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HansC -> RE: The Gospel According To Saint John (5/20/2008 2:39:59 PM)
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102.) Who can Hear?
6:60
Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?
For a while many people followed after Christ, He had turned water into wine, healed numerous people, feed thousands, but then the real nature of His doctrine slowly became known to the following crowd. When this happened many of His followers dropped out and left Him.
The true believers were sifted out of the mass of the crowd, the real winnowed from the false, the shallow from the depth.
The expression, “who can hear it” more closely carries the meaning of “who can tolerate or accept it”. As long as the crowd did not really understand His teachings, they followed along, but when they finally started to hear what He was saying, many fell away from Him.
It was not so much the parts of His doctrine that they could not understand that troubled them, but rather the part that they could understand.
Mark Twain, said that, “it is not so much the parts of the Bible that I do not understand that trouble me, but rather the parts that I do understand.”
Many were willing to take Jesus as a great moral teacher. Others were even willing to take Him as a prophet. Even today, many are willing to give Him that. But the doctrine that He had to shed His blood and that He is the ONLY way to God, well many balk at that.
In the current presidential election, both Clinton and Obama claim to be Christian, yet when asked both deny that Jesus is the ONLY way to God. Once again, it’s the hard statements of Christ’s doctrine that separates the wheat from the chaff.
The same with Oprah Winfrey, she was raised as a Christian, yet when pressed about the necessity of Christ’s shed blood and Jesus being the ONLY way to God, she also turns her back on Christ’s sacrifice, believing instead that there are also other ways to God.
6:61
When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?
Note, that this reaction of disbelief was not a record of what was happening among Jesus’ enemies, but rather among His followers. The earlier grumblers were His enemies, but now the mumblers are His own followers.
What were some of these, “hard to accept teachings” that drove the crowd away? Well for one, there is the doctrine of His preexistence and coming down from heaven.
Then there was the doctrine that He had to give His body and blood as a sacrifice, that man by good deeds or religion could not achieve salvation, but that salvation could only be won and earned by Christ and then people could receive it through Him as a free gift.
Nobody can face eternity without first surrendering to Christ. This bothered many people. Even today, many reject Him, because He challenges their lives and private beliefs, rather than confounds their intellect. Many reject Christ, simply because He clashes with their own view of God.
6:62
What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where He was before?
This is a hard to grasp verse. Is He talking about the ascension? Some seem to think that He is talking about the whole sequence of events that will ultimately lead to His reunion with His Father in Heaven, namely the crucifixion, burial and resurrection. In essence, He is saying, if these sayings offend you, what will your reaction be when you see me on the Cross.
Whatever the full implications of this verse are, it does seem to indicate that a severe test will one day be in store for His disciples.
Jesus when He notices people dig in their heels and balk at His doctrine, responds by making things MORE difficult and harder to understand.
6:63
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
Our own natural human reasoning, which is of the flesh is worthless when it comes to understanding the things of God. Many in the crowd knew Jesus after the flesh and it did them no good, they walked away from Him. His words were foolishness to the natural man, because spiritual things are spiritually discerned.
Jesus was not concerned with the good that a person may produce with their own best natural effort, which is of the flesh, the earthly nature.
People whose lives are taken up by the pursuit of the things of this earth, who value only the here and now, who lust after material baubles, but ignore the Words of Christ, cut themselves off from God and in the end their lives count for nothing.
This is also true of any outward ritual of religion, unless the Spirit is behind it, it is worthless. It is the Spirit that gives LIFE. As Christians, we are to take the Word to people, for it is God’s Word through which He works. To do a spiritual work a person must give themselves first and foremost to the study and ingraining into the heart of the Word.
We are called to feed on His Word, digest His Word, meditate constantly on His Word, live His Word and proclaim His Word.
6:64
But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.
This is among His own people. Jesus knew their hearts, not so much by being an astute observer of their lives, but rather by being in tune with His Father. Despite the LIFE giving quality of His Words, some, even those close to Him, will reject Him. The truth that Jesus reveals is known only by faith in the spirit and is forever hidden from the wisdom of man.
6:65
And He said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto Me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
To be honest, it takes a real miracle of God in order for someone to believe in Him, it takes faith and that faith comes as a gift from God.
However, God is willing for all to come to Him, yet most will not, such lost souls are not so much shut out by God, but rather they shut themselves off from God.
Hans
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