Grumbling and Stumbling

Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, "This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?" But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, "Does this cause you to stumble?" (John 6:60-61)

As I look back over this chapter to see the overall picture that Jesus was attempting to share with those willing to listen, I start to see more clearly the contrast between belief and grumbling. Repeatedly Jesus invited those listening to Him to simply believe in Him and the Father He came to reveal to the world. But each time He presented some truth about God, the only response He got was more resistance which displayed itself in grumbling, finding fault with His statements and even refusing to allow Him to clarify His own meanings. Instead of genuinely seeking to know what He was trying to share with them, these people kept turning to each other to discuss His words; and since they could not find the answers their discussions became grumbling sessions.

I find it curious that in verse 52 it says the Jews were arguing with each other over Jesus' words. My understanding of argument is when people have sharp differences of opinion and are trying to convince each other to switch to their view. But in this case it seems more likely that these people were really arguing mostly against what Jesus was saying, but because they refused to come to Him directly with their contentions for whatever reasons, they kept to themselves with their comments about what He had said. Thus, they were only reinforcing their faulty ideas by tossing them around among themselves without allowing Jesus any opportunity to present His explanations or to defend Himself. In essence, they were arguing with Him without allowing Him to be in on the conversation.

I have been immersing myself in the book of John for quite some time now for the primary purpose of coming to know personally what real belief is. This book talks more about believing than any other place in the Bible. And as I have meditated on the many ways Jesus talks about saving belief even in just these first six chapters, it has been very enlightening for me and is helping me to enter into that belief myself. In this passage it is also becoming clear that where there is a lot of arguing and grumbling going on, then there is also a great deal of unbelief and resistance to what God is trying to convey.

In the verses quoted above even more of the results of choosing unbelief is revealed. These Jews found Jesus' words to be very difficult to swallow. Why was that? Because they had refused to have an open mind all along with each thing He had tried to tell them about God. It had largely started the day before when Jesus had foiled their attempts to make Him their earthly hero to conquer their enemies. Then when He had refused at the beginning of this discussion to go along with their desires to exploit His miraculous powers and give them free bread for life, they had fallen deeper into a condition of offense.

When we refuse to embrace the message of Jesus and insist on using our own filters to interpret everything, then we will always find it impossible to properly appreciate the mysterious things that Jesus says to us and will eventually find them offensive. Trying to figure out symbols and statements of God by using our own logic and frame of reference will make it impossible for us to make much real sense out of them. We will always feel that God is very difficult to understand because our flawed beliefs about what God is like and how He feels about us that distorts everything we hear from Him. And when we feel that God is being deliberately difficult and trying to confuse us with the way He communicates, then we will find His words to us to be a stumbling block instead of an invitation to life.

According to the words of Jesus here, when we are grumbling it is very likely that we are also stumbling. The two just go together. And offense is all wrapped up within this mindset. When we take offense at something God says instead of seeking Him to clarify it for us with an open mind and heart, we will be caught in Satan's trap of offense and will then sink into a deeper state of deception which always occurs in Satan's traps. Offense leads to self-deception and eventually turns into anger. As these people refused to allow Jesus to have credibility with them they came to resent His words and ideas and in anger they turned away from associating with Him.

As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. (v. 66)

It takes active watchfulness about the condition of our heart and spirit to guard against this subtle infestation of unbelief. It is all too easy to slip into spiritual arrogance and think that we are on the right track with God while in fact we are resisting the appeals of God to change our direction. These were not heathen who were rejecting Jesus and turning away from Him in this passage, They were pious Jews who believed they had the whole truth and were the favored children of God. If we think we are not in the same danger ourselves then we are already well deceived.

For many years I have struggled to comprehend the meaning of these blunt and even scandalizing words of Jesus about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. I have heard discourses trying to explain them, but still something inside me recoils at such language. I suspect that Jesus may have used such intense words for the purpose of trying to shock some into breaking out of their normal line of logic. It was so shocking that even His most trusting disciples found themselves shuddering in disgust and bewilderment at such talk. It was such a moment of divisiveness that Jesus finally turned to His own small group as others were walking away and asked if they were that offended too.

Am I easily offended when Jesus says things that seem incomprehensible to me? Am I unwilling to come directly to Him to ask for clarification but instead turn to some supposed expert on religion to explain what Jesus means? Am I even willing to allow Jesus to say things to me that are hard to grasp or do I want everything to be simple and straightforward and plain?

One of the most striking lessons I see in this chapter is God's fierce protection of our freedom to turn away from Him without resorting to force or intimidation to keep us. The kind of belief that Jesus is looking for has no shadow of coercion or fear involved. All His life Jesus invited people to come to Him and believe in Him but at the same time He refused to chase after anyone who refused to do so. He only looked at them in sadness as they walked away without once trying to manipulate or convince them to stay. He believed so strongly in our freedom to leave or stay with Him that He is the only safe example to examine in our own ways of dealing with people.