Uploaded by: alameli,Mar 25, 2017
Jesus took the HARD WAY
60Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? 61When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? 62What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? 63It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. 64But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. 65And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. 66From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. 67Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? 68Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 69And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. 70Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? 71He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve. - John 6:60-71
What and if you see the Son of Man coming and going from Heaven? So you think you are offended now? Wait and see.
It is an aside but an effective one where He says, in essence, I don't have to prove to you who I am in order to be who I am.
But until things are settled, there are some HARD teachings that are difficult to hear (accept) and Jesus does not water them down. "You have to feed on me," He challenges His disciples. "You need me to really live." He just says it and lets people decide what they will do about it.
But it is HARD:
H - Holistic - It covers everything about their living. Tillich said that religion is ultimate concern. It envelops us and defines us. That offended many who were following and were looking for an "add-on" religious experience that could be "part of their lives." That is not what Jesus is teaching. If He is the Bread of Life, He is the primary nutrient of our being and saturates everything in our lives.
A - Activating - The spirit quickens, gives life, activates our latent potential as well as everything in our being. Sometimes in a physical healing process, we begin to have pains that we have never experienced before. That which is dead in us feels no pain or discomfort. When it is enlivened and activated, we resist. We are not sure we want to be that much alive.
R - Restrictive - It is not the invitation that is restrictive; it is the path. Elsewhere Jesus said that no man comes to the Father but by Him, but here He says, that no one can come to Him except by God. In other words, coming to Jesus is a God-thing. It is a spiritual response to a spiritual call. If we resist that, we restrict our access. These disciples and others were arguing and murmuring - perhaps with the undefined hope that Jesus would overrule their objections and overpower their doubts. He does not do that. We have to respond to whatever wooing of God we sense with openness and willingness to receive.
D - Definitive - Some will turn away. There were many, in fact. They were disciples and they quit. It was too hard. What was too hard? Jesus had just told them that He would give them eternal life, eternal food, and His eternal presence - freely and unconditionally if they believed and received. That was too hard for them. What did they have to give up? Was it pride, some notion of absolute self-sufficiency, self-righteousness, extreme legalism, an inner drive to achieve righteousness on their own. an unwillingness to give and receive grace? I don't know. It may be different from every person, but these hard sayings were definitive for them.
Then Jesus turns to those who remain and asks them to make a definitive choice.
"Will you also go away?"
They could have. He would not have prevented them. It was their choice. It is our choice.
Where would we go?
There comes a time in our lives when we come to a place of no return. Knowing what we know, experiencing what we have experienced, there is no turning back. As the relatively contemporary hymn puts it, "I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.
You have the words of eternal life.
They had become addicted to His words the way we are addicted to food and water. This is a positive addiction/dependence because it is dependence on what is real and enduring. It is a stage in our spiritual development where we crave the "sincere milk of the word," and begin to long for meat. We can't live without it. We know that no matter what our doubts or fears. We have been drawn to God, chosen by Jesus and we know it in the depths of our beings.
We believe and are sure that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
It starts with belief that brings a surety to our hearts. Some may call that "blessed assurance." Some may call it peace. Some may call it spiritual enlightenment. It is a gift.
Their assurance was that Jesus was the Christ/Messiah, the anointed and appointed One of God, the Chosen One, the ONE. They had found Him and there was no point in looking for anything or anyone better.
It was also a conviction of His relationship with God and their potential for a relationship with God through His Son. If knowing Jesus meant they could know God, then there as no point in turning back.
The footnote to the story is that there was a faker in the group and Jesus knew it.He knew it and did nothing about it because the turn-about would come later. It was necessary to let things happen in the way they would happen. The Jesus way was not and is not to prevent all trouble before it happens or to fix everything up front.
The Jesus way is to follow Jesus as Jesus followed God's way and truth to the cross and beyond.
It is HARD and it was HARD for Jesus too, but the hard way is the true way and the way of grace and life. It is holistic, activating, restrictive (and paradoxically liberating) and definitive. Will you also turn away or will you follow?
