The shiny new toy from Christmas has lost its luster only weeks after it was so desperately wanted. Sometimes even within the hours of opening the gift, the wow-factor wears off and the once longed for toy becomes just another item to be tucked away in a toybox, destined for the garage sale one day down the road.
Jesus was much like that shiny new toy. He arrived on the Jewish scene, doing unbelievable miracles, speaking remarkable words, and if one was fortunate, even getting to eat miraculous bread and fish with more than 5000 other people fascinated by Jesus. Yet the novelty began to fade when His words became unpalatable. The shiny had worn off as His teachings created confusion in some and anger in others.
He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
Jesus was not caught by surprise when those who were chasing after Him began to back away. He knew He would be rejected and despised when He came to save the world. Rejection is defined as:
- a : to refuse to accept, consider, submit to, take for some purpose, or use
- b : to refuse to hear, receive, or admit
- C : to refuse as lover or spouse
The religious leaders were out to reject Jesus from the onset of His ministry. Their power was threatened and their popularity diminished in the light of Jesus’ presence. Jesus used the feeding of the 5000 as part of a deeper object lesson that few desired to understand.
He told them that He is the Bread of Life and that only in Him would true life and ultimate satisfaction be found. He stated that in Him alone could one come to the Father. He stated that eternal life is only found in His flesh and blood. He used the what was familiar to the religious leader and people, the great stories of Moses and manna, to explain that this was a picture of the true Bread of Life who had come from heaven. All this was unacceptable to the religious leaders and Jesus addressed their complaints.
The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”
The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?”
Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”
These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. John 6:41-59
Jesus knew He would be rejected, yet He still spoke the life-giving good news to those who would nail Him to the Roman cross. His love transcends our rejection and hate. The words that Jesus spoke were difficult to grasp and the religious leaders rejected the truth all together. Jesus did not let the rejection of others silence Him. His love for the world is what kept Him speaking the Truth. He did not come to the world to condemn it, but rather He came so that the world would be saved through Him. Man’s rejection of this Truth does not alter its veracity.
There will always be difficult Truths to learn as we draw closer to Christ, but in His Words there is life and through the Holy Spirit there is understanding. If you are going through a time that doesn’t seem to line up with the Truth found in the statement, “For God so loved the world that He gave”, hold onto this Truth. Don’t let life’s harsh circumstances draw you away from the One who died to save you and gives you eternal life. It is only in Jesus that we will find peace and sustenance through the darkest of trials. The wow-factor of Jesus is always present, even if our understanding of what He is saying and doing is difficult to grasp. Don’t reject Him because you don’t get Him right now, but press into Him and have faith that He is an ever-present help in our times of need.