Check All The Options
Keith McFarren
May 31, 2026
John
6:53-69
    The older I get
the more I find myself talking about or thinking about the good old days.  Back when times were simpler…back to the
times when TV’s only had three channels…back when if the wind blew from the
wrong direction or if the wind was strong enough and jiggled or turned your
antenna just a little bit, you couldn’t get any reception at all.
    Today, we are
offered so many choices just to watch TV.
Cable TV comes in all sorts of packages or bundles as they call it.  You can get just the basic plan, or the
expanded plan or go all out and get the deluxe plan.
    Then of course
there is Dish TV, Direct TV, YouTube, Roku, Hulu, Sling, something called Fire
Stick and so many more. Modern day technology has provided us with all sorts of
choices just to watch TV.  And it’s all
stuff that blows the mind of a guy who grew up with three TV stations.      
    But that’s the way
life is today…life is full of choices.
The menus in restaurants have so many pages it’s overwhelming.  Cars come in so many different colors it’s
hard to decide which one you like best.
It takes days to make a decision on what color to paint your bedroom or
living room because of all the choices of colors.
    But we like choices…we demand choices…the
more the better.  And if we don’t like
something or get tired of it, we simply get rid of it because after all, with
all the options we have we can get another size or another color that will
please us.
    Living in a
culture that allows for so many choices can also help set the stage for a
discussion about our faith as well.  If
we have doubts about our faith, we have the option of changing to another
religion or another lifestyle or we can even abandon it altogether.  With all the choices made available to us, we
can step back and consider all the options.
In our scripture reading this morning Jesus’ disciples did just that.
    Jesus has done
quite well for himself.  His popularity
and his reputation were skyrocketing.  He’s
got hundreds if not thousands of people following him because of all the
healings and miracles he’s performed.  Of
course, feeding 5,000 people using just five loaves of bread and two fish doesn’t
hurt.  That’s the kind of stuff that got
the people’s attention.  In fact, people were so impressed
with him they were saying that, “This is truly the prophet who is coming
into the world” (John 6:14).  
    With all these
people following him around he used the opportunity to teach them about the
kingdom of God and some things about himself that the people didn’t fully
understand.  At one point in his
teaching, he claimed to be the “bread of life” (John 6:35) stating that what
God was doing through him was far greater than the manna God provided for their
ancestors during their forty year stay in the wilderness.
    And just when he
had them eating out his hand…just when he had them sitting spellbound on the
edge of their seats…just when Jesus should have stopped talking…he didn’t.
    It was then that
he said some stuff that didn’t set well with the people.  “I assure you,” he said, “unless
you eat the flesh of the Human One and drink his blood, you have no life in you”
(v. 53).  And he didn’t stop there…he
kept going, talking about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, and the more
he said the more it offended those who were following him.  
    That was the day
Jesus put his foot in his mouth, or shot himself in the foot (as they say) and
his disciples knew it just by looking at the reaction of the crowd.  
    At first, they
thought that maybe he misspoke.  But no,
that’s what he said…”Eat his flesh…and Drink his blood”...and that’s
what he meant.  Jesus had caused quite an up roar among the
people.  We know that much by what was
said in verse 60, “This
message is harsh.  Who can hear it?” (CEB), “This is a hard teaching. Who can
accept it?” (NIV), “This
is tough teaching! Too tough to swallow!” (The Message). If we were to hear
the same thing in 2026, we might say, “That’s a bunch of #%&##.”
    These were his
people, the same people who just a day or so earlier wanted to make him king of
Israel.  But now after hearing all this
they are making a mass exodus to the doors because their hero is saying some
very strange things…things they didn’t want to hear.
   After talking about
his body and his blood, Jesus was faced with watching his followers turn and
walk away from him.  And after hearing
what they just heard, even his twelve best friends, his disciples, were not
very happy with him.  In fact, they were
asking themselves questions about his validity.

    In the wake of
losing everything he had accomplished and watching his ministry go down the
drain Jesus turned to his disciples and asked what had to be a very painful
question, “Are you leaving me too?”
    All of this
happened over 2,000 years ago and yet the world we live in today parallels the
same situation that Jesus found himself in.
We live in a world where the words and teachings of Jesus aren’t
accepted very well.  His thoughts and
beliefs and values are in total contrast with the worlds thoughts and beliefs
and values.  In other words – we don’t always
like what he says.
·Revenge: Don’t
try to get revenge against those that hurt you.
Pray for those who do you wrong.
·Sex: It’s
between one man and one woman, only in marriage, for a lifetime.
