As a result of this many of His disciples went away and were not walking with Him anymore. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. And we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.” Jesus answered them, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?” Now He was speaking of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him.
John 6:66-71
Introduction
After rebuking the crowd for seeking Him for worldly pleasures, many of them desert Him. They have proven His point: their interest does not lie in the beneficent gift of eternal life from God. Instead, they only cared for the immediate gain He might provide them. After all, what is eternity when hunger is on the line? And so they left. Some remained; among those were the twelve.
And here Jesus presents a question that is very natural, “Do you also want to go?” This is a question we should carefully consider, since apostasy was not isolated to John chapter 6. If you have not witnessed apostasy yet, you certainly will. Just because someone seemingly accepts Jesus in a moment does not mean they have the kind of faith which endures. Much like the crowd who were fed miraculously, there are those who join into the fellowship of believers in this day and age who do so thinking wrongly about Jesus. Perhaps they believe He will bring them prosperity or healing. Maybe they believe He will miraculously fix their marriage or pull them out of debt. He may do those things. But that is not the point of following Him.
Following after Christ requires sacrifice. Matthew 16:24 teaches us that we must deny our very selves and pick up a cross in order to follow Him. The salvation which comes from God does not involve satisfying our fleshly desires and passions, but satisfying our souls. It is the fulfillment of our purpose and the reason we bear the image of God (Genesis 1:26).
Where else can we go?
As the crowd departed, leaving Jesus behind for refusing to be the earthly king they desired, He also asked the twelve if they would leave as well. But Peter, answering for the group, responds by asking Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.” Peter is looking past his own nose and feeling beyond his stomach. As the teaching Jesus had just given described, he had been taught by the Father and learned that the only meaning life in this world has is in preparing us for the life to come.
Solomon described a life lived for the self in the book of Ecclesiastes. The word that rings throughout the text is “vanity,” or “emptiness.” A life lived to indulge the flesh is meaningless and void. The one who has accumulated immeasurable wealth and spent it entirely on himself meets the exact same end as the one who lived and died with nothing to his name. Because they both end in death. Everyone’s life concludes with this most horrible event where our spirits are rent from our bodies. And after that we are judged (Hebrews 9:27). Death is the destiny of us all.
But Jesus presented another option: life eternal. No king, ruler, wise man, or wealthy person can offer the unique gift Jesus offers. Each of them is subject to death, no matter how hard they press against it. No amount of copying our memories to a computer will continue our lives. No freezing of heads or some other fantastical science fiction solution will cause man to live forever. Jesus and Jesus alone has the words of eternal life, because Jesus alone lived a life of perfect righteousness, earning life.
The devil among us
Knowing the path is straight and narrow to eternal life, Jesus heaps on yet another layer of difficulty to the already hard teaching. Not only does the Father give to Him all those whom He has chosen for life, some apparently come to Him and yet do not receive life. In this case it is Judas, the betrayer.
The Christian life is one of many seeming paradoxes. The path to life is through the death of the righteous one (2 Corinthians 5:21). If you wish to become great, you must become a servant (Matthew 20:26). Life is given to those chosen by the Father, but you must respond willingly. And faith is the assurance of eternal life, but only the outpouring of works prove such a faith (James 2:18). This is all because the wisdom of the world is foolishness to God, and the wisdom of God is foolishness to the world. We have difficulty understanding the ways of God until we begin to draw closer to Him.
Do not become content in the bare minimum. Allowing your life to look like the world while claiming Jesus is a sure path to being claimed by the world. Just because you felt a calling into the body does not mean you are a true member of the body. Pray always for greater faith. Pray always for God’s refinement. It is not always easy, and it often comes with significant hardship and difficulty. But at the end of that race is eternal life.
May the Lord bless you and conform you into the image of His Son.
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