To whom shall we go?
by Marlene Cooper
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Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life’ (John 6:68).
What makes a teaching hard? Can’t understand it? Too deep? Outside my experience? Don’t trust the teacher? Some or all of the above could definitely prevent my fruitful learning.
Jesus’ teaching in the synagogue drew the attention of a crowd of would-be disciples, but in the end, many couldn’t accept the lesson. It was just too hard. They left him, shaking their heads, grumbling, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ (verse 52). Jesus’ claim to be the ‘living bread come down from heaven to give life to the world’ (verse 51) was difficult, but when he told them that for eternal life, they must eat his flesh and drink his blood, that was too much!
Even his own disciples were taken aback. Yes, our ancestors ate the manna in the desert, and yes, they died. But now, you tell us you are the living bread from heaven, and we must eat you to live forever? You say that’s the real food, the real drink? Without it, we have no life in us? Try as they might, they couldn’t fathom it.
Jesus knew their hearts. ‘My words are life-giving, of the Spirit’, he told them. ‘It’s not by intellectual effort that the truth is revealed to you’. Watching those leaving, he turned to the disciples. ‘Will you be going away as well?’ With faith overcoming uncertainty, Peter declared, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life!’
By staying and trusting, especially when our Lord’s teaching seems unclear and even hard, we allow the Spirit of Life to reveal the truth of Jesus to us. We take the Lord’s Supper together, feeding on his body and blood in the bread and wine, receiving all the blessings he has won for us. In his living presence, we are nourished by the real food and drink we need. We find him to be indeed the Bread of Life, broken for this hungry and thirsty world in which we live. Staying, listening, following and trusting, we too can have the assurance that Jesus alone has the words of eternal life.
Stay with us, Lord Jesus, Living Bread. You have the words and the power to make us truly alive as we feed on you, nourished for service in your kingdom, Amen.
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