John 6:30 They said therefore to him, “What sign will you perform, that we may see and believe you? What work do you do? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness. As it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’” Exodus 16:4; Nehemiah 9:15; Psalm 78:24-25
But the people were hard-hearted. They still demanded a sign; specifically they wanted free bread to fill their bellies. They tried to goad Jesus into providing them with bread by reminding him that their ancestors were given manna in the wilderness. They even quoted Scripture because there is nothing like quoting Scripture out of context to try to get what you want. But Jesus saw through their manipulation and quickly corrected them, redirecting them back to ultimate spiritual truths.
John 6:32 Jesus therefore said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, it wasn’t Moses who gave you the bread out of heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread out of heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”
34 They said therefore to him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”
The people were still thinking about the barley cakes that Jesus had miraculously multiplied but Jesus was using bread as a metaphor for something far greater.
John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I Am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will not be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But I told you that you have seen me, and yet you don’t believe.
Just as Christ had offered the woman at the well living water, he now offers the people the bread of life. Those who believe in Christ will never thirst or hunger again for meaning, belonging, or purpose, for they will be reborn again into the family of God, granted eternal salvation, and adopted as sons and daughters.
All those that are justified, God vouchsafeth, in and for his only Son Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the grace of adoption, by which they are taken into the number, and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God, have his name put upon them, receive the Spirit of adoption, have access to the throne of grace with boldness, are enabled to cry, Abba, Father, are pitied, protected, provided for, and chastened by him, as by a father: yet never cast off, but sealed to the day of redemption; and inherit the promises, as heirs of everlasting salvation. Westminster Confession of Faith, Of Adoption
John 6:37 All those whom the Father gives me will come to me. He who comes to me I will in no way throw out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 39 This is the will of my Father who sent me, that of all he has given to me I should lose nothing, but should raise him up at the last day. 40 This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Jesus began teaching those who questioned him about a great spiritual mystery. A mystery that, even today, people chafe against. We think that we come to God, but Christ actually clarifies by saying that “All those whom the Father gives me will come to me.” As Christ had taught earlier, “The Father raises the dead and gives them life.” John 5:21 And as the Apostle Paul would teach, “we were dead because of our sins, but God loved us so much he made us alive with Christ.” Ephesians 2:5 We are dead in our sins. Just as physically dead men cannot in their own power come back to life, so too, spiritually dead men cannot make themselves spiritually alive. What can be done to rescue us? Christ came to do the will of God the Father.
What is the will of God the Father?
This is the will of my Father who sent me, that of all he has given to me I should lose nothing, but should raise him up at the last day. v39
Christ is explaining that though it may not feel like it, when we come to Christ it is all the work of the Father. How? The Father first makes us spiritually alive and then gives us to Christ to be his own. Christ then promises the Father that he will not lose any of those that the Father has given him. This was difficult for the Jewish religious leaders to understand.
Even today, many worry about losing their salvation as if they initiated their coming to Christ. However, realizing that you were actually dead and that it was God who initiated your salvation, raising you to life, brings great assurance. And on top of God bringing you to life and giving you to Christ, Christ promises you, “all he has given to me I should lose nothing, but should raise him up at the last day.” v39 If you belong to Christ, he cannot lose you.
John 6:41 The Jews therefore murmured concerning him, because he said, “I Am the bread which came down out of heaven.” 42 They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then does he say, ‘I have come down out of heaven?’”
The leaders thought they knew who Jesus was. He was the son of Joseph and Mary. How can he say he came down out of heaven? Is he delusional?
Knowing their thoughts Jesus doubled down.
John 6:43 Therefore Jesus answered them, “Don’t murmur among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me compels him, and I will raise him up in the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God’ Isaiah 54:13 Therefore everyone who hears from the Father and has learned, comes to me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God. He has seen the Father. 47 Most certainly, I tell you, he who believes in me has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. 50 This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, that anyone may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. Yes, the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Because we are all dead in our sins No one can come to [Christ] unless the Father who sent me compels him, and I will raise him up in the last day. This was all too much for the Pharisees and other leaders to comprehend. Jesus had made the claim that he was deity by insisting that he came down from heaven to do the will of God the Father. He had claimed that he could supply living water. And now he was saying that he offered living bread which came down out of heaven.
John 6:52 The Jews therefore contended with one another, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
53 Jesus therefore said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have life in yourselves. 54 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he who feeds on me, he will also live because of me. 58 This is the bread which came down out of heaven—not as our fathers ate the manna, and died. He who eats this bread will live forever.” 59 He said these things in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.
