To whom shall we go? (John 6:68)

In today’s Gospel, we see Jesus’ many followers struggling to accept the truth of his teaching.  Jesus heard them murmuring among themselves how hard it was to accept his teachings and to allow their hearts to be guided by his truths.  Jesus, in his typical fashion, challenges them.  His question cuts to the core – “what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before”?  For his followers at the time, not even that was cause for them to open themselves to Jesus’ teaching.  They departed, returning to the distractions of their former lives.

When I reflect on a Gospel passage, I find it helpful to view the passage from the various perspectives of those in the story.  I would encourage you to reflect in the same way.  Who are we among Jesus’ followers?  When we are confronted with the clarity of Jesus’ lessons, what is our response?  Do we turn away to our former lives and the distractions that comprise them?  Or, do we strengthen in our resolve to build a healthier relationship with Christ?

The cutting truth of this passage leads me to better understand those distractions in my life that lead me away for accepting the substance of Jesus’ teachings as revealed in the Gospel.  Distractions of work, of the media, and politics prevail amid a context of an increasingly relativistic and pluralistic society.  In many ways, we are just a distracted as Jesus’ followers of centuries past.

In today’s Gospel, when asked about whether he too wanted to leave, Simon Peter responded with a rhetorical question – “Master, to whom shall we go?”  And so too we ask ourselves, to whom shall we go?  It is my hope that as we discern this question in the silence of our hearts, our answer will lead us to a stronger relationship with Christ – expressed through our relationships with relationships with others – so that we may continue to set the world ablaze with the Glory of God’s love.