John 6:67 - Are You Also Going Away?
You can take a seat. As Josh so graciously said, my name is Jordan. That was a very generous introduction from our “robo-preacher,” Josh, with his arm in the sling. I love that guy. If you don’t know, he’s had two shoulder surgeries recently, back-to-back, so he’s been through a lot. Be sure to give him a hug.
I’m so thankful for The Well. I grew up at this church, and it’s my absolute pleasure to wrap up our summer series on the questions that Jesus asked. Today we’re going to be in John 6, starting in verse 59, though we’ll really be looking across the entire chapter. We’re going to be talking about what many call the cost of discipleship, or the true nature of belief and trust in Jesus.
This is only my second time at Midweek. You guys are like cool unicorns—you know Midweek people exist, but you don’t see them very often. You’re like magical creatures to me, so thank you for being here! I’m excited to open God’s Word with you and look at how Jesus exposes the lack of trust and belief that many disciples had in Him.
The Object of Our Trust
If anything has taught me about belief and trust, it’s being a father. I have an almost four-year-old boy and a six-month-old girl. When you go to the hospital and your baby is born, they just hand you this tiny human life. You’re standing there thinking, I didn’t apply for a permit for this! This is a massive responsibility. Do I just go home now? Is there an interim trial period?
And these little babies just trust you completely. I could tell my son today that I’m the President of the United States, and he’d say, “Congratulations on the election win, Dad!” He just believes me. That kind of trust is a huge responsibility.
This last weekend, ten other dads and I brought 25 kids camping up at Dinkey Creek. Our wives clearly believed in us, and we survived—everyone came back alive! We had kids ranging from two going on three all the way up to twelve years old. My son loves fishing, and at Dinkey Creek, there are rocks everywhere. He trusted me to guide him across those rocks. I was holding his hand, leading him through as he stepped from rock to rock, at times literally dangling over the water while holding onto my arm. I taught him that this is how you navigate difficult terrain.
Then a little later, I watched him do the exact same thing with his friend Hazel. Hazel is seven years old and much lighter than I am. As I saw him reach out, I realized, They’re both going in the water right now; I better get ready to fish them out. He grabbed onto her and trusted her just like he trusted me, a full-grown adult. Sure enough, with his weight and tugging, they both tumbled straight into the water.
That moment was a vivid reminder that it is always the object of our trust that matters most. He trusted me, and he trusted her—two very different realities. He loves her, but that trust wasn’t founded on her ability to hold him. His belief was there, but it was in the wrong object. Our passage today points us to the truth that wholehearted trust in who Jesus actually is—giving our entire self over to Him—is what Jesus is after in each of us.
In Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s classic book, The Cost of Discipleship, he wrote: “The call to follow implies that there is only one way to believe in Jesus Christ, and that is by leaving all and going with the incarnate Son of God.”
The question, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” comes at the end of a long chapter in John 6. Over the course of 71 verses, John describes Jesus slowly peeling away the layers of people’s false identities and their preconceived notions of who they think Jesus should be. Jesus presents Himself as the only true object of saving belief. Jesus wants to tear down the idols in our hearts just as He did in theirs, reorienting our belief entirely around Himself.
The Bread of Life Discourse
Let’s look at verse 59 together.
John 6:59 (NASB)
These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.
This verse begins somewhat abruptly: “These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.” What things? Let’s trace the context.
Verses 1 through 25 record two major miracles: the feeding of the five thousand and Jesus walking on the water. In verses 26 through 58, Jesus is teaching in the synagogue. In Jewish culture, it was common for a recognized teacher or miracle worker to teach in the local gathering without being a formal priest. Structurally, John’s Gospel features seven signs paired with seven great discourses. This section is known as the Bread of Life discourse, containing the famous “I am” statement: “I am the bread of life.”
We are stepping in at the conclusion of this discourse. In verse 60, we see the boldness of Jesus deconstructing who the crowd wanted Him to be.
John 6:60 (NASB)
Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard [this] said, ‘This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?’
We have to wrestle with what Jesus did to them in the preceding 58 verses. The Greek word translated as “difficult” doesn’t merely mean hard to comprehend; it carries the sense of something harsh, offensive, and physically taxing to endure. What offended their sensibilities so deeply? What idols had Jesus just torn down?
There are at least six things happening here:
First, after Jesus fed the crowd, they wanted to make Him their political Messiah. Verse 15 tells us Jesus perceived they intended to come and make Him king by force.
John 6:15 (NASB)
So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.
Second, they were overly consumed with Jesus meeting their physical, material appetites rather than their spiritual needs.
John 6:2 (NASB)
A large crowd followed Him, because they saw the signs which He was performing on those who were sick.
Jesus addressed this head-on in verse 26.
