by Rev. Canon David B. Tabo-oy
v60Many of his followers heard this and said, “This teaching is too hard. Who can listen to it?”
v61Without being told, Jesus knew that they were grumbling about this, so he said to them, “Does this make you want to give up? v62Suppose, then, that you should see the Son of Man go back up to the place where he was before? v63What gives life is God’s Spirit; human power is of no use at all. The words I have spoken to you bring God’s life-giving Spirit. v64Yet some of you do not believe.” (Jesus knew from the very beginning who were the ones that would not believe and which one would betray him.) v65And he added, “This is the very reason I told you that no people can come to me unless the Father makes it possible for them to do so.”
v66Because of this, many of Jesus’ followers turned back and would not go with him any more. v67So he asked the twelve disciples, “And you—would you also like to leave?”
v68Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. v69And now we believe and know that you are the Holy One who has come from God.” (John 6:60-69)
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Jesus’ message was not always welcome. It inspired some and alienated others. Jesus asks his disciples if they also wish to go away (v.67). This is the first mention of the twelve disciples in this gospel. When Simon Peter answered for them all, he made it clear that there was no one else to whom they could go for the words of eternal life.Hearing Jesus’ claim that “my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him, (vv.55-56)” They said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”. They could not believe such a claim and started to drift away. It is a moment of crisis, but there was no way they could avoid making a choice of being for or against Jesus. Christ demands their steadfast faith. Peter spoke for everyone, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. And now we believe and know that you are the Holy One who has come from God.”
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This moment of crisis still happens today. In this present generation, we are faced with the decision to make about following our Lord – do we stay or go away? This is the radical option that faces all who call themselves Christians. Whether they will follow Jesus without conditions or not, nobody is coerced because God give us the freedom to choose. In our baptismal vows we promised to “proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ; to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves…” (BPC, p305). Who do we want to serve? It is not a matter of accepting that certain beliefs and practices are true, but it involves a personal commitment at the level of the heart and of the mind to live by the values of Christ. According to one preacher, “the personal option to belong to Jesus regardless of where life may lead us is at the center of our faith; and is an ongoing struggle.”
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It is so easy for us to compromise and pick and choose from Christ’s teachings that suit ourselves. I call this as Cafeteria or Buffet Christianity. God does not always correspond to our idea of him or to what we would like him to be. Christ invites us to surrender and entrust ourselves to him and follow him on the way to the Father. This means learning to rely on God rather than ourselves when the road ahead is uncertain and the light is dim.
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Sales pitches in the multi-media platforms for enticing products assault us daily. Not to mention the ‘too good-to-be-true’ offers to double your money scams. Publishers’ sweepstakes, lotter games, television specials, political causes, religious gurus all call for our time, money, and devotion. They promise to give us what we need and desire. When all is said and done, however, we are left with Peter’s question, “Lord, to whom would we go?” Jesus is the answer to our every need. He alone can deliver us from all our earthly distractions and compulsions towards a better life. He also deserves our total commitment.
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“I had never known such a man as he and never shall again,” said journalist William Allen White after meeting President Theodore Roosevelt in 1897 for the first time. “He overcame me. And in the hour or two we spent that day at lunch, he poured into my heart such vision, such ideals, such hopes, such a new attitude towards life and patriotism and the meaning of things, as I had never dreamed men had. After that, I was his man.”
If a mere mortal can have such an effect on another, how much more our Lord? If we will spend time with him in prayer and in Scripture, we too will find our hearts filled with vision, with hopes, with a new attitude toward life and the meaning of things, and afterward we too will say with thankfulness, “I am his.” (1001 Illustrations that Connect).
Peter said, “You have the words that give eternal life. And now we believe and know that you are the Holy One who has come from God.” Peter understood and saw through the wonderful words and works of the Lord. May we struggle to be the same and by His grace through prayers and in the Scripture will not be distracted and follow our Lord unconditionally.
Let us pray.
Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered
together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your
power among all peoples, to the glory of your Name; through
Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the
Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 16 Collect, BCP).***
