Title: Spiritual Dimension of Knowledge
knowledge of the Jews
A distinctive feature of the Gospel of John is that it clarifies a subject in a very long apologetic way. Today's text is also a part of 6:22-59, which deals with the topic of 'the bread of life' for quite a long time. If we look at it more broadly, the case of ‘Obyeongyi’ in chapter 6 verse 1 and below also falls under this theme. If someone outside the church reads this text for the first time, it will feel very strange. Various parables about the kingdom of God and the cleansing of the temple may not seem strange to them, but they say that it is the bread of life that came down from heaven, that whoever eats this bread will never die, and that this bread is the flesh of Jesus. is obviously going to sound a bit absurd.
These words of Jesus were not persuasive not only to people today, but also to the Jews of Jesus' day. According to today's text, they were displeased with Jesus' words, "the bread that came down from heaven," and they began to murmur. Their logic is as follows. “No, isn’t that man Jesus, the son of Joseph? We all know his parents too, so is it true that he came down from heaven?” (verse 42). Think carefully about their state of mind. They never openly criticized because they had no faith. A young man who lived an ordinary life in their neighborhood suddenly appeared and said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats me will live forever.” There is no reason for them to take it seriously. It is not right to criticize them as poor people by our current standards. They have reason to be displeased with Jesus' words and begin to murmur. There are two reasons, in my view.
One is that the Jesus they knew was too ordinary. As we well know, Jesus' father Joseph and mother Mary were not of high social standing. The term ‘son of Joseph’ expressed in today’s text has many meanings. Putting everything else aside, it suggests that Joseph was a carpenter who was nothing like them. Jesus was neither the son of a priest nor the son of a nobleman, but of a laborer. With a little more imagination, they would have known quite a few stories about Jesus' childhood or youth. In the novel "The Last Temptation" by Nikos Kazantzakis, there is a scene in which the boy Jesus attends a festival in Israel and hangs out with virgins according to the custom of that time. Didn't matchmaking come and go here and there for Jesus, who had reached the age of Holy Marriage? We need not take it as a strange phenomenon that in today's text the Jews referred to Jesus as 'Son of Joseph' and spoke as if they knew Jesus well. They are just judging according to the laws of this world very naturally.
Another reason for this is the unfamiliarity of Jesus' speech. The phrase “bread that came down from heaven” probably reminded the Jews of manna in the wilderness. It must have sounded a bit bizarre to say that Jesus Himself was the manna that allowed their ancestors to sustain their lives in the wilderness. How can a person become bread? To the Jews, bread is bread and man is only a person, but these things could not become one.
the other side of knowing
Although the Jewish attitude toward Jesus' words has its own ground, and this ground is a kind of common sense, it is the rationale of living in this world, but this attitude is not always right. Because this knowledge is always bound to the superficial. When the Jews defined Jesus as “Son of Joseph,” they meant that they were bound by superficial information about Jesus. Did their eyes see the inner side of Jesus? Did you feel the spirituality of Jesus? I had no idea how Jesus was having a spiritual communion with God and how he was in communion with God. Still, they thought they knew Jesus. And based on such superficial knowledge, I was displeased with Jesus' remarks.
Our lives today are also run entirely according to this superficial knowledge. The word information society shows this clearly. The more information he possesses, the more competent he is. This is the case with Bacon's old saying, 'Knowledge is power' long ago. I don't know if he meant this to mean that human beings can live like human beings through enlightenment, but people use knowledge as a power to expand themselves and dominate others. These people are very common sense and well-educated. We have secured a lot of rationale for living in this world plausibly.
But in this way, you will not get to the essential and fundamental world. The reason lies in the limit of this superficial knowledge itself, and the other lies in the essence of life. First, think about how the limits of superficial knowledge are preventing the knowledge of the essence of life. In today's text, the Jews said: “It’s something we all know.” He who thinks he knows something doesn't think he should know anymore. What do you mean by putting more effort into what you already know? I don't know if this is a preconceived notion or self-subjection, but people who are bound by this knowledge only think about possessing, enhancing, and commercializing that knowledge, never thinking about going into it.
This attitude of life is pervasive in us. Adults belonging to the older generation do not think to accept other ideas because they think their experiences and knowledge are too reliable. There seems to be a 'generation gap' here. For example, when their famous daughter tries to marry a poor poet who doesn't even have a job, most parents spit it out. It is because their experience has confirmed that marrying such a man is a waste of money. This is not only a family problem, but also a social system. Revision of the Private School Act or the National Security Act has become a topic of interest in our society. I can fully understand the psychological state of those who strongly oppose this revision. The idea that if a third of the board of directors of a private school is recommended by the ‘scholarship committee’ is going to ruin the school, or more precisely, the idea that the founders have no control over them is so strongly ingrained in their minds. They believe that the National Security Law cannot be repealed because the North Korean regime has certain experience that it must punish them by force rather than dialogue.
Another reason why it is difficult for those who consider this superficial knowledge and information to be absolute is that the truth itself is developed in a way that goes beyond our common sense and information. Jesus, whom the Jews in today's text thought they knew, was not bound by their common sense and information. Such a spiritual world that arose from Jesus could not be judged by human historical experience. The essence of Jesus was that he was the son of an ordinary carpenter, as Jews think, and he was from Nazareth, not the center of Israel. The essence of Jesus is the Son of God through the incarnation, and furthermore, He was the Messiah who saved and judged the world. It is almost impossible to see through the essence of Jesus.
God's Teachings
Jesus continued these words to the complaining Jews. “What are you so dissatisfied with? No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me leads me. And whoever comes to me I will raise up on the last day. It is written in the prophets that they will all be taught by God. Anyone who hears and learns from the Father comes to me” (43-45). Jesus must have fully understood the displeasure of the Jews with his remarks. Here, Jesus takes the matter of true knowledge to an entirely different level. It is said that only the “father’s teachings” lead us to true knowledge. These words of Jesus are punctual. Because Jesus was sent by God the Father, in order to understand the words of Jesus, we must first be taught by God the Father. Words belonging to the heavens can only be understood if they are solved in the heavenly dimension.
Some pastors say this very easily. In order to interpret God's Word, we need to pray a lot and have deep spirituality. In front of these words, the lay people are at a loss for a moment. This is because they think that they do not pray as much as the pastors and are not very sensitive to their spiritual sensibility. This statement is not without merit, but there is a problem if it is to mystify the ‘father’s teachings’. What does the phrase “father’s teachings” mean? How do we enter the ultimate knowledge?
To help you understand, let me tell you a story about Seonseung. There was a famous Zen monk, and it is said that his representative saying was, “Have a cup of tea, please.” A person came to stand before this monk after a few days of traveling to learn something from this monk. “Master, please teach me a little about the secrets of life.” Hearing this earnest request, the high priest remained silent. This pilgrim asked me to say a word on several occasions. Then the monk opened his mouth and said: “Hello. Bring a cup of tea and go.” Zen questions and answers are possible conversations with those who have entered the world of Zen. Another example is the improvisation of jazz players. These are the lines that other people can't keep up with, conversations that are only communicated between those who enter the world of music.