Chief
Chief of Sinners.
In one of the most pivotal moments in Scripture, Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, turned to his closest followers and asked a question laden with vulnerability: "Will ye also go away?" (John 6:67, KJV). The question was not rhetorical. It was asked in the wake of mass desertion, after "many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him" (John 6:66).
The question reveals something we often overlook in our theology: Jesus experienced genuine disappointment, rejection, and what Scripture records as moments of profound sorrow in his earthly ministry. Far from undermining his divinity, these experiences affirm his full humanity and provide a crucial model for believers navigating their own seasons of discouragement, abandonment, and tested faith.
This thread-starter premises the argument that recognizing and studying Jesus's moments of disappointment is essential for developing a robust, biblical spirituality. These moments are formative revelations of what faithful obedience looks like in a fallen world, not anomalies to be explained away.
But Jesus immediately disrupts this trajectory. He withdraws from the crowd, walks on water to his disciples (vv. 16-21), and the next day delivers the challenging Bread of Life discourse in the Capernaum synagogue (vv. 22-59). His teaching peaks with scandalous language: "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you" (v. 53).
The response is swift and severe: "From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him" (v. 66). The Greek suggests a permanent departure. They were "no longer accompanying" him. These weren't casual onlookers but mathētai (disciples), people who had been learning from him, following him, and identifying with his movement.
This is not a test where Jesus already knows he'll receive Peter's confident confession. While John notes that Jesus "knew from the beginning who they were that believed not" (v. 64), the narrative presents the question as genuine, heavy with the weight of rejection Jesus has just experienced. Jesus is giving the Twelve space to leave if they choose.
Peter's response ("Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life," v. 68) is often celebrated, and rightly so, as a confession of faith. But we must not overlook the question that prompted it. That question reveals Jesus's experience of rejection and loss.
Mark adds: "And he marvelled because of their unbelief" (Mark 6:6). The Greek ethaumazen indicates genuine astonishment. Jesus was surprised and disappointed by the hardness of heart in his hometown. The passage concludes: "And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief" (Matthew 13:58). Jesus's ministry was directly limited by human rejection.
Jesus later weeps over the city: "And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it" (Luke 19:41). This is eklaúsen. He "wept aloud," he sobbed. Jesus grieves over Israel's rejection of him and the coming judgment that rejection will bring.
The frustration is evident. While addressed to the broader "generation," it includes the disciples' failure. Jesus is disappointed by their lack of faith despite all they have witnessed.
Jesus experiences the loneliness of an unshared burden. His closest friends cannot stay awake during his agony. The disappointment is acute: "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (v. 41). This is a gracious acknowledgment, yet one that doesn't erase the pain of their failure to be present when he needed them.
While theologians rightly explain this as Jesus bearing sin and experiencing separation from the Father, we must not minimize the experiential reality. Jesus quotes Psalm 22:1, entering into the psalmist's expression of abandonment. Whatever the theological mechanism, Jesus felt forsaken and rejected even by God. He endured not just physical torture but the spiritual anguish of cosmic abandonment.
Throughout his crucifixion, Jesus faces mockery: "He saved others; himself he cannot save" (Matthew 27:42). Even one of the criminals crucified beside him rails against him (Luke 23:39). Jesus dies having been abandoned by his disciples (except John and the women), rejected by his nation, mocked by his executioners, and experiencing divine forsakenness.
Jesus's disappointments reflect authentic human experience. He genuinely experiences the full range of human emotion, including grief over rejection, frustration with unbelief, and the pain of abandonment. This makes him a "merciful and faithful high priest" (Hebrews 2:17) who truly understands our struggles.
As the incarnate Son, Jesus has a human psychology, human emotions, and human experiences, all without sin. His disappointments don't stem from unrealistic expectations or sinful desires but from the proper grief that comes when love is rejected and truth is dismissed.
Too often, modern Christian culture promotes a triumphalist narrative where faithfulness equals success, genuine belief produces growth, and proper ministry yields results. When we face rejection, declining numbers, or the departure of people we've invested in, we wonder what we did wrong.
