Reflection on John 6 #3

When Jesus told the Jews, "For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." The people responded eagerly, "Sir, from now on give us this bread." They probably ignored the two important things in Jesus' statement. First, Jesus claimed Himself being the bread which could sustain life. Second, Jesus claimed He had a unique divine origin and authority. So Jesus went on to explain to them, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." Jesus told them the truth clearly. 

Exactly at this point, "the Jews began to grumble about him". Among those grumpy, there must be some local guys who knew Jesus' family well. They turned to each other with cynical look on their faces and questioned, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven?’" Yes, they knew something about Jesus' background. But did they also know Jesus' performed many miraculous signs? Did they remember John the Baptist's testimony about Him being "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world"? Did they recall around the time Jesus was born, Herod ordered to kill all the boys in Bethlehem who were two years old and younger to make sure that Jesus was murdered? Did their memory fail them or they chose to be ignorant? The Scripture and Jesus' sinless life had given ample proof of His unique and divine authority. Those who scoffed at Jesus were responsible for their unbelief. They didn't bring their doubt to Jesus but disputed both of His claims among themselves. Jesus said to them, "Stop grumbling among yourselves." They would not be able to find the answers to their questions by grumbling, disputing among themselves. They needed to come to Jesus to find the truth. Since "No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father." Any open, sincere, unprejudiced mind should consider Jesus' claims. But consideration at intellectual level is far from enough. Faith or unbelief in Jesus is a spiritual issue rather than an intellectual one.

Jesus said, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, .... Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me." Salvation begins with the Father who draws people to Christ. The same God who sent His Son Jesus draws people to His Son. Only a heart which yields to the Holy Spirit's drawing power can grasp Jesus' divine origin. All who respond to the Holy Spirit's drawing to faith in Jesus Christ open their hearts to understand the Scripture because "They will be taught by God" inwardly and directly. For those humble ones, Jesus promised, "I will raise him up at the last day, .... he who believes has everlasting life, .... he will live forever." Jesus will hold and keep all who come to Him, and grant them eternal life, an entirely new quality of life that begins now and lasts forever. On the other hand, for those who only grumble among themselves, they are actually hostile toward God the Father. The true meaning of the Scripture seems obscure to them. Their rebellious hearts and prejudiced minds made the Scripture a closed book. God holds responsible those who refuse to believe the truth about His Son.

The foundation of all true faith in Jesus Christ is His unique deity and His gracious offering of His life for the life of the world. Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. ... I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." Jesus' meaning is clear. He said His flesh, His human life is the bread of life. He would give His life for the life of the world. Believers eat spiritually of Jesus as their bread of everlasting life. When Jesus made it clear that the bread He offered for the spiritually hungry world was His own flesh, His own life, "the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves". It was not surprising that Jesus' words about "the bread of life" unsettled them and were the focus of their argument. Again, they argued "sharply among themselves" instead of bringing their questions to Jesus. They should ask, "How can you give us your flesh to eat?" But they asked, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" They still refused to consider the spiritual meaning of His words.

Jesus responded with even more challenging teaching. He spoke not only His flesh being the real food but also His blood being the real drink. He said, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ... For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink." Eating, drinking and feeding on Jesus are pictures of believers taking hold of Jesus and making His human life their own. Through faith, we take Jesus to be our very life or share in His nature, as Jesus said, "Whoever eats my flesh and drink my blood remains in me, and I in him." As we depend on His Spirit within us, we continue to "eat His flesh and drink His blood" to grow in His likeness. And we shall see the results He promises, "has eternal life, ... will live forever." Jesus personally claimed Himself being the eternal life giving bread and drink. He openly invited His listeners who by faith deliberately and spiritually "drink His blood and eat His flesh" to have everlasting life. He left no room for His listeners to think any alternative ways to have eternal life. On that day, "in the synagogue in Capernaum", Jesus' listeners were called to make an unavoidable personal choice.

On hearing Jesus' claims, many who had considered themselves His disciples criticized, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" Most people can learn to understand "a hard teaching". But few will accept "a hard teaching", or a harsh or offensive teaching. The problem here is not the level of intellectual understanding, but the willingness of acceptance from the bottom of people's hearts. Jesus offered people eternal life in Himself. But people wanted Jesus to give them free food and political freedom. They didn't want to admit they were sinners so they didn't see the need of a suffering Messiah who would shed His blood for the forgiveness of their sins. They refused to accept Jesus' words about drinking His blood that was shed for them.

"Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this" important issue, Jesus knew their heart attitude. He asked, "Does this offend you?" The disciples' hearts were challenged, not their minds. Jesus continued, "What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before!" Jesus reminded His disciples again about His divine origin by pointing to His future ascension. Jesus emphasized His unique origin to claim His authority to require His disciples to have faith in Him. Then He simply told His disciples to stop keeping their focus on worldly needs, but pay attention to the spiritual meaning of His words. He said, "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life." Jesus' words have deep spiritual meaning, carrying the authority given by His Father, were to be taken or accepted by people's hearts. Jesus' words cannot be understood in the physical sense that offended so many who heard them, like Jesus said, "Yet, there are some of you who do not believe." Those superficial disciples found Jesus' teaching hard to believe because they closed their spiritual eyes. Not understanding does not always result in not believing. Not believing results in not understanding. Once people believe, they will understand more and more Bible passages that formerly seemed obscure to them. Understanding involves ability. Believing or accepting only involves willingness. Those who refuse to accept the truth are responsible for their unbelief. Along with people's responsibility to believe the truth, Jesus went on to say, "No one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him." The willingness in people's hearts to come to Jesus is a gift from God. Jesus calls each of us to accept this gracious gift into our hearts.

Many of Jesus' listeners rejected His offer. "From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him." The majority turned their backs on Jesus and abandoned Him. Jesus was not their idea of Messiah. The crowd was gone. They left Jesus and distanced themselves from His conscience disturbing words. Jesus' popularity dropped so quickly. When Jesus turned back, He asked the Twelve, "You do not want to leave too, do you?" I can feel the sadness in His tone. The fact many who formerly followed Him around no longer wanted to follow Him proved that they had never truly believed. Yet Jesus suffered by their open rejection. He showed that He and His Father got hurt when souls got lost.

Simon Peter represented the other disciples (not including Judas) to answer Jesus, "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." Even though they didn't yet understand Jesus' words fully, they wanted to trust Him based on what they had understood. Faith in Jesus is not simply a one-time decision, but a moment by moment life relationship with Jesus. As Jesus lived by remaining in His Father, Jesus has made it possible for His true disciples to live remaining in Him. True disciples are gifts given to Him by His Father. Jesus will keep them safely in His hands.