Forsaken ideal
This sorrowful appeal from the less noble but natural feelings of the twelve to their very highest and most spiritual thoughts was not in this case in vain. The appeal "Will ye also go away?" revealed the higher nature of the Apostles, perhaps even to themselves; showed them that there was something within themselves beyond the judgment of the many, and of the worldly wise, which, without arrogance, could judge more forcibly, more wisely; enabled them to see more clear and bright than ever, the excellence of that Ideal which now for many months had been before them.
I. Who can tell what a sorrow it is for a soul to have set a really high ideal before it, and then to have taken the step of turning away, and to reflect for the rest of life on what might have been, with a little more perseverance, a little more faith in God. Let us think of the dangers that beset us here. There is (1) the danger of apathy. Even to look on such an ideal without love is hardening. To have a conception of some nobleness in character, and not to wish to possess it, not to make some effort after it, lowers us. (2) The danger of changeable-ness in our ideals waste of time and power. As we all have different characters, as our capabilities differ, so do our conceptions. Then, to exchange our own for other men's views is often dangerous, but characters grow; they are not suddenly made. (3) The danger of misjudging other ideals. It is vain for us to think how well we should do in another man's place, instead of being earnest in doing well in our own.
II. Find out your work, then; find out the best outline of it, the ideal of it, and pursue it; knowing that in so doing you follow Christ, you follow light, you follow after life. "For he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." Not in darkness with its fears and fantasies, and exaggerations of earthly objects, but with the light of life before him, fixed in a sure place to guide him, shining in a broad clear track on the face of the sea, shining on his face and rejoicing his eyes with its beauty, not a light only, but a life, a breath, a spirit from on high.
Archbishop Benson, Boy Life, Sundays in Wellington College,p. 109.
References: John 6:66. H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xv., p. 83; S. Macnaughton, Real Religion and Real Life,p. 209. John 6:66-69. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxviii., No. 1646; Homiletic Quarterly,vol. xi., p. 258; vol. xiii., p. 257; A. F. Joscelyne, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xvi., p. 131; G. Jenkins, Ibid.,vol. xxiii., p. 305; E. Bersier, Sermons,2nd series, p. 18.