John 6:52-59

John 6:52-59 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  It's easy to assume it used to be easier.  When I look at teenagers today, struggling with the weight of social media and the ease with which cyber bullies can haunt someone, I think about how much easier it was without any of that.  It wasn't easy then, of course, but it's easy to gloss over hardships that occurred in the past. 
  It's also tempting to think that following Jesus was easier for the disciples.  They saw all the miracles and heard him teach and watched him pray -- it must have been a no-brainer, right?
  It sure doesn't seem like it.  Jesus was challenging for anyone to follow.  When he taught, he made people think, and he challenged their long-held beliefs, and it was a risk.  Imagine hearing someone tell you that you needed to eat his flesh and drink his blood -- you'd raise an eye at such teaching.  I certainly would.  Would I walk away?  It's easy now to say I'd follow no matter what, but in the moment -- this is a hard teaching.
  The point is that Jesus makes us think.  To follow Jesus is to be engaged spiritually and mentally.  It's to grow, to ask big questions.  Jesus assures us that he will never leave us and that he is the gate to eternal life, and so his every word is worth weighing as the treasure that it is.  He did a new thing, and let us not take it for granted, but treasure him as the Savior and consider him as a wise teacher and bow before him as the King.  The journey to freedom is worth it, but it's not easy, not today or ever.  But the end -- the end is worth everything!