15. The refusal to be a bread King

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The announcement of the Eucharist produced one of the greatest crises in His life. His promise to give His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity for the souls of men caused Him to lose much that He had gained. Until now He had almost everyone behind Him: first, the masses or the common people; next, the elite, the intellectuals, and the spiritual leaders; and finally, His own Apostles. But this lofty spiritual doctrine was too much for them. The announcement of the Eucharist cracked His followers wide open. No wonder there has been such a division of sects in Christianity when each man decides for himself whether he will accept a segment of the circle of Christ’s truth or the whole circle. Our Lord Himself was responsible for this; He asked a faith too much for most men; His doctrine was too sublime. If He had been only a little more worldly-minded, if He had only allowed His words to be treated as figures of speech, and if He had only been less imperative He might have been more popular.

But He rocked all His followers. Calvary would be the hot war against Him; this was the beginning of the cold war. Calvary would be the physical Crucifixion; this was the social Crucifixion.

He lost the masses; He created a schism among His disciples; He even weakened His apostolic band.

He lost the masses: The masses were generally interested only in wonders and in security. When He multiplied the loaves and fishes, He startled their eyes. When He filled their stomachs, He satisfied their sense of social justice. That was the kind of king they wanted, a bread king. “What else can religion do for man, anyway, except give him social security?” they seemed to ask. The masses tried to force Him to become a king. That is what Satan wanted, too! Fill gullets, turn stones into bread, and promise prosperity—this is the end of living to most mortals.

But Our Lord would have no kingship based on the economics of plenty. To make Him King was His Father’s business, not theirs: His Kingship would be of hearts and souls, not digestive tracts. So the Gospel tells us He fled into the mountains Himself alone, to escape their tinsel crown and tin sword.

How close the masses were to salvation! They wanted life; He wanted to give life. The difference was in their interpretation of life. Is it the business of Christ to win followers by elaborate social programs? This is one form of life. Or is it the business of Christ to be willing to lose all the stomach-minded at the cost of reaching the few with faith, to whom will be given the Bread of Life and the Wine that germinates virgins? From that day on, Christ never won the masses; within twenty months they would shout, “Crucify!” as Pilate would say, “Behold your King.” Christ cannot keep everybody united with Him: it is His fault; He is too Divine, too interested in souls, too spiritual for most men.

He also lost a second group that day, namely, the elite, or the intellectual and religious leaders. They would accept Him as a meek, gentle Reformer Who would not extinguish the burning flax; but when it came to saying that He would give His very life, more intimately than a mother gives life to a child at her breast, that was too much. So the Gospel tells us:

And there were many of His disciples who said,

When they heard it,

This is strange talk, who can be

Expected to listen to it?

JOHN 6:61 

After this, many of His disciples

Went back to their old ways,

And walked no more in His company.

JOHN 6:67

Our Blessed Lord would certainly never have permitted them to leave if they had not understood what He had said, namely, that He would give us His very life as our life. It could only be that understanding it correctly, they could not swallow it. And He permitted them to leave. As they left He said to them:

Does this try your faith?

What will you make of it,

If you see the Son of Man ascending to the place

Where He was before.

JOHN 6:63

Of course, it tried their faith. Do not men have reason? What was He expecting them to believe? That He was God? That every word He said was Absolute Truth? That He would be able to give hungry souls the same Divine life that they saw before their eyes now? Why not forget this Bread of Life and make it a figure of speech? So Our Lord watched them leave; and they never came back. One day they would be found stirring up the masses against Him; for although they did not leave Him for the same reason, they were agreed that they should take leave of Him.

Christ lost both the chaff and the wheat when He spoke of Himself as the Bread of Life. But now came the break which caused Him the greatest of all sorrow—a sorrow so great that, a thousand years before, it had been prophesied as one of those human rents which would torture His soul—the loss of Judas. Many wonder why Judas broke with Our Lord; they think it was only at the end of Our Lord’s life, and that it was only love of money that forced the break. Avarice, indeed it was; but the Gospel tells us the astounding story that Judas broke with Our Divine Lord the day He announced the giving of His Flesh for the life of the world. In the midst of this long story of the Body and Blood of Christ, the Gospel tells us that Our Lord knew who it was that would betray Him. Showing Judas that He knew, He said:

Have I not chosen all twelve of you?

And one of you is a devil.

JOHN 6:71

At this promise of the Heavenly Bread, Judas cracked; and at the giving of the Eucharist on the night of the Last Supper, Judas split wide open and betrayed.

Our Lord now marched practically alone. There would be only 120 awaiting His Spirit on Pentecost. He had lost all three types: He saw the masses abandon, the elite walk away, and Judas prepare to betray Him. So He turned to the one whom He had associated so intimately with Himself, the man whose name He had changed, from Simon to Peter or Rock, and said to him:

Would you, too, go away?

Simon Peter answered Him,

Lord, to whom should we go?

Thy words are the words of eternal life;

We have learned to believe

And are assured that Thou art the Christ,

The Son of God.

JOHN 6:67–69

But the Heart of Christ already had a Cross in it. One of His own twelve was a traitor. The elite, who were divided among themselves, would now unite against Him. And the five thousand that had been in contact with His hand refused to be in contact with His Heart. The forces were shaping up for “the Hour.”

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