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10:30 am Worship

Saturday, May 10, 2025

John 6: 51-53

“⁵¹I 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.” ⁵²The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” ⁵³So 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.”

C.S. Lewis once wondered aloud what theories of evolution might have occurred if a sentient being had suddenly appeared among the dinosaurs. He suggested a thoughtful person might well have predicted creatures growing ever larger and carrying heavier armor. After all, the most successful predators were large, and many were armored.

Who would have believed, in such a world, a tiny creature lacking any armor at all would prevail. Evolution, he said, had a surprise in store: larger brains, which would allow the tiny creatures to command all the earth.

He used this example to ponder the idea: what next?

Countless humans have ruminated on that question, creating countless stories, passages of holy scripture, sensational novels and movies. Strange theories and outlandish human movements have occurred precisely because of the question. Christianity proclaims the change has already occurred. The new man appeared, and we are slowly moving toward that past which will be our future. Paul spoke of the new Adam. (1 Cor. 15: 45)

John, speaking in a different way, turned to the idea of bread from heaven. The early Hebrews celebrated an earthly bread, one given by God which could be collected and eaten. Jesus rejected such thinking, pointing out that the Jewish ancestors had eaten such bread, then perished. He pointed to a new bread, an indestructible source of life: “I am the bread of life.”  

What next? Perhaps this: We will take Christ into ourselves, literally making ourselves into little Christs. As Lewis explained it, we will evolve from being creatures of God into being children of God. He said it’s already happening and will continue to happen. Those who reject Christ appear with regular monotony and all appear the same, he argued. Every despot looks like a despot who existed in an earlier time. Every despot attempts to bury the faithful, only to find them rising again. Every despot perishes.

“Already the new men are dotted here and there all over the earth,” Lewis wrote. “Every now and then one meets them. Their very voices and faces are different from ours; stronger, quieter, happier, more radiant. They begin where most of us leave off... They do not draw attention to themselves… They love you more than other men do.” (Mere Christianity, 188.)

Hymn of the day: Hymn of Heaven. Online at Rossford UMC - Media.

Rev. Lawrence Keeler