This Is A Hard Saying

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.