John 6:60-69 - Where Else Would You Go?

Where would you go if following Christ seems too difficult?

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Gospels: Week 6 - Confession, offense, glory, and resurrection power

CONTEXT: Jesus has just explained that "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves" (John 6:53).

John 6:60–69 (NASB95)

⁶⁰ Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?”

⁶¹ But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble? ⁶² “What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? ⁶³ “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. ⁶⁴ “But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him. ⁶⁵ And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

⁶⁶ As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. ⁶⁷ So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?”

⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. ⁶⁹ “We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”

Belgic Confession

Article 35: The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper

...Christ has instituted

an earthly and visible bread as the sacrament of his body

and wine as the sacrament of his blood.

He did this to testify to us that

just as truly as we take and hold the sacraments in our hands

and eat and drink it in our mouths,

by which our life is then sustained,

so truly we receive into our souls,

for our spiritual life,

the true body and true blood of Christ,

our only Savior.

We receive these by faith,

which is the hand and mouth of our souls.

Now it is certain

that Jesus Christ did not prescribe

his sacraments for us in vain,

since he works in us all he represents

by these holy signs,

although the manner in which he does it

goes beyond our understanding

and is incomprehensible to us,

just as the operation of God’s Spirit

is hidden and incomprehensible.

Summary

All four of the gospel accounts show the same thing: right at the peak of Jesus' earthly ministry, when the crowds are the biggest, Jesus shifts tactics. The miracles and healings that are so prevalent as Jesus began begin to slow down, and Jesus' teachings become much more pointed. As the difficulty increases, the size of the crowds following Jesus rapidly diminish. After all, who could really listen to and accept an invitation to eat and drink their teacher's body and blood?

Jesus never seems bothered that all of these people who'd been following Him hoping for a miracle show lose interest. He never was trying to build an earthly kingdom, so the size of the crowd never meant much to Him. Go back and page through these early chapters of the gospels and notice how often Jesus is trying to ditch the crowds following Him!

But He's aware of the grumbling of His disciples. Other English translations render Jesus' question to them as, does this - that is, these difficult teachings - offend you? I like how the NASB put it much more literally: does this cause you to stumble? Jesus' question to them, as was so often the case, was met by silence from the twelve. So Jesus doesn't skip a beat. If you think this is difficult, He continues, what then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?

It's here in Jesus' rhetorical question that we find the reason that so many teachings in the Bible - especially those of Jesus - are so difficult. The difficult teachings here and now are preparing you for even more difficult things ahead. Things like Jesus' ascension and His second coming - things that are difficult to wrap our heads around now, but which usher in entire new realities. Wrestling with difficulty now prepares your mind to think different (= repent) enabling you to understand these wonderful new realities when they come.

  Dig Deeper  

Jesus doesn't let up. Not even a bit. In fact, He doubles down. He makes His teaching here even more difficult. He tells His confused disciples that their flesh - that is, our ability to think and reason and make decisions based on what we see, hear and feel - profits nothing. Rather, it's the Spirit who gives life, and this life comes through the words Jesus has spoken to us - words which can't be believed unless it has been granted from the Father.

At this point, many of those still there finally had enough. Who is this Spirit Jesus keeps talking about, they must of wondered. This isn't the first time that Jesus mentioned it, but everything had been so cryptic. So they withdrew and were not walking with Jesus anymore.

Again, Jesus isn't phased by their departure in the least. He simply said to the twelve, "You do not want to go away also, do you?"

I wonder how long the awkward silence lasted as Jesus' haunting question hung over them. But it's really the most critically important question Jesus ever asks. He'd hand selected these twelve men and never really given them a choice. He'd simply commanded them to follow. So they did. Jesus' recruitment of them was probably more dramatic than the way He called you, but when it comes down to it, not very different. You were chosen to follow Him, and you have.

But when life gets difficult or the Bible's teaching seems so contrary to that of the world, you face this same question as well: do you want to go away too?

But you don't, because you're answer is the same as Peter's: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life! It's this solid belief and conviction, instilled in you by the Holy Spirit through difficult teachings and the words of Jesus found in all of Scripture, that not only prepare you for the wonderful reality to come, but keep you bound to Christ as you come closer to it.

AAA Prayer (About)

• ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Triune God: Our Father, the Spirit who gives life, and the Son, who is the Holy One of God;

  ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that through the Spirit you would persevere even through life's difficult times;

• ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

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