people leaving Jesus isn't new

I wonder what it would have been like to be part of the crowds that heard Jesus teach. The scriptures tell us that he was amazing, that he taught with authority, and that he taught in ways that the common people could understand. People loved to hear him, and they followed him from town to town.

But when he talked about being the Bread of Life, right on the heels of feeding somewhere between 5 and 15 thousand (they only counted the men) with a few fish and 5 loaves of bread--the contents of a boy's lunchbag--things started to get a little shaky. Read the story here.

He goes from "whoever comes to me will never be hungry...whoever believes in me will never be thirsty" right into "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."

I can hear the high school girls now: Ewww. Gross.

I don't think Jesus got asked to do many women's retreats, either.

Part of me wonders if he sounded, well, just a little crazy. Those words aren't smooth talk from the grinning preacher; they're not easy to hear, to understand, to digest, if you'll pardon the pun. People started complaining about his teaching, and many of the disciples walked away from their relationship with this new teacher.

Eat my flesh and drink my blood...take Jesus, the things that made him alive, put them inside me...

Jesus moves from "believe in me" to "take me--flesh and blood--feed on me, and you'll have eternal life."

That's what I want--to feed on Jesus. Everything else will leave me hungry...