As I’ve explained before, trying to follow the words of Jesus through His public ministry can be a little confusing as the four Gospel accounts are not presented in chronological order and vary from one to another. I prefer trying to follow a chronology though, because as we get closer to the end it illustrates how Jesus was in control of events that would eventually lead to His crucifixion, another proof of the fact He is the Son of God. For that reason I choose to follow the extensive work of those who spent years putting a chronology together.
For example. we just finished Matthew 13 and an examination of the eight parables found there. However, the next event that followed was Jesus giving instruction and warning to His disciples as He sends them out to minister on their own, and the account is found several chapters earlier in Matthew 10. Then there are several events recorded that involve little or no red letters as Jesus learns of the death of John the Baptist, He miraculously feeds 5,000 people and calms a stormy sea and walks on water, all recorded in Matthew 14.
Then the next section of red letters of any significance is found only in John 6 and is His rather long discourse on the Bread of Life starting in verse 26 and going to the end of the chapter and verse 71. Jesus by now is in His third tour of Galilee (also called Sea of Tiberias or Gennesaret depending on the account) and this scene takes place at the northern shore of the sea near Capernaum. As before Jesus’ reputation was such that large crowds sought Him out wherever He went throughout that region.
We’ll start in verse 25 to set the scene. “And when the crowd found Him on the other side of the sea, they asked Him, Teacher, when did You come here, we’ve been looking for You.” “Then Jesus answered, 'I’m telling you the truth, you’re not looking for Me because you saw the miracles but because you ate the loaves and were filled and satisfied.” (Verse 26) Here Jesus is actually scolding them. Keep in mind He always knew what men were thinking and what their true intentions and motivations were. And even though we can be confident they did not understand His comment, He’s telling them their reason for searching Him out was not because the miracles He performed had convinced them He was the Messiah, instead it was their fleshly appetites — they were hungry.
“Stop working for food that will perish, but work to gain the food that endures to give everlasting life. The Son of Man will give you that, because the Father has set His seal of approval on Him.” (Verse 27) The “seal of approval” here is actually the Father’s endorsement of Jesus continually confirmed by Him possessing the Spirit without measure or limit (John 3:34) and shown by the miraculous things He was able to do (John 3:2). Here Jesus is going to steer the conversation towards spiritual issues as He usually did (remember how he controlled the conversation with the Samaritan woman).
The people Jesus dealt with were not spiritually minded. They lived in a deceptive, religious culture that made that impossible. We've already seen that illustrated in Jesus' conversations with Nicodemus and the rich young ruler. They are presented in scripture as the best Judaism had to offer, one in education and training, the other in religious fervor. So, the people Jesus engaged in conversation were both ignorant and fleshly, making it necessary to at least try to guide them in a spiritual direction. But in most cases His attempts are futile.
So now the subject is “work” and since everlasting life was mentioned, now God is in the conversation. “Then they said, ‘What are we supposed to do that we may be doing the work that God requires.” (Verse 28) Here “work” is ergazomai, a word usually used to describe work in a good sense, that is, work that produces something beneficial or profitable. And in the next verse Jesus defines this “work” in the clearest way possible. “Jesus answered, ‘This is the work that God asks of you: that you trust in the One Whom He has sent.” (Verse 29)
There is an important term here that should be discussed. Where you see “trust” above (“believe” in the KJV), the word is pistueo and is found three times in this passage (verses 29, 35 and 40). When this verb is translated “believe” it does not carry the strength or importance it should. To believe something could merely convey the idea of agreement or mental assent. The meaning of pisteuo is much stronger than that. It means, to be persuaded, to place confidence in or trust completely, to place a firm reliance on as opposed to mere credence. John uses this word ninety-nine times in his gospel.
A good way to further explain this is to look at the noun form pistis, usually translated “faith”, another example of a weak or incomplete meaning. It should convey the idea of a firm persuasion or conviction. To carry this idea out to its fullest meaning, it is something that determines your decisions, actions or attitudes influencing your lifestyle. Literally, it’s what you do because of what you are convinced is right or true. The application then becomes obvious: if you are persuaded that Jesus is the Son of God, if you have complete confidence in Him and (in this context) His promise of everlasting life, then you will follow Him, obey Him, serve Him and strive to be like Him. This is the “work” God asks of us.
Now we come to an interesting exchange. I’ll start by reminding you that Jesus has identified Himself as the Son of Man (understood by the crowd to mean the Son of God or Messiah) earlier in verse 27. “Then they said to Him, what miracle can you perform so we can see it and believe in You? What can you do now? Our forefathers ate manna in the desert, as it has been written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” (Verses 30-31) I think the underlying meaning of what they just said is something more like. “multiplying bread like You did the other day is nothing unusual, Moses gave Israel bread from heaven for forty years and he never claimed to be the Messiah or the Son of God.”
