So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.“
– John 6:67-68
Popularity seems to be such a popular thing in our culture. (Forgive the pun; I couldn’t help myself!) Popularity is both sought and celebrated in our society. At the end of their senior year, many high schoolers will get to vote on the most popular boy and girl in their class. People create online content with the hope of getting followers. We post things on social media and check to see how many “likes” we receive. There is something about popularity that feeds our human condition. Popularity is enticing, seductive, and can become one of the greatest motivators in life.
The disciples of Jesus couldn’t have been any different. Even though it surely came with its own challenges (crowd control, etc.), they must have been enjoying the rising popularity of their rabbi. And rising it was. That’s what happens when you start doing things like healing the gamut of diseases and maladies, feeding thousands of people with nothing more than one boy’s lunch, and teaching people with an unprecedented spirit of authority. Jesus certainly had the formula for popularity. As for his disciples? I’m guessing it was very satisfying to be among the inner circle of the guy who was becoming the hottest ticket in the country. Unfortunately for them, Jesus wasn’t interested in popularity.
John chapter 6 gives us a glimpse of Jesus’ ability to lose a crowd. The chapter begins with the miraculous feeding of thousands (see the blog post Enough), describes a scene with Jesus and the disciples on the Sea of Galilee (see One Small Step), then enters a lengthy dialogue between Jesus and the multitude of Jews who were chasing after him. The disciples, wanting Jesus to maintain his popularity, probably sensed trouble quickly after the crowd caught up with him. Jesus essentially tells the people that they sought him, not as an act of faith, but out of self-gratification (see 6:26). That’s not a good way to proceed if you want to keep a crowd. As the chapter progresses, John gives us clues that the dialogue became increasingly problematic. “At this the Jews there began to grumble about him…” (6:41). “Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves…” (6:52). “On hearing it, many of his disciples said, ‘This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?’” (6:60). “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him” (6:66). The formula for Jesus’ unpopularity seems clear: give people uncomfortable truths they will find difficult to embrace.
For a long time I have read this text and felt sympathy for the twelve disciples. It is not a good feeling when the air quickly leaves your sails. And make no mistake, it left in drastic fashion. I can picture Peter’s forlorn face as he sees the crowds walking away. All of Jesus’ popularity was vanishing, and there was nothing he could do but watch. Just for a moment he might have thought, “Come on, Jesus, did you have to go there! Couldn’t you have eased up on some of that just to appease the crowd?” But then again, Peter was quickly learning Jesus’ priorities, and it was apparent that popularity was not one of them.
Praise God, the narrative leaves us with something to celebrate, and it is Peter who gives us the “win.” We read the Gospels and frequently see Peter as the “act first, think second, suffer the embarrassment” kind of person. This, however, is one of those instances when Peter gets it right—really right! In his moment of disappointment, Peter faces a tough but crucial question from Jesus: “You do not want to go away also, do you?” I think it may have been easy for Peter to have walked away. Yet notice Peter’s inspired response: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.” By the grace of God, Peter teaches us an important lesson: truth is more important than popularity.
Our current generation is one in which truth and popularity are at odds. However, we are not unique. All generations have witnessed the same struggle. The manifestations may shift, but the root of the problem is the same. Truth is problematic for those in the human condition (that’s all of us, by the way). Therefore we resist it out of preference for popularity, relevance, or simply out of pride. On that day so long ago, Peter stood at a crossroads. He had to choose between truth and popularity. There are times when we will stand at the same crossroads. The question is, which will we choose?
See you along the winding path.
The Winding Path 