Tuesday June 27th, 2023
« Jesus said to His disciples “Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. »
25 They found him on the other side of the lake and asked, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
26 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs.
27 But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of His approval.”
28 They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?”
29 Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one He has sent.”
30 They answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do?
31 After all, our ancestors ate manna while they journeyed through the wilderness! The Scriptures say, ‘Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.”
32 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven.
33 The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 “Sir,” they said, “give us that bread every day.”
35 Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
36 But you haven’t believed in me even though you have seen me.
37 However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them.
38 For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.
39 And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those He has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day.
40 For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in Him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.”
41 Then the people began to murmur in disagreement because he had said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”
42 They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph? We know his father and mother. How can he say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”
43 But Jesus replied, “Stop complaining about what I said.
44 For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up.
45 As it is written in the Scriptures, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.
46 (Not that anyone has ever seen the Father; only I, who was sent from God, have seen him.)
47 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes has eternal life.
48 Yes, I am the bread of life!
49 Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died.
50 Anyone who eats the bread from heaven, however, will never die.
51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.”
52 Then the people began arguing with each other about what he meant. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they asked.
53 So Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you.
54 But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day.
55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
56 Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.
57 I live because of the living Father who sent me; in the same way, anyone who feeds on me will live because of me.
58 I am the true bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will not die as your ancestors did (even though they ate the manna) but will live forever.”
59 He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
60 Many of his disciples said, “This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?”
61 Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining, so he said to them, “Does this offend you?
62 Then what will you think if you see the Son of Man ascend to heaven again?
63 The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
64 But some of you do not believe me.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning which ones didn’t believe, and he knew who would betray him.)
65 Then he said, “That is why I said that people can’t come to me unless the Father gives them to me.”
66 At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him.
67 Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?”
68 Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life.
69 We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God”
According to the worldly way of thinking, one needs to belong to the mainstream majority in order to make appreciable impact.
Against this background, when one considers the humble birth of Jesus Christ and the “strange” doctrines He taught, one is left wondering how He was able to accomplish all He did while here on earth, and He is still making impact even while in heaven (Mark 1:27, Luke 5:26).
How come He was successful, even though His peculiar teachings caused many of His disciples to desert Him (John 6:66)?
What gave Him strength and resilience even when His closest allies ran away in His darkest hour (Matthew 26:56)?
The answer to all this lies in what the Holy Spirit says in Acts 10:38 GWT:
« You know that God anointed Jesus from Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Jesus went everywhere and did good things, such as healing everyone who was under the devil’s power. Jesus did these things because God was with him. »
In essence, Jesus was in the divine majority, even when it seemed He was alone.
He spoke the words of today’s memory verse to His disciples, from which we understand that walking in agreement with the Father was all that mattered to Him.
No wonder He felt so much pain when the Father looked away from Him as He embodied sin on the cross (Mark 15:34, Habakkuk 1:13, 2 Corinthians 5:21).
It is therefore amazing that some Christians cannot take any stand that is contrary to popular opinion, even when it relates to the Father’s will.
Some pastors moderate their sermons when they observe that their congregation numbers are dropping. Some even dabble into things that chase the presence of the Father far away from them in order to pull crowds to themselves.
Such pastors are foolish and do not know the ways of God.
When the crowd murmured at Jesus’ teachings, instead of backing down, He delved deeper, so much so that many of them ran away.
In spite of that, He turned to those who were left and asked if they also wanted to leave!
The secret behind the successful ministry of Jesus Christ was that God the Father was with Him throughout.
What a great lesson this is to us! The truth is that Jesus Himself never left God the Father; they were in communion at all times.
He would not do anything without the Father’s approval.
Before He preached, He would have taken counsel from God the Father and the Holy Spirit – this was the spiritual majority that mattered to Him.
Beloved, are you in the world’s majority or God’s majority?
Are you yearning to become part of the world’s majority due to the ridicule you suffer for being godly?
Please choose to stay in the spiritual majority.
Jesus Christ was alone with His Father and it was more than enough for Him to do the unprecedented.
It is more than enough for you too.
Application: Those who stand with God against the world will stand out with Him in glory.
Author: Bishop Enoch. A. Adeboye.
Edited by Naomie
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