“When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured
at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?” John 6:61
There
are many attributes to the gospel that, in the right light and context, can
attract without giving offense. Concepts
like love, fellowship, blessings, and charity; when properly administered, will
draw the masses and keep them. Keep them
coming back, and keep them wanting more.
Unfortunately, if you leave off things like death, sacrifice, and the
cross; it will also keep them from real, genuine, personal change; because (if completely
and plainly preached) the gospel is offensive.
The cross is offensive. Jesus
Christ will offend people, but he will also change people.
The
question that is presented by Christ in the 61st verse of the 6th
chapter of John is actually closing remarks to a back and forth
conversation/sermon toward Jesus’s followers as a whole. At this point in his ministry, Jesus
popularity was growing, and many were going to great lengths to get to
Jesus. Jesus, knowing their hearts, told
them plainly: “ye seek me because ye did
eat of the loaves, and were filled.”
He then proceeds to tell them about the bread of life, and how this is
the true bread, which is better than the bread Moses gave, and it will give
life to the world. No doubt, at this
point, if Jesus would have just quit talking, or changed the subject, his
popularity would have skyrocketed. They
were no doubt thinking “this is great! Yesterday he multiplied normal bread and
today he is going to give us supernatural bread!” The people so eager cried out “Lord, evermore
give us this bread.” How many pastors,
church leaders, evangelist, and teachers would love to be in this
position? Having the congregation in the
palm of their hands; the masses at their fingertips? The bread and water crowd, hungry for what’s
at their table. At this point, Jesus was
what everyone wanted, but in all the wrong ways, and he knew it, and he kept
preaching. Bless God, he kept preaching;
he preached that he was the bread, and he was life, and we had to eat of his
flesh and drink his blood; whosoever ate and drank of Him dwelleth in Him and He
in us. He preached on, he preached the
hard truth, the tough sermon, the one that hurts your name, your reputation,
your attendance. The one that gets you
fired, imprisoned; maybe for some, even killed.
He kept preaching, and then asked does this offend you? Finally, he told them, the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are
spirit, and they are life. The Word
tells us that from that time many of his
disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
The
gospel is appealing to the flesh, it is beneficial to the flesh, but it is not
for the flesh, or of the flesh; it is spirit.
It is spiritual; understood by the Spirit, administered by the Spirit,
and salvation for the spirit. The body
hungers, and the body thirsts; we spend a great deal of time and energy on the
body, but the message that Christ brought to the people was that the body is
worthless. Furthermore, the spirit is
the most important thing, and unless you partake of Christ you miss the most
important thing in this world! Unless
you commit your all to Christ, forsaking sin and self, asking him to abide in
you and walk in the light as he instructs; then you have never had the bread of
life and you will die lost. We must,
spiritually, enter into the same death, burial, and resurrection that Jesus did. In order to do this, we have to first be
offended, because the cross is offensive.
It stands as a dividing line between righteousness and unrighteousness;
between sin and holiness, between life and death. It’s Jesus or yourself, someone has got to go. Choose Jesus.
Choose life.
