Where else would you go?
John 6:66-69
[66] After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. [67] So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” [68] Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, [69] and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
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If I said something about eating flesh and drinking blood, you’d think I was going to talk about Halloween today wouldn’t you? Or maybe the latest scary movie? It’s not exactly the best church growth strategy is it?
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John 6:41-71
[41] So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” [42] They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” [43] Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. [44] No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. [45] It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—[46] not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. [47] Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. [48] I am the bread of life. [49] Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. [50] This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. [51] I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
[52] The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” [53] So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. [54] Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. [55] For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. [56] Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. [57] As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. [58] This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” [59] Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.
[60] When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” [61] But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? [62] Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? [63] It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. [64] But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) [65] And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
[66] After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. [67] So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” [68] Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, [69] and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” [70] Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” [71] He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
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First off Jesus isn’t’ being creepy here or weird. In the passage about eating and drinking he’s referring to Him giving His life for us. They were being dense and missing the point. We don’t need to do that either. This is a metaphor for His life and our belief in Him.
Don’t get scared when I say metaphor. We believe in the word of God here and that it is all trustworthy, but we need to observe when there is a metaphor or a parable that doesn’t mean untrue…. (if you wonder about the meaning of a passage, read the verses around it for context and if you have one look at the notes in a good study bible)
So….what in the world is Jesus saying here?
Hint: the same thing He’s been saying all along. “Believe”
Now He’s telling us that Christianity is different and sometimes difficult. Interestingly enough our resident outspoken disciple bluntly answers Jesus after many leave after hard teaching and Jesus says “Do you want to go away as well?”
Peter says “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
Basically Peter says….there’s nowhere else to go. How’s his inflection or tone? I don’t know. Maybe he’s being righteous and proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah? Or Maybe he’s saying….”even if I like it or not, this is the only place to go?” Regardless, he is right. There is no other place. It’s only Jesus.
Luke 8:4-15
The Parable of the Sower
[4] And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, [5] “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. [6] And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. [7] And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. [8] And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
[9] And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, [10] he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ [11] Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. [12] The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. [13] And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. [14] And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. [15] As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.
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Bottom line. The Bible has hard teachings. Jesus calls us to do things outside of our comfort zone. Way out of our comfort zone. As I studied more I saw a note referencing Peter’s response here and want to point it out to you. It helped me clarify what he was saying and instead of him going….”there’s nothing else, you’re all we can go with”. In reality it says 68] Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, [69] and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
Believe and know
The last few weeks have seemed mostly evangelistic. That the messages are for the unsaved to see that Jesus is Savior and if you aren’t saved, you need to be….and that’s true…..but I really want to lean in on believers today.
Do you understand what this means? If in fact Jesus is Lord (the Holy One of God) then everything he says is true and everything he asks of you …you should do.
What does that look like in your life? Are you called to be a preacher or evangelist? Maybe?
Move your family to Africa and be a missionary? Maybe
I’m not slighting any of those and maybe indeed Jesus is calling you to that. I mentioned many maybes because I don’t know your situation or God’s call on your life for that…However I can point you to many scriptures to tell you that I KNOW and BELIEVE that he is calling you to
Be a good moral person
To love your neighbor
To be a good husband
To be a good wife
To be a good single person
To be a good grandparent
To be a good uncle or aunt
To be a good friend
To witness to people (in word or deed or both)
To read your bible
To get rid of your sin
To stay married
To be faithful
To be forgiving
To step outside of your “old ways”
To stop abusing drugs
To get help
To not be prideful
To tell the truth
To work hard
To stop blaming everyone else for your problems
To not be mean to your kids or wife or husband
But Jesus this is hard teaching…and many turned back.
