When Following Jesus Is Hard | John 6:60-69

How long will you stick with following Jesus? What would it take for you to walk away from him? When we read of the miracles of Jesus, the idea of following Jesus is attractive. Jesus is being a healing and blessing God. But then there are other times where Jesus acts like an unrivaled Lord, and says things that challenge our own authority in our lives. Both are the same thing — his miracles show his true power to heal and bless our lives, AND his words are also his true power to heal and bless our lives. But that’s harder for us to see right now. Remember the first part of John 6 — Jesus miraculously fed thousands. People loved following him for it. Then Jesus taught on what that really demonstrated — He’s the Bread of Life. But then the more Jesus taught the more people began to get irritated with him. It’s one thing for Jesus to say let me bless you, but another to then say the only way I can truly bless you is by being Lord of your life.  And so toward the end of John 6, in some sense, it seems that Jesus is trying to be directly offensive toward people’s false assumptions about him, about themselves, and about life — because he's forcing people to deal with his claims and to deal with who he really is beyond just his miracles. And so it's one of those points where people are confronted with the decision to leave him or keep following him even if it’s hard. Most chose to leave. We should talk about it. John 6:60–63 NIV 60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” 61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. John 6:66–69 NIV 66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. 67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” Follow Dave Cover on Twitter https://twitter.com/davecover (@davecover) Follow A Bigger Life on Twitter https://twitter.com/abiggerlifepod (@ABiggerLifePod) This podcast is a ministry of https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/ (The Crossing), a church in Columbia, Missouri, a college town where the flagship campus of the University of Missouri is located. Like this content? Make sure to share it with others and leave us a rating, so others can find it too.