John 6:66-69

66 As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?”  68 Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. 69 “We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”

The morning after Jesus walked on water, heading toward Capernaum, the crowd of people (the 5000 that Jesus fed) wondered where he was. Some of them took boats and went across the lake and found Him there. They wondered how He got there without a boat. Jesus knew that they came to Him to be fed by Him again. Then He began telling them that God would give them bread from heaven and satisfy them forever. He also told them that He was the bread of life from heaven and that if anyone partakes of Him will live forever. When Jesus was saying these things many of the people began to grumble. Some just plain did not believe Him. Others didn’t understand what He was saying; especially when He told them that in order to have eternal life they had to eat His flesh and drink His blood. And He told them that no one could come to Him (believe in Him) unless the Father allowed it. So, this is why so many deserted Him—even many of his disciples.

But, as our text indicates, when Jesus asked if His twelve would desert Him too, Peter spoke up for them and assure Him that they would remain with Him. Why? Peter gave these reasons:

1. They knew of no one else to believe in.
2. Because He has the words of eternal life.
3. They have believed in Him.
4. They have come to know that He is “the Holy One of God.”

These words of Peter’s were genuine and heartfelt. We can’t judge whether Peter or the others at this time were true believers or not—or whether they understood everything He said.  All we know is that they were compelled to stay with Him.