So Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day, because my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. John 6:53-55 CSB
These words mark a critical juncture in Jesus’ brief earthly ministry. His acts of healing and radical teaching had generated many disciples who turned away from their former lives to follow him. He called that repentance — a U-turn from sinful pursuits to walking in his way with his heart. But when he upped the challenge of following him to this crazy level of eating his flesh and drinking his blood, two different responses manifested from his disciples.
…when many of his disciples heard this, they said, “This teaching is hard. Who can accept it?”
Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, asked them, “Does this offend you?
From that moment many of his disciples turned back and no longer accompanied him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, “You don’t want to go away too, do you?”
Simon Peter answered, “Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” John 6:60-61, 66-69 CSB
During Jesus’ earthly ministry, what we now call “the Church” was composed of a wide swath of disciples. The worldwide Church still includes disciples who, like Peter, meet the challenges of continuing dedication and others who make a double U-turn back to their old life.
Another problem persists within the worldwide Church – “fake” disciples who don’t abandon the Church but seem like real disciples. Jesus anticipated this situation.
He presented them with another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a person who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, an enemy came and sowed darnel among the wheat and went away. When the plants sprouted and produced grain, then the darnel also appeared. So the slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the darnel come from?’ He said, ‘An enemy has done this!’ So the slaves replied, ‘Do you want us to go and gather it?’ But he said, ‘No, since in gathering the darnel you may uproot the wheat along with it. Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First collect the darnel and tie it in bundles to be burned, but then gather the wheat into my barn.”’” Matthew 13:24-30 NET
Those issues bother me. But even more troubling are the heresies and outrageous sinful behaviors that continue to be unmasked on a regular basis. When those incidents explode, extra energy is required from remaining leaders to avoid throwing congregations into chaos. Early examples of this conundrum are outlined in chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation where members of corrupted churches had no option to flee to a more pristine group of believers.
In my 54 years of following Jesus I’ve experienced and heard about more than enough of these messy situations. Sometimes I long to escape with a few cherished, trustworthy, like-minded followers of Jesus into a guaranteed, safe cocoon of warm, loving fellowship. But, doesn’t this solution have the earmarks of a double U-turn? The reality of community/unity that Jesus showed us is demanding. Peter’s response is unsurpassed — “Lord, to whom will we go?”
Look at the words of Jesus in John 6. Do you want to leave too? I hope your answer is like Peter’s. No double U-turns.
by Kathleen Petersen
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