John 6:59-66
For the third week we’re looking at Jesus’ discourse…first to the people…then to the Jews…then to the disciples…the location of this discussion is not mentioned until well into the sixth chapter of John.
He said all this while He was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum [59)
What a memorable two-day period it had been…first He feeds the 5000…which prompted some to want to make Him king by force…then in the middle of the night He walked on the sea…then the next day in a synagogue He speaks about Himself being the bread of life.
Jesus had referred to Himself as the bread of life and the importance of eating His flesh and drinking His blood…a concept that was too hard to accept…the one standing before them was claiming to be superior to Moses and on an equal with God.
The statement ‘I am the bread of life’ was an especially offensive statement to the Jews…in fact even today…for us to take His words literally turns many people off.
Their reaction then is the same reaction from people today…you can hear the cynicism in their voices: What does he think we are — cannibals?”
“How can this man give us his flesh to eat,” [52]
This was most offensive to Jews because they had been taught all through the centuries that God prohibited the eating of any meat in which there remained any blood.
The reference to eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking His blood is obviously figurative language…one of many differences we have with our Catholic brothers and sisters who believe in Transubstantiation, which is the process by which the bread and wine of the Eucharist is transformed into the Body and Blood of Jesus…that during the Eucharist the cracker turns to flesh and the juice turns to wine.
It is a metaphorical reference to the soul-saving benefit by Christ’s atoning death on the cross and the shedding of his blood.
We believe that Jesus was not speaking literally of His own flesh and blood…we see Jesus’ comments as a hyperbole to make His point.
So, what is Jesus saying? …I want us to examine these verses, so we have a clear understanding of what Jesus meant:
To eat the flesh, and drink the blood of Christ, is to believe that Jesus came in the flesh, and is truly and really man; that his flesh is given for those who believe in Him and his blood is shed for their sins.
Jesus gives six promises as a result of eating His flesh and drinking His blood.
1. Verse 53 – Having no life in oneself
Apart from Jesus we have no life in ourselves…the promise of believing is to have life in Him…having life is associated with believing in the Son of God…if Christ is present then life is present, but when Christ is absent, then death is present.
2. Verse 54a – has eternal life
“And this is the promise God has promised us, even ETERNAL LIFE” [1 John 2:25].
3. Verse 54b – Resurrection on the last day
Resurrection on the last day is the promise of believing.
4. Verse 56 – Remains or abides in Jesus
This is the promise of believing in Jesus…the wording to abide in Jesus is to live in Him or remain in Him…it is connected with eternal life…Jesus connects abiding in Him with never dying.
Proofs of abiding in Christ…that one is truly saved and not just pretending includes obedience to Christ’s commands…[John 15:10; 1 John 3:24]; …following Jesus’ example [1 John 2:6]; …living free from habitual sin [1 John 3:6]; …and the awareness of a divine presence living in us [1 John 4:13].
5. Verse 57 – (you) Live because of Me
Eternal life is the promise of believing in the “I AM”.
6. Verse 58 – Live forever
This is the promise of eating the ‘living bread’…eternal life is the promise of believing.
Unfortunately, the metaphor of eating and drinking was so graphic…so extreme that it caused an uproar so that:
Many of His disciples when they heard this said. “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it (60) as a result: His disciples grumbled at this (61)
It’s important to differentiate between the ‘disciples’ in [60] and the Apostles—the Twelve—in [67].
Remember Jesus has been teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum to ‘many of His disciples’ [60] but in [67] Jesus is alone with the twelve.
Important to remember that when the term disciples is used it’s not necessarily referring to the Twelve Apostles…some of the people who had been following Jesus were disciples but not His Apostles.
So the phrase ‘many of His disciples’ is referencing to those who had been following and learning from Jesus…so it’s not necessarily the Twelve who are having difficulty digesting what Jesus has been telling them.
They’re grumbling at the doctrine Jesus had been teaching them…looking upon it as being absurd…ridiculous…contrary to the senses and reason…so He asks them: does this offend you?
Here’s the irony in this…they’re having a hard time believing that Jesus is the Messiah based on what He said…but just His ability to discern their thoughts proved He had supernatural abilities…that He is God and the doctrine He was teaching must therefore be from God.
They’re taken back by His claims as the Bread of Life and what it means…they’re challenged by what they have been hearing…Jesus’ teaching contradicts many of their traditional Jewish interpretations…so He goes deeper.
If you’re offended by what you have just heard…how much more offended will you be when you see the Son of Man ascending back into Heaven (62).
They professed to believe in Jesus, as the Messiah, yet they did not truly believe in him…their faith was not a living faith, or of a spiritual kind, but a mere historical and temporary one that was hypocritical.
For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that who did not believe (64)
They may have been following him…even professing to believe in him…showing respect and esteem to him…but He could see through all the masks they put on… He knew they had no true faith in him…He knows today whether people’s faith is of the right kind or not…or whether their profession is only a verbal one.
In fact, John goes on to say that He even knew that it was Judas who would eventually betray Him (64).
Then for the fourth time Jesus makes this statement:
No one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father (65).