“Then Jesus answered, ‘I’m telling you the truth, Moses did not give you the Bread from heaven, but it is My Father Who gives you the true Bread from heaven.” (Verse 32) To most Jews of the day, Moses was their hero and was consistently given credit for things he did not or could not do. Here Jesus reminds them that it wasn’t Moses who gave Israel the manna from heaven, it was the Father. Then in the next verse He explains the differ-
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ence between the manna in the desert and the Bread from Heaven. “For the Bread of God is He Who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (Verse 33) The manna in the desert only nourished the body and satisfied hunger; the Bread of God feeds the soul and spirit and gives eternal life.
The next verse gives no indication that the crowd understood Jesus to be talking about anything more than ordinary bread. “Then they said to Him, Lord just keep giving us this bread.” (Verse 35) And the unbelief is still apparent in the following exchange when Jesus begins to explain the meaning of the true bread that came down from heaven and the Jews reject what He’s saying because they recognize Him again as just the son of Joseph.
“Jesus replied, ‘I am the Bread of life. He who comes to Me will never be hungry, and he who trusts in Me will never be thirsty.” (Verse 35) Of course, Jesus is speaking in terms these Jews obviously will not understand. His point is that those who trust in Him will have a continual source of spiritual food and water for the soul and spirit. Without going into a lot of detail, He’s talking about the ministry of the Holy Spirit available to all who trust in Him.
“But as I have told you, even though you have seen Me, still you do not trust in Me” (Verse 36) In other words, you’ve seen Me multiply bread and perform all sorts of miracles, but you still refuse to trust in Me. You’re still following Me around for purely fleshly reasons. You want to be fed or healed or see some new thing. It’s all about now, what’s in it for me, with no eternal, spiritual perspective.
This is one of those places in scripture where Jesus hits the crowd with a massive jolt of truth to bring them to a point of exposing their unbelief. He knows full well before He says it that they will reject it outright. It’s actually a beautiful thing to watch. This is what He says. “All those the Father gives to Me will come to Me and I will never reject anyone who comes to Me. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of the One Who sent Me. And this is the will of Him Who sent Me, that I should not lose any of all that He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day. And this is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks to Me and trusts in Me should have eternal life, and I will raise him from the dead at the last day.” (Verses 37-40)
What Jesus says in these four verses were sure to be rejected as we will see in verse 41-42. He emphasizes His intimate relationship with the Father, makes Himself the central figure in the issue of eternal life (“anyone who comes to Me”), claims to have come down from heaven (implying His preexistence), says He is only doing the “will” (from thelema, good pleasure) of the Father and talks about the resurrection and personally being able to raise people from the dead. All of these things would have been not just difficult, but impossible, for them to understand.
Their limited ability to grasp what He just said is apparent in their response. “Now the
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Jews found fault because He said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.” So, they kept asking one another, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph. We know his father and his mother. How can He now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” (Verses 41-42) Most everything mentioned above goes unnoticed except Jesus’ claim to be the bread that came down from heaven.
So now Jesus begins to explain the Bread of Life and how it is received in more detail. However, the illustrative language He uses to describe real spiritual principles is still going to be rejected by these Jews. Again, there was simply nothing in their culture or their religious experience that could prepare them to understand these things. Could Jesus in His wisdom and with the leadership of the Holy Spirit approached these things any differently or effectively?
“Jesus answered, ‘Stop murmuring among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me gives him the desire to come to me, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets, And they will all have God for their own personal teacher. And everyone who has listened to and learned from the father comes to Me. (Isaiah 54:13) Not to suggest that anyone has actually seen the Father, except the One Who comes from God; He alone has seen the Father.” (Verses 43-46)
Maybe we should stop here and look at the word translated “seen”. It’s from horao and can be used two different ways. The first is to see with the eyes, the second is to perceive with the mind. The context here is having God as your own personal teacher, to listen to Him and learn from Him. However, Jesus makes it clear this does not involve physical sight. He alone is the only One Who has really seen the Father, as He alone is the only One Who has come from the Father.
“I’m telling you the truth, he who trusts in Me has eternal life. I am the Bread of Life. Remember, your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they all died. But here is the Bread that comes down from heaven, and anyone may eat of it and never die. I am this living Bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread, he will live forever. And the Bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”
(Verses 47-51)
This is where we have to end this lesson. Jesus is about to add something to the conversation that is going to confound the Jews, even anger them. But the content is both important and instructive, as it involves the sacrifice of Himself and the remembrance of it with Communion or the Lord’s Supper. The mention of His flesh in verse 51 takes this to a whole different level of rejection by the Jews and even his followers.
“Then the Jews began to angrily contend among themselves, saying, ‘How can He give us His flesh to eat?”