You do not want to leave too, do you? Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go?” John 6:67-68
At this point in Jesus’ ministry, many stopped following him because his teaching was “too hard.” Even though the crowd had been miraculously fed by the loaves and fishes, it wasn’t enough to convince them that Jesus was worth following. Miracles are often short-lived and quickly forgotten. Even the disciples in the three days following Jesus’ death seem to forget all the miracles they saw. Yet at this point the disciples, with Peter as spokesman says, “Lord to whom shall we go?”
I often wonder what tone of voice Peter used. Was he despondent and resigned? Or was he upbeat and hopeful? Or maybe just thoughtful? However the question tells us that Peter knew despite all the difficulties of following Jesus, despite all the hard teaching, Jesus was worth following. Jesus had “the words of eternal life.” The long term gain was worth the short term difficulties. We too need to learn to hold onto the long term view. Mostly God doesn’t do his work instantly because those results are passing. Many times Jesus talked about the kingdom in terms of seeds or yeast, things that take time to grow unnoticed in dark places. Yet the end result is abundance.
Peter went on to say, “We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” It didn’t matter that the disciples didn’t always understand what Jesus was saying or doing because they understood who he was. We too can rest in the knowledge of who Jesus is. He has everything in hand even when we don’t understand. He is the Messiah, our Saviour, our Lord.
