The scripture verse that goes along with this topic is John 6:60, 66
60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"
66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
Jesus had become fairly popular in the middle of his ministry. Thousands had come to see Him, to listen to Him, and be healed by Him. So many thousands in fact that they needed food and he fed them, 5000 men (and more women and children). He fed them with nothing more that 2 fish and five loaves of bread...and had left overs.
This made Him even more popular. However, Jesus wanted to make sure that there was no misunderstanding. He was God. When He told the people that, they were outraged. Miracles is one thing, but God? Come on!
But He was, and He is. He taught that they must eat of His body, and drink of His blood, to have eternal life. This was the hard teaching. So these thousands of people who so adamantly followed Him were no longer amazed, or entertained. The excitement of the miracles had faded, and they were left with a choice; accept His teaching or reject it. That's really the same choice all of us have now a days. Accept Him or reject Him.
Well, by the thousands, they rejected Him, and left, never to return. And then there were 12. The 12 professed they had no where else to go and believed in Him, and continued on with Jesus.
The point! God points out what He wants from us in His timing. At that time, in the height of His fame, Jesus pointed out what the people must do, and they couldn't handle it. How often does that happen with us? Jesus tells us to accept Him...and we turn away. Or maybe we are saved and he tells us to go tell someone about Him, and we turn away. God points out to us all the time things we should do, and also things we should not, and just as the thousands were, and the 12 disciples were, we are left with a choice.
Accept God's commands or His chastening. Chastening is a fancy word for punishment, because God punishes or chastens those He loves. Or, reject what He says.
Part of A call to die is accepting the hard words that come from God and changing your life accordingly! I pray you do the same! Stay tuned for Day 3!
-Brian
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2 comments:
That is a hard teaching. I think if I heard Jesus say eat my flesh and drink my blood I might have left too. Without a doubt Jesus challenges our status quo.
Rob,
Yea, man! I totally feel you on that. The problem I think was so rampant back then, (and still very much today) was all the people making choices out of ignorance. It doesn't appear that they really understood what Jesus was saying. There were MANY times when the Disciples didn't quite understand, but they hung in there and Jesus cleared the confusion. If only people would just hang on long enough and seek clarity, imagine the possibilities.
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