DIVIDED LOYALTIES
“35 Yeshua told them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never become hungry, and whoever believes in me will never become thirsty.
58 This is the bread that came from heaven. It is not like the bread your ancestors ate. They eventually died. Those who eat this bread will live forever.”
59 Yeshua said this while he was teaching in a synagogue in Capernaum. 60 When many of Yeshua’s disciples heard him, they said, “What he says is hard to accept. Who wants to listen to him anymore?” (John 6:35; 58-60)
Numerous followers of Yeshua who had been mesmerised by the miracles and signs and wonders He performed now arrived at a crossroads, faced with a crisis of faith, because of His Divine claims. And they murmured among themselves, “What he says is hard to accept. Who wants to listen to him anymore?” The point was that Yeshua’s narrative didn’t fit into their messianic paradigm. He claimed to be the Bread of Life who could free them but not in the way they anticipated. Every word and action was authenticated by signs, wonders and miracles unprecedented since the dawn of time that held implications far beyond the physical realm. But, embracing them was too much for many who had surrounded Him until this point. “What He says is too hard to accept.” Before this, everything had been fine but now to accept His Divine claims would be raising the stakes to a point of rejection for the majority. God provided manna from Heaven for the Israelites in the wilderness until they reached the Promised Land. Now, Yeshua, the Bread of Life, declared that He was the permanent solution, the spiritual sustenance for anyone who recognised their need for divine salvation.
At this point, many of the crowds surrounding Yeshua as spectators, applauding the miracles, and enthusiastically anticipating the overthrow of Roman tyrannical rule, became adversarial: “ How are we supposed to understand all of this? It is a hard teaching.” They chased the spectacle but ignored the substance, the gift rather than the Giver, and this would lead inevitably to disillusionment and shipwreck. The same has been true throughout church history, even to this day.
So Yeshua asked the twelve apostles, 67 “Do you want to leave me too?” 68 Simon Peter answered Yeshua, “Lord, to what person could we go? Your words give eternal life. 69 Besides, we believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6)
We are living in perilous times where the urgency of the hour is critical. Let’s not be swayed by the clamour of voices that seek to crowd out and divert our attention away from the One who is the Way the Truth and the Life. He alone is our sustenance and strong tower, our hope and salvation, the Bread of Life!
Raphael ben Levi
www.mekudeshet.co.za
