He is supposed to be the one that has come to rescue His people.
He is to fulfil the expectations of prophecies from hundreds of years before Him. He is supposed to establish a rule that attracts many and brings peace to all.
It’s a bit bizarre then, that when He performs a stunning miracle that gets the crowd anxious to acknowledge His majesty now that He disappears.
The bizarre goes up a notch when rather than being encouraged by the response of the people, He uses it later as a teaching point to let people know the real food they should be consuming comes from heave.
He is really hitting the bizarre vein when He goes on to say that He is the bread – His flesh is the bread and they must be eating Him to live. Just when you thought the the bizarre couldn’t get more bizarre, He then says we’ve got to eat His flesh and drink His blood.
On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. (John 6:60, 66)
So an episode that started with the masses looking to forcefully put Him on the throne, ends with even His disciples leaving Him because His teaching was too hard to swallow (geddit?).
Reading the episode with the benefit of 2000+ years’ hindsight sometimes gives us the sense that we are better than those folks back then, because we know what He meant. Yet it cannot be denied that what we read in these episodes should give us pause for thought about understanding who we are following.
Following Jesus is something we’re capable of doing because the work that God does in our hearts. We are not so smart and capable to just take on these words about His flesh and blood and without querying this. We are not so brilliant in ourselves that we can just accept and understand Jesus’ claims and His teachings without question.
This episode should highlight beyond any shadow of a doubt that following Jesus takes us into the weird – at least what is weird for us. Following Him is a journey into something new and precisely because it is something we’re not used to, we should expect some things that are different and should be fine with people not getting it because it’s not all about the signs and wonders – it’s about faith in the One who gives life as we consume Him by faith.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 