Bill Loader, an excellent biblical scholar from Australia writes:"The claim of the fourth gospel is that Israel’s religious heritage is not to be abandoned but to be owned as metaphor which bears witness to the truth."
Which is to say that what was so hard for Jews following Jesus was that at some point he becomes something akin to a new Torah, new Bible, new Law. Not another Torah, but an updated version. He has 'the words of eternal life.'
The Gospel of John is usually hard for me. It seems gnostic sometimes--full of specialized secret knowledge you have to be initiated into to understand (or appreciate!). It's helpful to think of this section of John's gospel in Bill Loader's terms--something we have truly to own as metaphor that bears witness to the truth.
it's still challenging--even to understand. And as we understand, we still have to deal with the realization that Jesus doesn't make it easy. Like in Chapter 3--with Nicodemus--we are called to be born again! And what does that mean for each of us? What crucial life-passage does that bear witness to? And can we stand the persistent discomfort and disorientation that comes to everybody who decides to stay with Jesus to find out?
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