A Hard Road

Scripture: John 6.56-69; 1 Kings 8.27-30, 41-43


A man once moved from his hometown to another city. Outside the city the traveler encountered a old man sitting by the side of the road. The traveler asked the old man,
“Do you live here?”

“I do,” said the old man.

“I am thinking of moving here. What is this town like?” the traveler asked.

“What was it like in the town from which you came?” the old man asked.

“Oh, it was great. The town was busy and exciting. The people were friendly and loving, do anything for you. I hated to leave.”

“That’s how you will find this town as well,” the old man said. And the traveler eagerly journeyed on into the city.


Not long after that, a second traveler came along that same road and saw that same old man sitting by the side of the road. The traveler asked, “Father, do you live in this town?
“I do,” the old man said.

“I am thinking of moving here. What is this town like?” the traveler asked.

“What was it like in the town from which you came?” the old man asked.

“It was a vile place. Too much noise and traffic. Nothing good to do. The people there were stupid and dull. I couldn’t get out fast enough,” the traveler replied bitterly.

“That’s how you will find this town as well,” the old man said. And the second traveler trudged on, but took another road away from the town.









What we expect to find can determine what we see and how we see it. What were those crowds of people expecting to hear and see whenever Jesus stopped to preach? Were they expecting to see miracles, the lame walk and the blind see? Or were they expecting a free meal like they had heard Jesus could provide? You can see this progression in the Gospel as you follow Jesus’ ministry. He starts out very small – he calls a few fishermen, who tell a few friends; a tax collector who tells his friends, and so on and so on. His teaching is good. His reputation begins to precede him. Word is, he’s worth making a special trip into the country to go see him. There are reports of miracles and the reputation grows bigger. And so do the crowds. It gets to the point where Jesus and the Twelve can’t get any sleep, the people follow them everywhere.

Until today.

It’s like any other day for the disciples. They are by the sea of Capernaum and a huge crowd has followed them there. So Jesus begins to preach. He talks about bread – but a different kind of bread. You eat this bread and you’ll never be hungry again! It sounds good. It’s going well. The people are saying, “Lord, we want this bread!”

And then the metaphor changes. “Eat my flesh. Drink my blood.” If you do you will live with me forever. If you don’t you will die. People in the crowd begin to mutter. “Did he just say what I think he said?”

Even the disciples are scratching their heads. This sermon is no longer going well. They’re not getting what he’s saying. Like a bad rock band, it’s almost unlistenable. People are starting to leave.

This is not what everyone came out to hear. This is not what they expected. They wanted to be spiritual. They wanted to feel good, like he had made them feel good before. They wanted good teaching. They wanted the next step in the program. The program was, in their minds, “How to be a good person and get your ticket punched for heaven.”

Stephen Spielberg’s “Munich” is based on the story of the 1972 Olympics and the kidnapping and murder of Israeli Olympic team members by Palestinian terrorists known as “Black September.” The movie tells the story of the retaliation by the Israeli government through a clandestine group whose job it is to hunt down eleven key Palestinian leaders responsible for Munich. What’s striking about the story is how relatively inexperienced are the Israeli assassins. They are chosen for their anonymity rather than their prowess. But they manage to do the job, mostly. One by one, they track down and kill the Palestinians on their list. But such deeds come at a great personal cost to each of these novice assassins.

There is a scene in which one member of the group has had enough. He can’t take the killing any longer. He sees no end to it and won’t be a part of it any longer.

He tells the group leader:

“All this blood comes back to us. We are Jews. Jews don’t do wrong because our enemies do wrong. I don’t know that we were ever decent. Suffering thousands of years of hatred doesn’t make you decent. But we’re supposed to be righteous. That’s a beautiful thing. That’s Jewish. That’s what I know. That’s what I was taught. Now we’re losing it. We lose that – that’s everything. That’s my soul.”


Do you understand how important it was and is for Jews to follow the rules, to obey the law, to be righteous. We sometimes look down on that as a bad thing. It really is a beautiful thing in its intention. We should be so decent. But it ultimately fails in its effect.

Jesus is teaching the Jews, “Your righteousness (what he means by your flesh) just cannot help you. My spirit, my life (taking part of his flesh) is the only thing that will give you life.”

Jesus is asking for something far more than we are used to giving – total abandonment to his control and leading. “Eat my flesh. Drink my blood.”

The crowds began to turn away, en masse, from following after Jesus. It was too hard. It was too much for him to ask. But at least they were honest. They didn’t pretend they were still followers just going away on vacation or taking a smoke break. They said they were going to stop following him and they did.

It’s a hard road, the road a disciple must take. But really, there is no other road to follow Christ. There is no “Easy Pass.” And that’s what most of us have been trying to take in our Christianity, an easy pass. We are looking for the minimal requirement, the most convenient time and situation.

Dallas Willard asks the question, why is it that we look upon salvation as a moment that we began our religious life instead of the daily life we receive from God?

God has yet to bless anyone except where they actually are, and if we faithlessly discard situation after situation, moment after moment, as not being ‘right’, we will simply have no place to receive his kingdom into our life. For those situations and moments are our life.”

There is no ideal time or context to follow Jesus. . .except, maybe, here and now. There is no other kind of Christian than the “disciple” kind. And a disciple follows the moment the Master calls.

What hard teachings and practices have you been ignoring in your life? What will you do with Jesus’ word to live his life?