John 6:67-69 Then said Jesus to the twelve, Will you also go away?… 1. There is here one great assumption which, being removed, the whole drops to pieces. It is that man must have some one to go to. He cannot live without a master, a guide, a comforter. The soul cannot live alone or grope its own way. St. Peter's question evidently implies, "We cannot leave Thee till we have found another who shall outbid Thee in Thy offers, and outshine Thee in Thy revelations." 2. This is what we may call the argument from want. Man wants someone, and therefore God has someone for him. To whom is the only question, not whether we shall go. Was Peter right, or was he rash and wrong? (1) There are some suppositions which would be fatal to this argument. Supposing there be no God, or, at most, a God unconcerned about His creatures, then to say that man's spiritual thirst is any proof that God has provided spiritual water is a fallacy; it only proves that to want and to have not is man's pitiless destiny. But if there be a God such a conception is revolting to our best instincts, and dishonouring to God Himself. Far worthier is that of One touched with a feeling of our infirmities, and if this be true, then provision is sure. (2) This argument is not weakened by sin's entrance. The fact that man was spared after he had sinned, and that he now needs God's care and love more than ever, strengthens the argument. What Peter wanted, and what we want is — I. SOME ONE WHO CAN RAISE US ABOVE CIRCUMSTANCES. How many of our race suffer from poverty, anxiety, sickness, disappointment, the sense of inferiority, and the dullness of life's routine, etc. God designs that such should have independence, earth's giving or refusing: and there is only one person who goes to the root of the trouble, for He can say to us, "I came to you from heaven, and there we know of no such distinctions; there the only honour is humility, the only office self-sacrifice, the only distinction, the being nearest to and likest God. Cultivate these things over which tyranny has no power, and I will guide you by my counsel and afterward receive you to glory." II. SOME PERSONAL HELP TO LIFT US ABOVE SIN. Sin is an established fact, explain it, disguise it, extenuate it how we may. Christ's mission was to teach us the nature and guilt of sin. When this is brought home to the soul then indeed it cries, "To whom shall I go? Surely God must have some one for me? " He is in that sinless one who came into the world to save sinners. If we accept not Christ the voice of centuries tells us that there is no other. III. SOME ONE WHO SHALL RAISE US ABOVE DEATH ITSELF. This we find in Him who confronted death and conquered, and who is "The resurrection and the life." Has any one else, not the words, but even the hope and promise of eternal life? (Dean Vaughan.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?WEB: Jesus said therefore to the twelve, "You don't also want to go away, do you?" |
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