Read John 6:51-69
Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?" John 6:67
When everyone else is leaving, isn't it difficult to stick around? Doesn't it seem that when things are getting difficult or encountering resistance, that is when people start backing away? Jesus is addressing his disciples as many other followers are leaving because the journey was getting too difficult.
"It's
a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you're trying to lead
and find there's no one there," Roosevelt lamented to one of his top
advisers, Samuel Rosenman, back in 1937, back when war raged in Spain
and Japan had invaded China.
I think Jesus was asking this question, not to condemn his disciples, but rather to identify with what they were feeling. Indeed, our faith journey is often filled with comments like "Do I have to? But this is hard! It is too much to bear." At times what we need is someone to simply acknowledge what we are feeling, to give us courage to rise up and keep moving forward where Jesus calls us.
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