Rejection

John 6:60,66-67: "On hearing it, many of his disciples said, 'This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?' . . . . From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. 'You do not want to leave too, do you?' Jesus asked the Twelve."


John 6 is one of the most telling stories of true discipleship in the Bible. In the first part of the chapter, thousands of people were following Jesus because he was performing miraculous signs and feeding them. I'm sure that after Jesus performed the miracle of multiplying five barley loaves and two small fish to feed 5000, the recipients were pumping their hands in the air, saying in today's vernacular, "Go Jesus! Go Jesus!" The masses were ready to follow Jesus because He was meeting their needs (filling their stomachs [John 6:26]). As long as they were able to get something out of Jesus, people were determined to pursue Him. When Jesus and his disciples quietly left to go across the lake to a city called Capernaum, the people jumped into their boats to search for the great miracle worker.


Later in the chapter, Jesus used the setting to teach the people that he was the bread that would provide eternal life to those who would consume Him. At first, the people wanted to see a sign from Jesus to validate His claims, but they quickly began to grumble among themselves because Jesus had said that He had come from heaven to provide salvation and because He claimed that He would raise His followers from the grave.


The pivotal point arrived when Jesus proclaimed that the people would have to consume His flesh and drink His blood to have eternal life. What Jesus was communicating to the people was their need of "partaking" His sacrifice on the Cross by submitting to Him as Lord and Savior. The masses became frustrated with Jesus' words because they thought He was talking about some form of cannibalism. Even more so, Jesus' words required that they capitulate their supposed claim to the throne of their own lives. Jesus, knowing beforehand that many of them would reject Him, asked them if His words offended them. Then He shocked the crowd with His declaration that He alone gives life and would ascend back to heaven from where He had come.

The response was severe. Many of these "disciples" that had once been willing to pursue Jesus wherever He went, now were turning away in droves. At this massive demonstration of rejection, Jesus then looked to the twelve and asked, "do you want to leave too?"

I believe that we find in these verses the disposition of many in our churches today. People will proclaim an allegiance to Jesus Christ for what they can get out of Him (purpose, eternal security, material blessings, emotional comfort, etc.). But when the cost of discipleship is mentioned, which foundationally includes submitting oneself to His Lordship, many will turn away. This is why so many professing Christians do not demonstrate the fruit of spiritually transformed lives. They come to church with the purpose of leeching what will ultimately benefit them personally, but they are unwilling to accept the terms of God. These terms suggest that for one to experience the blessedness of God's forgiveness and fulfillment, one must start with acquiescing one's quest for lordship to the rightful Lord of lords, Jesus Christ.