John 6 contradicts this narrative. Jesus (the perfect teacher, miracle-worker, and embodiment of truth) experienced mass desertion after faithful proclamation. The problem wasn't his methodology, his clarity, or his love. The problem was the hardness of human hearts and the offense of the Gospel.
Yet this is precisely God's plan. Jesus isn't building a populist movement; he's forming a faithful remnant. The measure of faithful ministry is not numeric growth but obedience to truth, even when that truth divides.
This reframes how we evaluate our own lives and ministries. The pastor whose church shrinks after preaching difficult biblical truths isn't failing. He's following Jesus's model. The believer who loses friends after refusing to compromise convictions isn't being punished. She's following the path Jesus walked.
Why? Because some truths are inherently offensive to fallen human nature. The Gospel includes hard sayings: that we must eat Christ's flesh and drink his blood (symbolic participation in his death), that we're dead in sin apart from him, that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, that following Jesus means taking up a cross.
Jesus demonstrates that faithful proclamation sometimes requires saying things people will reject. Faithful teaching declares truth clearly. Rejection of the message doesn't invalidate the messenger.
The Apostle Paul echoes this perseverance: "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed" (2 Corinthians 4:8-9).
When we face disappointment (in ministry, in relationships, in our own spiritual progress), we don't abandon our calling. Like Jesus, we continue in obedience regardless of visible results.
This authorizes believers to be honest about our pain. Biblical maturity includes faith that perseveres while acknowledging difficulty. The Psalms model this consistently: "How long, O LORD? wilt thou forget me for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?" (Psalm 13:1).
We can bring our disappointments to God honestly, as Jesus did in Gethsemane: "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me" (Matthew 26:39). Honesty about our struggles doesn't indicate weak faith; it indicates real relationship with a God who understands.
Jesus knows that genuine believers (those given to him by the Father) will not ultimately depart. The desertion of false disciples doesn't threaten God's purposes. This is why Jesus can ask the Twelve if they'll leave while already knowing "who should betray him" (v. 64).
For believers, this means trusting God's sovereignty even when circumstances look bleak. Like Jesus, we can experience real disappointment while maintaining confidence that God is working out his purposes. These realities coexist rather than contradict.
Peter's confession becomes foundational: "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God" (John 6:68-69).
This models healthy ministry and discipleship. We invest deeply in the faithful few rather than pursuing the departing many. We build on the foundation of those who confess Christ genuinely, not those attracted by miracles or benefits alone.
The church today faces constant pressure to soften doctrines that offend modern sensibilities: on sexual ethics, the nature of Christ, the reality of judgment, and the call to holiness. John 6 reminds us that Jesus himself was willing to be abandoned rather than compromise truth. If we're more concerned with retention than faithfulness, we've departed from his model.
This isn't fatalism. It's biblical realism. It frees us from the burden of manufacturing results and places the responsibility for genuine conversion where it belongs: with God. Our job is faithful proclamation and living; God's job is regeneration and preservation.
When people leave our churches, our ministries, or even our lives because of Gospel commitments, we shouldn't automatically assume we failed. Jesus didn't fail in John 6. He faithfully declared truth, and people made their choices.
This is the model for believers navigating disappointment:
Peter's answer remains the only viable response: "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." In seasons of disappointment and desertion, when the crowds leave and even close friends sleep through our Gethsemane, we return to the fundamental reality that Christ alone has the words of eternal life. There is nowhere else to go, no other foundation to build on, no other hope that satisfies.
Peter's confession, made in the valley of discouragement, is the faith that perseveres to glory.
The question reveals something we often overlook in our theology: Jesus experienced genuine disappointment, rejection, and what Scripture records as moments of profound sorrow in his earthly ministry. Far from undermining his divinity, these experiences affirm his full humanity and provide a crucial model for believers navigating their own seasons of discouragement, abandonment, and tested faith.
This thread-starter premises the argument that recognizing and studying Jesus's moments of disappointment is essential for developing a robust, biblical spirituality. These moments are formative revelations of what faithful obedience looks like in a fallen world, not anomalies to be explained away.
