seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
John 6:60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit[e] and life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”
66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
70 Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” 71 (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)
e. John 6:63 Or are Spirit; or are spirit
Yesterday I did a story on the "Bread of Life". Jesus was talking about people eating His flesh. Like I said... it's really hard to understand. Even the Pharisees were asking.... "how can a man eat flesh?" Sounds like cannibalism.... and that was very hard to digest [pardon the pun please]. So some of the so called disciples have now decided to leave.
I need to set the story again.... Just to keep my mind straight.... this is some hefty stuff.
Jesus was in Capernaum. There were thousands following Him. Everywhere He went people gathered... some were there to hear what He had to say.... but most were there for WIIFM. [WIIFM = What's in it for me?]
The Pharisees, Sadducees, teachers and leaders of the Temple had people planted in His crowd so that as soon as He said or did something extraordinary.... they could arrest Him and end this foolishness.
There were some [probably both descendant of Jacob [Israel] and gentile] who were there because they were looking for a king who would call all the troops and run the Romans back to Rome where they belonged.
There were a lot of them who were only there for the free bread and fish.
There were twelve men..... and an uncounted number of women, children, and slaves.... who were truly followers of the Son of God.
When Jesus started talking about eating flesh.... all but the twelve men and an uncounted number of women, children, and slaves decided that He was just too weird and they left.
Jesus knew they were upset. He knew they would be. One way to shake out the hangers on is to shake the conversation. As long as He was handing out free food and healing people [not on the Sabbath though] the masses gathered.... but as soon as He stopped handing our the candy.... they went home. Jesus knew they would.... He also knew there were still people amongst the twelve [and the uncounted women, children, and slaves] who remained who did not really believe.
Judas was there to count the money.... as soon as the money [the contributions from adoring fans] dried up... Judas started to grumble too... but that comes later.... Here in this chapter... Jesus tells us He knows Judas is among the twelve.
I keep bringing up the uncounted women, children, and slaves because they are uncounted and they don't have any say over their fate. These were people of the lower class. They were never counted.... in the desert they had to be numbered in the millions.... each fee man who walked from Egypt to the Promised land had to bring his family and slaves.... the members of the family and the number of slaves... was never counted... and in some cases... they weren't even mentioned. Back in the days of Jesus women were owned.... just like slaves. They followed but they weren't counted.
Jesus needed to get to work on the mission of getting on that cross. All those adoring crowds are starting to get a little out of hand. Everywhere He goes they are waiting or arrive soon there after. They are judging Him too.... saying things like "how did you get here so fast?" He knew if they ever saw the whole truth of who He is.... they wouldn't believe it and of course they would have accused Him of magic or demonic possession.... and it wasn't time for any of that ... He still had work to do. Lazarus was waiting.... and the perfume that would cause Judas to run to the Temple.
So.... the crowds of thousands [or tens of thousands counting everyone] have been pared down to twelve free men and an uncounted number of women, children and slaves. So now He could get back to work......
Verse 65 is a difficult verse to swallow as it's written here. Jesus said “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.” I read on one of the threads in this Religion forum... one of the contributors on SOMD Online... said he did something and Jesus wasn't going to forgive him. And I have been worried about him ever since. I think he was hung up on this verse.... "unless the Father enabled them" So... let me explain, please, what I think this verse is getting at.
Back in Heaven.... each of us is hand sculpted.... God counted the number of hairs on each head and adorned them as He chose. I got freckles.... others got brown eyes.... others got gorgeous fingers and toes..... but each is hand sculpted by God..
God controls time... so God can go to the last sentence in the last chapter of a human story and see which decisions a human will make to keep them on the right path..... and to those... He gives an upgrade. Once they make the decision to follow Christ... the upgrade is booted up by the thrilling "Spirit" of it all. We are "enabled".
Some people won't believe that Jesus walked on water. Can you imagine what they would do if Jesus levitated in front of them as He did to move across the surface of the storm tossed waters in the Sea of Galilee that night?
What would happen.... if during a Sunday Church Service.... the good preacher walked out from behind the pulpit and just levitated?
Those people weren't ready. They were only there to see and be seen..... and they had no idea who Jesus really is. They had no clue what the real mission was. They just got turned off. They were never going to believe.
All but twelve men and an uncounted number of women, children, and slaves deserted Him.
