To Whom Shall We Go

Rough was how they described it. Like sandpaper, grating on the surface of ones soul. Who can listen to it?

Bewildering and perplexing. How can these things be? Even the wise old teacher of Israel could not understand when Jesus talked of spiritual things.

Have you read the words lately? We did, this morning in our Bible study. I challenged the women to read it as a non-believer, as one hearing the words for the first time.

In John Chapter 6 Jesus tells those who have come looking for more bread for their stomachs that they must shift their gaze to the one who IS the bread of life. “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died.” That is always the way with earthly satisfaction, even of our most basic needs. Ultimately the things of this world cannot sustain us. They may provide momentary satisfaction but we will always be left wanting again and wanting more.

Although he fed the multitudes, Jesus did not come to provide us a lifetime meal ticket. Although he healed the blind and the lame, He did not die on the cross just to heal these earthen vessels that must one day return to dust. His blood was shed, His body was broken for so much more. “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall never hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst…For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks upon the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

This is the great hope! Though my tummy may growl and my bones groan, He will be my sustenance. He will feed the gnawing hunger in my soul, his blood will wash away the cancerous stains of sin which infect my heart. One day, not too far away, I will “Fly Away” as we sang this morning. Mortal will be swallowed up immortal; the temporal will give way to the eternal.

But there is a catch, which is what makes this a hard saying. Jesus said unto them, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have not life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

The choice is there for every man and every woman who comes to the Cross in the road of their life. Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me.” Period. It is the wall no man can scale, the chasm too wide to traverse. No amount of human effort can gain you eternal life. There is only one way. You must receive His broken body and drink of His blood that was shed as an atonement for your sin.

“What must we do to work the works of God”, they asked? “This is the work of God that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”

Many walked away that day. Jesus turned to the twelve disciples and asked “Do you want to go away as well?

Simon Peter answered with words that echo through the ensuing generations, “ Lord, to whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life”.