Doth This Offend You?


At some point in our walk with God, we must come to terms with the Word of God (hopefully sooner rather than later).
It is amazing sometimes how we as Christians can pick and choose what bits of the bible we want to accept and what bits we want to reject! We have no problem quoting John 3 v16 but we shudder to mention Genesis 3 v16 in the same breath…..you know…in case those scary feminists hear us right?.
Romans 1 v16 is a chest-thumping verse commonly heard, but I doubt I can say the same for Galatians 1 v8……
It does not even stop at verses though! There can be whole chapters and books of the bible we would rather glaze over, because of fear of isolation from our peers (who cares by the way). Where do we draw the line?.
In John chapter 6, Jesus Christ in his very direct and unapologetic way confounds the wisdom of the Jews’s perceptions of the Manna which rained from heaven to the children of Israel.
Jesus goes as far as saying that he himself is that bread which came down from heaven; as if to make his point even more poignant (if that was even possible) he proclaims that “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you“.
Of course our Saviour was not teaching cannibalism as he proceeds to correct the murmuring disciples in verses 60-63.
The remark of the disciples though is what I want to focus on in v60.
“Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hardsaying; who can hear it?”
After listening to Jesus; the incarnate Word of God speak to the crowd, the disciples were challenged with Christs’ words, proclaiming that these were “hard sayings” to the ears of the listeners because it challenged them and took them out of their comfort zone.
Jesus made no apologies for speaking the truth and funnily enough responds with the memorable quote of “doth this offend you?” in v61 to his disciples. Jesus was not afraid to speak God’s Word, even in the face of opposition and the realization that he was about to lose many of his so called disciples because of hishard sayings“. He still spoke the Word of God boldly. Is it any surprise then that John 6 v66 is the verse where he is deserted by many who had followed him up to that point?.
Having seen this exodus of his previous followers; he then turns to his original 12 and says to them “Will ye also go away” in v67.
The response of Peter for me is where I believe Christ wants to meet all his disciples. Peter replies with these words “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life“.
As I mentioned earlier in this post, at some point we have to come to terms with the Word of God. Just as how Peter and the other disciples were backed up in a corner to show where their faith rests on. The same should be for us today. Do we believe God has the words of eternal life? If we do then, let us boldly stand for God and his Word. All of It! Amen!!

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