The moment of truth
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.” Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.
When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 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.”
John 6:56–69 (ESV)
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. For the past four weeks, we have been hearing from John chapter 6. It began with the feeding of the five thousand (vv. 1–14) and Jesus walking on water (vv. 16–21). From verse 22 onwards, Jesus has been declaring Himself to be the Bread of Life.
Like going over a piece of timber with sandpaper over and over again, Jesus repeats Himself. When you sand something, you start with the coarse grain and gradually work your way down to a finer grain to end up with a smooth finish. Jesus starts with the coarse stuff, but by the time we get to the end of the chapter, the people still need a lot more work. The truth He speaks is still hard to hear. If anything, it gets coarser and harder to hear.
There are three key questions that are asked today, two by Jesus and one by Peter:
Does my Word offend you?
Do you want to leave me, too?
Where else can we go?
Let’s pray…
Lord,
sanctify us in your truth;
your Word is truth.
Amen.
Does my word offend you?
When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?
John 6:60–61 (ESV)
It might seem odd to have this kind of response to what Jesus has been teaching. “I am the bread that came down from heaven… I will raise him up on the last day… If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever…” How is any of that a “hard saying”?
All the promises of God involve a yes and a no. The gospel is such good news because of what Christ gives us, but also because of what Christ saves us from. He says “yes” to our salvation, but it means He says a clear and definite “no” to sin, death, and the devil.
“Sounds great,” you say. “Of course we want to say ‘no’ to those things.” Yes, we do, but not always. We are born in bondage to sin which means we find it very hard to say “no” to it. So much so that we even confuse good and evil.
Paul describes this struggle we all have in Romans 7:
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.
Romans 7:18–19 (ESV)
We can set our minds and hearts on the things of God as much as we like, but while we live in the world and in the flesh, we will always gravitate towards the very things God says “no” to. Even with the best intentions, we do evil. You can have the desire to do what is right, Paul says, but you don’t always carry it out.
So, does Jesus’ Word offend us? Absolutely it does. He says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all.” On your own, in your flesh, you’re useless. You can’t believe in Jesus. You can’t do any good at all. You work day in and day out for temporary bread. You only come to Jesus because you want what Je can give you—you don’t actually want Him. Unless you eat His flesh and drink His blood, He says, you have no life in you. You’re as good as dead without Christ.
If you don’t take offense at Jesus’ Word, you’re not listening. God always speaks in both Law and Gospel, and it’s always Law first: He kills and makes alive; He wounds and heals (Dt. 32:39).
We have to be deeply offended by the blunt truth that we are nothing but poor, helpless sinners before we can be truly healed, restored, and renewed. The bad news has to hit us before we can receive the good news in its fullness. Dilute the bad news and you dilute the good news, too.
So, does Jesus’ Word offend you? When He claims to be the only source of true life, is that hard to hear? If we hear it clearly and we are honest with ourselves, it absolutely offends because it cuts into our sinful core.
Do you want to leave me, too?
After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?”
John 6:66–67 (ESV)
For many of the people who followed Jesus—many of whom had likely been attracted by the feeding of the five thousand—His Word offended them to the point that they just didn’t want to hear it. They couldn’t accept the truth that they were helpless without Him. They couldn’t front up to the tough call of being a disciple and the cost it entails.
They were comfortable with how it was before—they would rather stay under the oppression of man-made religious laws while they wait for their ideal Messiah. They would rather live a life of legalism because, that way, success could be measured, and it could be credited to those who did it well.
By claiming to be the bread that gives life to the world, Jesus is removing the need for their whole way of life. That was just too much for many of them.
There is one word that people are afraid of more than any other, particularly in long-standing church communities. This one word, if spoken too soon by someone in leadership, will derail any chance of improvement or transformation. What’s the word? Change.
I’ve heard said that people don’t actually fear change—they fear loss. These disciples who turned away were afraid of loss. They had control of their life. They had comfort in familiarity. They had a system they understood and did well in. They knew exactly what Jesus was saying: the only way to live is to follow Him and turn away from what you know. You have to leave your comfort zone to find real life.
This is true even in a professional sense. If someone stays in the same job, doing the same tasks, working in the same environment with the same people for too long, they’ll never grow, improve, or bring new ideas into their profession and the people they serve. There is strength in stability, of course, but change is also highly beneficial in professional life, both for the person and their workplace. Jesus is like a CEO who walks into a long-standing company with fresh eyes and has a clear vision that will benefit everyone in the long run. Some will catch the vision while others take offense leave.
This fear of loss (not change) also exists in congregations, believe it or not. A local Christian community can be like a boat that is moored at the dock. It’s a beautiful, grand, old boat with a decent crew and all the equipment they need to maintain the vessel. While the boat is still in the dock, the crew get restless. Some get agitated by sitting still for so long while others are quite content, which causes conflict. The captain has to constantly deal with the issues within the crew, all while the boat is still in the dock. Instead of sailing across the sea like it was designed and built to, it instead stays still and becomes a toxic environment in the process. If anything, passers-by are completely turned off the idea of getting on the boat with the rest of us.
This poses a question for us: are we following Jesus out into open water and trusting in Him to guide us, or are we still sitting at the dock?
Meanwhile, more and more people are getting off the boat altogether and turning away from Jesus, just as they did that day. “His truth is too hard to hear. His truth isn’t relevant for me. I’d rather go back to how I was living before.”
So, how about you? Will you follow the crowds away from the church, from the truth of Scripture, and from Christ?
These disciples couldn’t bear the drastic change that Jesus was calling them to. And yet, although “many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him,” not everyone left. What was the difference between those offended by Jesus and those who are willing to follow Him? How can we stay faithful to Christ and His truth instead of following the status quo away from Him?
Where else can we go?
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.”
John 6:68–69 (ESV)
As Jesus has just spent this whole chapter showing and telling us, He is the only source of true life. We can’t find true purpose, meaning, fulfilment, joy, or peace anywhere else. We can find temporary versions of those things, but not the everlasting kind. “Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” (Jn. 6:58)
Life for those twelve apostles was anything but stationary or comfortable, but they saw no choice. “Where else can we go? You are the only source of eternal life.” Only the Holy Spirit can produce that kind of faith in people, the kind of faith that brings us to proclaim our faith with words but also with our actions. No one can come to faith in Jesus without the Father drawing them by His Spirit first.
The world is turning away from Jesus more and more. As people walk away from Him and from His Church, He asks us: “Do you want to leave me, too?” May the Spirit give us the same faith that Peter had: “Lord, to whom can we go?” Even though, from our perspective, the way forward is unclear and uncertain, may we stay with Him and follow where He leads, knowing that He is the true bread from heaven that gives life to the world.
May the peace which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus. Amen.
