Every year before the boys go back to school and Michelle goes back to work, we try to get away as a family. As is evidenced by my wife sitting in a wheelchair, this year did not go exactly as planned. However, we were still able to salvage some family fun out of the week. I took the boys up into the north Georgia mountains to do some trout fishing. We are still relatively new to fresh-water fishing, so it wasn’t at all surprising that we got off to a slow start. By sheer dumb luck after two hours of working our way down the river Jacob, Aidan, and I managed to each catch a fish, however, poor Eli did not. So, all our efforts were then focused on helping Eli get a fish. I gave him my pole, Aidan gave him his spot, and Jacob showed him where to cast. Thankfully our team effort paid off, and Eli finally caught a fish. We started to make our way down the river again, but suddenly Eli didn’t want to go. He wanted to stay in the same spot he caught his fish. Reluctantly and with a with more sass than I like, he finally “agreed” to continue down the river. That is when we ran into a hill person who was introduced to us by his friend as the “Sugar Man” (That’s probably a story for another time). Anyhow, the Sugar Man hooked us up with some pink plastic worms and sent us on down the river. And that is when we hit the jackpot. We started catching one fish after the other. In fact, the boys were catching fish so fast that as soon as I got one fish on the stringer, they were handing me another one.
Later, as we were looking at a cooler full of fish, Eli admitted to me that he did not understand why I wanted him to move down the river, he thought it was a mistake to leave his first spot. He apologized for his sass, looked back at the cooler full of fish, and told me he was glad that he followed me down the river.
Today we are going to take a look at John 6:60-69. In this section of Scripture many of Jesus’ followers are giving Him some sass about one of His teachings. Some of them even decide they were not going to follow Jesus any further. This prompts Jesus to ask His disciples, and through the inspired words of saint John Jesus asks you and me, “Does this offend you?”
I am going to tell you about the teaching that had offended some of Jesus’ followers but first I want to give you some background because I think it will highlight just how absurd it was for Jesus’ followers to take offense at Jesus’ words. Chapter 6 begins with Jesus miraculously feeding 5,000 men with 5 loaves of bread and 2 small fish. With satiated appetites Jesus’ followers say, “surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”[1] That night some of Jesus’ followers set sail across the Sea of Galilee while Jesus stayed behind to pray. 3 ½ miles from shore a strong wind started to blow, and the Sea became rough. Jesus’ followers become terrified, not because of the rough seas but because they saw Jesus approaching the boat walking on water. Amazed at what He had just done they say to Jesus, “truly you are the Son of God”.[2]
Jesus’ followers were not offended by the miraculous meal He provided or the 5K he walked across the Sea of Galilee but as soon as soon as Jesus says, “51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” they start grumbling. Some of them crudely thought Jesus was talking about some sort of cannibalism, but most of them understood Jesus was talking about a spiritual eating; most of them understood that Jesus was saying you must follow me to be saved. What offended them was the “came down from heaven” part. Back in verse 42 we read, “They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?” Jesus was openly claiming to be the Son of God and the promised Messiah who came down from heaven to save them from their sins by giving His flesh for the life of the world.[3]
When they heard Jesus, a man whose family they knew and who in every way looked and acted like a man claim to be the Son of God and promised Messiah who would save them from their sins by giving His flesh for them “60 many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” That true God became also true man so that He could sacrifice Himself in order to save sinners is indeed a hard teaching, but it is not the only hard teaching. The Bible is full of hard teachings, the Bible is full of things that can be difficult to accept. For some it might be the Bible’s teachings against homosexuality, for others it might be the Bible’s teachings on the doctrine of Fellowship, for still others it might be the Bible’s teachings concerning the roles of men and women: in a marriage, in a church, and in a world. For me I have always thought the Bible’s teachings on man’s free will and God’s foreknowledge to be a hard teaching; how does God know everything that is going to happen if I have the freedom to choose what is going to happen? The best I can do to understand this hard teaching is that God has some sort of Doctor Strange multiverse awareness of all possible outcomes that might result from my choices. To me man’s free will and God’s foreknowledge is a hard teaching. To you maybe not, maybe you have found a way to allow man’s free will and God’s foreknowledge to live in perfect harmony. However, I would be willing to bet that there is something in the bible you consider a hard teaching. I bet there is something in the Bible that you don’t like, something you don’t fully understand, something that you struggle to defend and explain, something that causes you to say, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
There is no question that the Bible is full of hard teachings. The question Jesus asked His disciples and through saint John, the question Jesus asks you and I is, “61… Does this offend you?” When you come across something in the bible that you don’t like, don’t understand, or can’t explain what do you do? I’ll tell you what many of Jesus disciples did. When the Word made flesh said something they didn’t like, didn’t understand, and couldn’t explain they “66… turned back and no longer followed him [Jesus].” I wouldn’t be surprised if you haven’t been tempted to do the same. There is a lot of pressure in this world to turn your back on Jesus. They say the Bible is from a different time, that it is out of date and out of touch with our more enlightened age. They say those hard teachings are no longer relevant to you and your life. They say that you should be able to determine for yourself which of those teachings you want to follow and which of those teachings you want to throw out. It seems with each passing year they say these things louder and louder. Sadly, there are many who have listened to what they say and no longer follow Jesus. That is why from verse 67 Jesus asks you, “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Do you? Or you? What about you?
