hotcoffee
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Jesus the Bread of Life
We left the people on the shore. Jesus told His disciples to take a boat to the other shore while He went back to dismiss the crowd and go up to the mountain to pray. It's almost dawn when Jesus walks across the Sea of Galilee, almost passes the disciples floundering against the winds, gets in the boat with them to save them, and immediately brings the boat to the other side. Then we saw that the people Jesus had dismissed came back looking for Him. Only to learn that He was now near Capernaum. So they rushed to get there because they had more sick of Him to heal and Jesus had fed them. Free healings and free dinners are not easy to come by.
IMHO, the verses here are really rough to digest [please pardon the pun ]. All this talk about flesh and blood is difficult to understand. Let's not forget, though, that Jesus had just spent time talking with God, His Father. I don't know about you, but I had to put all of this in perspective. I have the luxury of having the full gospel [the Bible] to rely on, but these people didn't have that. They were literally running on the flesh and blood [human] perspective.
First of all, people didn't travel by boat at night. The Sea of Galilee was a bowl and when the temperature dropped at night the Sea would develop strong storms. So it was miraculous that Jesus would dismiss them on one side of the Sea one evening and show up on the opposite shore the following morning. That in itself was miraculous. It's quite natural [human] for them to ask "When did you get here!" once they got to Him on the opposite shore.
To me... these people were like the seagulls that gather in a McDonalds parking lot looking for scraps.
Jesus is the Son of God. He had just spent time talking with God so He was back in the Heavenly mode. No doubt He had talked with His Father about the mission and no doubt they had discussed what to do next. He could have gone on feeding and healing the nation of Israel, but what good would that do? When God sent the Manna from Heaven, the people wanted more. When God showed them that He could provide more by bringing the birds in flocks, the people grabbed the birds and ate them even though they were not offered just as food but as a sign.
So when the people who had followed Jesus to Capernaum asked that Jesus would "always" give them this bread, Jesus told them there was more to it than that. Moses had been the leader when they received the manna from heaven, so they followed Moses. They didn't get it that God was the one in charge. God lost His importance in their lives when they got hungry for something new.
Jesus told them that He was there to offer them more than flesh and blood [human] things. He told them He wasn't there just to feed them and heal them. He was there because God had a plan to give them back the eternal life Adam and Eve had thrown away in the garden.
Jesus is telling these people that God sent Him. Jesus is telling these people that His mission was a lot bigger than just feeding a few people on the shore. I think the reason these verses are so hard to understand compared to other things Jesus said shows us that humans just don't get it.
Still they asked “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?"
He could have rained manna or brought in flocks of birds or filled boats with fish for them.... but they still wouldn't have believed. They weren't expecting a carpenter's son from Nazareth to be their Messiah. They were looking for a warrior more like the great King David.
Jesus was here to give us every once of His flesh and blood [human side] on the cross so we could have eternal life.
John 6:25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
30 So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’[c]”
32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”
43 “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. 44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’[d] Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. 46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
30 So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’[c]”
32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”
43 “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. 44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’[d] Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. 46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
We left the people on the shore. Jesus told His disciples to take a boat to the other shore while He went back to dismiss the crowd and go up to the mountain to pray. It's almost dawn when Jesus walks across the Sea of Galilee, almost passes the disciples floundering against the winds, gets in the boat with them to save them, and immediately brings the boat to the other side. Then we saw that the people Jesus had dismissed came back looking for Him. Only to learn that He was now near Capernaum. So they rushed to get there because they had more sick of Him to heal and Jesus had fed them. Free healings and free dinners are not easy to come by.
IMHO, the verses here are really rough to digest [please pardon the pun ]. All this talk about flesh and blood is difficult to understand. Let's not forget, though, that Jesus had just spent time talking with God, His Father. I don't know about you, but I had to put all of this in perspective. I have the luxury of having the full gospel [the Bible] to rely on, but these people didn't have that. They were literally running on the flesh and blood [human] perspective.
First of all, people didn't travel by boat at night. The Sea of Galilee was a bowl and when the temperature dropped at night the Sea would develop strong storms. So it was miraculous that Jesus would dismiss them on one side of the Sea one evening and show up on the opposite shore the following morning. That in itself was miraculous. It's quite natural [human] for them to ask "When did you get here!" once they got to Him on the opposite shore.
To me... these people were like the seagulls that gather in a McDonalds parking lot looking for scraps.
Jesus is the Son of God. He had just spent time talking with God so He was back in the Heavenly mode. No doubt He had talked with His Father about the mission and no doubt they had discussed what to do next. He could have gone on feeding and healing the nation of Israel, but what good would that do? When God sent the Manna from Heaven, the people wanted more. When God showed them that He could provide more by bringing the birds in flocks, the people grabbed the birds and ate them even though they were not offered just as food but as a sign.
So when the people who had followed Jesus to Capernaum asked that Jesus would "always" give them this bread, Jesus told them there was more to it than that. Moses had been the leader when they received the manna from heaven, so they followed Moses. They didn't get it that God was the one in charge. God lost His importance in their lives when they got hungry for something new.
Jesus told them that He was there to offer them more than flesh and blood [human] things. He told them He wasn't there just to feed them and heal them. He was there because God had a plan to give them back the eternal life Adam and Eve had thrown away in the garden.
Jesus is telling these people that God sent Him. Jesus is telling these people that His mission was a lot bigger than just feeding a few people on the shore. I think the reason these verses are so hard to understand compared to other things Jesus said shows us that humans just don't get it.
Still they asked “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?"
He could have rained manna or brought in flocks of birds or filled boats with fish for them.... but they still wouldn't have believed. They weren't expecting a carpenter's son from Nazareth to be their Messiah. They were looking for a warrior more like the great King David.
Jesus was here to give us every once of His flesh and blood [human side] on the cross so we could have eternal life.
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