In John 6 verses 60-66, we encounter a sad fact and a breathtaking reality.
First, the sad fact is that some people will make the choice to turn away from following Jesus.
The passage opens by disclosing that many of those who’d been following Him since the loaves and fishes miracle and heard Him describe Himself as the Bread from Heaven that provides eternal life, complained that they just couldn’t understand His message. They said it was too hard to grasp.
He responded by saying that if they couldn’t comprehend this prerequisite truth, they would certainly not be able to move on to the rest of what could be revealed to them. He also clarified the problem as a paradigm issue not a communication failure. It was neither that they weren’t intelligent enough nor that He wasn’t clear. It was that they were refusing to let go of their faithless frame of reference.
A paradigm is a framework of understanding. It’s the lens through which we see things. And when He said, “The flesh profits nothing,” He meant that insisting their humanistic, natural-world, unbelieving framework could handle spiritual understanding was folly. He was introducing them to a whole new paradigm. He wasn’t just trying to get a point across, His words were literally spirit and life.
He went on to say their comprehension problem was not the difficulty of the concepts, it was their lack of faith. Belief is the fist step into the paradigm of the spirit, and it cannot be skipped. As long as a person resists believing in Christ, there’s only so much they can receive from Him. And sadly, many in this crowd had reached the end of the line. And so, they walked away.
But not all of them. And that’s where we discover the breathtaking reality described in the heart of verse 65.
Here we see a completely different outcome for those of us who DO choose to believe. Instead of turning away, we find ourselves coming TO Jesus. And we’re told the Heavenly Father is the One who grants this amazing access.
This is stunning on so many levels. It means that when we’re hurting, we can come to Jesus. When we’re weak, we can come to Jesus. And it also means when we’re confused, unclear, or uncertain about anything, we can come to Jesus.
So even though we might encounter spiritual truths that initially challenge our comprehension, our faith has ushered us into the paradigm of the Spirit and given us direct access to the One who can and will open those truths to us.
I challenge you, Dear One. Don’t be among those who turn away in unbelief. Daily choose to faithfully, fearlessly, and continuously follow Jesus by faith and experience the ecstasy of access.