In John chapter 6, Jesus was walking along and teaching his disciples. In verse 60, some of the disciples who were following Jesus responded to what he was teaching by saying, “this is a hard teaching, who can accept it?” I think that response is worth examining on both ends, the “hard teaching” end and the “who can accept it” end.
Let’s start with the hard teaching. Modern day theology of Jesus has portrayed him as a nice guy who loves us and is there to bless us. Modern day theology has made Jesus into a guy who is there to serve us and make us better people. At first glance, those seem to be good things. But the problem is that Jesus is more than that. Jesus is more than a guy, he’s God incarnate. And while he does love us, deeply I might add, and while he does desire to bless us and make us better people, his vision of a better reality for us is far beyond what we think it is. And when he speaks, he doesn’t just speak as a nice guy with some suggestions for a better life, he speaks with the authority, power, and conviction of God Almighty. He speaks as one who sees the truth, and who knows the truth will set us free. He speaks into the depths of our hearts where most of us dare not dwell for fear of what’s in there. He answers questions we didn’t know we were asking. And that’s why when we examine the teachings of Jesus throughout the New Testament, we are forced to stop chasing our own version of Jesus, the nice guy who is supposed to make us feel better about ourselves version, and start following the real Jesus, who loved us enough to die in our place, who speaks the very words of life into our thirsty souls.
He doesn’t always say things how we would say them. He doesn’t always walk in the direction we would walk. He doesn’t always respond the way we would respond. But that’s why He is God, and that’s why He is leading and we are called to follow. In an era of tolerance, where not offending people is a high virtue, we must ask this question, “Can Jesus offend me?” “Does Jesus have the right to offend me and call me to live differently?” The disciples said it was hard teaching and asked, “Who can accept it?” They were offended by what Jesus was teaching. They were taken back by the call that Jesus was placing on their lives, this great call to follow Him and not their own ways, and they were literally wondering not only if it was possible to accept it, but should they accept it.
When we hear the call of Jesus to repent and follow Him, our first instinct is not to obey and follow, but to be shocked that Jesus would say something that seems so radical and harsh. We then spend time debating if we like what we heard. Once we decide we don’t like it, we tell others what we think about it, to the point where eventually we convince ourselves that Jesus must not have said it. And then we start to paint a different picture of Jesus than the one given to us, one that we find manageable, one that we find comforting and doesn’t require us to change, but merely feel good. So we deceive ourselves into thinking that we know what is better for our lives than Jesus. Who then can accept the hard teachings of Jesus? Only those who are willing to let Jesus offend them; only those who have come to the end of themselves.
