John 6:60-69 (NIV)

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.”

Reflection:

We live in a world where there are so many options — from food, fashion, career, and ways in which we can live our lives … we are bombarded with endless possibilities and choices. When Jesus’ teaching was hard to accept or agree with, many disciples stopped following Jesus because they believed that they had other options. But when confronted by Jesus, Peter responds on behalf of the Twelve and declares the true reality — “to whom shall we go?” There is no other way, no other option … they were not going to leave because they had come to believe in who Jesus is, the One who has the words of eternal life.

Responding to the Transmission:

Many of us most likely have had similar experiences as the disciples when we were taught something about Christian life that was hard to believe and accept — because accepting means that we have to live differently and be different. In those situations, the questions to answer first are, is Jesus God? And did God really say that? Let’s pray that, by the work of the Holy Spirit living in us, we would not reject Jesus’ teaching, hence reject Jesus, however difficult the teaching. Let’s pray for faith like the disciples who chose to stay with Him and learned from Him what it means to live life with Christ as our Lord. As we respond with faith, He will keep us and sustain us.