From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
John 6:66-69, New International Version

While discussing this analogy of the Bread of Life, Jesus tells the people that they must eat His flesh and drink His blood. Tying the concept of eating bread to eating Him was a real put-off to them. Instead of trying to appease the people and make an explanation of His cannibalistic statements, He tells them, "the one who feeds on me will live because of me (vs. 57).

The disciples, missing the point, said this is a hard thing to accept to which Jesus reminds them that He is speaking about spiritual life, not the natural life. In essence He was saying that you must be "all in" to be a disciple. To this, it states that "many of the disciples turned back, and no longer followed Him."

As He is finishing, Jesus checks in with the twelve disciples, and gives them a chance to opt-out. "You do not want to leave too, do you?" They may have been thinking about their options when Peter says, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."

I have contemplated this verse many times in the various seasons of my faith. When I not getting what I want from Jesus, I start to look for "another savior" or to myself (the worst kind of savior). And then I come to my senses. "To whom shall I go?"

When we are challenged, pressed, confused, or depressed about life, the whole point of the story about the Bread of Life is to take in more of Him. Don't run away. Don't go on a hunger strike. Instead, go closer to Him. Eat...Drink...Press in. Let's echo Peter. "To whom shall we go?" Only Jesus.

Love, Pastor Stuart