Experience is the very best thing

If we face rejection is not in question, when we face rejection, can we press on with the balance of determination and grace that so evidenced the life of the Lord Jesus? So, we come to the text in John 6, verse 66 and following where John notes that "after these things, many of his disciples went back and walked with him no more"... The question for us is, what keeps us from going out the back door?

John 6:66-70

The Beginning of the end

The events unfolding in Capernaum, at least as John is recording them in his gospel, suggests that a turning point has come in the life and ministry of Jesus. With his comments earlier in the chapter that "no one comes to me, unless the Father draw him", and similar statements,  a certain disappointment in the program of Jesus  has settled in-- they prefer their own righteousness rather than the righteousness of God in Christ. A.T. Robertson suggests of this section, that the Jews simply walked out the back of the synagogue. 

" These half-hearted seekers after the loaves and fishes and political power turned abruptly from Jesus, walked out of the synagogue with a deal of bluster and were walking with Jesus no more. 

And so, Jesus poses the question, "Will you also go away?"

This undoubtedly left his closest disciples in a quandary. Was it all for nought? Is this all that there is to be of the work? But then, where really do they have to go and who would care for their lives as wholly as the Savior?

Peter's answer is valuable for several reasons:

There is really only one destination that matters. All others are eternally dangerous: "Lord, to whom shall we go?.. You have the words of eternal life. 

The finished nature of your care: Note the tenses here, both "perfects" We have come to believe and continue to believe... We have come to know and continue to know (convinced) that you are The Holy One of Israel. One man notes,

"They did not understand all that was happening. But they had experience with Jesus. all that experience anchored them in the storm."

Here's the point. In times of great difficulty, it is our experience with Jesus that makes all the difference. The years of walking with Jesus has taken us to great heights... and we have suffered through the tragedies and heartbreaks of great lows, but if we know Jesus -- if we have built a life of experience with Him, we can make it through, we can be victorious, and we can rejoice that it was Jesus that mattered through it all. 

And that allows us to leave our Wednesday with Great Wonder...

Your week lies yet before you

MJC