How are we to understand this?
Life is a gift to celebrate. Life is beautiful, amazing, thrilling, and at the same time tragic, because even in the midst of life’s joys, all men are dying.
Death is the ultimate enemy – and I find nothing reproachable in those who rage mightily against the dying of the light. Stephen Jay Gould, New York Times, 5-21-2002
Jesus, the Creator of life, Jesus, sent by God the Father, Jesus, the living Redeemer, and Jesus, who alone is the source of life and light, came to offer eternal life to all who would put their trust in him. We may rage mightily against the dying of the light, but our rage will not stop death. Only Christ has defeated death and risen to life. The sting is taken out of death, only for those who are reborn by confessing their lifetime of sins and accepting the free gift of Christ. Those who are united with Christ and seek him for their sustenance, feeding daily on him, are promised eternal life.
54 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I in him.
What bread are you feeding on?
Christ, in speaking of his blood and flesh is calling for total commitment. Believers are to be united with Christ. This is not the casual, “Jesus-is-my-friend-in- times-of-need” commitment that many Christians are comfortable with.
Christ’s words here were prophetic in at least two ways.
First, there is the obvious reference to the command for the Church to perpetually remember Christ through the sacrament of communion; the bread and wine.
The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
And second, those who are united with Christ must demonstrate total commitment because nothing less is required to withstand the kind of persecution that Jesus endured.
Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. John 15:20
John 6:60 Therefore many of his disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying! Who can listen to it?”
This was just so unbelievable many of those following Jesus wanted him to water down his teachings because his words were just too hard. “Who can listen to it?” they asked.
John 6:61 But Jesus knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble? 62 Then what if you would see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life. 64 But there are some of you who don’t believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who didn’t believe, and who it was who would betray him. 65 He said, “For this cause I have said to you that no one can come to me, unless it is given to him by my Father.”
Over the course of his ministry, Jesus cryptically reveals more and more of God’s plan to his disciples, but because he intentionally speaks in veiled language they are again confused about his meaning. In addressing their confusion Jesus says in effect, “If the idea of my flesh for food and my blood for drink…causes you to stumble … wait until you see the Son of Man ascending [into heaven.]” And that is just what happened. Luke writes that as Jesus, clothed in glory, ascended into heaven, the disciples were standing there in awe watching. Suddenly two angels appeared and said, “Men of Galilee why do you stand here looking into the sky?” Acts 1:11
Can you imagine their amazement mixed with sorrow? What a whirlwind of events. Their teacher, mentor, and friend had been crucified, but then amazingly he had risen from the dead and was back with them for forty days. But then, to their sorrow, he was leaving them as he ascended into heaven. How could they sort this all out?
John 6:66 At this, many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. 67 Jesus said therefore to the twelve, “You don’t also want to go away, do you?”
68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You alone have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
70 Jesus answered them, “Didn’t I choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?” 71 Now he spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for it was he who would betray him, being one of the twelve.
Although Jesus insisted that the words that he spoke were spirit and life, some of his followers did not believe in his claim to be one with God the Father. Jesus knew that there were those who followed him for temporal reasons other than true committed faith. Perhaps they were looking for a king to overthrow their Roman occupiers. Perhaps they wanted healing from their infirmities, or perhaps they wanted free food, or, as was the case with Judas, he wanted free access to the company’s money. Those following Jesus for selfish reasons, for what they could get out of it, had not been given to Jesus by God the Father. “No on can come to me unless it is given to him by the Father. In fact, at this, many of his disciples went back, and walked with him no more.
To this, Jesus asked the Twelve, “You don’t also want to go away, do you?” To which Peter, speaking for the group answered, “Lord, to whom would we go? You alone have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Yes, Jesus’ parables and sayings were hard to grasp and confusing to understand but Peter acknowledged that Jesus’ words were alone the true words of life.
Have you ever been tempted to leave the faith?
Where would you go?
Would you flee to Muhammad and join his worldwide jihad, murdering all those who disagree with his teachings, in a futile attempt to earn paradise? Surah 4:89, 9:5, 47:4
Would you join Buddha and try to lose yourself so that you could be absorbed into the oneness of Nirvana?
Would you embrace the atheist’s hedonism, eating, drinking, and making merry, in the hope that there is no afterlife?
No.
If you want the assurance of the words of eternal life, there is only one to follow, Jesus, who gave his life that you may live!