This Sabbath we think about the visual images of the Communion Elements: Bread and Wine.  Also, we think about the visual image of the cross.     
    One of the strangest aspects of faith is that people can go away from faith as well as come to faith.  I say this is strange because most of us seldom think about people rejecting their faith and going away.  We usually think of persons coming to Christ, accepting baptism and then living in close harmony with the Lord the rest of their lives.  That often happens and that is the best way.  Sometimes, through, people are like those in our text.  They turn their backs on Christ and desert him.
    Some modern Christians have a dreamy notion that life in New Testament times was categorically different from life today.  One person said to me one time:  "If I had just lived in Jesus' time, I might have met him in person.  Surely, then, I would have believed!"   Perhaps that is true, but it might not be.  Not everyone who met Jesus followed him.  Not everyone who heard him teach decided to believe.  They could not accept the cost!
    Verses 66 and 67 make clear the fact that Jesus' teaching about eating his flesh and drinking his blood were just too much for some.  Verse 66 says: "Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him."  These were not mere hangers-on who walked away.  The writer calls them "disciples."  They were real followers – real learners – who had probably been around for a while. The word "disciples" here does not refer to the twelve disciples whom Jesus chose.  Large crowds came to Jesus, but when Jesus told them truths they were unwilling to hear, they turned away from him.
    The entire sixth chapter of John is essential for understanding the conflict and rejection by those people.  Those disciples wanted to make Jesus their king, but it had to be on their own terms.  Jesus refused.  They were willing to follow Jesus if he would be the kind of Messiah they wanted.  Jesus turned the tables and demanded they accept him on his terms, not theirs.  When that happened many of them rejected him.
    The situation is not greatly different today.  People are still trying to squeeze Jesus into their own mental molds.  Many try to make Jesus over into their own image.  Do you have friends who do this?  This Sabbath's scripture is a good correction to our temptation to make Jesus fit our wishes.
    When the superficial disciples fled, Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?"  What a poignant question!  Look at who is left.  Someone pointed out one time that chapter six opens with 5,000 excited warriors and participants and closes with the twelve troubled disciples, one of whom was a traitor!
    Why do some people reject Jesus?  I think that there are many reasons and I would like to share a few.  Some people have never known the real Christ.  They might have heard something about him from a friend or on a televised worship program.  But the impressions might be misleading and may fail to bring a person to the living Christ.
      Another reason why people reject Jesus is because of the action and attitudes of some who identify themselves as Christ's people.  Some have looked at a so-called Christian and said, "If that is what a Christian is, I want no part of it."
    Still others try to follow Christ for a while but soon tire out on the journey.  They simply quit.  They might be severely disappointed with what they got, compared to what they felt they were promised.  Others live vile and degraded lives and want nothing to do with the moral demands of the Gospel.
    Jesus' question to his disciples is poignant; "Do you also wish to go away?"  I think this question by Jesus expressed his disappointment with the shallow followers.  Jesus came into this world to save sinners.  Several persons rejected Jesus’ offer of eternal life and Jesus was clearly disappointed.  I believe Jesus still is.  Persons who hear Jesus' message and turn away from him hurt not only themselves, but also hurt Christ.  In his own time, not everyone rejected Jesus, however.
    Some rejected Jesus, but not everyone did.  In verses 68 and 69, Simon Peter answered the question posed by Jesus in the previous verse.  Jesus wanted to know if they were going to leave him also.  Simon's answer is a classic and perhaps my favorite statement of Peter, "Lord to whom can we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."  That statement was recognition that the longing for eternal life - all person's deepest hunger - is satisfied only in Christ.
    What exactly does the New Testament mean by the term "eternal life"?  It has been defined as "the never-ending experience of living with God."  I believe it begins with a person's conversion and continues for eternity.  Thus, eternal life has quality.  Eternal life is the inner life of a person who has said, "Yes!" to Jesus Christ.  Such a person becomes more and more like the person God intends for us to become.  Eternal life is a quality of life on earth, which leads to quality of life in heaven.
    Jesus' disciples knew that they had nowhere else to go.  Really now, do we today?  There are plenty of substitutes and false gods, but only one Lord, Jesus Christ.  Jesus is the Bread of Life, which satisfies our deepest hungers for significance and relationships.
    Christ comes to us with an offer.  The offer is for us to accept him as our Lord and Savior.  Jesus Christ forces no one to do so and asks only for commitment to him.  What have you and I done with this offer or what will you or I do with this offer today?  Will you or I reject or accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior?

    PRAYER:  Eternal Word, to whom can we go, if not to you?  For you have led us this far and continue to lead us.  We find the pathway sometimes easy and straight, sometimes convoluted and disorienting, yet you remain our constant companion.  Your words guide our path.  Be with those, we pray, whose road is rugged, who have stumbled and fallen, who wonder how they will ever find their private way again.  Bring us all safely to our destination, the center of your love, we pray in your Name. Amen.