This weekend, we come to a major turning point in Jesus’ ministry. From a human perspective, we see him go from popularity to unpopularity—from “success” and growth in followers to diminishing “success.” At the opening of John 6, we see Jesus’ acclaim soar as he engages in miraculous healings (6:1–4), feeds 5,000 people with five barley loaves and two small fish (6:5–15), and walks on water in the midst of a storm (6:16–24). But, by the end of the chapter, most of the crowd of “disciples” are grumbling about Jesus (6:60–65) and then abandoning him (6:66). As we know, this anti-Jesus momentum grew until he was betrayed by one of his closest followers and hanged on a cross.

If we were reading the story for the very first time, we would be forced to ask, “What happened between John 6:24 and 6:60 that turned people against Jesus?” To summarize the development, people turned against him for three reasons:

*The spirituality of his message (6:26–27) – Jesus offered eternal life when they wanted material rewards.

*The supernaturalism and exclusiveness of his claims (6:33–42) – Jesus claimed to be the only one who could make God known to them.

*The call to surrender completely to one who would die (6:51–60) – Jesus used the gruesome metaphor of eating his flesh and drinking his blood, i.e., of bringing him fully into the whole of life, and people found this to be hard and off-putting.

The result is that “from that time many of his ‘disciples’ turned back and no longer followed him” (6:66). This turning point leads to a brief but significant conversation Jesus has with Peter. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asks.

This conversation is one directed to people like us, to those who claim to be Jesus’ followers. What might make us want to leave Jesus in the 21^st century? It was hard to follow Jesus in the 1st century. I am convinced that it will not be easier for us in our society. But, my prayer is that each of us will say what Peter said:

To His glory,

Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor