In John's Gospel we are told that a number of those who listened to Jesus talking about Himself as the Bread of Life stopped going with Him. They found it impossible to understand or accept what He was saying. When He asked His closest disciples if they too wanted to stop going with Him, Peter didn't give a yes-or-no answer: even His close disciples, clearly, found it hard to understand the real meaning of what Jesus was saying about His own flesh and blood being the bread or food of life. Yet they clearly did understand that only their friend Jesus could save them, could give meaning to their lives, could make sense of so many things that they didn't understand, including His own teachings. Who else could they go to?

Who else, today, do people go to? Problems or scandals or difficulties in our own individual lives or in our Christian communities may make faith difficult to accept or harder to understand: many things that Jesus Himself said are also not easy to accept and understand. But our faith isn't only about knowing and understanding things, but about trying and wanting to love Him who first loved us and gave us Jesus as Saviour and friend. Why would anyone want to "stop going with Jesus"? And if they did, to whom would they go instead?