60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"
Hard sayings are all over the Bible. They come in different ways. Some are hard because they are hard to understand, and others are hard because we don’t want to obey what Scripture tells us to do. In this case, the disciples had a hard time understanding, not that they didn’t want to obey. But is that really the case?
I must reiterate that those who could not understand this at this time were not the ones that the Father had given to Jesus. They believed themselves to be disciples but that didn’t mean they were chosen. Or maybe it wasn’t at this time that they were to come to Jesus. As we will see shortly, Peter didn’t seem to be troubled by Jesus words regarding his flesh and blood.
When we come across these “hard sayings” in the Bible, we have a few options. The first is to try to understand them. That means we must study Scripture to see what light is shed on the topic. If we still have problems, we can consult others by way of commentaries or good Bible-based teaching. We may have to put it aside to study later. The thing we don’t want to do is simply ignore it.
If it is a matter of obedience that makes it a hard saying, then we must examine our hearts to understand why we are unwilling to do what Scripture is telling us.
61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you?”
If we are offended by Scripture, then it is most likely that we are simply disobedient and don’t like what has been said. We may have some very worldly ideas that offend us. Many who are offended by Jesus are offended because he says he is the only way to the Father (John 14:6). That runs contrary to the world’s view of religion. They believe there are many ways. Others may be offended because Jesus took a hard stance on divorce (Matt 5:31-32) and these want an easy way out of marital commitment. Anytime we feel offended by Scripture, we should be wary of our feelings. We should examine ourselves to determine why and what idols we have in our hearts that are causing us to be offended.
62 “What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?”
It is possible that Jesus is asking these grumblers what it will take for them to believe him. He is the bread that came down from heaven, so will his ascension back to heaven convince them? Probably not. It is only those who believed Jesus came from heaven who will be privileged to see him ascend. Even they went through doubts after his resurrection. One thing is for sure, if we doubt that Jesus ascended and is at God’s right hand, then we have some serious misunderstanding about who Jesus is. He is alive and because he is alive, he helps us through our doubts.
63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”
So far Jesus has said that life is in the Father and has life in himself. He has said the Son gives life and has life within himself (John 5:21, 26). Now Jesus says that the Spirit gives life. If you did not believe in the Trinity, you would be very confused. Only by understanding the Trinity can you make sense of what Jesus has been teaching. God (three in one) is the one who has eternal life, and he gives this to us when we believe in Jesus. We can’t believe until the Holy Spirit removes the veil of unbelief (2 Cor 4:3).
The flesh profits nothing because we can’t believe by doing good works. We can’t do anything to earn eternal life. This is repeated throughout Scripture. Jesus slips it in here in the midst of speaking about eating flesh to let us know that physical works will not save.
We can only understand God’s revelation to us by studying and hearing God’s word. Jesus finished the revelation of God to us (Heb 1:1-2). The Holy Spirit works through his words to bring us into life. We can’t believe in something about which we have no understanding. This is why it is so important for us to share the good news with others. We aren’t saving anyone by what we say, but the Spirit is using the words of Jesus (the whole Bible – Jesus is the Word), which we speak to them.
64 “But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. 65 And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”
It keeps coming back to this. Some of his disciples did not believe. They must have believed something about Jesus or they would not have started following him. I suspect that they believed Jesus to be the one to save them from Roman rule. They believed he would be king. But when it came to eternal life, they still didn’t see that they needed to repent of their sins and believe Jesus would be the only one to save them.
Jesus knew it from the beginning. He knew who was destined for salvation because the Father had given them to him. There are many today who are in the same sinking boat. They believe a lot about Jesus, but God has not yet granted it to them to come to Jesus. Some never will and others may be granted the glorious privilege of coming to Jesus earlier or later in their lives.
66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. 67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"
If you should ever think about leaving Jesus, this is an important passage. You must think about why you would leave. These disciples were not true disciples. A disciple is a mathetes the Greek word for a learner or a pupil.[1]These had not learned from Jesus but became offended by his teaching. Jesus asks the same question of you, should you think about leaving him. “Do you want to go away?” Do you know where you would go? Who could teach you better? Who could show you the way to eternal life? Who is life and gives life? Where would you eventually arrive if you went away? Eternal death is where they will go.
68 But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Peter has asked the quintessential question. If we don’t go to Jesus, where will we find the words of eternal life? Of course, if you don’t believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the long awaited second Person of the Trinity, you will be left without an answer. You might as well go follow Buddha, Mohamad, Zoroaster, or any of the thirty-three Hindu demigods (Koti).[2] If you do, then you will end up worshiping creatures instead of the Creator. That end will not be the same as the eternal life that Jesus has promised over and over in these first chapters of John.
70 Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?" 71 He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.
Now this is really harsh. Jesus chose all twelve disciples. He didn’t do it on a lark but spent the night in prayer before selecting them from among the other disciples (Luke 6:12-13). Yet he knowingly selected one who would betray him. Why would he make himself vulnerable to this one he calls a devil?
The obvious answer is that he knew Scripture. He knew that one would betray him. He knew that he must suffer and die at the hands of the Romans. Going along with God’s decree, he chose Judas, the complete opposite of Nathanael “in whom was no deceit” (John 1:47). Judas was a thief and had no compassion for the poor (John 12:6).
In selecting Judas as one of the Twelve, Jesus showed us a very important truth. Many are given the opportunity to become disciples of Jesus. Yet only those that are given to Jesus by the Father are the ones who will be saved.
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