Why were they offended?

[skyblue888]

Someone asked this question on another forum:

I am interested in why many disciples turned back and didn't follow Jesus after He spoke these words:

John 6:53 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 [color:#330033]Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever." 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. 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 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 are spirit and they are life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."

66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him..

I did not paste the entire passage and there is likely more in the chapter that is relevant to what Jesus said. I am curious as to why many disciples chose to leave Jesus at that point when He had already healed someone on the Sabbath and talked to a Samaritan woman. What were they offended about?

Nik

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They were offended because He had offered His flesh and blood as the bread of life. Even His true disciples did not understand His words that day. Though Jesus explained Himself, many left Him because of a hard saying. They said, How can He give us His flesh to eat and His blood to drink?

How would we have reacted ourselves? How do we react to the words of Jesus today? What does it mean to eat His flesh and to drink His blood? Some thought He was talking about His literal flesh and bones and about the blood that was in his veins. But He was talking about His words and commands which impart life.

His words had a dual meaning.

In the Desire of Ages, p.660, Mrs White quotes these words of Jesus and then shows how they have a dual application, first to our physical nature and then to our spiritual nature.

First she says that His words are true of our physical nature. Unless we receive his life in the pure, sweet air, in the sunshine, and in the food that He gives us to eat and drink we shall have no life in us for "It is His life that we receive in the sunshine, in the pure, sweet air, and in the food which builds up our bodies and sustains our strength. It is by His life what we exist, hour by hour, moment by moment, Except as perverted by sin, all His gifts (air, water, sunshine, fruits, seeds, grains, vegetables,nuts) tend to life, to health and joy." Education, p.197,198. * parenthesis supplied

So in that sense the words of Jesus, "Unless you eat My flesh and drink My blood, you have no life in you," are true of our physical nature. Here is Mrs. White's direct comment upon His words as far as our physical nature is concerned:

"This is true of our physical nature. Never one, saint or sinner, eats his daily food but he is nourished by the flesh and blood of Christ... The light shining from that Communion service in the upper chamber makes sacred the provisions for our daily life. The family board becomes as the Table of the Lord, and every meal a sacrament." D.A.660.

Could these words offend some of us? are they not a hard saying to us, to say that it is His life that we receive in the sunshine, in the pure, sweet air and in the food which builds up our bodies and sustains our strength?. Every time we sit at the table to eat and drink that which the Lord has given us to eat and drink, we are testifying to the fact that we are depending upon a power outside of ourselves in order to live or to continue to live. This is true of all created things whether they realize this or not. "All created beings live by the will and power of God. They are recipients of the life of the Son of God." 1 S.M.301.

Of course, this is not talking about eternal life but about physical life.

Some may ask how the life of Christ for our physical nature ever got into the provisions for our daily life in the first place. The answer to this question is very simple but profound. We need to go back to the beginnings. It was the Lord Jesus Christ who said, "Let the earth bring forth grass and herbs yielding seeds and trees bearing fruits." His life for our physical nature was then imparted to nature as the following statement will show:

"It is the Word of God, the impartation of His life, that gives life to the seed; and of that life, we, in eating the grain, become partakers. This, God desires us to discern; He desires that even in receiving our daily bread we may recognize His agency and may be brought into closer fellowship with Him." Education, p.108.

"Without the life of God, nature would die." E.G.White, B.C. Vol.1, p.1081.

Do these words offend you? to be told that through the provisions for your daily life you are to discern His life for your physical nature that you may be brought into closer fellowship with Him!!!

And then we read, "And how much more are Christ's words true of our spiritual nature. He declares, 'Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life.' It is by receiving the life for us poured out on Calvary's cross, that we can live the life of holiness. And this life we receive by receiving His word, by doing those things which He has commanded us. Thus we become one with Him. 'He that eateth My flesh,' He says, 'and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me and I in him. As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me." John 6:54,56,57.

In the book, Christ's Object Lessons, p.38, Mrs. White comments upon John 6:63 and writes these words: "The word of God is the seed. Every seed has in itself a germinating principle. In it the life of the plant is enfolded. So there is life in God's word. Christ says, 'The words that I SPEAK unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life.' John 6:63.. In every command and in every promise of the Word of God is the power, the very life of God, by which the command may be fulfilled and the promise realized. He who by faith receives the word is receiving the very life and character of God."

In the wilderness, in the manna that was falling from the sky, they were eating Christ's flesh and blood for their physical nature. It was the perfect flesh and blood of Christ. There was no trace of the curse in that food. It was said to be angel's food even. I believe that, like us, they did not discern His flesh and blood in the manna any more than we do today in the provisions for our daily life.

Then at Sinai, Jesus gave them His flesh and blood to eat and drink for their spiritual life but they did not discern the gift. They did not hearken unto the voice of Him whose word can renew the soul unto everlasting life. They were afraid of the voice and they asked that Moses speak to them instead. But if they had hearkened unto the Voice, the Voice of salvation, the Voice of rejoicing, their peace would have been as a river and their righteousness as the waves of the sea. (Isaiah 48:17,18.)

Hope this helped us understand why many were offended and left Him.

sky

[oldsailor29]

Jesus gave them His flesh and blood to eat and drink for their spiritual life but they did not discern the gift. They did not hearken unto the voice of Him whose word can renew the soul unto everlasting life. They were afraid of the voice and they asked that Moses speak to them instead. But if they had hearkened unto the Voice, the Voice of salvation, the Voice of rejoicing, their peace would have been as a river and their righteousness as the waves of the sea. (Isaiah 48:17,18.)

sky

Some didn't understand, as you stated, but some who did understand also turned away, and they did so because they did not want to be converted.

Those who did not understand Jesus turned to Moses, as we do, for an interpretation they did understand. And those who understood that Jesus was telling them to turn away from Moses and follow Him, didn't want to do that. We are still the same today. Relatively few are really converted to the teachings of Jesus.