Feb 17: No Piecemeal Followers

Jn 6:66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.

Jesus’ sayings were neither straightforward nor easy to accept all the time. But one thing was clear, Jesus was bringing the truth of His kingdom to His people. It was like He was peeling away the layers of the Law and the Prophets and revealing the true intent of it. For example after reading from the scroll of Isaiah where it was written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,

Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.

He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set free those who are oppressed,

To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”[1]

Jesus goes on to claim that this scripture is about Him. The result of this claim was the people trying to throw Him off the cliff (Luke 4:29).

Another time, Jesus claimed to be the Bread of Life, and that anyone who ate of Him would not go hungry again. (Jn 6:35) He challenged the people to believe and trust in Him, not just for the physical bread, but for the nourishment and sustenance of their spiritual being. Jesus referred to the manna that their forefathers had eaten in the wilderness as perishable, but He Himself was the true manna that they needed to depend on.

Understandably, these teachings became too much for the common people and they started thinking logically on how a man like Jesus could make such audacious claims. Unfortunately for them though, they started rejecting Jesus’ teachings and eventually stopped following Him. John 6:66 is said to be one of the saddest verses in the Bible, and also has been equated to the devil’s number 666 as a proof that Satan was behind all this. Whatever may be the case, Jesus lost a lot of followers that day.

It is said that Mahatma Gandhi, the champion who brought independence to India through his peaceful resistance to the British empire, was so moved by Jesus’ teachings that he practiced many of His principles of love and peace. However he ultimately rejected being a Christian and simply could not accept that Jesus Christ was the only way to heaven – a claim Jesus made about

Himself (“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” - John 14:6)

Many people even today like some teachings of Jesus but not others. Even Christians have largely become selective in their faith in God. Like going to the grocery store and choosing only what they want to take home. But Jesus not come to this world to give us a piece of Him. He came to give His entire life for us. His body was broken like bread, His blood spilt out like wine. He did not come to give us a bunch of teachings on how to live a good life. He came so that we might receive His entire being into our life.

When a lot of the disciples left Jesus, He turned around and asked the twelve “Do you also want to go away?”. I love Peter’s response – “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God”[2] In other words, Peter knew Jesus was the ONLY way, the ONLY truth and the ONLY life. No other option. So, Peter received all of Jesus’ teachings wholeheartedly.

If you have chosen to follow Jesus, follow Him wholeheartedly and receive ALL that He has for you. He is not to be received piecemeal. He is to be accepted as a whole.

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[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Lk 4:18–19.

[2] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Jn 6:68–69.