Daily Devotional • April 5
A Reading from John 6:60-71
60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” 61 But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who were the ones who did not believe and who was the one who would betray him. 65 And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”
66 Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 67 So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.” 71 He was speaking of Judas son of Simon Iscariot, for he, though one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
Meditation
Perhaps we judge the “many disciples” who drew back from the hard sayings of Jesus and “no longer went about with him.” Yet it should sound familiar to many of us. The way of our Lord is a beautiful adventure, no doubt, but it is not without its challenges. This way calls us to abandon those parts of ourselves that we would rather hold on to. We would love to be remade into the likeness of our Lord, and we would prefer to bring along a carryon of some of the less-than-Christian things for the journey as well. While some of us do walk away from Christ when confronted with his hard sayings and find they are discordant in our lives, many more of us simply do what Thomas Jefferson did with his red-letter project: cut them out. The “many disciples” who drew back had the integrity to see this discord and choose to recoil.
The Christian life is challenging; it is the challenge of a lifetime. There are perhaps things we would like to do which our religion discourages us from. Marriage to one person is a challenge. Yet this sacramental way of life, this challenging way of life, this hard way, points us to the way of true joy. So too with the hard sayings of our Lord. They are a challenge. We will stumble, we will fall, and we will, with God’s help, repent and step again on the journey. Despite the scars of our stumblings in following our shepherd, we will someday return to the homeland of our heart’s desire. “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” some of the disciples cried. Look to St. Peter when asked by his Lord if he will go away: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
The Rev. Samuel Cripps is the rector of the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist in Wausau, Wisconsin.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Diocese of Maseno West – The Anglican Church of Kenya
Middleham and St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Lusby, Maryland
The Rev. Samuel Cripps is the rector of the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist in Wausau, Wisconsin.
