The Harsh Professor
John 6:60-71
Sometimes, you can know all the answers but still fail the course.
Photo by Max Shilov on Unsplash
When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?" But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, "Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But among you there are some who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. And he said, "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father." Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve? Yet one of you is a devil." He was speaking of Judas son of Simon Iscariot, for he, though one of the twelve, was going to betray him. - John 6:60-71
To listen to Jesus the way John recalls the stories, one would probably be turned off.
Not all of you will be able to come to Jesus. Only those granted it by the Father can come.
Doesn't that sound exclusive to you?
This is the beef I have with John, and it is probably because I had a professor in college who was similar in his approach to teaching us.
On the first day of class, he said most of you will drop out of this class, and only a few of you will get into medical school. This course, he said, is designed to weed out all who cannot do the work.
He said that to scare us, and it worked.
But I have to admit, he was a bit sneaky in his approach. He designed the tests so that no one could finish them in the time limit, even if you knew all the answers.
The trick was something I didn't learn until after I got the graded test back. If you answered the questions in order, you couldn't finish, and most of the questions with higher point values were hidden throughout the exam.
In other words, the people who scored well searched through the entire test paper for the questions with the greatest value and did them first.
When Jesus told the disciples that no one can come to him except those granted it by the Father, they assumed they were excluded.
Was that a way to push away those who came for healing and bread?
We don't like to think of Jesus setting up conditions for salvation, and yet that is what this sounds like.
But the challenge here is ours. Do we feel worthy or not?
For those of us who are accustomed to following directions, being told we will fail triggers a negative response. We believe we are not worthy, or that we will fail to qualify.
By playing the role of the harsh professor, Jesus is challenging us to say, "I am worthy."
Yes, it can be difficult to choose to follow Jesus, but it can be difficult to choose not to as well.
Peter had the right answer for Jesus. "Where will we go?"
There is no other life than a life with God as our center. We have the Spirit in us. We have Jesus to remind us who we are and how to be strong while appearing weak.
I think Jesus was testing them. If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen. Yes, it sounds harsh, but we have to have some skin in the game.
We don't have to earn salvation. We have it. But we do have to show the world whose we are. How else will we invite others to join us?
More to come...