John 6:26 (NASB)
Jesus answered them and said, ’Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.
He pointed out that they were seeking the miracles rather than the Miracle Worker.
Third, in verses 30 and 31, they demanded more signs on their own terms, caring nothing for the spiritual realities the signs pointed toward.
John 6:30-31 (NASB)
So they said to Him, ’What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? ’Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘HE GAVE THEM BREAD OUT OF HEAVEN TO EAT.’’
Fourth, throughout the chapter, the people were unwilling to surrender their own religious authority. They trusted in their own traditions rather than the One standing right in front of them.
Fifth, Jesus made the offensive claim that He was greater than Moses and that He had come down directly from heaven.
Sixth, Jesus extended the metaphor of bread to a shocking conclusion. He declared that He Himself is God’s ultimate provision—the true Bread of Life. Then He told a Jewish audience that they must eat His flesh and drink His blood. To a crowd bound by kosher dietary laws, this sounded utterly scandalous.
Jesus assaulted their worldview directly. Theologian N. T. Wright explains it well:
“The problem in verse 60 wasn’t that Jesus was talking at too abstract a level… It was more that what He had said made a huge hole in their worldview. When that happens, some people prefer not to think about it anymore. If you go to a meeting where someone demolishes the way you’ve been brought up to think, and offers you instead a way of looking at the world, which though convincing, will be extremely costly, you may well find good reason to be somewhere else the next time that preacher comes to town.”
Jesus systematically dismantled their presuppositions about who He was and what it truly meant to follow Him.
Offended by the Real Jesus
Look at verse 61.
John 6:61 (NASB)
But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, ’Does this cause you to stumble?
Jesus knew their hearts. The Greek root for “stumble” is skandalizo—to scandalize or cause offense leading to rejection. Jesus was asking, “Did it offend you when I deconstructed your idea of who you want Me to be? Is that offense causing you to walk away?”
When they tried to make Him a political king, He retreated to the mountain alone, reminding them that the power of His kingdom is not like the kingdoms of this world. No political party or human agenda can bear the weight and glory of the kingdom of God.
When they sought Him for material prosperity, He confronted their motives. He reminded them that we often ask for trivial things because we don’t understand the true gifts of the Spirit.
When they wanted a religious checklist for eternal life, He counterintuitively offered them Himself. God cannot be boxed into our systems; He is revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
What a grace it is when God peels back these layers to expose our hearts so we can see Jesus as He actually is! Deconstruction is a popular buzzword today. But healthy deconstruction means dismantling our false views of God in light of who He reveals Himself to be in Scripture. We need that kind of deconstruction. What we don’t need is deconstructing our way away from the God of the Bible. Jesus deconstructs our idols to draw us closer to who He truly is.
Jesus presses the point further in verse 62.
John 6:62 (NASB)
’[What] then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?
If His earthly teaching offended them, how would they respond to His ascension? His ascension to where He was before separates Him from every other religious figure in history. Every other religious leader died and stayed in the grave. None rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father. His ascension confirms His eternal preexistence and divinity.
Then Jesus explains the spiritual reality in verse 63.
John 6:63 (NASB)
’It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
Jesus looked into their hearts and saw them using the Law of Moses as an excuse to dismiss Him: “If He’s telling us to drink blood, He’s violating the Law, so we’re out.” Jesus provided the correct interpretive lens: “My words are spiritual. The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing.” Eating His flesh and drinking His blood meant receiving His life and sacrifice by faith. As Saint Augustine famously put it, “Believe, and you have eaten.”
The Gift of Saving Faith
In verses 64 and 65, Jesus reveals the core issue.
John 6:64-65 (NASB)
‘But there are some of you who do not believe.’ For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him. And He was saying, ‘For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.’
The word belief appears roughly 98 times in the Gospel of John. Biblically, belief and trust are deeply intertwined. In Greek, there is a belief that is mere intellectual assent, and there is a belief that is wholehearted trust in Jesus.
We often treat faith like a bank account of personal certainty. When times are good, we make deposits; when times are hard, we make withdrawals. We assume faith depends on our own willpower to manufacture assurance. But biblical faith does not mean having everything figured out. Biblical faith says, “Lord, I may not understand everything, but I trust You.”
Defining faith merely as a feeling of certainty places the burden on human willpower. But true faith directs our focus away from ourselves and onto the person of Jesus Christ. The object of our belief matters far more than the quantity of our feeling. Consider the thief on the cross. How much systematic theology did he understand in that moment? Yet he looked at the dying Savior next to him and trusted Him, and Jesus promised, “Today you will be with Me in paradise.” That should reshape our understanding of faith.
To truly believe is to trust Jesus even when He challenges our deepest preferences. We allow Him to reshape us into His image rather than trying to remake Him into ours.
