Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 95 · April 5
To Whom Shall We Go
“Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.”
Capernaum, in the synagogue, the day after the loaves ran out.
They had eaten from five barley loaves the afternoon before and come back for more. What he gave them was the bread of life discourse, and the room turned. Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? John reports the result without softening it: From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. These are disciples, not enemies. They had followed for months and they stopped.
He watches them go and does not chase them, then turns on the twelve with a question no leader would ask on a day like that. Will ye also go away?
Peter answers with a question of his own. Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. He does not claim the hard saying got easier while the others were leaving. He does the arithmetic of the alternatives and finds nothing on the other side of the door worth walking to. Then a real confession: And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
Two things are true in that room at once. Staying can be what faith looks like on a day when the appeal has worn off, and Peter is right to stay. And the next verse takes the shine off any comfort you might draw from being one of those who stayed: Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? Judas was standing inside that confession when it was made. The place to be is beside Peter, saying the sentence for yourself.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 95 is Delivered from Fear (Psalm 34:4).