John 6:52-71
Human reasoning has always gotten in the way of
understanding spiritual truth, and we have many accounts of Jesus speaking
about a spiritual truth and the crowds, the scribes, the Pharisees, and even
the disciples of Jesus totally misunderstood.
Such an account is found in Jesus healing a paralytic in Capernaum. You can read the account in Mark 2:1-11, and
you will recall that the house was so full of people that the four men carrying
the man had to remove the roof and lower the man in front of Jesus. And in verses five through seven you see the
human reasoning from the lawyers who were in the house. “And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “My son, your sins
are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in
their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his
spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you
question these things in your hearts?
Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘your sins are forgiven, or to
say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’?
But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to
forgive sins” – he said to the paralytic – “I say to you,
rise, pick up your bed, and go home.”
Even the most casual reader of Scripture will pick up on
this fact, that the Jewish people had many laws, some of them were given to
them by God and others were just added by some Pharisee, a good example is the
Pharisee in the Baptist church that added no dancing or drinking to the laws of
that church. But good Jews would leave a
Baptist in the dirt with all their rules to live by and especially when it came
to food. So what do you think these
disciples of Jesus heard when He told them they were to eat his flesh and drink
His blood, cannibalism, and that for exceeded the law of not touching a dead
animal or not eating pork. So what kicks
in is human reasoning, this man Jesus is a nut case, and He wants us to eat his
flesh and drink His blood. Jesus knows
what is in their hearts and also what they were saying openly. These people who now called themselves
disciples of Jesus, and like all the Rabbi of this time, had groups of people
who claimed to be their disciples, not that much different than today when
people claim, I am a member of Ed Young’s church or some other big name. Now most of these men like Dr. Young would be
quick to tell you, it is not their church. Jesus’ disciples had grown in
numbers and I can imagine Thomas or one of the twelve saying, “This is a hard
saying; who can listen to it?”
Jesus never left wiggle room for our faith, so many of the
disciples who heard what Jesus said; “Truly, truly, I say
to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you
have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my
flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last
day. For my flesh is true food, and my
blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my
flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live
because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of
me.” (John 6:53-57)
Jesus knowing that they were grumbling about this said to them, “Do you take offense at this?
Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was
before? It is the Spirit who gives life;
the flesh is of no avail. The words that
I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
But there are some of you who do not believe.”
This question came into my mind, would I want to follow a
God who I totally understood, who I was on the same mental and emotional
understanding as He? That would not be a
God that would be a man like myself, and I can assure you I do not want to
follow a man. But that’s the battle, the
flesh cannot understand the Spirit, it requires the Holy Spirit to turn on the
light in our mind and heart to give us understanding, and that is why Jesus
once more reminded them of this truth; “This is why I told
you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father. After this many of his disciples turned back
and no longer walked with him.”
I believe that God has put the United States of America and
the other nations in such a place today, we are looking to or for a person to
rescue us from the uncertainty of government, of economics, of the future, and
we are told in the Bible that such a man is waiting to step onto the world
stage; he will look good, say the right things, and will only ask us to put our
total trust in him. Human reasoning will
say follow him, but the Spirit of God has spoken, will we who go by the name
Christian, turn to such a man and no longer follow Christ, or will we answer as
Simon Peter, “Lord,
to whom shall we go? You have the words
of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the
Holy One of God.” (John 6:68,69)
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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