So Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?"

Maybe it simply my perception of Jesus or simply my perception of how Jesus was presented by his followers but more and more am I impressed with how wrong I understood Jesus to be. My perception was that Jesus was soft... almost needy. There is a reason for this. I've seen countless images of Jesus holding little lambs and children. I've heard the parables that express this idea that God's love goes out to all... that God will seek out the lost sheep...that God waits in the field for his lost son... that he knows us and has knit our very bones together in the womb. Combine these images and stories together and one begins to have the impression that God simply loves everybody and that Jesus, as God's most effective sacrament, is constantly seeking everybody out and following them around...like a puppy dog almost.

Granted, most of my perception about faith and Christ has been wrong before.

I also don't doubt that God does love everybody and seeks all to come to Him.

What surprises me however is that while God might be soft... even cuddly at times (when we need him to be) Christ is anything but needy. He offers salvation to all but he is not going to chase you down the street and force you to take it. Christ as I now understand it is anything but co-dependent... and this is exactly what you want of your Rock to begin with.

In today's Gospel Jesus lays it on the line for the twelve... he asks, "Do you also wish to go away?" The New American Bible poses the question this way, "Do you also want to leave?" Jesus says this to only a few men. Jesus in his life on earth, in his three years of earthly ministry did not exactly have a mass movement going. Sure he had some crowds when it came to healing but these seemed to drift off as soon as he got going with what it takes to follow. Today's particular passage reveals that some who followed "no longer accompanied him." So even in his ministry he was not able to communicate his message... to be really heard... by many.

And then, with those few he has in his back pocket to begin with, with those die hard followers, he has got the self assurance to offer them a way out. "Do you also wish to go away?"

Jesus is there when you turn but he is not going to chase you down the street when you turn and run the other way.