Where the Heart Belongs

John 6:51–70

Phrases that spoke to me today:
• my flesh is true food
• my blood is true drink
• many of his disciples returned to their former way of life
• Lord, to whom shall we go?

Applying the Word to my Life:
I sat down and talked with my grandma for a couple of hours this weekend. It had been over a year since I had made it out to see her. The drive is a good four hours each way, and each trip takes most of a weekend. With our three boys, work, and the farm, giving up a weekend is a hard thing to do.

Sitting at her table took me back to weekends in high school when I would end up at her house and we would talk for hours. I loved being there with her again. With her nearing one hundred, there are only so many more times we are likely to get to do that.

If I really let that truth all the way into my life, I would probably show up more often. But some truths are difficult enough that we keep them from getting close enough to change how we live.

Peter is facing a difficult truth of his own. Jesus is saying something that will not stay safely spiritual or symbolic. He does not speak as though life comes from admiring Him, remembering Him, or following His example from a distance. He says His flesh is true food and His blood true drink. He speaks about communion with Himself in a way that is concrete, intimate, and impossible to keep at arm’s length.

That is when many begin to leave. The teaching is too concrete, too demanding, too close. And Jesus does not retreat from it. That matters, because Jesus knows how to clarify misunderstandings when they happen. When Nicodemus hears talk of being born again and takes it in a flatly literal way, Jesus explains. He opens the meaning up further.

But here, when people begin to struggle with what He is saying, He does not walk it back. He does not call them back by saying they have taken Him too literally. He does not reduce the teaching into something easier to accept. He is willing to let the division happen rather than reduce the gift of Himself into something more manageable. He is even willing to risk the loss of the Twelve rather than walk back this teaching. He turns to them and asks whether they are going to leave too.

That question lands on me too. I do believe what Jesus is saying here. I believe He is truly present in the Eucharist. I believe I can actually receive Him.

If this is really true, then it is hard to explain why my life is still so uneven around it. You would think that if I really believed this, I would be at Mass every day. There was a time when making it most Sundays felt like I was doing well. As I have let this truth get nearer, I do better and even make it to daily Mass pretty regularly. There is real grace in that. But John 6 does not let me get comfortable just because there has been progress.

The harder truth is that I can believe something deeply and still keep it from getting close enough to reorder my life. I can affirm the Real Presence without fully living from it. I can say that Jesus is there but still build most of my days around effort, planning, work, and whatever feels most urgent. That does not mean I do not believe. It means some parts of me are still learning how to let this truth become as concrete in my life as Jesus means it to be.

Sitting with my grandma this weekend, my heart was finally where it needed to be. Maybe that is part of what makes Peter’s response so beautiful. He stays because he knows who Jesus is and he knows he belongs there. He confesses, in effect, that there is nowhere else to go. He does not say, “This is easy now,” or “I fully understand.” That feels closer to real faith than pretending the mystery has stopped being a mystery. Even a difficult truth in the mouth of Christ is still better than walking away from the One who has the words of eternal life.

Maybe that is where this passage leaves me too. Not with a neat explanation, and not with an excuse to keep Jesus at a distance, but with a choice. He is not talking about a symbol I can admire from afar. He is talking about a way of receiving Him. He is willing to let disciples leave rather than make that gift smaller. The harder part may be letting that truth get close enough to change the way I actually live.

Maybe the harder part of faith is not believing that Jesus is here, but showing up like that is true.

My Response for Today:
Today I will make one concrete choice that treats Jesus in the Eucharist as real rather than theoretical.