Text: “Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can understand it?’” (John 6:60).
Has anyone ever told you something that was really hard to believe? When we were very young, we usually believed whatever people told us because we didn’t think they would tell us a non-truth. We were like other children in that we believed in the tooth fairy, Santa Claus and the Easter bunny. There is nothing wrong with this as a child, but as we got older we came to realize they were not really true or realistic.
There are adults who will believe almost anything and then there are some who question everything. As adults, we need to make decisions about what is true and what is not true. If someone makes us an offer that seems too good to be true, it is probably not good. There are many scams available today.
I have received many offers over the internet concerning depositing a real money order or certified check worth $2000.00 and all I have to do is deposit it in my bank account, keep $200.00 and send the remaining $1800.00 to a certain address. The money order or certified check is real except it is a nice copy and the real one has been used. The bottom line is I will be out $2000.00. Unfortunately some people have believed this offer and they have suffered financial loss.
There was a time before computers were a common item that someone told me that the entire Bible could be placed on a chip as small as or smaller than a pencil eraser. At the time I did not believe them because nothing like this had been done before.
There was a time when 40 years of age was old and if you reached 47 years, you were extremely lucky. Someone living in that era would have found it hard to believe it possible for people to live 70, 80, 90 or 100 years or more.
I read in the Sunday paper about an attorney living in Texas who is 101 years of age and still practices law every day. He works 40 hours a week and continues to be very active. He told reporters that if he stopped working, he would die. I believe this because it is a proven fact if people don’t continue to keep their mind working, their brain cells will become inactive, memory will go, and ultimately death will occur.
One hundred years ago the average U.S. worker was making $200 to $400 per year. Do you think that worker would believe that some day people doing that same job would be making 100 times that amount?
Listen to this: one hundred years ago, ninety percent of all U.S. medical doctors had no college education. Would it have been difficult for them to imagine going to school 8 plus years to practice medicine? They would have had a hard time believing this.
I am trying to make a point that at times things are difficult to understand and hard to believe. There are times we do not believe when we really should. By the same token, there are times we believe when we shouldn’t believe someone or something.
Jesus was telling the people something that they did not believe because they did not understand. Many of the disciples said, “This is a hard saying: who can understand it?” (John 6:60).
What “hard saying” did the disciples hear? What was difficult for them to understand? Why couldn’t they believe that others could not understand what Jesus said?
Prior to verse 60, Jesus was talking about Himself as being the bread of life. He said, “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead” (John 6:49). They had no problem understand this statement because it was in Scripture and it was a known fact.
When Jesus made the statement: “For My flesh is food indeed and My blood is drink indeed” (v. 55), this placed a question in the minds of those listening because they did not understand. This was a “hard saying” and they wondered who could understand. The people became even more confused when Jesus said, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him” (v. 56).
As far as we know, one has to be pretty weird to eat human flesh and drink human blood. I guess cannibals do or did exist in some remote parts of the world, but I haven’t personally known any. Are any of your friends cannibals?
Jesus was not literally talking about eating His flesh or drinking His blood. He was talking spiritually. He knew what His earthly mission was. He knew He would die on the Cross. Jesus knew his suffering was necessary and His death would benefit all mankind. He also knew it was up to mankind to believe what He was telling them.
Jesus gave the people at that time the opportunity to accept Him into their life so that He would become a part of them and they in turn would become a part of Him. That invitation is still open today, but to some people it is a “hard saying” and a difficult invitation to believe and accept.
We become a part of Jesus when accept the fact that He sacrificed His flesh upon the Cross, He died and three days later He was resurrected. Once we have accepted these facts, we lead a life in accordance to what He tells us in His Word. In other words, we follow His directions and teachings and permit Him to guide us in the Person of the Holy Spirit.
Many people today think like the people Jesus talked to during His walk upon the earth. They don’t like to hear the words “eating My flesh and drinking My blood” because they are thinking worldly instead of spiritually.
They refuse to believe there is life beyond this earthly life. Many seem to believe that once they are dead that is the end. The words: “He who eats this bread will live forever” doesn’t seem to have meaning to them.
None of us fully understand the entire Word of God, but we accept it by faith. Some things are easier and clearer to us than others, but then on the other hand there are many things in the world that most of us do not understand. For example, I would venture to say that we all like to eat. We eat food every day or else we would die of starvation. Listen to this story:
“Mystery Doesn’t Bother in the Dining Room”
Did you ever raise a radish? You put a small black seed into the black soil, and in a little while you return to the garden and find the full grown radish. The top is green, the body white and almost transparent, and the skin a delicate red or pink.
What mysterious power reaches out and gathers from the ground the particles which give it form and size and flavor? Whose is the invisible brush that transfers to the root, growing in darkness, the hues of the summer sunset?
If we refuse to eat anything until we could understand the mystery of its creation we would die of starvation – but mystery, it seems never bothers us in the dining room; it is only in the church that it causes us to hesitate.
-----------------Moody Monthly
Scripture tells us “These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum” (John 6:59). These people were hearing Jesus’ message in church. He is teaching them spiritual lessons, but their minds are thinking worldly and therefore the people consider it a “hard saying”.
