You have the words of eternal life

Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?" But Simon Peter answered him, "Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." (John 6:67-68)

Peter, self-reliant fisherman, tough alpha male of the first century, had lived long enough and seen enough of life to know when he had Life. And he knew not to let go.

Despite his cockiness before the cock crowed, his wavering at waves while water-walking, his impulsiveness when he cut off the ear of the high priest's servant in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter understood that his only hope for the hereafter was with him in the here and now. Although he didn't always use his brain before putting his mouth in gear, Peter knew deep inside himself that he was living with Deity.

I like Peter's simple knowing that there's no life without Life. Jesus said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." (John 6:53-54).

Although Jesus' talk was preparing Peter and all mankind for the Lord's Supper and a future Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9), most of the Jews of his day were far too busy keeping religious laws to follow the Fulfillment of the Law. They were religious heroes, but spiritual zeroes.

They'd never think of eating a side of barbecued pork ribs, but they had a bone to pick with Jesus every time he healed on the Sabbath. They never ate with dirty hands, but their hands threw an adulteress in the dirt at Jesus' feet to try to entangle him in their laws. They were so proud because their ancestors had eaten God's manna in the wilderness that they missed the Bread of Life who was spiritually feeding them.

However, Peter, the macho-man motormouth who'd walked on water one stormy night and felt the saving grasp of the Savior, knew to stay put. Peter realized his mortality and God's immortality.

There's a God-shaped hole in every human heart that only God can fill. We can try to ignore it with work, hobbies and relationships, but the hole remains. We can bury it with busyness and argue it away with intellectualism, but our heart is holey until we become holy through the blood of Jesus Christ, God incarnate.

Everyone has a small slice of eternity in which to make an eternal choice -- a choice to accept or reject Jesus Christ. We can believe or doubt that there's a heavenly father who made and loves us, there's a God who came to earth to show us how to live bountiful lives, a God who suffered and died for our sins, and who rose from a grave outside Jerusalem to show us no death could hold those who trust in his resurrection power.

Don't walk away; choose Jesus. Say with Peter, "You have the words of eternal life."

June Seabaugh is a member of Christ Church of the Heartland.