value. If that filter is flawed in some way, we usually don’t see it because it’s our filter.” Jesus understood that most of their filters were tightly wound with their preconceived notions and would not admit any new ideas - but some would. Some would have a degree of intellectual curiosity that would allow new ideas to slip through. And this internal curiosity would draw some of his listeners to his explanation of spiritual reality.
Where Does Curiosity Come From?
But what about the others? The majority of listeners would fall victim to confirmation bias. Their filters would only accept ideas that confirm what they already believe. They are on a “search for certainty” and strongly need to be right. However, the “search for truth” leads to freedom but requires that we loosen our grip, loosen our filters, and follow our curiosity through the valleys of uncertainty to a new understanding. Jesus saw this curiosity as coming from God and explained to them…
43 Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise that person up on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 
Jesus understands the rare phenomenon of curiosity instead of certainty in people. When he says, “Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father,” he is talking about the few with some degree of curiosity and spiritual consciousness. These are the ones who have welcomed uncertainty in the form of questions they cannot immediately answer. They’ve wrestled with them until they've found peace, either in the form of a new understanding of the “cloud of unknowing.” He calls this process “hearing and learning from the Father.”
John wants to show us that Jesus has made a life out of this process, which is how the Father interacts with people. This curiosity, including its questions, unknowing, and answers, is all the work of God within a person. Only those who have experienced it will recognize it in Jesus and be drawn to him. Even the draw is from the Father.
Whose Life Is It Anyway?
47 Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
What could this piece mean?
These words are so familiar for church-raised people like me that they've lost any meaning. That's when I have to tear the puzzle apart and inspect each piece freshly. What could this piece mean? Where does it go in the bigger puzzle? I zoom in, zoom out, and rotate it to get a fresh perspective. We've just seen Jesus describe those people who have God at work in their lives. They question, listen, learn, and share in “God's life,” which he means by eternal life. It’s a quality of life, not a quantity of years. Sit with that a minute. "God's life within my life.”
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that God exists in some people and not others. God exists in all people the way a father exists in all of his children. The DNA is in each one, but not all operate out of the relationship.
From Carpenter to Co-Creator
In his intro, John told us that the word or intention of the creator “became flesh and dwelt among us.” By that, he meant that Jesus was the embodiment of one living God's life within his life. He was a small-town craftsman who caught the "breath of God" and worked it out daily for all to see, inviting others to do the same. He walked away from his occupation, family, and friends to teach others how to convert divine intelligence into physical reality. When others do the same, we eat the bread that comes down from heaven, and it becomes, like physical food, our source of life.
What about the part that gave them so much trouble, “And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh?” Let's not get ahead of Jesus and put him on the cross. Could it mean something different from (or in addition to) that common theological meaning? Could it mean he subjected his physical life and flesh to his spirit? Remember, he could've been a husband, father, and king but sacrificed these to follow his spirit. He gave up his everyday life, his flesh, for the world.
While it plays out over time, the parent’s sacrifice is sealed on the day their child is born.
Parents will comprehend this quickly because they know what it means to sacrifice desires, plans, and dreams for the sake of their children. If called on, they would even give their lives for their children. While it plays out over time, the parent’s sacrifice is sealed on the day their child is born. Likewise, our physical lives are sacrificed when we follow the spirit rather than the flesh. It made sense to some, but not all.
52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” This Should Get’em Going
To stir up a reaction within each of them, Jesus exaggerated his response.
53 So 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. 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day, 55 for my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which the ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” 59 He said these things while he was teaching in a synagogue at Capernaum.
But the one who eats this bread will live forever.
When John’s story was written in the latter years of the first century, many current followers had never seen or heard Jesus. He wanted us to experience how Jesus taught in the synagogue. So here we are in Capernaum, where Jesus could have easily broken down the meaning of his "blood and flesh” metaphor, but he didn't. Why? He is an expert teacher who knows that learning must come from within the individual, making it through their filter. This bizarre example was designed to shake up their beliefs and encourage them to allow a new understanding to flow through.
It’s the perfect metaphor to stress the importance of fully integrating oneself with his teachings and way of life. Like how food and drink are transformed by John's energy and used by the body, his teachings should be absorbed by his followers and put into practice—God’s life within their lives.
Key Takeaways:
John highlights the importance of grappling with unfamiliar concepts, urging us to move beyond our filters and experience profound learning from within, or “hearing and learning from the Father.”
The best insights often emerge after engaging deeply with incomprehensible or challenging ideas, leading to transformative understanding.
Aligning ourselves with God's life force involves attuning to divine intelligence and allowing it to guide our actions, integrating spiritual truths into our daily lives.
