"Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” (John 6:60).
Those who heard Jesus’ sermon were divided into three groups: the Jewish leaders; His disciples, hundreds who were long-time followers of Jesus; and the Twelve. We have already looked at the reaction of the Jewish leaders who argued with Jesus. Now we learn of the disciples’ reaction. While it might seem on the surface that their problem was the inability to intellectually understand Jesus’ sermon, we discover from Jesus’ rebuke that their problem was actually unbelief.
Jesus followers complained that His sermon was too difficult. Because of their hard hearts, they could not understand what Jesus was telling them, and if there were those who did understand it—that faith in Him was the only way to eternal life—they still refused to believe and accept His teaching as the truth. Because they refused to think deeper about Jesus’ teaching, most of them attached the most rigidly literal interpretation to Jesus’ sermon.
Jesus rebuked the disciples for their unbelief. It was as if He said, “My flesh as such cannot benefit you; stop thinking that I was asking you literally to eat my body or literally to drink my blood. It is my spirit, my person, in the act of giving my body to be broken and my blood to be shed, that bestows and sustains life, even everlasting life.” But because of their lack of faith, they could not accept Jesus’ teaching.
Notice that Jesus did not try to tone down His message to accommodate the skeptics. He knew the problem was not in the message but in their hearts. Their unbelief was inexcusable, but it was to be expected. Jesus recognized from the very onset of His ministry that many would lack understanding and turn away in unbelief. Only those whom God had chosen, and He had not chosen all men, would believe the hard sayings of Jesus. The same can be expected today. Many will turn away from the teachings of Scripture because they find them too difficult. We should never try to change the message to persuade such people to accept the Gospel, but we should accept the fact that not everyone will believe. At such times, we must be faithful to proclaim truth and trust in God’s sovereignty regarding the fruit of our ministry.
Do you ever find yourself trying to tone down parts of God’s Word when you face skeptics? Do you ever start making excuses for what the Bible teaches? Remain committed to the truth. Trust that God will bring His chosen ones to Himself, that they will believe the truth without you watering down the message.