Words of Eternal Life For Those Who Believe
Simon Peter answered him (Jesus),
"Lord, who would we go to?
You have the words that give eternal life.
We believe and know that you are the Holy One from God."
(John 6: 68, 69)
A few days back, my Bible reading led me through one of the most challenging passages I had read recently - 'Jesus, the Bread of Life' ( John 6: 25 59). I was challenged by the slow understanding of this great truth Jesus was teaching in this passage. Jesus says, "I am the bread that gives life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." (John 6: 35)
It was, indeed, a struggle to process the entire truth said in this passage. I see that I still haven't understood the whole truth and it may take more years of learning of the scripture and deeper thought to attain that realisation. Even though I lack the understanding to absorb this bigger truth, what I did not miss to observe was the number of times Jesus highlighted the importance of belief in realising this great truth. In the entire sixth chapter of the Gospel of John, the verb 'believe' appears ten times! Yes. The assurance of an eternal life stems from the humble belief and acknowledgement of God's presence in our lives.
Bothered by the new teaching that people heard from Jesus, one by one, his followers began to leave. The message was hard for them to accept. It was unacceptable to them when Jesus said: "I tell you the truth, you must eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood." (John 6: 53) It was such a botheration for them to accept Jesus's assurance "Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them." (John 6: 56). It brought in arguments among them. They questioned saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
What most of these people who began to criticise Jesus and ignored the understanding of this truth failed to observe was, Jesus's crystal clear words that said: "I tell you the truth, whoever believes has eternal life." (John 6:47) Whoever believes! Whoever believes in these words will have eternal life. For only those who believe, these words would give life. One of the most important things we have to do for these words to be understood and realised in our lives is to believe!
Today, our focus is on Simon Peter. The passage we have chosen for the day looks at him. How much did he know the meaning of these words that Jesus spoke? How much did they mean to him? How did they make an impact on his life? The answers are wonderfully presented by John in this passage. Many people who followed Jesus began to leave after hearing such a revolutionary and life-assuring teaching from Jesus which they could not agree with, because they did not believe in Him. And then Jesus looks at his disciples and ask them "Do you want to leave too?" This was the ultimate test, I would say. It was not a test of intelligence. It was not a test of understanding. It was not a test of their ability to interpret this teaching. It was Jesus's way of testing their belief! If they believed in what He said, then for sure they were going to stick on to Jesus and follow Him. If they did not believe, the human understanding of this teaching would easily ask them to run away. Nothing could stop them.
This is where Simon Peter shines as one of the promised leaders of the future church, which was the mission of God to share His love. Peter acknowledges two important things in his reply to Jesus. Peter replies, "Lord, who would we go to? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One from God."
First of all, Peter acknowledges that there is Eternal Life through Jesus and secondly he declares that Jesus is the Holy One from God. These were the two important building blocks of Simon Peter's belief. And it is this strong belief made of these two assurances kept him following Jesus. It was this surety that he carried in his inner self that made him follow Jesus all the way until that rejection out of fear before Jesus's crucifixion.
As we are meditating on these words of assurance and everlasting life from Jesus, let me encourage you today to look around yourself and see how much of assurance that you have about things in your life. How many of them do you think maybe permanent in your life? How much of assurance do you have about the life after? Do you see yourself beyond the horizons you could see? In the midst of all the endings and the mess that may be around your life, there is hope and life. And that is in the assurance of the Lord. All that we need to do is to believe!
If you believe, you have the assurance of a life of eternity. If you believe in the words of eternal life given as an assurance from Jesus, then you and I can realise the assurance of God. Just as Peter declared, let us remember, that we do not need to run anywhere else searching for the words of assurance. It is there, freely given with love from Christ Jesus who shows us the way. Let us run to Him. Let us acknowledge that there is eternal life through Him. And, let us declare in our lives that Jesus is the Holy One from God. And, that is the belief that assures us eternity. This is when the words of eternal life apply so fruitfully in our lives.
I pray that the everlasting will of God our Father, the grace and words of assurance of Jesus the Son and the guidance of the Holy Spirit will lead us into a life that acknowledges, celebrates and believes the assurance that we find in our Lord our God.
May God bless you.
Yours in Christ,
"When it's all been said and done"
