John 6:60

His disciples. That these were not primarily the Twelve, but others from the large crowds that had been following Jesus, appears clear from vs. 66, 67. Ever since their disappointment at the Feeding of the Five Thousand, when Jesus had refused to let them make Him king, these people had been growing continually more critical of Him. They had followed Him to Capernaum in the hope of continuing to receive miraculously provided food, but when He rebuked them for this and declared that instead they must look for spiritual nourishment and partake of Him, their criticism grew into outright rejection.

Hear it. The Greek verb here employed, akouo, may mean either “to listen to” or “to obey” (much in the same sense as the Heb. shema‘; see on Matt. 7:24). Also autou may be translated either “it,” referring to the statement Jesus had just made, or “him,” pointing back to Jesus Himself. Thus the disgruntled disciples’ question may be understood either as, “Who can listen to it [or, to Him]?” or “Who can obey it [or, Him]?” Refusing to realize the spiritual truth of Jesus’ words, and insisting on only their literal meaning, they protested the utter impossibility of eating His flesh or drinking His blood. To their unwilling minds Jesus’ words were indeed “an hard saying.”