What miraculous sign will you give us that we may see it and believe you? You have got to be kidding, right? Jesus has just fed 5000 people with 5 small loaves and 2 small fish. He has crossed the sea without a boat (vs. 22). Now they ask for a miracle so they can believe. Oh, but wait a minute. Before I get to hard on them, how many times have I done exactly the same thing? How many times have I witnessed God do something miraculous and weeks, days, hours, maybe even just minutes later seek another one to confirm something about God.
What follows the request to show a miracle greater than manna from heaven that is credited to Moses is the first of the seven “I AM” discourses. In this first one Jesus makes sure to say that God provided the manna not Moses, and now God is providing the true bread, the Bread of Life, in the form of Jesus. Remember Jesus’ words to Satan , “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4). Remember also Jesus’ words to the disciples when talking to the woman at the well, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about…My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work” (John 32, 34). Now these same folks that screamed for a miracle are unwilling to accept that Jesus has come down from Heaven.
What follows is a passage that led early Christians too be called cannibals. But we know that Jesus is teaching about the communion that followers will celebrate to remember His death and resurrection. I do have another picture for you today that shows the Synagogue mentioned in verse 58.
When the disciples called this a hard teaching do you suppose they were saying it was hard to understand, or hard to accept?
It is interesting though that Jesus never asks people to accept the teaching strictly by itself; He always challenges people to test it. “Test it by the teaching of Moses.” “Test it by the teaching of the prophets.” “For this is the teaching of God the Father and I have come to do His will.”
How often have we chosen to shoot the messenger when a teaching is hard to accept, especially when the truth stings a bit?
