John 6

This folks is a tough one...a very difficult message to convey...but the more I kept putting it off the more the Holy Spirit kept saying, "Why are you ignoring me? This needs to be told."

Fact is, I am usually filled with what to say (write) & how to say it. This time is different. All I can do is sigh and continue staring at the words upon the pages of my Bible. These are heavy words, my friends...so much so that we even read in verse 66 (yes chapter 6:66) that MANY (not some or a few, but MANY) of Jesus's disciples left Him after what was just said.

So what were these words that left such a nasty taste in the people's mouths?

To answer this question, let's go a little bit further than just the beginning of the chapter 6. You see the author, John, is all about recording the extraordinary claims made by Jesus. From the very beginning of the book, John 1, Jesus is hailed already as The Word...The Living Word. Immediately following, Jesus is crowned as an equal of God-God in flesh! From John the Baptizer we hear about how Jesus is more worthy than himself; that Jesus is instead the Great Baptizer because he'll baptize us with fire/the Holy Spirit. Jesus, himself, seems to be much more outspoken & direct in the book of John. He is declaring outrageous things: that He is the Lamb of God, the Judge of the Earth, The Son of God, the Resurrection, the One God trusts, The Living Water, The Bread of Life, The Last Prophet, The one God sent to redeem His people, The True Teacher, Healer, Provider & the Forgiver of sins.-and that's all before chapter 6!!!

With these such great titles, why would anyone not want who He was &  what He offered? I read chapter 6 thinking how stupid these people were and I am humbly reminded how stupid we are today..."Oh God how I'll never understand why you love us so..."

In the beginning of chapter 6 Jesus performs the miracle of feeding the 5,000.-can we take a minute to acknowledge the little boy's lunch in which the Lord multiplied! It took just one young boy to say, "I only have this, but you can have it. I know you can do something greater with it, I believe in you to provide for these people & myself." Amazing.

It wasn't however until after all the people ate (and were FULL, mind you) that they started pondering, "ooh yeah this guy must be a prophet...yeah he's pretty cool..." I mean, I would have been flip'n out during the breaking of the 5 loaves turning into thousands!

I wrote a note by verse 14 then: Did they want Him (Jesus) for all the wrong reasons? And did that really matter to God?

I wasn't expecting to get my answer so soon. We see in verse 26-27 that God will honor those who seek Him...no matter the motive. However, He will not conform to your pattern of thinking! Remember, "My ways are higher than your ways. My thoughts are higher than your thoughts." These people wanted the physical-the (free) bread, a bright shining light from heaven type of sign; they wanted a warrior, a king. Jesus...God, saw their spiritual starvation, their spiritual depravity, the spiritual emptiness...and that's what He came to fulfill first & foremost.

And again we must ask, "Why was this so hard to accept? Why did so many leave Jesus at this point?"

It wasn't about what He could offer. It was about who He was. And about who He was that collided with who they were.

You see Jesus tells us (several times) how no one can come to the Father except through Him...and no one can come to Him unless the Father wills it. In this crowd were teachers of the Law (the Pharisees/religious leaders) whom clearly weren't with the Father. Can you imagine their reaction? "How can you say what I have been doing for the majority of my life doesn't make me right with God?"

We reflect upon Ephesians 2.

Then Jesus, to most of the crowd, starts sounding like He wants us to be cannibals: "You must eat my flesh & drink my blood..." What the heck, right?!

Jesus reminds me of a friend of mine who repeatedly says to me, "THINK! THINK!"

Who Jesus is, is what we need to live. He is the only thing we need spiritually.

But accepting these words as Truth, as Jesus once said to the rich young ruler, is harder than a camal going through the eye of a needle.

Previously I had also written this in my Bibles margin next to verses 43-46: God is so good that He leads us to Jesus (which I note is the physical representation of Himself) so that we can have a relationship with Himself/God.

"While we were still sinners Christ died for us."-Romans

"I came to seek & find the lost."-Jesus

"God patiently waits for all to come to repentance."-Paul

So what do you think?
Where do you have the most conflict with & why?
What outrageous claims from Jesus collide with who you are & where you stand in relationship with Him?
What are seeking these days & is it fulfilling your spiritual cravings?

My memory verse of late:
"Simon Peter answered, "Lord, who will we go to? You have the words of eternal life." -verse 68