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Jesus said, “I’m telling you the most solemn and sober truth now: Whoever believes in me has real life, eternal life. I am the Bread of Life.”
Most of us start making conscious decisions around the age of 2, the year we learn to say “no.” If we can say no, one presumes we’re giving tacit assent to those events we don’t resist. In this way many of us form a lifelong pattern of compliance until we can’t bear the momentum around us, at which time we put our foot down. Some of us turn “no” into a lifestyle by being generally cantankerous, or perhaps genuinely motivated to protest popular opinions and values. A few of us do something really radical: We learn to say “yes” clearly and decisively. Choosing the positive purposefully, rather than drifting into it without dissent, is an unusual stance. It is also the ideal attitude for discipleship.
When Joshua stands at the banks of the Jordan, after a generation of sojourning, he has a job to do. He wants to make sure the nation doesn’t drift across that river idly or thoughtlessly. Follower-ship is meaningless if it’s mindless. Checking your will at the door if your leader is not what fidelity requires. So he addresses the people plainly, asking them to make a choice. Say yes or say no but speak your intentions out loud. Make sure you know what you’re choosing when you choose to inhabit the land of promise. If you are truly God’s people, then embrace the role comprehensively. But don’t stumble blindly into this identity, because it will not fit and the discomfort will only grow wider.
In John 6 the great moment of decision is reached again. Jesus has spoken out loud the challenging message of who he is and what it means to follow him. Many of those who have been drifting along behind him, happy to see him trash the Temple profiteers, intrigued by his bold teaching, or delighted with the free food, are now appalled to consider that discipleship will cost them something very dear. They turn away. They say no.
Jesus doesn’t try to talk to anyone out of their refusal, or to argue his case further, or to persuade the undecided with extra benefits. Instead he offers an additional challenge to those who remain at his side. It’s not good enough to linger on, to drift toward with him by default. Not refusing him is not the same as choosing him. Jesus wants to know where these hangers-on stand. “Do you want to leave me, too?” The 12 apostles have reached the hour when they must declare themselves, yes or no. Peter answers for the rest, but sooner or later they must answer for themselves. And so, in the long run, do we.