66 From that time on many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him.

67 So Jesus asked the Twelve, “Do you want to leave too?”

68 Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We believe and know that You are the Holy One of God.”

70 Jesus answered them, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” 71 He was speaking about Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. For although Judas was one of the Twelve, he was later to betray Jesus.

REFLECTIONS

Written by Rebecca Lin

Rebecca Lin

What stands out to me most from this passage is Simon Peter’s simple yet profound question: “Lord, to whom would we go?” This question is in response to Jesus asking his Twelve disciples if they want to leave him too, after many other disciples turned away from him. As we saw yesterday, this was due to the disciples hearing and understanding some of Jesus’ teaching that they found difficult to accept – that no one can come to him unless the Father enables them to. Yet even after a whole group of people turned their backs on Jesus and his teaching, the question from Simon Peter and the Twelve still rings out loud and clear: “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

I find that I am surrounded by so many words and messages every day, whether it’s the chatter and influence of social media, the latest headlines in the news, or the opinions and advice of friends, family and colleagues. It is too easy for these words to become the thing that I “go to”, for them to shape my mind, occupy my thoughts and influence my decisions.

But this passage reminds me that Jesus alone has the true, lasting and precious words of eternal life. Everything else will ultimately fade away and become meaningless. As 1 Peter 1:24-25 says, “the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” This challenges me to cling to Jesus’ words of eternal life above all else and let the other messages around me fade into the background. I am also reminded of the importance of spending time in God’s Word consistently and actually listening to those words of eternal life. Please pray with me that we would all cling onto Jesus’ eternal words, and that as we read His Word each day, we would remember the preciousness of what we get to listen to.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rebecca is a member of our Bossley Park Morning congregation.