John 6:60–71

Read the passage.

When Jesus says strange things like “Eat my flesh and drink my blood,” His disciples take Him too literally. Knowing that this is the problem, Jesus tells them how they should take His words, but He also pokes a little fun at them, too. It’s kind of like He tells them, “You think that’s wild? Wait till you see this,” referring to His Ascension. But then He spells out that He means “eat” and “drink”—and even “flesh” and “blood”—in a spiritual sense, not a physical one. Even with His explanation, there are those who do not believe what He is saying. They do not believe because the Father has not granted them belief.

At this point I hear the objections: “That’s not fair! How can God decide to withhold saving faith from people?” To this I say: You don’t deserve “fairness”. You don’t deserve a chance. You deserve wrath. If God were only fair, we’d all be in hell already. The sooner you recognize how evil your sin is, how much it offends the perfectly righteous God, the sooner you will understand this truth.

The Twelve understood this, most of them. They stuck with Jesus even after hearing these words that offended their Jewish sensibilities and mindset. They recognized that He had “the words of eternal life”. (v. 68)

Let us see You as You truly are, and our sin for what it is, that we may rest in Your abundant forgiveness.