seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
John 6:1 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Festival was near.
5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages[a] to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, 17 where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. 18 A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles,[b] they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were frightened. 20 But he said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.” 21 Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.
22 The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. 23 Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.
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.
60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit[e] and life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”
66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
70 Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” 71 (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)
Footnotes:
a. John 6:7 Greek take two hundred denarii
b. John 6:19 Or about 5 or 6 kilometers
c. John 6:31 Exodus 16:4; Neh. 9:15; Psalm 78:24,25
d. John 6:45 Isaiah 54:13
e. John 6:63 Or are Spirit; or are spirit
I know this is a long chapter..... I'm using the easy English commentary.
Probably the disciples had money with them, to buy food as they travelled. But because their money was not enough, they did not even offer it. However, this boy had much less than they had. In fact, he was probably poor. Only poor people cooked with barley, which was usually food for animals. But still the boy offered what he had to Jesus.
Jesus had surprised his disciples when he appeared on the water. He also surprised the crowd. They knew that the disciples had left in the boat without him. So the people were waiting for him to return from the hills. But then they realised that he was not coming back to them. So they crossed the lake in some boats that had come from Tiberias. Probably, these boats had come near to the shore in order to find shelter from the storm.
The people found Jesus on the other side of the lake. And they wanted to know how he had travelled there so quickly.
But Jesus did not reply to their question. Instead, he told them that they were concentrating on the wrong things. They had seen him feed over 5000 people with only a small amount of food. This was a wonderful miracle. But they did not understand the real meaning of the miracle. They saw only that Jesus had satisfied their physical hunger. They were concentrating only on the things of earth, not on the things of heaven.
Immediately, the Jews thought that to get eternal life they had to follow rules. Their religion had many rules already. So they were expecting Jesus to give them rules to obey. Then they could earn eternal life for themselves.
But we can never earn eternal life. We can never be good or holy enough for God. Eternal life is God’s gift to us. We must do just one thing to receive it. We must believe in God’s Son, Jesus. We must have faith in him. When we have faith, we become God’s friend. We know that he loves us. We know that he wants to forgive us. Faith is not a set of rules. But when we have faith in Jesus, we want to obey him. Because he loves us, we want to love other people. We want him to guide us so that we do good things. We want him to control every part of our lives.
Jesus’ speech in the synagogue was difficult to understand. But it was difficult also for his Jewish audience to accept as the truth. Jesus was saying that he had come down from heaven. And he was saying that he would return there again. Also, he was saying that people had to eat his flesh. And they had to drink his blood. This idea would have upset them very much.
But Jesus did not argue with them. Instead, he tried to explain that his words had a spiritual meaning, not a physical meaning. People need the help of the Holy Spirit in order to understand that they need God’s life. It is the Father who makes them come to Jesus. They can receive that life only by means of the same Spirit. Jesus’ words were from the Spirit.
But his words caused many of his followers to leave him. Probably, they had followed him because he had given physical food to them. They wanted him to use his power to defeat the Roman rulers. They wanted a Messiah who would fight their enemies. Also, what he said about himself upset them. It was a new idea and they did not want to understand it.
Some time ago... there was a thread that was centered around the blood and bread in this chapter. This is from enduringworld.com.
How can this Man give us His flesh to eat? It’s probable that the Jewish leaders willfully misunderstood Jesus at this point. He just explained that the bread was His body that would be given as a sacrifice for the life of the world (John 6:51). They willfully twisted His words to imply a bizarre cannibalism.
This was the result of their quarreling (The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves). “They differed in their judgment of Him. Some impatiently denounced Him as insane; others suggesting that there was truth in His words.” (Dods)
“Our Savior was, however, led to make these remarks from the fact that the ignorant Jews, when he talked about eating his flesh, and drinking his blood, really thought that he meant that they were to turn cannibals, and eat him up. You may well smile at so ridiculous an idea; yet you know that the idea is still prevalent in the Church of Rome. The Romish priest solemnly assures us that the people who eat the bread and drink the wine, or the stuff he calls bread and wine, do actually act the part of cannibals, and eat the body of Christ, and drink his blood.” (Spurgeon)
Does this offend you? Jesus understood the offence many of His listeners took at His teaching, yet He didn’t change the teaching or feel it was His fault. Jesus didn’t preach just to please His audience. If that was His concern, He would have instantly taken back what was just said, seeing His audience was offended. Jesus didn’t take it back. He challenged and confronted them even more.
Imagine.... there was this guy who held great feast. Thousands and thousands of people would attend this great feast.... they would sit on the grass.... and eat til they were full.... while this guy walked around telling them to be good to one another. The menu was meager... barley bread and fish.... a meager offering but at the feast... it was absolutely delicious. On top of the excellent food and the full belly... the price was excellent.... free! A lot of the men in the crowd thought they were at some kind of political rally. They thought they had a real charismatic character here. They thought He would easily talk circles around the Romans and run them right out of town. On top of that.... Jesus wasn't sending out daily emails asking for contributions to His campaign.... the price was excellent.... free!
Jesus knew He had a bunch of leaches in the crowd. He knew they weren't there because they were followers of the Son of God.... He knew they were there because they thought He would take on Pilate and Herod. They thought He was a bigger badder John the Baptist or Barabus. Jesus.... being the Son of God.... had a better understanding of the human brain.... He knew what they were thinking. As a matter of fact.... He was probably there when God sculpted those bodies as well... and He had probably discussed this situation before they even made it to earth.
The people who sat on the grass that day.... they got a free meal. Others.... some were touched by something Jesus said during that meal.... others were too busy eating and eyeing another helping.... or too self absorbed to listen. Those who were touched.... they were chosen while they were still being sculpted.... and those who were only there for the free meals, healing or the entertainment.... well Jesus needed to shake out those who would have Him fit into their earthly box.... so at the Temple.... when they were supposed to be listening..... He talked about what I like to call "whole hearted Christian life". In that "whole hearted" life.... followers just can't get enough information about Jesus.... followers want more more more.... more Bible stories... more commentary... more prayer.... like that guy who sat on the grass and eyed another helping... we crave more of Jesus.
I wonder.... did God suggest that Jesus talk about the flesh and bone He was giving up to bring the antidote while They were in the workshop where God was sculpting the unbelievers? You know.... Jesus put on that great feast.... and everyone was there to eat up His generous offering.... but the people weren't at the Cross when He offered up His last breath for them. They were on to the next big idea.
It figures... this morning I should read about a magnificent feast. The doctor is going to work on my eye again today so I am fasting due to the surgery. No I'm not miserable.... I'm not complaining.... just saying this is really ironic.