John 6:35, 41-51

 ... and they shall all be taught by God (V45)

When Jesus says, ‘…and they shall all be taught by God’ seemingly Jesus is quoting the prophet Isaiah who says, ‘All your children will be taught by God’ (chapter 54:43). Did this mean that one day in the future the descendants of the exiles will be taught directly by God? Has that time now come in the person of Jesus? In quoting this could Jesus be saying that when you listen to me you are being taught by God? Could he be saying that he is more than a prophet, more than a priest, more than a rabbi, more than a teacher? If Jesus’ words are the words of God, how do we respond? How do we discern which words are authentically the original words of Jesus and which words were added when handed down orally to the gospel writers and how have they edited them? And when we read these words how are we interpreting them through our experiences and other life knowledges?

When I sit listening to eulogies at funerals and especially when I hear the children of the deceased person speaking about their father or mother, I wonder to myself what my children will say about me at my funeral. Will they state my achievements? Will they say they were loved? Will they recall what they learned from me?

Rene Girard talks about how we learn from each other by mimicking one another. We get out desires from watching one another, wanting what the other has, or wanting more than the other has. Lots of good things are learnt from each other too. Jesus seems to have more than learned behaviour and mimicking him in mind when he talks about the bread they are to eat as his flesh. These are part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus but becoming one with Christ, one with God, seems much, much more than becoming like Christ.

When it comes to church life? Will the church community have any children, a younger generation to hand the church on to? What are young people and children learning from us adults in the church? What are we teaching them? What are they absorbing into their minds, when and if they attend church? While we are reading them stories what are they reading into our lives? Are we passing on bible stories or have we become part of the story of eternal life? Are we talking about kingdom life or living the kingdom life? What do those experiences teach them about us, about God?

The recent National Church Life Survey in Australia says that the retention of 15-19 year olds by the church is one of the three key attendance measures in regards to growth or decline in the church. This is an irrelevant measure if there are no children in the church in the first place.

Walter Brueggemann in his book ‘Biblical perspectives on evangelism’ describes evangelism as ‘an activity of transformed consciousness that results in an altered perception of the world, neighbour, and self and an authorisation to live differently in that world’. For Brueggemann evangelism is more than telling people about Jesus and in particular when sharing the message with children. He says children need people who are crazy about them, showing unconditional grace and unconditional love. Faith is caught not taught. Faith is taught by passionate lives.

I think that the transformation Jesus is talking about is eternal, of which a transformed consciousness is part. Jesus challenges us to absorb his words, to digest them, to let them become all of who we are not just part of us. Then we will no longer just say what Jesus said, but we will be and do and become all that Jesus was and is and is to come.