From that time many of his disciples went back , and walked no more with him.
This verse captures one of the most painful moments in Jesus' ministry. He had just delivered what his listeners called a hard teaching — telling crowds they must eat his flesh and drink his blood to have life. To his first-century audience, this was bizarre and offensive language. Many who had been following Jesus — not just curious onlookers, but actual disciples — decided they had heard enough and walked away permanently. The phrase "turned back" suggests a complete reversal, a return to their former lives. What makes this moment remarkable is what comes next: Jesus turns to his twelve closest followers and asks, essentially, if they want to leave too.
Jesus, there are things you have said that I still don't fully understand — and some that make me want to step back. Give me the honest faith of Peter: not the faith that stays because it is comfortable, but the faith that stays because there is nowhere else to go. Amen.
The chapter and verse number 6:66 in John's Gospel lands like a gut punch. Many followers, gone. Just like that. They had seen the miracles. They had eaten the multiplied bread. And when Jesus said something they couldn't fit into their existing framework for who God should be and what he should ask, they left. No argument, no tearful goodbye — just the sound of sandals walking the other direction. What's worth sitting with is that Jesus let them go. He didn't chase them down, soften the teaching, or make it easier to stay. He turned to the Twelve and asked the most vulnerable question a teacher can ask: are you leaving too? There's something raw and honest in that moment. Following Jesus has always included stretches where his words land hard — where staying feels more costly than leaving. What keeps you at the table when the teaching gets uncomfortable?
What was it about Jesus' teaching in John 6 that made so many followers leave — and what does their departure reveal about what they had been following him for in the first place?
Can you recall a time when something about faith felt too strange, too demanding, or too costly — and you were genuinely tempted to walk away?
Why do you think Jesus didn't soften his words to keep the crowd? What does that tell you about what he valued more than large numbers of followers?
Peter says he has nowhere else to go — not that Jesus is easy, but that he is the only real option. How is that kind of faith different from comfortable belief, and how does it shape the way you relate to others in your faith community?
What is one teaching of Jesus you still find difficult to accept or live by — and what would it look like to stay in honest conversation with it rather than quietly walking away?
For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.
2 Timothy 4:10
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
John 8:31
And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back , is fit for the kingdom of God.
Luke 9:62
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
1 John 2:19
Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
Hebrews 10:38
Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
Job 23:12
And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
Matthew 11:6
And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Matthew 24:10
As a result of this many of His disciples abandoned Him, and no longer walked with Him.
AMP
After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.
ESV
As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.
NASB
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
NIV
From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.
NKJV
At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him.
NLT
After this a lot of his disciples left. They no longer wanted to be associated with him.
MSG