The Context
The events of John 6 require careful attention. Jesus begins the chapter at the peak of popular acclaim. After feeding 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish (John 6:1-15), the crowd tries to "take him by force, to make him a king" (v. 15). The scene includes miraculous provision, enthusiastic crowds, and messianic fervor.But Jesus immediately disrupts this trajectory. He withdraws from the crowd, walks on water to his disciples (vv. 16-21), and the next day delivers the challenging Bread of Life discourse in the Capernaum synagogue (vv. 22-59). His teaching peaks with scandalous language: "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you" (v. 53).
The response is swift and severe: "From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him" (v. 66). The Greek suggests a permanent departure. They were "no longer accompanying" him. These weren't casual onlookers but mathētai (disciples), people who had been learning from him, following him, and identifying with his movement.
The Weight of the Question
Into this moment of abandonment, Jesus turns to the Twelve with a question grammatically structured to expect a negative answer: "Will ye also go away?" (v. 67). The "also" (kai hymeis) is crucial. It acknowledges the defection that has just occurred and asks whether the Twelve will join the exodus.This is not a test where Jesus already knows he'll receive Peter's confident confession. While John notes that Jesus "knew from the beginning who they were that believed not" (v. 64), the narrative presents the question as genuine, heavy with the weight of rejection Jesus has just experienced. Jesus is giving the Twelve space to leave if they choose.
Peter's response ("Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life," v. 68) is often celebrated, and rightly so, as a confession of faith. But we must not overlook the question that prompted it. That question reveals Jesus's experience of rejection and loss.
Jesus's Other Moments of Disappointment and Sorrow
John 6 represents a pattern found throughout the Gospels. Multiple passages record instances where Jesus experiences disappointment, grief, and the pain of human rejection:1. Rejection in Nazareth
"And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house" (Matthew 13:57).Mark adds: "And he marvelled because of their unbelief" (Mark 6:6). The Greek ethaumazen indicates genuine astonishment. Jesus was surprised and disappointed by the hardness of heart in his hometown. The passage concludes: "And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief" (Matthew 13:58). Jesus's ministry was directly limited by human rejection.
2. Grief Over Jerusalem
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" (Matthew 23:37).Jesus later weeps over the city: "And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it" (Luke 19:41). This is eklaúsen. He "wept aloud," he sobbed. Jesus grieves over Israel's rejection of him and the coming judgment that rejection will bring.
3. Disappointment with the Disciples' Faithlessness
After the Transfiguration, Jesus encounters a father whose son the disciples could not heal. Jesus responds: "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?" (Matthew 17:17).The frustration is evident. While addressed to the broader "generation," it includes the disciples' failure. Jesus is disappointed by their lack of faith despite all they have witnessed.
4. Disappointed in His Closest Friends at Gethsemane
In his hour of greatest need, Jesus asks Peter, James, and John to watch with him. Three times he returns to find them sleeping: "What, could ye not watch with me one hour?" (Matthew 26:40). Then, resigned: "Sleep on now, and take your rest" (v. 45).Jesus experiences the loneliness of an unshared burden. His closest friends cannot stay awake during his agony. The disappointment is acute: "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (v. 41). This is a gracious acknowledgment, yet one that doesn't erase the pain of their failure to be present when he needed them.
5. The Crucifixion: Ultimate Rejection and Forsakenness
"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34).While theologians rightly explain this as Jesus bearing sin and experiencing separation from the Father, we must not minimize the experiential reality. Jesus quotes Psalm 22:1, entering into the psalmist's expression of abandonment. Whatever the theological mechanism, Jesus felt forsaken and rejected even by God. He endured not just physical torture but the spiritual anguish of cosmic abandonment.
Throughout his crucifixion, Jesus faces mockery: "He saved others; himself he cannot save" (Matthew 27:42). Even one of the criminals crucified beside him rails against him (Luke 23:39). Jesus dies having been abandoned by his disciples (except John and the women), rejected by his nation, mocked by his executioners, and experiencing divine forsakenness.
The Significance of Jesus's Disappointment
1. It Affirms the Incarnation
The writer of Hebrews emphasizes: "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15).Jesus's disappointments reflect authentic human experience. He genuinely experiences the full range of human emotion, including grief over rejection, frustration with unbelief, and the pain of abandonment. This makes him a "merciful and faithful high priest" (Hebrews 2:17) who truly understands our struggles.
