Fair Weather Fans

How do you know if someone is a committed fan? Is it if their Facebook cover photo is their favorite team? Is it how many times they post about the game or the stats? Is it the flag that hangs just under their country’s? Or is it the number of bumper stickers? Although I’m not exactly a professional sports fanatic myself, I’ve heard enough about “fair weathers” to know this behavior tends to infuriate what we may affectionately call the “die hards”.

So what makes a true die hard? These are the guys that never take down the flag, even if the team loses several years in a row. They still watch all of the games, they may have all the flags and the stickers, but to them, their team is much more than that. Basically, when the team is getting thrashed in the media, or maybe even worse, ignored by the media, these die hards stick by the name and wait patiently for better days. There is always the hope of next season.

So this is all a semi-cheesy lead into our relationship with Jesus Christ. Gotcha.

This past week we studied John 6. Picture this. As far as Christ’s popularity goes, this was his prime. All of his miracles had been well-broadcasted throughout the area. He had fed thousands of people twice with just a few loaves and fishes. People came from all over to listen to him, hoping to see his miracles for themselves.

Then we get to the sermon of the Bread of Life. Jesus speaks symbolically of the sacrament, and tells everyone that whoever will eat of his body and drink of his blood will have eternal life.

And guess what happened? Almost everyone left. That was it. It was really cool and interesting when bread was being “magically” mass produced, but as soon as Jesus announced that in order to be saved you would need to eat him… well, no one really paused to think about what that meant. Honestly, to those who were hearing about the symbolism of the sacrament for the first time, it would be surprising if they weren’t alarmed. But to simply get up and leave?

Imagine the thoughts and feelings that Jesus must have felt as he watched the better part of his followers leave without waiting for an explanation. Turning to the apostle Peter, he asked him if Peter too would leave.

Peter answered:  “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.”

So it all boils down to this. Are we fair weather Christians? Do we only show our love for Christ when it is easy, and he’s obviously winning? When it’s comfortable? Or do we follow Him to the end? When He asks us to do seemingly crazy things (like eat His body and drink His blood), do we tell Him that He’s crazy, or do we humbly accept His will, do our best to act upon it, and wait patiently for an explanation?