John 6:35, 41-51 – The 11th Sunday after Pentecost – for Sunday, August 9, 2015
“The Jewish opposition grumbled about him because he said, “I am the bread of life that came down from heaven.†(John 6:41)

Call me a grumbler.
It’s as if the Jesus in John’s Gospel referred to me when criticizing the Jews and their questions.
They grumbled about him claiming to “come from heaven.â€
They grumbled because he was the “bread of life.†(Indeed, in the verses following today’s Gospel reading, the “Jewish oppositionâ€â€”as John labeled them—grumbled about eating Jesus’ flesh. Fools! Didn’t those no-nothings know anything about metaphors?)
The opposition grumbled about him being anything other than Joseph and Mary’s son, a country bumpkin from a backwater town in a backwater region of the Roman Empire who became a rabble-rouser, a hero to a few and an irritant to most.
While the Jewish opposition’s grumbles aren’t really my grumbles, I do grumble: about the elusive and enigmatic Jesus; about how some—including, frankly, me—act as if they possess secret knowledge on God’s thoughts. Continue reading →