John 6:66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

John Chapter 6 is very long and it outlines for us several encounters Jesus had with his disciples and crowds which followed him. At the outset it records the feeding of the 5,000 by the Sea of Galilee, followed by the account that Jesus walked on water that night to rejoin his disciples on the boat they had taken earlier that evening to go to Capernaum.

The crowd followed them by boats the next morning and during that day they had many questions for Jesus. He observed that many of them came after him not because they had seen the miracles but instead because their hunger for food had been fully met. Jesus wanted to bring them to a point where they would be more interested in knowing and doing the will of God so he said: “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On Him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” In response to their question: “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

It was in this setting that Jesus also declared himself to be the bread of life: “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” As he expanded on this idea, the Jews took offence at the claim – “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They grew even more incensed when Jesus said: “This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” and “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

At this point even Jesus’ disciples were perplexed as they remarked: “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it? Although Jesus explained it further to them and indicated that the words he had spoken “are spirit and they are life” he observed that some still did not believe him. So he said further, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.”  Verse 66 then records that “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” The ability to continue following Jesus is a gift from God. The Holy Spirit encourages us:

“It is my will that my children look for my footsteps which are ahead of them. I will not take you to any place I have not been. No matter what you face I have already endured. My grace is sufficient for you. So my children be not weary, move forward and when my footsteps fade, listen for my voice for I am with you. I have said so in my word and my word shall be true to the end of time.”