Reflections
The Hard Saying
“This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.” These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, “This is an hard saying; who can hear it?” (John 6:58-60)
There were many things that Jesus said and did that offended people. Sometimes they understood and were offended. Other times they misunderstood and were offended. Jesus simply did not satisfy their expectations of a Messiah. But in John 6 He claimed to be God Incarnate. It was this claim that offended His critics the most.
His words, “I am the Bread that CAME DOWN from heaven,” are inescapable. First of all, this was one of the times Jesus said, “I AM….” The Jews understood the meaning of that phrase — it was the name of God. But He also said that HE CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN — i.e., FROM GOD. He was claiming that He came into this world from the outside of this world — in other words, He was saying that He existed before He was born.
There are many teachings that, “thinned the crowd,” of those who followed Jesus. But the one that offended people the most was His claim to be the Son of God.
The identity of Jesus Christ is not a conclusion that we are to arrive at merely through a theological study of the Bible. The Bible itself tells us how each of us must come to see and know Jesus Christ: By revelation. This revelation will, of course, always fully agree with scripture. But knowing Jesus Christ in an inward, life-changing way is the result of Jesus asking us this question, “Who do you say that I am?” — and of us giving the answer, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Flesh and blood cannot reveal this to us, but only the Father who is in heaven.
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