This Is A Hard Word
Yohanan (John) 6 we read about the crowds that gathered to hear Y’shua’s words. The Judeans in the mix grumbled against Y’shua who proclaimed, “I am the bread which has come down from heaven”. (6:41)
Y’shua goes on to say, “Stop grumbling to each other! 44 No one can come to me unless the Father — the One who sent me — draws him. And I will raise him up on the Last Day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘They will all be taught by YHVH.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God — he has seen the Father. 47 Yes, indeed! I tell you, whoever trusts has eternal life: 48 I am the bread which is life. 49 Your fathers ate the man in the desert; they died. 50 But the bread that comes down from heaven is such that a person may eat it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that has come down from heaven; if anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. Furthermore, the bread that I will give is my own flesh; and I will give it for the life of the world”.
At this, many of the talmadin (servants) said, “This is a hard word! Who can bare to listen to it?” Y’shua knew from the beginning who would not trust him, yet he allowed them to follow him; t0 stay and listen, when he tells them that no one can come to him unless the Father has made it possible. From then on, they turned back and did not continue to follow him.
What Y’shua says next moves me. He turns to his Twelve and asks, “Don’t you want to leave too?”
Notice what Y’shua doesn’t say or do. He doesn’t change his words, he doesn’t beg for forgiveness, that his words were too hard and, he doesn’t ask the Twelve, “Oh gee golly, won’t you please stay with me and not leave?”. No, Y’shua asks them plainly and bluntly, “Don’t you want to leave too?”.
You see, the Word is an offense to the flesh. It is like a mirror. The Torah shows us what sin is (Romans 7:7). We hold it up and it reflects our transgressions (sins) of his Law (instructions). It is not easy to face that reflection. It is often painful and like the talmadin who turned away from those harsh words, many in today’s society do the same. They hear the hard realities of what’s in the Torah. They learn Y’shua and his early followers kept the Torah after being taught He did away with them. They learn that truly, their fathers have inherited lies.
Shalom,
Sal
