So Jesus said to them, “I assure you: unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. Anyone who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day because My flesh is real food and My blood is real drink.” When many of his disciples heard this, they said, “This teaching is hard! Who can accept it?” From that moment many of his disciples turned back and no longer accompanied Him. John 6:53-55, 60, 66
My words…
Praise
When I examine Your teaching style, Jesus, I see You as a rational professor, dedicated to moving Your students toward understanding how to know the Father and how to get to Him. Not every lesson was taught on a mountainside as Your words caressed the ears of Your listeners like a soft, cool breeze. Some of Your lessons were hard like bricks. Addition and subtraction leads to calculus. Love your neighbor leads to love your enemy. You want Your students to know that there is only one way to the Father, to life eternal, and that is through You, which means taking You into my life. You become my sustenance. A difficult lesson to grasp – a lifetime to put into practice. But, oh, so worth it.
Prayer for others
I regard Your followers, in the first century and now, as students of Your wisdom and knowledge. Some are devoted to soaking in what You share, waiting at the door of the Professor’s office to speak to You after class. Others make it to the midterm and drop out when lessons get tough. They were moving along in a trajectory to the Father, but one difficult lesson acts as an external force that either diverts the students off course or ends the forward progress altogether. It is for these former students that I write this prayer. I know so many. I don’t know what it would take to turn their hearts back to You – but You do. There is no way to make the hard lessons easy. But I pray they will know that working through the challenges brings a reward of peace and hope that extends way beyond this earthly classroom.
More Praise
My path to the Father looks more like a plate of spaghetti than a straight line. I have been drawn off course more times than I care to think. But You are always there when I come back around. I don’t completely understand the hard lessons. Do any of us students? But I will one day when I meet the Professor face to face.
