Have you ever been pushed to your breaking point? All things have a breaking point. A breaking point is the point at which enough force or pressure is put upon something so that it breaks. What is your breaking point? How much pressure can you handle before you reach the breaking point? Again, have you ever been pushed to your breaking point? Or has God ever pushed you to your breaking point?
In John 6, we see Jesus pushing people to their breaking point. He is with his disciples on a mountainside, and a great crowd followed him. He looks up sees the crowd and asks, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” His disciples are confounded. Jesus then proceeds to perform a miracle by feeding over 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish. That night, Jesus goes up on the mountain to pray. While he is doing this the disciples get in a boat and sail across the lake. Jesus comes out walking across the water and joins them. Two major miracles have occurred both showing that Jesus is master of this world. The crowds wake up the next morning and realize that Jesus has gone. So, they set out for Capernaum looking for Jesus. They find Jesus and ask, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus responds by telling them that they came to eat some more of the bread he gave them, when they should be coming to him for the bread that endures to eternal life. He goes on tell them that he is the bread of life. They begin to grumble at this. They could not accept that he had come down from heaven. Then, Jesus continues saying that they must eat of his flesh in order to live forever. This puts the Jews in sharp disagreement. It was scandalous to think of eating raw flesh, let alone a man’s raw flesh. That totally went against the Law. Jesus responds to them by saying that they must eat of his flesh and drink of his blood or they will not have eternal life. At this point, his disciples began to grumble and argue about this. Jesus replies, “Does this offend you…this is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.” From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. The crowds and his own disciples had been pushed to the breaking point. Jesus turned to the Twelve asking, “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Peter answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe that you are the Holy One of God.”
