Gospel of St. John
Christ in the Synagogue – 06:41-59
Jesus impressed many people with the feeding of the multitude and walking on the sea during the storm. Now Jesus is teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum. The Jews are the focus of his lesson and the results are quite different.
“The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven? Jesus then answered and said unto them, murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” The Jews were blind to Christ’s divine glory. Many of them knew Joseph and Mary personally. They could not perceive that the Messiah could come as a man who had grown up in their midst. They were not willing to override their personal observations and allow the possibility of the Incarnation. By their murmuring, they show they have not; are not disposed; and with their present self-righteousness, will never come to Christ. It will take intervention on the part of God to change their disposition. Wicked pride of the self-righteous heart is responsible for much unbelief even today.
“It is written in the prophets. And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God; he hath seen the Father. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” Jesus repeated the statement that started them murmuring. It was written in the prophets, that those drawn by God are taught of God. Every man that heard and learned of the Father from the prophets cometh unto Christ. Those who do not come either did not hear or did not learn. The only man who has seen God and is qualified to speak on the subject is Jesus and his purpose was to more fully reveal the Father unto the Jews.
“I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” This gospel contains seven titles of Christ that are not found elsewhere. “I am that bread of life” is the first. He is also “the light of the world”, “the door”, “the good shepherd”, “the resurrection and the life”, “the way, the truth and the life”, and “the true vine.” Jesus contrasts His “bread of life” with the manna in the wilderness and then died. Manna was to satisfy a temporal need. It was not intended to immortalize them. We learn there can be two deaths – the first physical and the second spiritual. The true bread is to satisfy a spiritual need and will prevent a second death.
Consider these attributes of eating in a spiritual sense to fully understand the need to eat of the presence of Christ.
“The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. . . . This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live forever.” Christ is beginning to explain that he will become a willing sacrificial victim, in place of both Gentiles and Jews, to secure their salvation. A man who continues in spiritual depravity, in condemnation, moral pollution and hopeless wretchedness has no life in him. Christ’s sacrifice will provide the bread of life when his death becomes the base of a new life in us. The key to this whole section is to view it spiritually. He must reign in our hearts and not just in external rituals.
Christ and His Disciples – 06:60-71
The Jews murmured at Jesus’ sayings and now we hear the disciples found this hard to understand as well.
“He said unto them, Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” This chapter began with the success of Jesus’ feeding of the multitudes and the people followed him to see more. It is similar to his experience in Judah where he met with early success but then many were turned off by his difficult requirements. His disciples were even concerned about how to understand the meaning of something so foreign to their lives. We consider ourselves a “hard sell” in our culture but this is not unique to modern societies. Christ said he was the bread come down from heaven. That identifies his divine Incarnation. He stated he must die to give up his flesh and blood in the crucifixion. Now, by asking if they would be offended to see him ascend from whence he had come, he is talking of His resurrection. He clearly tells them to forget about benefits of the flesh. Only the spirit quickeneth and provides life for all that believe. We must be regenerated from our fleshly bonds to spiritual freedom.
“But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.” Jesus knew these teachings were hard. He knew not all the disciples could accept them. He understood the difficulty of foregoing the understanding of the physical life for the sake of spiritual uncertainty. Again, we hear that we cannot become regenerate if we depend exclusively on our own physical abilities. We need a spiritual jump start. We need an insight into a world we cannot see from here. The spiritual shove must come from the spiritual side if we are to withstand the temptations of this world and the unknowns of the world to come.
When Jesus says, we come to him only when drawn by God or when God gives us the spirit, he is illustrating how difficult it would be for us to come to God on our own. This is not to say that God decides which of us is to be saved and which are to be ignored. That is not what Christ is saying. The offer is open to all. Those ignoring the spiritual stimulus will succumb to their natural tendencies and be denied everlasting life. Those who believe will be saved.
“Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve.” Jesus wants no unwilling followers and now asks the apostles if they desire to go also. He watched some of his disciples leave because they love pleasure more than God. He watched some follow erroneous doctrines and go in another direction. This was a chance for the twelve to go with the popular crowd and abandon what appeared to be a failing cause. We worry about failure when attendance drops.
The wondrous miracles attracted many but they were repelled by the teaching of Jesus. Now we see exactly why Jesus did not simply use miracles to attract a mega following. He knew they would abandon him when the discipline of his teaching became a reality. Simon answered with a very good question, “To whom shall we go?” To the twelve, the words of eternal life were not optional. They believed that He was Christ and the Son of the living God. What is the difference between “We believe and are sure” and “We are sure and believe?” The natural man says, “Seeing is believing”; but the spiritual man believes in order to see.”
Christ knew that Judas would betray him. Why did he choose him? Perhaps he was chosen to show that you can be close to Christ and still be lost. Perhaps it was to teach us that we can expect hypocrites and devils among the servants of God.
Capernaum Synagogue