As the incarnate Son, Jesus has a human psychology, human emotions, and human experiences, all without sin. His disappointments don't stem from unrealistic expectations or sinful desires but from the proper grief that comes when love is rejected and truth is dismissed.
2. It Validates Believer's Disappointment
If Jesus himself experienced disappointment in ministry, rejection by those he loved, and the pain of seeing people walk away from truth, then believers should not be surprised or ashamed when we experience the same.Too often, modern Christian culture promotes a triumphalist narrative where faithfulness equals success, genuine belief produces growth, and proper ministry yields results. When we face rejection, declining numbers, or the departure of people we've invested in, we wonder what we did wrong.
John 6 contradicts this narrative. Jesus (the perfect teacher, miracle-worker, and embodiment of truth) experienced mass desertion after faithful proclamation. The problem wasn't his methodology, his clarity, or his love. The problem was the hardness of human hearts and the offense of the Gospel.
3. It Reframes "Success" in Kingdom Terms
After the crowd leaves, Jesus is left with the Twelve. Even among them is "a devil" (John 6:70), referring to Judas. By common standards, John 6 represents a ministry disaster. Jesus goes from thousands to twelve, and one of those twelve will betray him.Yet this is precisely God's plan. Jesus isn't building a populist movement; he's forming a faithful remnant. The measure of faithful ministry is not numeric growth but obedience to truth, even when that truth divides.
This reframes how we evaluate our own lives and ministries. The pastor whose church shrinks after preaching difficult biblical truths isn't failing. He's following Jesus's model. The believer who loses friends after refusing to compromise convictions isn't being punished. She's following the path Jesus walked.
4. It Demonstrates That Hard Sayings Are Sometimes Necessary
Jesus could have softened his language in John 6. He could have clarified, used different metaphors, or toned down the offensive elements. Instead, he intensified the discourse: "Doth this offend you?" (v. 61), then continued with even more challenging teaching.Why? Because some truths are inherently offensive to fallen human nature. The Gospel includes hard sayings: that we must eat Christ's flesh and drink his blood (symbolic participation in his death), that we're dead in sin apart from him, that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, that following Jesus means taking up a cross.
Jesus demonstrates that faithful proclamation sometimes requires saying things people will reject. Faithful teaching declares truth clearly. Rejection of the message doesn't invalidate the messenger.
What Jesus's Disappointment Models for Believers
1. Perseverance Through Discouragement
Jesus doesn't quit after John 6. He continues teaching, healing, and moving toward Jerusalem and the cross. His mission isn't derailed by desertion.The Apostle Paul echoes this perseverance: "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed" (2 Corinthians 4:8-9).
When we face disappointment (in ministry, in relationships, in our own spiritual progress), we don't abandon our calling. Like Jesus, we continue in obedience regardless of visible results.
2. Honesty About Emotional Pain
Jesus doesn't pretend rejection doesn't hurt. He openly grieves over Jerusalem, expresses frustration with his disciples, and asks plaintively whether the Twelve will also leave.This authorizes believers to be honest about our pain. Biblical maturity includes faith that perseveres while acknowledging difficulty. The Psalms model this consistently: "How long, O LORD? wilt thou forget me for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?" (Psalm 13:1).
We can bring our disappointments to God honestly, as Jesus did in Gethsemane: "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me" (Matthew 26:39). Honesty about our struggles doesn't indicate weak faith; it indicates real relationship with a God who understands.
3. Trust in God's Sovereignty
Even as Jesus experiences human disappointment, he remains confident in the Father's plan. In John 6, he says: "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (v. 37).Jesus knows that genuine believers (those given to him by the Father) will not ultimately depart. The desertion of false disciples doesn't threaten God's purposes. This is why Jesus can ask the Twelve if they'll leave while already knowing "who should betray him" (v. 64).
For believers, this means trusting God's sovereignty even when circumstances look bleak. Like Jesus, we can experience real disappointment while maintaining confidence that God is working out his purposes. These realities coexist rather than contradict.
4. Dependence on the Remnant
After the crowd leaves, Jesus turns to the faithful remnant. He doesn't romanticize the desertion or pretend it doesn't matter. But he invests in those who stay.Peter's confession becomes foundational: "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God" (John 6:68-69).
