Daily Devotions
John
The rejection of Jesus
Text: John 6:22-71
THE REJECTION OF JESUS
Jesus was not upset at the mixed response of His audience. John noted this and recorded it thoughtfully.
“For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were
who did not believe, and who would betray Him.
And He said, ‘Therefore I have said to you that
no one can come to Me unless it has been granted
to him by My Father.’ “
John 6:64-65
There was no special reason to be upset when you have the right theological perspective. There were those who never believed. They did not believe the Scriptures. They never had faith in God the Father. Why should they not speak of having faith in Jesus? The Jews were prime examples of people who belonged to this category.
Jesus even knew that within the circle of The Twelve, one of them would end up betraying Him. It is a formidable thing to possess such knowledge and not be perturbed.
There had always been a deep and wonderfully intimate relationship between the Father and the Son. When Jesus donned flesh, and walked on the earth as the Son of Man, He retained that closeness of relationship with His Father. He trusted the hand of His Father at all times.
His Father would draw true believers to Him. He Himself would be their Divine Teacher. Jesus’ part was to communicate deep truths, even though what He said may have sounded incomprehensible. The Father would test all who came to Jesus. If they were to be offended by Jesus because He seemed to preach “hard sayings” and if they were to decide that they would not follow Him, then that would confirm beyond doubt that they were not sent by the Father.
This was the theological persuasion of Jesus and things turned out just as He had anticipated it.
“From that time many of His disciples went back
and walked no more with Him.”
John 6:66
They may have appeared to be “disciples” but deep down, they were not true believers. Yes, they had followed Jesus. They even searched for Him and tracked Him down to a synagogue in Capernaum. They had even listened to His teachings and interacted with Him. These external features were things that The Twelve practised every day as they followed Jesus.
Many of them decided that they would no longer be His disciples. They returned to wherever they came from. They tried Jesus out. They did not understand Him much. They found that they could not manipulate Him. They could not force Him to be their king after all. The parting of ways came suddenly and dramatically.
A QUESTION TO THE TWELVE
To be fair to The Twelve, Jesus posed a poignant question to them.
“Do you also want to go away?”
John 6:67
Many had already decided that they would no longer be associated with Jesus. Imagine a whole hall of people in a synagogue leaving it en masse. One after another, people walked out, shaking their heads in disbelief or unbelief!
Only a very small group of people remained. Among those who remained were The Twelve. Were they visibly affected by the rejection of the masses? They too had expressed difficulty in understanding Jesus. Would they also be moved to go away? Wasn’t it easier just to follow the crowd?
A COURAGEOUS REPLY
Peter, representing the small group of disciples who remained loyal to Jesus cried out with a moving response.
“Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life.
Also we have come to believe and
know that You are the Christ,
the Son of the Living God.”
John 6:68-69
Indeed, to whom would they go? Would the Pharisees, the Sadduccees, the Essenes or any of the other religious groups be able to teach as Jesus did? Would they be able to offer them “words of eternal life”? Sure, they were not always able to understand what Jesus said, but they could always talk to Him and ask Him to explain things in depth in their private conversations with Him.
A few hard sayings would not change their mind about what they had already come to know to be the truth. Jesus was the Messiah. He was the Son of the Living God! They had seen Him turn water into wine. They had seen Him multiply five loaves and two fish to feed five thousand men, not counting the women and children. They had seen Him walk to them amidst a storm! What more proof would they need that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God? No, they might not always understand Jesus. Some of His sayings were indeed very hard, but that would not and should never cause their faith to be affected adversely.
A QUIET WORD TINGED WITH SADNESS
Jesus quietly accepted the confession of faith by Peter. He knew His disciples. He knew that they truly believed in Him. But His heart was also sad that one of The Twelve continued to have a heart that was unmoved.
” ‘Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?’
He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he
who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.”
John 6:70-71