·Money:  Give the first 10% back to God instead of
thinking of yourself and buying something you think you really need.
    When it comes
right down to it, the Bible tells us things we don’t want to hear, things that
are offensive to us, things that interfere with our lifestyle.  In fact, the Bible ends up being just as
offensive to the world today as Jesus’ words about “eat my flesh” and “drink
my blood” were to the people of ancient times…and because we don’t like
some of the things we hear from Jesus we decide it’s easier to leave our faith
behind because it doesn’t say what we want it to say or allow us to do what we
want to do.  
   
So Jesus’ words, “Do
you want to leave too?” become all the more important because they are
words that were not only spoken to his followers centuries ago, but they are
words that are directed to those who follow him today, to you and to me, and if
we are honest with ourselves, there are times in our lives when we really aren’t
sure how to answer him.
     We follow Jesus
but the dark clouds of gloom and doom seem to follow us wherever we go.  Nothing seems to go right.  We always have health problems, financial
problems, family
problems and our prayers never seem to be answered.  Maybe you’re just sick and tired of being
sick and tired.  Maybe it’s time to check
out some other options.  You could leave
Jesus…but where would you go?  
    But then again,
maybe life isn’t so bad.  Maybe you’re on
the other end of the spectrum and things are going great for you. You’re doing
great; your family is great and life couldn’t be any better.  You’re a self-made person and you’ve done it
all on your own.  
    Maybe it’s time to
check out of all this religion stuff.  Who
needs it?   Besides, my Sunday mornings
would be free…and I’d save some money by not having to give it to the
church.  But where would you go?
    It’s a good
question, isn’t it?  Wherewould
we go if we gave up on Jesus?  And
what would happen to us if we really did try to live life on our own?
    Chances are, if
you stop all of this “Jesus stuff” and all of this “faith stuff” and all of
this “church stuff” you are going to fall into the trap of self-absorption.  Life will become all about you; all your
wants and needs and desires and all your self-righteous opinions will become
the standards by which you run your life.
You will become your own god and you will answer to no one.  And you will have the responsibility of being
fully in charge of everything (both good and bad) that goes on in your little
self-absorbed world.    
     Maybe you could
leave Jesus and find another religion.
Someone once said that, “It doesn’t really matter what religion you
are, as long as you [act like] a religious person” (Talbot Davis, The Shadow of a Doubt, Nashville, Tennessee; Abingdon
Press, 2015, 36).  Maybe it would be just
as easy to be absorbed into the universe and become nothing after you die.
    Maybe Hinduism or
Buddhism is the way to go.  You could
worship the fat little guy that sits around with his arms folded across his
chest.  Maybe you’d be lucky and be
reincarnated into a cute little puppy or a cuddly little kitten…or maybe not so
lucky and come back as a rat or a snake or a maggot.
    Or maybe Islam or
Judaism.  Life in their hereafter depends
on how you live your life here on earth.
How good of a person have you been?
How bad have you not been?  But
what’s the cut off?  How do you know if
you’ve done enough good things to confidently stand before your God on judgment
day?
    Maybe you could do
what a lot of people do.  Worship your
assets.  Worship your possessions – your
success, your home, your car, your money.
But the thing you have to remember is that they all stay here after you
take your final breath here on earth.
    You can leave
Jesus…but where would you go?  There are
all sorts of options and alternatives.
But how many of these so called other religious leaders were willing to
do what Jesus did?  
    How many of them
were willing to die for you?  How many of
them came back from the dead three days later to prove that there really is
life after death?  How many of them said
you can’t work your way into heaven or you can’t buy your way into heaven?  How many of them told you God’s grace is
sufficient for all people?  
    Better yet, when
we consider all the options and alternatives that are available to us today,
only Jesus mentions eternal life…not as a dog or a cat…but eternal life with
him in heaven.  
    If we take all of
this into consideration I think that we would have to agree with Peter:  “Where else would we go?  After all we know and believe that you are
God’s holy one!”
    Does Jesus care if
you consider the other options?  Not
really. Check them out.   Life is full of
options.  Why should religion be any
different?  But no matter how many other
religions you check you will find nothing but empty promises…and you will find
no one like him.
“To this day
many people refuse him, not because he challenges our intellect, but because he
challenges our lives” writes William Barclay (William Barclay, The
Gospel of John, Vol I, Louisville, Kentucky; WJK Press, 2001, 264).  
    We may not fully
understand Jesus…and maybe we do have to check out all the options.  But we have to ask ourselves, “Can we live
this life, or face eternity, without him?”