Christ Church Daily Devotion Feb 25 2024

Jesus teaches his disciples that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood in order to have eternal life. Many disciples find this teaching difficult and stop following him. Jesus asks his twelve closest followers if they will also leave, and Peter affirms their belief in Jesus. The passage also mentions a previous incident where Jesus fed thousands of people with a small amount of food. The speaker relates this to their own struggles with understanding and staying faithful to God. They invite listeners to join them in worship to explore these issues further. Welcome to Christchurch's Daily Devotion for February 25, 2024. Today we will be reading from John chapter 6 verses 53 through 69. Jesus said to them, Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. And I will raise them up at the last day, for my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in them, just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father. So the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Their ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on the bread, this bread, will live forever. He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. On hearing it, many of his disciples said, This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it? Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, Does this offend you? Then, what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before? The Spirit gives life. The flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you, they are full of the Spirit and life. Yet, there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went on to say, This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them. From this time, many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. You do not want to leave too, do you? Jesus asked the twelve. Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God. At the beginning of this chapter, John writes about Jesus feeding well over 5,000 people with just five loaves of bread and two fish. The next day, the people find him over on the other side of the lake and engage him in conversation. Jesus knew of their real interest and began to offer teaching to them and his disciples that turns out to prompt this question in verse 60. This is a hard teaching. It is so challenging that a few verses later we find out that many of his disciples turned away and no longer followed him. He even inquiries of his closest followers to see if they will stick with him. Peter assures him that they still believe in him and will continue to follow him. I don't know about you, but there have been many times in my journey with the Lord that I have struggled with something that happened or some interpretation of Jesus' teaching that I heard. I remember one situation, in particular many years ago, when a tragedy happened to a young family in the church I was serving. After wrestling with God several days about it, I finally prayed, Lord, I really do not understand why you let this happen, but I still believe in you and your way. Help me to stay faithful to you and to serve your mission no matter what. I hope that prayer or one similar to it is your prayer, even in those times in life and faith for when you struggle. Your personal worship option today is to join us in worship this morning as we explore this issue further. Ideally, come and be with us in person. It makes a difference for you and others when you are there. If you cannot be there in person, be sure to connect through our live stream or later on our website.