Since many of the people who heard Jesus found this to be a “hard saying” they did the same as people do today. When the minister really preaches the true Word of God and it strikes some of the people where it hurts, they tend to criticize the preacher and leave the church. None of us are perfect, so at times we do things we know we shouldn’t be doing.
Maybe husband and wife appear to be true to each other on the surface, but perhaps something immoral is taking place in the life of one or the other or both. Maybe a person is a perfect Sunday Christian, but in the business world cheating, lying, or taking advantage of others is taking place.
When people are engaging in adultery or fornication and the preacher talks about these issues, these people take offense. The preacher is probably not directing the message to a particular person, but instead to all people.
There are people who do not like to hear preaching about sin. Perhaps they don’t believe sin or they take sin very lightly. Sometimes people find the message a “hard saying” and they decide to leave the church because they can’t believe what they are hearing is true.
Jesus lost many disciples when He taught them the true Word of God. When people complained, Jesus asked, “Does this offend you?” (v. 61) None of us likes to be offended and we should not offend others. Jesus said, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17).
Jesus wanted people to understand His mission in the world. He wanted them to know that their eternal destiny depended on their acceptance or their rejection of Him. Jesus was using illustrations of eating and drinking that they could understand. People knew what bread was and they knew what grape juice was.
The issue was not eating or drinking earthly food, but the issue was eating His flesh and drinking His blood spiritually. Jesus knew what was on the mind of each of the people and He knew who would reject Him and who would stay with Him.
Jesus tried to get the people to understand that the Spirit is more important than the flesh. He said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (v. 63).
The Holy Spirit speaks to our heart today, but not all people believe. When we witness to people today not all of them believe us. Some listen while others don’t want to hear what we have to say. This is the same thing that happened to Jesus. Jesus said to the people, “There are some of you who do not believe” (v. 64). To many, our witness seems to be a “hard saying”.
There was nothing wrong with what Jesus was teaching the people. The real issues lay within the minds of the people. Spiritual things are senseless to those whose minds are strictly worldly.
Jesus said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father” (v. 65). God the Father sent Christ the Son into the world to save souls. If God sent Christ to save souls, it stands to reason that the Father must send Him souls to save. People do not come to Christ because God has not yet given them the grace, strength and willingness in their heart to come.
At the time Jesus was teaching the people our Scripture lesson He already knew that some would leave Him. In fact He knew exactly which ones would betray Him. He knew the twelve picked disciples would not betray him at this time although Jesus asked them, “Do you also want to go away?” (v. 67)
There are reasons people choose not to follow Jesus. Some choose not to follow Him because He was not the type of Messiah they were expecting. They were expecting a military type of king who would free them of Roman oppression. Jesus was just the opposite. He was stern, but He was love.
All down through the years there have been people who thought they could handle their own life and were not willing to give up their self-centeredness to the One who could really help them.
Many people, then and now, place great emphasis on their own work and their own deeds instead of utilizing their faith by placing their life in the hands of Almighty God. Furthermore there were people then and there are people now who find the words in red offensive because these words reveal their evil ways. Jesus’ words were and are considered a “hard saying” by some people.
When Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” (v. 67) He knew what they were going to say. Simon Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go?” You have the words of eternal life” (v. 68). Peter’s answer applied to the other eleven disciples and it also applies to each and every one of us.
All down through the years people have been trying to find the answer to the question, “Lord, to whom shall we go?” Various world religions and philosophies have surfaced because people have been looking for the route to eternal life. There is no need to look any further because Peter gave the answer years ago when he said, “Lord, you have the words of eternal life”.
Jesus Himself said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Jesus was saying that He is the way to the Father. Furthermore He was saying that He is the truth of God and He is the very life of God. How much clearer could it be? Yet, there are people who find Jesus’ words a “hard saying.”
Conclusion:
What is a “hard saying?” They are words or thoughts that are difficult to accept.
What makes spiritual “hard sayings” difficult to accept? A worldly mind, a closed mind, a deaf ear as the Spirit of God speaks to one’s heart will prevent the drawing power of God to give grace and strength to enable that person to understand.
Jesus words, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him” (v. 56).
It is by faith that we have a close and intimate relationship with Christ. He is in us in that He knows when we are having hard times, when we are sick and hurt, when we are sad because of sickness or the loss of a loved one. We are in Him because we know that He cares about us, showers us with grace, brings blessing after bless upon us and brings us joy unspeakable.
There are no “hard sayings” in the Word of God if we would just place our faith, trust, and belief in the One who created us, knows us and loves us.
I want to close with this little story:
Story: “Why She Was Waiting for Him”
What simple faith! Joseph did not question the angel’s message or doubt God’s purpose. Many of us need to be more like the little girl whom the farmer found lost in his meadow.
The farmer said to her, “Do not cry; I’ll take you home.” The little child snuggled up to him, and with a smile, said, “I knew you would; I was waiting for you.”
“Waiting for me?” said the man. “What made you think I was coming?” “I was praying you would,” she said. “Praying? When I first heard you, you were saying A B C D E F G. What was that for?”
She looked up again, and said, “I’m just a little girl. I was praying all the letters of the alphabet and letting God put them together the way He wanted to. He knows I was lost, and He knows how to put them together better than I do.”
What a difference, if we would only let God put the letters of our lives together, and, like Joseph, trust Him regardless of man’s opinion.
---------------------Bible Friend
Amen.
