God is touching us, becoming a part of us, in a unique, powerful, and real way. Regardless of how we understand this teaching today, notice what happened after he spoke it. There was dispute. And the crowds thinned out. And the early church shrank down to but a few faithful.
Churches struggle as a group with faith.
Year after year members fall away, become inactive. And they don't often realize how deeply this hurts their faith walk with Jesus. Churches struggle as a group with what it means to be faithful, and maybe what we need to do every so often is hear afresh the words of Peter as he questioned the hard teachings and wondered what was happening to his backsliding friends. You have the words of eternal life. If we are going to help anyone who is struggling with their faith, our church has to start there.