The Offense Of The Gospel

The Offense of the Gospel

John 6:51-58

Jesus had started the 6th chapter of John on a roll. Everyone wanted to follow Jesus. Whether by land or by boat they flocked around Him on the other side of the lake. There Jesus fed the 5000 males which prompted the crowd to believe that Jesus was the political Messiah they were looking for. They were eager to get at the Romans. This can be seen in 6:15 when they wanted to seize Jesus and make Him king. They wanted to be His soldiers in the Holy War. This was their work they were willing to do for God. They understood the danger that such an uprising would cause, but the risk was on their terms.

But the next day, Jesus says that the work of His followers was simply to believe on Him. He did not ask them to fight. Indeed, at Jesus’ trial, He tells Pilate that if He were seeking such an earthly kingdom that He had willing soldiers to go and fight for Him. So Jesus was already well on the way to bursting their bubble.

Jesus got downright offensive to the crowd which gathered around Him at Capernaum. He accused them of being false followers. Their motives were for their own gain and food rather than their free and loving service of God -- free stuff but not free grace. Dale Carnegie would definitely have failed Jesus’ sermon. This was no way to “Win Friends and Influence People.” But Jesus got even more offensive. His use of the “I AM”, the sacred name of the God of Israel was applied to His own person. This would amount to utter blasphemy, unless Jesus was indeed Yahweh, which He was.

Jesus again calls Him by the “I AM” in 6:51 and applying the attribute “the Bread of Life.” He amplifies this statement by saying if anyone eats of this bread shall live for ever. This was offensive enough, but someone could allegorize it by equating His teaching to bread. They could say that the word of God feeds the soul. But Jesus now makes a more extreme statement. He does not equate his teaching with spiritual food. Instead He emphatically exclaims: “The bread which I myself shall give is my flesh for the life of the world.” Nothing is more offensive to humankind in general, and the Jews in particular than cannibalism. This was a shocking statement. Indeed, it should thoroughly shock us as well. In the direst of circumstances, people have resorted to it to stay alive. Even so, it was shameful and repugnant. Many chose to die of starvation rather than eat human flesh. And Jesus gets even more extreme by changing the Greek word for “eating” to devouring like an animal. One must not just nibble at the bread, but gorge upon it like a raven. It is those who ravenously eat his flesh and drinks his blood will have eternal life. These are the terms that God has given that we might have life.

The result of Jesus’ hard sermon is that many of His “disciples” abandoned Him. They were grossly offended. “Eat my flesh, indeed! And everyone knows that the drinking of blood is strictly forbidden by the Torah. How could this man claim to be from God? And worse yet, how could He make divine claims about Himself? the audacity of it all! But Jesus knew they were not true disciples at all. He did not try to beg them to return. He had affirmed what was necessary. He had also said that they could not come unless they were called by the Father. He told them they were following Him with the wrong motives. Yet instead of repenting and turning to Jesus, they turned away. Jesus knew from the very beginning. Yet, they had made their own decision. They had been informed of the conditions and the consequences of unbelief just as they Children of Israel in the wilderness had been. And like their ancestors, their response to God’s wonderful grace was to murmur and reject it. And just as the murmurers and unbelievers had died in the wilderness and not attained to the Promised Land, neither would these false disciples.

But not all of them left. The twelve remained with Him. Jesus asked them if they would go away also. He knew they would not, but wanted to get the affirmation of the disciples for their sake, not His. Peter answers for them all, except for Judas, who would betray Jesus. “To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know for certain that YOU are the Holy One of God.” They had the right idea. For them, the flesh did not matter. They wanted the eternal bread more than the earthly bread of which everyone having eaten and sustained by for a while would die.