Furthermore, verse 65 shows us that saving faith is a gift from God. We cannot generate it by our own power. While there is profound theological depth regarding God’s sovereignty, consider the practical reality: God’s sovereignty should humble us completely. If you only come to Jesus because the Father drew you, then you have no ground for boasting. The only contribution you brought to your salvation was the sin that made it necessary.
When we grasp this truth, it destroys spiritual pride. It enables us to look at anyone—even our worst enemy—with deep compassion, knowing that apart from God’s grace, we are no different. The gospel is the great leveler. God’s sovereign grace frees us from worldly hostility and empowers us to share the hope of Christ with humility.
To Whom Shall We Go?
This leads to a sobering turning point in verse 66.
John 6:66 (NASB)
As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.
As theologian F. F. Bruce observed, what they wanted, Jesus would not give; and what He offered, they would not receive. His refusal to conform to their expectations was too much for their shallow belief.
This stands as a solemn warning: the people walking away were called disciples. You can be in the presence of Jesus, hear His teaching, and still not truly believe. That reality should cause us to examine our hearts with reverence and pray, “Lord, do a genuine work in me so that I don’t turn away.”
Jesus then turns to the Twelve in verse 67.
John 6:67 (NASB)
So Jesus said to the twelve, ‘You do not want to go away also, do you?’
Jesus already knew their hearts. He knew who would believe and who would betray Him. So why ask the question? He asked it to strengthen their faith and draw out the confession that Peter was about to make.
John 6:68 (NASB)
Simon Peter answered Him, ’Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.
Peter’s response carries immense weight: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” After their assumptions were shattered and they watched crowds of people walk away, Peter declared that Jesus alone has the words of life. The very words that were an offense to unbelievers were life to those who truly trusted Him.
This is a sobering reminder: if eternal life is found exclusively in Jesus, then outside of Jesus there is only spiritual death. Jesus did not leave room for us to view Him merely as a good moral teacher. He stated clearly that He is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to the Father except through Him.
In her book The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert, Rosaria Butterfield writes about the profound cost of following Christ after God transformed her life as a tenured professor. She wrote:
“A life outside of Christ is both hard and frightening. A life in Christ has hard edges and dark valleys, but it is purposeful even when painful.”
Peter continues in verse 69 with a statement that strikes at the heart of discipleship.
John 6:69 (NASB)
‘We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.’
The word Peter uses here is the Greek word for deep, abiding trust. Peter didn’t have all the answers. In fact, future passages show how much Peter still had to learn. But Peter had settled the fundamental question: Jesus, You are the Holy One of God. We left our nets for You. There is nowhere else to go.
Dethroning Our Idols
Every day, we face that same battle in our hearts. We are constantly tempted to recreate God in our image instead of allowing Him to conform us into His.
Where is your trust today? If you dig down into the honest places of your soul, who or what sits on the throne of your heart? Where does your identity lie?
I admit that I struggle with introspection. When I went through our Re:generation recovery program here at the church, we would sit in a circle on Monday nights to share our hearts. Every week when it came to my turn, I’d panic and think, How am I feeling? Should I make something up? It is hard to dig into those places. But when we do, we often find things on the throne that don’t belong there.
As challenging as it is to surrender those idols, God’s way is infinitely better. We cannot put our ultimate hope in political outcomes; human systems cannot bear that weight. We cannot put our faith in religious rituals, material comfort, or career success. None of those things can give abundant life.
Paul captures the posture of true discipleship in Galatians 2:20.
Galatians 2:20 (NASB)
’I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the [life] which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Jesus promises that when we lose our lives for His sake, we truly find them. The world offers shiny alternatives, but moth and rust destroy them all.
Left to myself, I naturally gravitate toward earthly security. On a bad day, I can convince myself that more money or greater approval from others will fix my problems. But God, in His grace, continually reminds me that His Word alone defines who I am.
How relieving it is that we do not have to walk this road alone. God has given us the church—a community of believers to encourage us, challenge us, and remind us that Jesus is our only hope. Discipleship is costly, but when we carry the load together, God sustains us.
May we leave here tonight anchored in the truth that nothing outside of Christ can satisfy our souls, joining our hearts with the words of Psalm 73.
Psalms 73:25-28 (NASB)
Whom have I in heaven [but You]? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works.
Closing Prayer
Let’s pray together.
Lord, we are nothing without You, and nothing in this world can bear the weight of our souls. You are our provision, our life, and everything we need. We confess how easily we run to empty things that cannot satisfy.
Give us the courage to be honest about the idols we place on the thrones of our hearts. By Your grace, continue to conform us into the image of Your Son. Help us cling to Jesus, trusting that He alone has the words of eternal life.
In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.