Lord, to Whom Shall We Go?

How incredible it must have been to have witnessed
the miracles of Jesus. To see the dead raised, lepers
cleansed, and storms subdued must have produced
unshakable faith within those who experienced it first hand.
Or, at least it should have. Miracles were not an “end” in and
of themselves but were rather a “means to an end.” Their
purpose was not to “wow” the crowds into following Jesus,
but to prove the veracity of His claims and point them to
His Word (Mark 16:20). Sadly, many who saw His wonders
were willing to follow Him until they were challenged by
and stumbled at His words.

The events of John 6 illustrate this phenomenon perfectly.
Jesus fed the multitude with 5 loaves and 2 fish, and the
effect was so powerful that the crowd intended to force Him
into kingship (John 6:15). The next day, He preached to
them and challenged them, and many turned away. It was
on this occasion that Peter expressed the truth which the
multitude rejected-the words of Jesus are what really matter
(John 6:68). Filling the people’s stomachs was remarkable
but bread cannot give eternal life. Only the “words of eternal
life” can accomplish that.

Thus, there should be within us a desire to seek and find
the words of life. When the crowd discovered that Jesus had
departed, they made their way to Capernaum to seek Him
(John 6:25). Their desire to find Jesus was commendable
but their reason was not (John 6:26). The people were not
interested in what Jesus had to say, they were interested
in what He had to give. They wanted to be fed physically,
not spiritually. Thus Jesus admonished, “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to
everlasting life…” (John 6:27). “Labor” involves great effort,
and thus the exhortation is to put forth a great deal of effort
to obtain the spiritual nourishment our Lord provides.

This desire should be exclusive. The keynote of the context
is John 6:35–“…I am the bread of life. He who comes to
Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall
never thirst.” The emphasis of the imagery is that Jesus, and Jesus alone, has the ability to fulfill man’s greatest need–life.
Moses may have provided manna in the wilderness but that
was physical and temporary. What Jesus provides is spiritual
and eternal and thus He deserves our exclusive attention.

Peter’s question “Lord, to whom shall we go?” implies that
there is nowhere else to go to be fed, to be led, and to be
given life.

Our desire must also be enduring. Ultimately the
crowds could not abide the teaching of Jesus. His teaching
was “hard” (John 6:60) which literally means “harsh” or
“offensive.” He challenged their thinking, rebuked their
misplaced priorities, and corrected their false concept of the
Messiah. So they were offended and “went back and walked
with Him no more.” How easy it is to embrace the words of
Jesus when we find them easily agreeable and encouraging
but how shall we react when they challenge and correct us?

So, what will we do with the life giving words of Jesus? We
should give ourselves entirely to learning and living them.
But will we? Will we be like the multitudes who were happy
to hear Him as long as He coalesced with our opinions and
desires? Or will we be like Peter who recognized that there
is nothing in this world more important than “the words of
eternal life?”

-Cody Westbrook