Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to Him by My Father

Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?" When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to Him by My Father."

From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?" But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?" He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.

- John 6:60-71

All this week, we have been reading from John's Gospel, Chapter 6. Jesus has been speaking in the synagogue in Capernaum (in His home territory of Galilee) about the Bread of Life. He has identified Himself as the bread which came down from heaven in yesterday's reading -- He said, "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven - not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever."

Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?" These disciples are referring to Jesus' teachings in the previous two readings about His Body and Blood. What is truly extraordinary about Jesus is His willingness to speak the truth that He needs to, and allow others to make their choices to accept or not. He has often repeated that whatever He is given to say by the Father, this is what He says -- united in will, He is doing what He must. All those who come to Him are given by the Father. But even among His own disciples, many fall away because of this "hard saying."

When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe." My study bible points out that Jesus, as Son and "heart-knower," is aware of the thoughts of men. But, as always, He does not depart from His teachings but rather goes further and deeper. He exhorts them to understand that the words are spiritual in nature, and that the power of His teaching -- and indeed, of life itself -- rests in the spiritual reality He unites in Himself for us in His worldly life. That spiritual connection and its power also reside in us, and they are the source of our faith. He is here to make that connection stronger, to build it up, to build relationship in all ways with us and in us.

For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to Him by My Father." And we return again to the theme of the Father at work in us, and within this relationship that we have with Christ. The Father takes us to Him, and He will keep with Him all the Father gives to Him. It is His job to lose none of us.

From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?" But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?" He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve. So, even Jesus will lose those who cannot follow His spiritual teachings, for whom the "sayings" have become too hard -- especially the teaching on His Body and Blood. But, we are told, He knows the hearts of all, He knows whom they are inside. But among the Twelve, there is faith, and here in all its power is Simon Peter's confession. The words, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" are extraordinary to me. Where else shall we go? Which other words have the power that is in these Gospels? The great mystery perhaps is how this faith works in us, through trust and relationship and love. Jesus has repeatedly said that it is the Father in us -- and in Peter -- who has revealed this faith. Let us live, then, in his confession as well. And yet, immediately, there are the words of the bitter with the sweet and profound. Jesus knows there will be betrayal even among His chosen Twelve. We will not escape the reality of this world and its brokenness. This story is about our world, and the Lord who comes to give us life, and He will not shirk from exposing all of its reality to us, so that we may walk through it with Him.

I find it heartbreaking to understand the levels of betrayal that will befall Christ -- even at this moment of Peter's confession, in which we are reminded what will come, and that Jesus knows what will befall Him. There is so little faith, it seems, to be found. His sayings are hard, and the Books in which we read of His life do not shrink from revealing what can be hard for all of us, for each of us. The Books of the Church do not shrink from giving us a picture of our world in all of its reality, and the struggle we may all face with faith, as we read of Christ's struggle to teach and to fulfill His mission in which He has come to save what was lost, and to keep all with Him, to lose none of us whom the Father would gather to Him. But this story doesn't shrink from presenting our world as it is, mixing the bad with the good, and this is perhaps one of the very most important things about this Book in which we know the story of Jesus and of our faith. We walk in a world that is difficult; Jesus Himself will teach that the way is narrow. But He has come to show us that way. In a world filled with the pitfalls of confusion, mistrust, lies and greed, of manipulation and tricky sophistries needing discernment, even wolves in sheep's clothing as He has warned us, we walk in faith, just as He did. We turn to the knower of hearts to find our way, and to the Books that help us to understand Him, and ourselves, in relationship - and we pray. When we go through our own struggles with the world, we must not forget that He did the same for us first.