They Took Offense at Scripture

As I pondered the title that came to me for the last post, I realized the passage of Scripture it comes from is a good illustration of people rejecting the truth from Jesus because it was foreign to what they already "knew" about spirituality and reality. If you read John 6:35-69, you see Jesus providing a radical teaching to people that caused many of them to be offended. Jesus said to them: "Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?" (John 6:61-62). In other words, if you react that way to this level of truth, how will you handle it if some of the glory of heaven itself is opened to you?

Scripture tells us that many of the disciples of Jesus turned back after this and no longer walked with Him. But the twelve remained, because as Peter said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God." (John 6:68-69). By God's grace, they had the humility and dependence to recognize that only Jesus could help them understand real truth. If they rejected what He said because it alarmed them, they had nowhere else to turn for essential knowledge. And because they stayed and did not give up on His words, presumably they had the chance to get beyond the initial reaction and learn more fully what He meant. John even went on to write the very Gospel in which these teachings are recorded, and it stands as one of the deepest theological writings in the New Testament.