Considering all that Jesus did, and considering his personal charisma, does it strike you as strange that there was a point when many of his disciples turned away and didn’t follow him any longer? What did Jesus do or say that led to the point where John says, From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

Having a religious leader lose some disciples is not a big deal. But we’re talking about Jesus—a man who healed the sick and the lame—a man of great love and appeal. But for some reason, on this occasion, a large group of his followers abandoned him. It was not anything he did. It had to be something he said. The incident comes late in the sixth chapter of John’s gospel.

He was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum—not far from his old home. And something he said caused his disciples to say, This is a hard saying; who can hear it? What on earth could have offended them?