There is so much powerful teaching in the 6th chapter of John. So many rich promises and lofty theology. But it's always the closing lines of the chapter that linger in my soul.
In John's story, Jesus has been hard at work over the preceding days. He has fed thousands, calmed a storm, and declared Himself the bread of life. In just a few lines He went from being adored to the point where the crowd sought to force Him to be king, to being rejected by many of His own followers for saying things too difficult for them to accept.
The crowd wanted the power and glory that He could offer, but eat His flesh and drink His blood? That was too much to understand. Too much to tolerate. And so first it is the crowd that turns away, disgusted and confused. Then some of Jesus' own followers. It is at this point, as people turn their backs to walk away, that He turns to some of His closest friends and asks "Do you want to go away as well?” And He asks with the full knowledge, as John notes, that one of the 12 would betray Him.
Jesus' sacrifice involved so much physical pain that it's difficult to imagine being able to endure it. But what really shakes me is the emotional pain that He must've endured while He was walking this Earth. It wasn't just in His final moments, once He was arrested. No, Jesus was denied and mocked and rejected, cast aside, misunderstood and ostracized over and over again throughout His ministry.
Betrayed not just by His enemies, which would be bad enough, but by His closest friends. And the knowledge that He endured these things so that He could save those very people, those who knew not what they were doing, reveals a character that is so beautiful, who could not want to follow Him?
And we must also grapple with the knowledge that too often, we are like the crowd. We want the power and glory of God, the life and peace and joy, but we struggle with the difficult teachings. We don't want the humility and the self-sacrifice. At times we turn our backs, rejecting what He offers, rejecting what He has done and continues to do.
And Jesus looks to us as He did to Peter, asking, "Do you want to go away as well?” Knowing that we, like Peter, will not be as faithful to Him as He is to us. Knowing that we will fail, walk away, turn our backs, He boldly proclaims to us: Do not worry. I am the light of the world. I am the living water. I did not come to condemn you, but to save you. I knew you before the foundations of the world and I chose you (Eph. 1:4). In me you have the right to be children of God (Jn 1:12b).
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