The Menu is Not the Meal

Text: John 5:44-6:71
Title: The Menu is Not the Meal

Introduction:

This is Not a Pipe (Ceci n'est pas une pipe)
Rene Margritte. 1929
Treachery of Images

The Map is Not the Territory
Alfred Korzybski

The Menu is Not the Meal
Allan Watts

Signifier / Signified distinction
Words that represent the real thing

This is very adjacent to the way the bible talks about earthly things vs. eternal things.

In CS Lewis’ The Great Divorce, “They have thought of their world as the “real” one, the one with substance, while thinking of heaven as the less substantial spirit world. They learn, or those with eyes to see learn, that they had it backwards. Heaven is the land of substance, earth the land of shadow. Earth is full of not only shadows, but illusions and pretentions, Heaven is reality itself.” – Randy Alcorn

That’s what we believe right? That this world is more like menu than a meal? It is telling us about what’s to come.

This is also the way the bible talks about the Old Covenant in relationship to the New.

Hebrews 10:1 – “For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities…”

When you confuse the menu with the meal, you invariably wind up making too much of the creation and too little of the creator.

The gospel of John seems written to deal with this issue. When this gospel was written, the majority of Jews had rejected Jesus and remained committed to Moses. They had rejected the meal in favor of the menu. They mistook the map for the territory.
One key to understanding the book of John is to see how he constantly compares Moses with Jesus.

Moses As A Character in The Fourth Gospel
Prophet-King: Moses Traditions and the Johaninne Christology
Moses in the Gospel of John

I scanned through those resources this week. Here’s a basic sketch of how Moses appears in the gospel of John:

Genesis / John 1

Firstly, you need to note how the gospel of John begins like Moses’ first book begins. John is clearly repeating the creation story in Genesis.

Christ:

"The darkness comprehended it (the light of Christ) not... the (Jewish) world knew him not" (John 1:5,10).

Moses:

"Israel" understood not" the work of Moses (Acts 7:25).

Christ:

"He came unto his own, and his own received him not" (John 1:11).

Moses:

When he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren... he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them" (Acts 7:23,25). Therefore Moses in the court of Pharaoh = Jesus working in Nazareth until age 30. Was Moses's "surprise" at Israel's lack of response reflected in Christ (cp. Is. 50:2-7; 59:16)? Despite his own righteousness, did Christ think too highly of the potential spirituality of Israel (Lk. 13:9; 20:13 cp. his high regard of others' spirituality: Mt. 8:10; 11:11; 15:28)? If the Lord respected others so much - shouldn't we have deep respect for each other? The pain of Moses' rejection = Christ's; although he was rich, Moses had become poor for their sakes.

And then in 1:17, we have our first explicit reference to Moses,

“The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”

And then in 1:18, we have another implicit connection to Moses,

“No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”

Another implicit one in vs. 19, “the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”

And then in vs. 45, we have another explicit reference.

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

One thing to bear in mind is that plenty of people got the connection between Jesus and Moses right off the bat. Phillip had that part squared away from day 1.

The next explicit reference to Moses is in John 3:17, where Jesus says to one of these teachers of the law, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

I could go on and on.

Woman at the Well / Moses meets Zipporah.
The man paralyzed for 38 years. The exact length of time Israel floundered in the wilderness.
In John 5, Jesus says he can do nothing of himself. In Numbers, Moses says something very similar.

And all of this leads us back to what Jesus said in chapter 5

How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” – Jn 5:44-47

And plenty of people grasped this – at least at some level.

After feeding the 5000, the people said –

So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” (Jn 6:13-14)

That’s a reference to something Moses said in Deuteronomy 18:15-19

15 “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 16 just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17 And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.

Moses was the menu, Jesus is the meal.
Moses was the map, Jesus is the territory.

Initially, the people seem to be dialed into this reality.

After Jesus feeds the people, he leaves. The people follow. They find him and ask for more food. Jesus shifts the focus from physical bread to the bread of life…

Moses is intertwined with all of this:

Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

And toward the end of chapter 6, Jesus says…

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” – 6:47-51

Problem: One who is greater than Moses is coming – which means he will make more food. They didn’t have a category for greater kind of food.

As so, in vs,. 66 – After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

Look at vs. 67-69

So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

You have the words of eternal life…. That’s Moses’ job!

Moses was the word guy. He’s the one who descended the mountain, presented the law and later in Deuteronomy explicitly says, “Take to heart all these words I testify among you today, so that you may command your children to carefully follow all the words of this law. 47For they are not idle words to you, because they are your life, and by them you will live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.” – Deuteronomy 32:47

Application:

Your eternal joy depends on your ability to distinguish between representations, symbols, or ideas and their corresponding realities.

The sign is not the destination.
The blueprint is not the building.
The map is not the territory.
The menu is not the meal.
The model is not the machine.
The brochure is not the vacation.

We do ok with 2D things like signs, menus, maps… But we really struggle with more complex ideas.

In some ways, every meal you’ve ever eaten is a kind of menu pointing you to a corresponding set of spiritual realities. This is happening a lot in John.

Woman at the well – water / living water
Crowd in John 6 – bread / the bread of life

People struggle with this way of thinking. That’s being earthly minded is.

That’s what idolatry is. Idolatry is what happens when the sign becomes the destination.

There’s a couple of good examples of this in the book of Acts…

Acts 14 – Paul and Barnabbas are in Lystra. And while Paul is preaching, a lame man is healed. The people get it in their heads that Paul and Barnabas are Zeus and Hermes. They got ready to offer sacrifices to them.

Listen to vs. 14-18

But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them.

Acts 17 – Paul is entering Athens. He sees a city littered with idols. He goes into the Aereopaghus and says in vs. 24-27,

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,

What’s he doing? He’s moving the idolators off of the menu (which is creation) and into the meal (which is Christ).

The Jews have done this with Judaism. They’re trying to get nourishment from the menu of Moses – while rejecting the meal that is Christ.

Where are you and I doing this?

Romantic love
Money
Children
Freedom
Health
Friendships
Comfort
Safety

These are all creational breadcrumbs meant to lead you to the creator. They are more like signs than destinations.

Apathy

But plenty of people settle into a kind of spiritual complacency when they accumulate these things.

Illustration:

Map/Territory confusion. We tend think the only potential problem with a map is that it might be inaccurate. But there’s another problem. Some people will confuse their knowledge of the map with actually spending time in the territory.

Illustration:

Buckies Billboard

Greed / Grief

One of the ways God teaches us to distinguish between the menu and the meal is by withholding various created glories.

Look back at John 6:1-5

After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?”

—--> Phillip is approached because of his Moses comment in John 1

Now look at John 6:24-27
So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

Sometimes Jesus gave them food, sometimes he didn’t.

Sometimes he will give you the created blessings, sometimes he won’t. Sometimes he will give them to you and then take them away.

He’s not withholding to starve you. He’s withholding to feed you.

That’s the hard thing about idolatry. You can actually taste the menu.

Illustration: Cyberpunk Hellscape, Neurolink, double click on the menu and smell the meal you’re interested in. Taste it. You can see how this would confuse folks into thinking they’re eating. Until they starve to death. No actual calories.

This is somewhat like the way God talks about idolatry.

Jeremiah 2:12-13

“Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

Isaiah 55:2

“Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.”

Communion:

The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.