This is a Hard Teaching

Years ago, when I was a teenager, my grandmother would ask me to take her to visit her sister-in-law sometimes on Saturdays.  I would take her and sit with the two elderly ladies for a brief visit.  As my grandma aged, she lost the ability to speak even at a normal conversational volume, and she didn’t hear very well, either.  Her sister-in law, my great aunt, was losing her hearing, too - but they loved each other’s company, and I’m not sure they realized the communication barriers.  During one visit, I recall a conversation like this:  My grandma asked, “Liza, you going to church tomorrow?”   Aunt Liza said, “Yeah, I picked up some pecans yesterday, you want some?”  My grandma answered, “Oh, you ain’t got no stockings for tomorrow?  I got some extra, you want me to send them back over here with Kim?”   My Aunt Liza said, “Yeah, I’ll get you some pecans!”  She would get up and go to her kitchen and come back with a brown paper bag of pecans.   My grandma, now confused, would say, “What’s this?”  She would look inside the bag seeing pecans, she would say, “Oh thank you, you didn’t have to give me any pecans, I was just gonna give you the stockings!”  And Aunt Liza would go back into the kitchen and bring back a glass of ice water, a nutcracker, and some napkins.  By that time, I just went outside because this was hilarious to me!

I was reminded of these visits as I pondered how to explain the communication issues Jesus experienced in teaching the people of His day.  He would frequently be speaking of Spiritual things, heart matters, but they lacked the ability to understand, because they were still in their flesh.  We may not understand either!

In John 3, in the conversation with Nicodemus,  He tells him, “ No one can enter into the kingdom of God unless they are born again.  Confused, Nicodemus asks, “How can someone be born when they are old?  Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”  Jesus is speaking figuratively, but Nicodemus’s comprehends Him literally.  Jesus is talking about the new life, the new creature we become once we begin to believe in Him, but Nicodemus only knows of birth as from a mother’s womb.   

In John 4, when Jesus spoke to the woman at the well, He spoke figuratively in verse 10. “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” The woman, not understanding, responds, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?” (v. 11)  Jesus tries to explain again, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (v. 13-14). Then v. 5, The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”  The woman doesn’t have a clear understanding or acceptance of what Jesus said to her, but when he asked about her husband, or lack thereof, she realizes that he is no ordinary man, she concludes He must be a prophet, and she goes about telling others they should meet Him saying, “He told me everything I ever did!” (v. 39)

In Chapter 6, the communication misalignment seems to peak, causing many followers to say, “This is a hard teaching,” and they decided to stop following Him.

~John 6:53-59
Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57Just 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. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.    

These words dismayed many of this disciples, not the twelve, but those in the crowds following Him.   Maybe they were grossed out, or they may have thought He was suggesting they become cannibals!  They said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” (v. 60). At this point, many of the people who had been following Him decided it was of no use anymore so they stopped following Him. (v. 66).

I must agree, this is a hard teaching!  But we must accept it!   In the previous conversations, with Nicodemus and the woman at the well, He was speaking Spiritually, or figuratively, if you will, but they were trying to understand Him in the flesh or literally.  With Nicodemus, He was talking about being born again in the Spirit, and Nicodemus was thinking about obstetrics!   With the woman at the well, He told her about Living Water, but her mind was on well water.  Scripture doesn’t say this, but maybe by chapter 6, He decided to try a slightly different approach.  Rather than speak Spiritually, or figuratively, He spoke plainly, and the people found it too literal!  When He spoke in the Spirit, they didn’t understand because they were listening in the flesh.  Now he is speaking of the flesh as flesh and they understand in the flesh, but totally miss the Spiritual truth!

Jesus is not suggesting that we grab a fork and knife when we see Him.  He is explaining that He must be our primary sustenance.  Just like we need water daily, He is the source of Living Water.  Living Water is a reference to the Eternal Life only He makes possible.  Living Water is fresh, constantly renewed, it springs up from inside giving life to others!   In chapter 6, He compares Himself to the manna God provided to the Israelis to sustain them on their journey to the Promised Land.  Manna was a need, and Jesus is a need if we want to have Eternal Life.  And don’t be confused, Eternal Life doesn’t start when we physically die, it begins when we make the decision to live for Him!  When we believe in Him we are born again and share Living Water with everyone we meet.
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Participating in communion, regularly, is our reminder that He is our portion, that we need Him daily, and He is a part of everything we do and think.  If these truths are hard for you to understand or accept, be in prayer that God will enable you to understand and believe in His one and only Son.  Amen.


Thank you for reading! 
Please share with others!
​Kim