All four of these verses relate to the same thing causing the controversial doctrine of predestination…such words as ‘choice’ and ‘calling’ imply that God selects who He wants…and that He chooses who will be saved…and everyone is eternally lost.
There’s a controversial and a non-controversial part in that statement…earlier Jesus says:
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day” (6:44)
The non-controversial part is the promise that Jesus will raise from the dead all who come to him…the controversial part is: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”
Contained within the controversial part are two debates within themselves…
On the one hand no one can come to Jesus without God’s drawing him…but God draws everyone, but only some come…God’s drawing doesn’t cause the coming to Him…it only makes the coming possible…the coming to God is actually a decision each person must make on their own.
On the other hand, it could mean that no one can come to Jesus without God’s drawing, but everyone He draws does come to Him…because God’s drawing produces the coming but He only draws some since all don’t come.
How confusing is this…way too confusing…here’s my approach to it:
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.
It’s found in the Methodist interpretation of this verse…John Wesley called it ‘prevenient grace’.
Human beings are totally incapable of responding to God without God first empowering us to have faith…this empowerment is known as “Prevenient Grace.” Prevenient Grace doesn’t save us, rather it draws us to God, making us WANT to come to God, and enabling us to have faith in God.
Prevenient Grace is Universal in as much as all humans receive it, regardless of their having heard of Jesus. It is manifested in the deep-seated desire of most humans to know God.
Jesus has been doing some pretty intense teachings…in fact…theologians are still having difficulty in understanding some of the things Jesus taught…we are on our third week of looking at this discourse and all we’ve really done is just hit the highlights…so we can see how complicated it is.
Jesus has just finished explaining His claim as the ‘true bread from heaven’ …and only those who believe in Him can have eternal life.
This requires a complete commitment…not a shallow interest…His teachings challenged their beliefs and for some…it was simply too much to bear.
Here’s Jesus in the synagogue explaining the essence of salvation…only to have something horribly sad take place…here’s a commentary you might not consider good news…rather than change their minds they walked away.
As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore (66).
What would cause such a thing to occur…to turn away from Jesus…here’s the tragedy in this sermon…it is possible for disciples of Jesus to choose to walk no more with Him…and in this case…not just a few but ‘many.’
Ultimately ‘many’ rejected Christ as the Messiah…at this point there’s a large-scale defection from Christ taking place…many of the superficial followers of Jesus fell away and walked with Him no more …the grumblers were not willing to walk beside Jesus anymore.
Let’s not miss two significant truths in this matter:
…First, those that leave Jesus do so NOT because they have found a deficiency in His character…There is no blemish to be found in Him! (1 Peter 1:19).
…Second, no one walks away from the Lord because they have found a flaw in His teaching, because He is God.
People may not like His doctrine but regardless of how a person responds to His teaching…what He says is truth and is exactly what every person needs to hear and heed to.
This is the fundamental reason people reject Jesus…He simply doesn’t coordinate with their own selfish interests.
This is what we’re seeing today…when attempts are made to apply Christianity to current and world events…when preaching social reform takes precedence over the salvation of men’s souls.
The events that have transpired in America the past weeks have no Scriptural endorsement…the death of anyone is a tragedy and there should be an investigation into his death…but the destruction and death that has occurred since has no justification in the Bible.
Should believers engage in social justice…YES…we should…actively participating in addressing racism…legal immigration…gender inequality…prison reform… human trafficking…being an advocate of the poor and for the rights of women.
Justice in its simplest form means to set things right…but as Christians we must also incorporate Biblical justice into this equation…as Christians our mission is not about choosing causes that sound appealing or supporting those that make us look good.
Biblical justice is about embracing the cause of Christ… insisting on the intrinsic worth of all human beings with the end goal of biblical justice seeing lives reconciled to God and eternally transformed.
Two things occur
First…Jesus did not attempt to hinder those who were leaving Him…he doesn’t run after them…He allows them to leave on their own free will.
Secondly…Jesus issues another challenging question, this time to the Twelve: You do not want to leave too, do you? [v. 67. …the way this question is stated in the Greek it is suggesting a ‘no’ response…’you do not want to go away too, do you.’
They must make a choice then and there… and Jesus is expecting a ‘no’ answer …since Jesus knows people’s hearts…and thoughts, His question is testing their faith and reveals their response to themselves and to one another.
Simon Peter responds on behalf of the Twelve: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life (v. 68). The others had been offended by Jesus’ words, but the Twelve accept Jesus’ claim that his words are spirit and life (v. 63).
They do not claim to have understood everything Jesus has been saying…they won’t be able to understand until after the crucifixion has taken place and the Spirit has guided them into all truth regarding Jesus and all that he has done and taught (14:26; 15:26; 16:13).
But they do recognize that Jesus is speaking from God: We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God (v. 68). The verbs translated believe and know are in the perfect tense, which often suggests a state that began in the past and continues to the present.
Here’s what those who grumbled and left Jesus failed to understand…it’s what the Apostles realized…those who remained recognized Jesus as having the words of life…as being the Holy One of God.
There is no place we can go….no other person we can go to…no other book we can read who has the words of eternal life…for us who know that Jesus has the words of life we are in agreement with the Apostles…’Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life’ [6:68].