60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”
66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
70 Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” 71 (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)
Read John 6:60-71 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
In what may have been one of the most heartbreaking events during Jesus’ ministry, after being challenged by Jesus, we read that many of His followers left Him. It seemed that while Jesus drew a crowd, if that crowd became too large, He would challenge them with something very difficult, and many would give up and walk away.
However, in this passage, while the crowd of followers are gathering their things to leave, Jesus says a very profound statement: “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.” (v. 63)
Whether the crowd of followers didn’t grasp this, or they were too offended by Jesus’ metaphor-challenge about eating His flesh and drinking His blood, we read that “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” (v. 66)
But not all of Jesus followers left.
Perhaps seeing confusion in the eyes of the twelve disciples, Jesus turns and asks them, “You do not want to leave too, do you?” (v. 67)
In one of his few moments of inspiration, Peter breaks the silence hanging in the air following Jesus’ question by answering, “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.” (v. 68-69)
Whether Peter fully grasped the words he was saying, or whether Peter was simply echoing Jesus’ statement about His words being full of Spirit and life, it seemed that these closest disciples saw something in Jesus worth following.
In a way they might not understand until later, they believed Jesus’ statement in verse 63 that “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing.” It is the intangible aspects of life, like our focus and our character that matter the most. Focusing on the tangible parts of life, such as on our clothes, our bodies, our hairstyle, and what we eat each day will only leave us chasing after things that don’t really matter in the long term. What does it matter what we wore two or three years ago on this day, or what we made for supper? These topics consume too much thought in our present lives when Jesus wants us instead to focus on more important matters, like our focus on God, our relationship with Him, and on the character we are developing through our habits.
Peter gets this key idea: Peter knows that the more time he spends with Jesus, the more like Jesus he will become and the stronger their relationship will be. The more time we spend with Jesus, the more like Jesus we can be as well – and the more life we will be given through the Holy Spirit and the truth Jesus spoke.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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