3rd Week in Easter, Saturday – 24th April 2021 — Gospel: John 6,60-69
Responses to Inability and Unwillingness
At the end of this great discourse, Jesus had many more disciples than the original twelve. However, many of those who followed Him as His disciples said, “This is a hard saying.” They meant that His teaching was offensive and distasteful. It was hard for them to understand and believe in Him. In fact, many who followed Him left Him and were no longer willing to associate with Him. These disciples were never true believers. They followed Jesus for various reasons, but not out of genuine love for Him or appreciation of who He was. However, Jesus responds to them very differently. Firstly, we find that Jesus had complete knowledge of his followers. He knew exactly what His followers were saying. He knew that they were complaining at His claim of His coming down from heaven and of eating His flesh and drinking His blood. Jesus knew from the beginning that some of His professed followers would not believe on Him and that one of His disciples would betray Him. Of course, Jesus knew all this from eternity, but here it probably means that He was aware of it from the very start of His ministry on earth. Secondly, when some people started to leave, Jesus does not call back those who are leaving. He does not say, “Oh, I was only speaking figuratively. You don’t really have to eat My Body and drink My Blood.” Jesus lets them go. If they cannot accept His invitation and command to feast on His very Body and Blood, then Jesus does not want them to follow Him, because they are not believing in one of the most important aspects of His teaching. The difficulty lay not so much in their inability but in their unwillingness to accept and trust.
