John 6:67-69 “‘You do not want to leave, too, do you?’ Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy one of God.’”

How does Jesus maintain his hold on the hearts he has won? The same way he won them in the first place. “You have the words of eternal life.” There is one world faith in which living an exemplary life on earth doesn’t get you life in the world to come, not necessarily. It only gets you a chance to compete for that life, a little like a good regular season gets you into the playoffs. Then you have to complete nearly impossible tasks to reach heaven’s door. Islam can’t promise you what Jesus does.

There are a number of world religions in which the grand prize at the end is that everything makes you a unique individual disappears, and your life force gets absorbed into the universe like a drop of water falling into the ocean. There is no self at the end, no you, only a vast emptiness. That’s the good outcome! The religions of the Far East—Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism—don’t offer you what Jesus does.

Only one faith has God loving us so passionately that he could not bear to lose us all. So he moved from heaven to earth. He made himself human, so human that even though his conduct was perfect and he performed miracles, most people had trouble detecting any difference. He gave himself no advantages. He put up with all the things we put up with, and more. He gave this body of flesh, and the soul that went with it, for the life of the world. He died to erase every sin, to forgive every fault. He asked nothing in return, no payment for his services.

When he was done he took his life back again, and offered eternal life to all who believed him–real eternal life, in your own perfected body, as the unique person God made you to be, basking in God’s unending love, free from even the slightest discomforts we know now.

That’s the “word” Peter was learning from Jesus, the life he was watching Jesus live, the Holy One of God in whom he was believing. It isn’t just information. It is the word of eternal life. This is still the reason we believe in him today.