To Whom Would We Go?
60 Therefore many of his disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying! Who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble? 62 Then what if you would see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life. 64 But there are some of you who don’t believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who didn’t believe, and who it was who would betray him. 65 He said, “For this cause I have said to you that no one can come to me, unless it is given to him by my Father.” 66 At this, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. 67 Jesus said therefore to the twelve, “You don’t also want to go away, do you?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Didn’t I choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?” 71 Now he spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for it was he who would betray him, being one of the twelve.
Most of his followers leave, he asks the twelve whether they want to as well, and Peter answers with a question.
Therefore many of his disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying! Who can listen to it?”
The word is not difficult to understand. It is harsh — hard to take, offensive. They have understood him well enough, and that is the problem.
61 But Jesus knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble? 62 Then what if you would see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?
The question is not a softening. If a claim to have come down from heaven is intolerable, an ascent back would be worse — and the reference is to a departure that runs through a cross, which is the thing this whole discourse has been about.
It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life.
This is the interpretive key, given by the speaker, to the people stumbling. The flesh profits nothing is a startling thing to say ten verses after commanding them to eat it, and it can only mean that flesh understood as flesh yields nothing. What conveys life is what he has said.
But there are some of you who don’t believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who didn’t believe, and who it was who would betray him.
The writer's note is placed carefully. The book has already said he knew what was in man John 2:25; here it says he knew this, from the beginning, and chose him anyway.
At this, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.
The defection is the largest recorded in the Gospels and the account is unsparing about it. These are disciples — followers, not the hostile crowd — and what emptied the room was not persecution or hardship but a sermon. He had five thousand willing to crown him twenty-four hours earlier.
And he does not go after them. No clarification is issued and no terms are adjusted.
Jesus said therefore to the twelve, “You don’t also want to go away, do you?”
The question is phrased to expect a no and it is a real question. The door is held open for the last twelve people in the building, which is the opposite of what a man rebuilding a movement would do.
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.
Peter's answer is one of the great sentences of the New Testament, and its honesty is the reason. He does not say the saying was easy or that they understood it. He says there is nowhere else — a confession made by elimination, which is how a great deal of real faith is arrived at. And what he names as the reason is exactly what verse sixty-three had just said: the words.
We have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
The order is worth noticing. Believed, and then knew.
Jesus answered them, “Didn’t I choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?”
The confession is accepted and immediately qualified, which keeps the chapter from ending in relief. The crowd has gone, the twelve have stayed, and one of the twelve is named — not by name yet, and the writer supplies it John 6:71.
The chapter that began with a hillside of five thousand ends with eleven.
settled What this mark means