Have you ever noticed how sometimes the most profound spiritual truths are the very ones that cause people to stumble? When Jesus spoke about eating His flesh and drinking His blood, He certainly shocked His audience. But what’s truly fascinating is how He then pivots to something seemingly less controversial – His ascension, suggesting this would be even more offensive to His hearers. It’s as if Jesus is saying, “If you think this teaching is difficult, wait until you see what comes next!”
This apparent paradox reveals something profound about human nature and our relationship with divine truth. We often think we want signs and wonders, but when faced with the full reality of who Jesus is, we discover our hearts may be more resistant than we realized.
Biblical Insight
To understand this puzzling statement, we need to look at John 6, where Jesus feeds the 5,000, walks on water, and then delivers His challenging “bread of life” discourse. After the crowd seeks Him out following the miraculous feeding, Jesus says in John 6:53-56,
“Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For My flesh is real food and My blood is real drink. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in them.”
This teaching immediately causes many of His disciples to grumble.
Then comes the statement about His ascension in John 6:61-62:
“Aware that His disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, ‘Does this offend you? Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where He was before!’”
The Greek word for “offend” here is “skandalizei,” which means to cause to stumble or to put an obstacle in one’s way that causes them to fall. Jesus is essentially saying, “If My words about eating My flesh cause you to stumble, how much more will you stumble when you see Me ascend to Heaven!” This creates an apparent paradox because earlier in John 6:30, the crowds had asked for a sign from Heaven to prove His authority.
The deeper meaning becomes clear when we understand that Jesus is exposing their true spiritual condition. The crowd claimed they wanted a heavenly sign like the manna Moses provided (John 6:31), but Jesus knew that even if they received such a sign, like witnessing His ascension, they would still reject Him because their unbelief wasn’t due to lack of evidence but to spiritual resistance. As He explains in John 6:63-64,
“The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe.”
Jesus knew from the beginning who would not believe, regardless of the signs they witnessed.
Practical Wisdom
This passage speaks powerfully to our own spiritual journey today. How often do we say, “If only God would show me a clear sign, then I would believe more fully”? Yet Jesus teaches us that true faith isn’t built on spectacular signs but on receiving His words and person by faith. The irony is striking – the very people who had just witnessed the multiplication of loaves were asking for another sign, demonstrating that miraculous experiences don’t necessarily produce genuine faith.
When we struggle with difficult biblical teachings, we should examine whether our resistance stems from intellectual difficulty or from the implications those teachings have for our lives. Jesus’ words about eating His flesh and drinking His blood demanded total commitment and dependence on Him – a spiritual feeding and abiding that many found too costly. Similarly, His ascension would affirm His divine nature and authority, demanding full submission to His lordship. Both teachings require surrender, which is often the real stumbling block.
The Holy Spirit empowers us to receive even the most challenging teachings of Jesus. As John 16:13 promises, “When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth.” When we find ourselves resistant to biblical truth, the appropriate response is humble repentance, asking the Spirit to soften our hearts and help us receive God’s Word. Through such repentance, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from the sin of unbelief, enabling us to walk in greater spiritual understanding and freedom.
Clearing up misunderstandings
Many readers misunderstand Jesus’ statement about His ascension by assuming it would be naturally less offensive than His words about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. However, the ascension wasn’t merely a spectacular miracle – it was the final confirmation of Jesus’ divine identity and His return to the Father. This declaration of divinity was far more challenging to Jewish monotheism than misunderstood metaphors about consuming His body. The ascension would prove conclusively that Jesus wasn’t merely a prophet or teacher, but God incarnate – the very claim for which the religious leaders sought to kill Him (John 5:18).
Another common misconception is thinking that Jesus’ words about eating His flesh were primarily about the future institution of communion. While there are certainly connections, Jesus was speaking more fundamentally about complete spiritual dependency on Him – a total life union where we draw our very existence from Him. This spiritual feeding happens through faith, as Jesus clarifies in John 6:35: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty.” The key issue was not empty ritualistic consumption, but spiritual communion through faith.
Some also misunderstand Jesus’ approach as merely trying to drive away casual followers. While Jesus never compromised truth to maintain popularity, His primary goal was not to offend but to reveal. He was exposing the true condition of human hearts and showing that without spiritual transformation by the Holy Spirit, even eyewitnesses to miracles would ultimately reject Him. As John 6:44 states, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws them.”
Conclusion
Jesus’ challenging words about His ascension being even more offensive than His teaching about eating His flesh reveal the profound truth that our biggest spiritual obstacle is not intellectual understanding but surrender to His lordship. When we grasp this principle, we stop demanding signs and wonders and instead humble ourselves before His Word, allowing the Holy Spirit to illuminate truth in our hearts.
The beautiful promise embedded in this challenging passage is that those who truly belong to Jesus – those whom the Father has given Him – will overcome these stumbling blocks through the work of the Spirit. As Jesus affirmed in John 6:37, “All those the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never drive away.” May we be among those who, like Peter, respond to Jesus’ challenging words by saying, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of everlasting life” (John 6:68).
Did you know?
The Greek word translated as “offend” in John 6:61 is “skandalizō,” from which we get our English word “scandalize.” In ancient Greek, this term originally referred to the trigger of a trap or snare that would cause an animal to stumble and be caught.
By Jesus’ time, it had developed the metaphorical meaning of a spiritual stumbling block or obstacle to faith. This adds rich depth to Jesus’ warning – He wasn’t merely saying His ascension would upset or disturb His disciples, but that it would function as a spiritual trap that would catch and expose the true state of their hearts.
