To Whom Can We Go?

A Sermon preached at St Martin-in-the-Fields on September 17, 2025 by Revd Dr Sam Wells

Reading for address: John 6: 68

In J.M. Barrie’s story Peter Pan we meet a character called Captain Hook. Captain Hook’s hand has been replaced by a hook, after a challenging encounter with a crocodile. The captain passes on this sage piece of advice: ‘Never smile at a crocodile/No, you can’t get friendly with a crocodile/Don’t be taken in by his welcome grin/He’s imagining how well you’d fit within his skin’. The crocodile enjoyed Captain Hook’s hand so much that he has since been permanently on the lookout for the rest of him.

I wonder whether you’ve ever tasted anything so good that you’ve spent the rest of your life trying to find that taste again. There’s a story that’s popular in Ireland of the man who is visited by a fairy godmother and granted three wishes. He didn’t have to think long about the first wish. ‘I’d like a glass of Guinness that refills as soon as I drink it,’ he said. Sure enough, his wish was granted. After he’d enjoyed a couple of drinks and found the glass kept replenishing, the fairy godmother said to him, ‘Don’t forget you’ve got two more wishes’. The man looked at the constantly refilling glass and said, ‘I’ll have two more of those please.’

When you’ve truly found what makes your heart sing, there’s no need to search or speculate about much else. The crocodile knew what he was looking for. Captain Hook’s hand had tasted so good. So it was worth spending the rest of his days seeking the rest of him.

If you can relate to the crocodile, you can relate to the dynamics of John chapter 6. The chapter begins with Jesus feeding five thousand people, starting with a just few loaves and fishes. The people say, ‘We like the taste of that: we’ll have two more of those please’. Jesus says, ‘I can give you something more important than loaves and fishes’; and the crowd say, ‘Bring it on’. And Jesus then says these unforgettable words: ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’ I can’t hear those words without the hairs standing on the back of my neck and my eyes beginning to fill with tears. If you’ve drunk in those kinds of words, if you’ve tasted a little bit of the Jesus who spoke them, you become a crocodile. You’ve enjoyed just a little part of Jesus and you’re going to spend the rest of your life looking for the whole of him.

This is the good news. When Jesus breaks bread, there is more than enough for everybody. Then Jesus lays down his life, and himself becomes the living bread, broken for the life of the world. Yet even Jesus’ death is not wasted, and his resurrection offers us the promise that we shall eat this bread with him for ever. I think I’ll have a little bit more of that bread please. I think I’ll never get tired of that bread. I think that bread is all I’ll ever want. Give me this bread always.

But the Bible would be a very short book if that were all there was to it. Almost straightaway, people begin to find reasons why they’d like a second opinion. John chapter 6 presents us with two kinds of reasons, both of which are still very much with us. The first is, this Jesus is too ordinary. He’s Joseph’s son, you know, the one who graduated from Nazareth Community College with a wood skills diploma. We still find Jesus a little ordinary. A lot of us long for truly dramatic visions or experiences or adventures or discoveries. Jesus sometimes feels just too ordinary to be the key to everything. The universe is massive and staggeringly complex. Sometimes it does seem curious to say it all comes down to this solitary historical figure 2000 years ago.

The second reason why people walked away from Jesus is the opposite of the first. They said he was too far-fetched. He wanted too much from them. He was too demanding. Yes, yes, yes, they said, we buy into this ‘eternal life’ thing and we’re cool about this ‘you will never be hungry’ deal, but couldn’t you just lay off the heavy stuff about washing one another’s feet and giving all your money to the poor? Can’t you realise that in the modern world everything’s relative – no promises last for ever, no truth claims go much beyond rhetoric and some kind of bid for power, no one gets to have a monopoly on what’s important?

The two reasons why people turned away from Jesus in Capernaum are pretty much the two reasons why people turn away from Jesus today. For some people Jesus is too plain ordinary – a simple historical figure cannot bear on his shoulders the destiny of the whole world. They say why not just accept he was an exceptional human being and have done with it. For others Jesus is too plain extraordinary – they say Christianity’s all very well, but it expects too much.

Every Christian knows what it means to think and feel these things some of the time. Many of us can look back on days, weeks or years when other things seemed more important or more real than Jesus. Maybe you are in one of those periods right now. But I want to remind you to be a crocodile. Remember the taste. Remember the joy. Savour the words ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’ And just go heading off, slowly methodically, relentlessly, having had a taste of Jesus, and wanting to enjoy the rest of him. Be a crocodile.

Jesus squares up to the twelve disciples in today’s gospel, and says, ‘Are you turning away too?’ Think about this powerful moment. If the disciples leave now, what becomes of the rest of the New Testament? Who witnesses the crucifixion, who meets Jesus after the resurrection, who founds the first churches, who writes the gospels? It’s one of those cliffhanger moments in the Bible when everything hangs on the answer to the question. And Peter swallows deeply, and looks into Jesus’ face, and says ‘Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.’ You’re the only show in town. When you’ve seen what we’ve seen, discovered what we’ve discovered, shared what we’ve shared, tasted what we’ve tasted – nothing compares to you. Anything else is absurd.

There are many words for the attitude that Peter’s words represent. Doggedness is one. Stubbornness is another. Faithfulness sounds a bit better. Perseverance sounds a bit more pious. But the real word is love. This is what it means to love God – to follow Jesus around like a crocodile seeking the best meal ever. And this is what the word Nazareth is about, when it refers to our Community and our Companions. Being a member of these communities is about recognising who to love. I say unto you: Love Jesus. Love him with all your heart and mind and soul and strength – the way he loves you. There may be times at St Martin’s and as a Community member or Companion in the years ahead when you may for a time find Jesus just too ordinary, or for a time find Jesus just too demanding. Don’t panic. Look around you now: you can plenty of people who have been through the same thing. Don’t despair. You’re in good company.

My prayer is that as the years go by, you’ll be even more hungry and thirsty for Jesus than you are today. You’ll have asked yourself many times ‘To whom can we go?’ You’ll have had a look at a good number of those to whom we may turn, and you’ll have made an informed judgement about who really does have the words of eternal life. I anticipate that the more you learn in community, about silence, service, scripture, sacrament, sharing, sabbath, and staying with, the more you’ll long for the food that never perishes, the drink that never runs dry. And it’s just possible that in years to come, you’ll remember the crocodile, and chuckle, and find that you are quietly thinking, ‘I’ve had a taste of what Jesus means… but I’m still coming back for more.’