This models healthy ministry and discipleship. We invest deeply in the faithful few rather than pursuing the departing many. We build on the foundation of those who confess Christ genuinely, not those attracted by miracles or benefits alone.
5. Maintaining Standards Despite Pressure
Jesus refuses to dilute his message to retain followers. The "hard saying" remains hard. This is costly discipleship: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me" (Matthew 16:24).The church today faces constant pressure to soften doctrines that offend modern sensibilities: on sexual ethics, the nature of Christ, the reality of judgment, and the call to holiness. John 6 reminds us that Jesus himself was willing to be abandoned rather than compromise truth. If we're more concerned with retention than faithfulness, we've departed from his model.
6. Recognition That Some Will Always Leave
Jesus predicts and accepts that "no man can come unto me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him" (John 6:44). Not everyone who initially follows will persevere. Some will find the teaching too hard, the cost too high, the way too narrow.This isn't fatalism. It's biblical realism. It frees us from the burden of manufacturing results and places the responsibility for genuine conversion where it belongs: with God. Our job is faithful proclamation and living; God's job is regeneration and preservation.
When people leave our churches, our ministries, or even our lives because of Gospel commitments, we shouldn't automatically assume we failed. Jesus didn't fail in John 6. He faithfully declared truth, and people made their choices.
Practical Applications
For Pastors and Ministry Leaders
- Expect desertions after difficult biblical teaching. If you preach the full revelation of Scripture, including offensive truths, some will leave. This isn't necessarily a sign of ministerial failure; it may indicate faithful proclamation. Jesus lost the crowd in John 6 immediately after some of his most important teaching.
- Invest in the faithful remnant. After the crowd leaves, Jesus focuses on the Twelve. Don't neglect those who are staying while pursuing those who are leaving. Substantive discipleship of the committed proves more fruitful than superficial engagement with crowds.
- Don't measure success by numbers alone. Jesus's ministry would fail by modern church growth metrics. But he was perfectly accomplishing the Father's will. Faithfulness, not size, is the primary metric.
For All Believers
- Your disappointments are valid. If Jesus experienced rejection and grief, you will too. Don't spiritualize away your pain. Bring it honestly to God.
- Persevere through disappointment. Don't let discouragement derail obedience. Jesus continued to Jerusalem despite desertion, betrayal, and foreknowledge of suffering. We continue in faithfulness regardless of results.
- Expect that Gospel proclamation will divide. Jesus said, "Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division" (Luke 12:51). Faithful witness will sometimes cost relationships. This is painful but biblically predicted.
- Ground your faith in Christ's identity, not circumstances. Peter's confession doesn't say, "Lord, things are going well, so we'll stay." It says, "Lord, you have the words of eternal life. Where else would we go?" Faith perseveres because of who Christ is, not because the path is easy.
- Find community with the faithful. Jesus surrounded himself with the Twelve after the crowd left. We need fellow believers who will remain when others go, who will confess Christ when it's costly, who will watch with us even when the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
The Wisdom of the Hard Question
Jesus's question in John 6:67 ("Will ye also go away?") is one of the most important in Scripture not because of what Peter answers but because of what Jesus asks. In asking, Jesus reveals his genuine experience of human rejection. He doesn't pretend it doesn't hurt. He doesn't immediately pivot to sovereign comfort. He sits in the reality of desertion and asks those who remain whether they'll stay.This is the model for believers navigating disappointment:
- Acknowledge the pain (Jesus asks the question, revealing he feels the desertion)
- Give others freedom (he doesn't manipulate or guilt the Twelve into staying)
- Trust the remnant (he believes Peter's confession and continues with the faithful)
- Maintain the mission (he presses on toward Jerusalem despite rejection)
- Rest in the Father's will (he knows the Father will accomplish his purposes)
Peter's answer remains the only viable response: "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." In seasons of disappointment and desertion, when the crowds leave and even close friends sleep through our Gethsemane, we return to the fundamental reality that Christ alone has the words of eternal life. There is nowhere else to go, no other foundation to build on, no other hope that satisfies.
Peter's confession, made in the valley of discouragement, is the faith that perseveres to glory.