John 6:67-68 English Standard Version
67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,
What distinguished the twelve from all the other followers who stopped following Jesus? The answer to that question is the key to unlocking the door to our hearts by faith.
The twelve were approached by Jesus and answered a simple call, “follow me.” They got up and left their nets, tax tables, families, occupations and followed Jesus simply because He called them. There is no logical reason why they should do this. There was no promise of what was going to happen next. To any outside observer it made no sense, but to the men who answered the call, there was something so compelling about Jesus that they gave up everything to follow Him.
Yesterday’s reading was the example of what others, even if they begin to follow Jesus, give up and reject His offer of eternal life.
Jesus was speaking to Jews in their synagogue. His words challenged everything they believed in and were taught. He challenged their core beliefs as is seen in verses 60 and 61. They believed that the Messiah would come as spirit and not as a man. Their core belief said God would never occupy a human form. Now this man, proclaiming He is the Son of God, has asked them to violate what was up until this time the Law. They could not by faith eat His flesh nor drink His blood.
This is who they were and what they believed. For the rest of us that were not Jews and did not have those core beliefs, we have our own set of core values and belief which will be challenged. If we do not understand those simple gospel truths we will not know what is being asked of us.
It all comes down to this one challenge of faith. Are we called by God?