Speaking for 12 of Jesus’ disciples, “68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” Notice, Simon Peter didn’t deny that the Word made flesh said some hard things. I think that is one of the things I like most about Peter’s reply. Peter does not say he is happy about the hard teaching; he doesn’t act like he perfectly understands or is able to explain what Jesus says. All Peter knows is whether or not he likes them, whether or not he understands them, whether or not he can explain them the Words that Jesus speaks are words of eternal life that have been spoken by the Holy One of God. Therefore, it didn’t matter to Peter how many of his fellow disciples might turn back and no longer follow Jesus. To Peter there was nowhere else to go.
Peter confessed that the words spoken by Jesus were the words of the Holy One of God and that as a result he was not going to stop following Jesus just because there was a hard teaching that he didn’t like, didn’t understand, or couldn’t explain. When Peter made this confession, he spoke for 12 of Jesus’ disciples. But the question is, does he speak for you? I pray that he does. Maybe it will help if, next time you come face to face with one of the Bible’s hard teachings, instead of focusing on how you feel or think about the hard teaching you focus your attention on the teacher; you focus your attention on Jesus. That is what Peter did.
Peter looked at Jesus and saw the Holy One of God speaking words of eternal life. That is what Peter saw even though up to this point all Peter had seen Jesus do was heal the sick, feed the hungry, and walk across the occasional sea. Through eyes of faith, you have seen Jesus do far more than that. You have seen Jesus nailed to a cross and fulfilling the 700-year-old prophecy of Isaiah that said, “4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”[4] Even more than that, through eyes of faith, you have seen Jesus rise from the dead proving that He is what He told Martha He was, namely that He is “the resurrection and the life” and that “whoever believes in Him will live, even though he dies”[5]. Instead of focusing on the way you feel or think about the hard teaching focus your attention on the teacher. See Jesus as the Holy One of God who speaks the words of everlasting life to you.
Look, there is no question there are some hard teachings in the Bible, but just because you don’t like them, or understand them, or are unable to explain them doesn’t mean they aren’t true. There is no reason to let any of the Bible’s hard teachings offend you. You don’t have to like, understand or be able to explain every teaching in the Bible, you just have to look at Jesus and see the Holy One of God and trust that whether you understand them or not He is speaking the words of eternal life to you.
The next time we go trout fishing I expect I will get less sass from Eli. After our last catch of fish, I’m thinking even if he doesn’t understand what I am telling him to do, even if he thinks it’s a mistake, he is going to be far more eager to follow the old man down the river. You may not always understand what your heavenly Father is telling you to do; you may think that some of the words He speaks to you from the pages of Scripture are a mistake, but as long as you focus your attention on Jesus you can be sure that down the river, He has something far greater than a catch of fish in store for you. Therefore, we are not offended by the hard teachings found in the Bible, rather we confess with saint Peter, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of everlasting life.” Amen
[1] John 6:14
[2] Matthew 14:33
[3] John 6:51
[4] Isaiah 53:4-6
[5] John 11:25