“From
that time [in
which Jesus taught that His “flesh is food indeed” and His “blood
is drink indeed”] many of His disciples went back and walked with
Him no more.” Matthew 6:66
Discipleship is
hard. Following Jesus demands more from us than we are willing to
give. We must also consider the context of this lesson. Jesus is
teaching Jews, whose Law prohibits the consumption of blood, that His “blood
is drink indeed” (vs 55). All geared up for the good stuff, but
then this very weird Man says, “Eat Me if you want to live”. What
the … ???
Even
after Jesus explains “ It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits
nothing. The words I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
But there are some of you who do not believe” (vss 63-64). Yet
rather than to draw closer and ask for clarity in their doubts, these many
“disciples” turned and walked away. Why?
We
know why. Whenever we hear something that just does not mesh with what we
already believe or what we already think we know, we dismiss it as nonsense –
especially when we hear something we don’t like from the pulpit that challenges
us to take a closer look!
But
no. My guess is these disciples who “followed Him no more”
had shut Him out even before He tried to explain further. And we are
inclined to do that ourselves. We will listen to another opinion,
consider another perspective – but only up to a certain point.
The
reality of discipleship – especially as we continue to grow spiritually – is
that our transformation will not be complete in this lifetime. We are
never too old, too smart, too educated, too mature, too “saved” to learn
something. And when it comes to the pursuit of all that is Holy and
Perfect in our constant transformation, we must never find a comfortable spot
in our opinions and sit still, believing what we have is “good enough”.
And we must never – NEVER – say “No” to Jesus … because He is leading us Home!
We
continue to wring our hands at the many who are walking away from the
Church. Some have lost faith in religion in general. Some have just
had it with organized religious power structures. Many are done with the
constant bickering and infighting, but some are also very tired of the
“programs” that lack substance and do not feed the soul. They are
starving and are wandering in the wilderness in search of “food and drink” that
will sustain them!
Yet
there are also the many who walk away for the very reason these disciples chose
to “walk with Him no more”. His lessons just got
hard. Hard to take, hard to hear, hard to envision, and just plain hard
to understand. Surely our Lord knew this when He commissioned the Church
to “go and teach and baptize”. It is why the historic Methodist movement
had its power and colossal growth in small prayer and study groups in which
everyone was held to accountability and supported in their struggles when
discipleship got hard.
We
cannot try to make discipleship easier for those who cannot take it. All
we can do is help for as long as help is needed – or until help is
rejected. Only then may we “shake the dust off and move on”. Until
that time let us be mindful that we all need help from time to time. And
we may never fully understand all that is written in the Scripture, but
that’s ok. Because it seems to me that these disciples who walked away
did not fail because they did not understand; they failed because they walked
away altogether. And as Peter said to Jesus when asked if he was prepared
to walk away as well: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words
of eternal life” (vs 68).
Blessings,
Michael
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