Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”- John 6:67-69
By certain metrics the mission field seems ripe for the Church. Rates of anxiety and depression have skyrocketed among youth and young adults. People, by and large, are less involved in community groups. But this lack of involvement also breeds a strong desire for community. Our society breeds a general divisiveness, when Christ promises to strike down the diving wall and make us one. It’s hard not to sense a general malaise. And yet, the Church so often seems part of that malaise. Church attendance shrinks along with the VFW and Lions club. The internet, sports, movies all help us forget our predicament for awhile. There is also something about our lives that can numb us. While people know things aren’t right, they also lose a sense of the transcendent, of the divine.
Of course Christianity is more than a general sense of transcendence, or a feeling of community and unity. Jesus says he is the the resurrection and he is life. He says no one comes to the Father except by him. Christianity also entails a particular story about this particular man. And it entails following his teachings. Sometimes these teachings are hard, or countercultural. Jesus once alienated a whole crowd by claiming to be true food and true drink. He said he was the bread of heaven that, if we eat it, we will never die. When the crowd dispersed he turned to his disciples and asked them if they wanted to walk away too. Peter’s response is remarkable, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
There is something intrinsically powerful about the word of the Good News. There is something enticing and compelling about the story of Jesus and his teaching. This is nothing we need to dress up. Nothing we need to change. Only something to share with confidence and with boldness. The story we have just so happens to meet many of the maladies of our time. And it’s true.