Do you also want to go away?

 

 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 

 

Yesterday we read that, as Jesus spoke of Himself as the bread of heaven, the religious leaders in the synagogue quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  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."  These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

 

  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.  My study Bible comments that even His disciples took Christ's teaching on His Body and Blood as a hard saying, and so many walked with Him no more.  It comments that still to this day, many reject Christ's words concerning the sacramental eating of His Body and drinking of His Blood, and so do not walk in this teaching.  It says that because of the difficulty of grasping the depth of this Mystery, many seek to define its nature rationally, or to explain His words by casting them as metaphor.  But either extreme is risky; to reject the sacramental nature of it is to reject the witness of the Scriptures and the unanimous teaching of the Church throughout history.  

 

 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.  Here is the power of confession, at a time when others fall away.  In John's Gospel, Peter's confession comes in response to Jesus' question, "Do you also want to go away?"  He asks a question in return, "Lord, to whom shall we go?" and expresses the remarkable finding of faith:  "You have the words of eternal life."  Note that Peter speaks for all of the apostles here, and in His confession, "Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  My study Bible comments that to name Jesus as the one and only Son of the living God distinguishes Christianity from being seen as merely another philosophical system or path of spirituality.  It adds that this position excludes all compromise with other religious systems.  Peter's understanding cannot be achieved by human reason, but only by divine revelation through faith (1 Corinthians 12:3).  Christ means "Anointed One," equivalent to the Hebrew title "Messiah."

 

Let us note the unusual turning of the hearts of people given to us in today's text.   As Jesus reveals that "the words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life," there are many who fall away, because they cannot accept the "hard saying."    We are told that many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.   Jesus has His own pronouncement on this:  "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."   So we are to notice this spiritual connection between the Father, the words of Christ, and faith.  There are those who cannot "walk" with Him any longer past this point.  But then Jesus turns to the twelve:  "Do you also want to go away?"  And Peter responds with his confession, and evidence not of turning away, but the opposite; that is, a deepening of faith, a deeper grasp of the reality of Christ.  In an echo of Jesus' own teaching that His words are spirit and they are life, Peter says, "You have the words of eternal life."  And this in turn leads to his confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.  As we noted above, Peter's statements here are made on behalf of all the twelve, as he speaks in the plural "we."  Of course, the text also notes that Jesus is aware one of them will betray Him, as are the hearers of the Gospel.  So couched in today's reading, and in the context of the whole of chapter 6, are important indicators of the movement of faith in the hearts of people.  Some move away.  Some have never believed, but have instead demanded a sign in order to be convinced.  These are the ones who wanted to make Him king after they were fed in the wilderness, but He taught them, "Do not labor for the food which perishes...."  Some have simply complained against Him and criticized Him (the religious leaders in the synagogue),  Now in today's reading, there are many disciples who no longer "walk" with Him, because they simply cannot hear His words, they cannot grasp His teaching on His Body and Blood.  Jesus speaks of those given Him by the Father, clearly indicating that those who cannot continue this journey of faith any further (or perhaps we could also say 'any deeper') are not included among them.  So, our faith doesn't come simply because others believe, nor is it based solely on signs, nor some form of intellectual acceptance.  But there is a powerful key in His teaching that His words "are spirit and they are life," that Peter says He has the "words of eternal life," and that He is the "Son of the living God."  For spirit and life are intertwined here, necessary for faith and the deepening of that faith, the continuing journey the disciples are on.  They are intertwined also with the "living God" who is the One who gives all to Christ who are truly is -- and those who cannot go further in faith are not among them.  For we have this working of spiritual reality among us, and the action of Father, Son, and Spirit cannot be excluded from this understanding and connection.  For faith and community go hand in hand, and there is the power of spirit and life to be grasped in faith.  We know that the disciples who continued Him did not understand all that He taught, but faith in Christ is more than intellectual understanding.  It is trust in Him, and the compehension that despite mystery, His words are "spirit and life."  For most of the world's denominations, today is the feast day of the Annunciation, the time when Mary was told by the angel that she would give birth to a Son.  If we look carefully at Luke 1:26-38, we can see some similar elements there that we pick up in today's reading.  There is the spiritual action of the angel Gabriel, sent by God to Mary with an announcement, special words that also convey spirit and life, teaching her that she is blessed among women, and that "the Lord is with you."  Mary doubts, asking, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?"  But the angel replies, again bringing in the power of the Holy Spirit working among human beings, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God."  Gabriel also teaches about the child coming to her elderly cousin Elizabeth, and adds, "For with God nothing will be impossible."  Mary responds with faith, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word."  She responds to the words of spirit and life, and her faith will sustain her through all the rest that is to come, even the pain of losing her Son in such a way as will come.  In John's Gospel, we have yet another reference to Christ's words of spirit and life, and what an impact they make, when the temple officers, sent to arrest Jesus, are unable to do so.  When they are subsequently questioned about this, they simply reply, "No man ever spoke like this Man!"  (John 7:45-47).  Even they were able to hear and grasp what most of the leaders could not, responding to the "spirit and life" in Christ's words.  Let us consider today the Annunciation and Mary's faith, and that deepening journey of faith that is asked of us when we are invited by God to know the Christ.  For this is indeed a continuing walk, a path that threads throughout our lives and their difficulties and joys.  It will try our faith, our trust, and we will come to new roadblocks that seem to defy all logic and meaning, asking us to grasp yet more deeply the spirit and life in His word and teaching, and find what they mean to us.  For this is the journey we see in the Gospels, and it is also ours.  In Greek, the Annunciation is called "Evangelismos/Ευαγγελισμος" -- the same word that means gospel, literally "good news."  Let us take heed how we hear, and grasp hold of the spirit and life in His words as we go forward in this journey and walk with Him and all the rest who've come thus far.