Feeding of the Five Thousand
The Jews Grumble (41-46)
The scene likely moved into the synagogue, where Jesus continued to explain the sign of feeding the 5,000 (59).
As soon as Jesus proclaimed Himself to be God, the unbelieving Jews began to grumble. They faithlessly scoffed, “The bastard son of Joseph and Mary?—Are you kidding me?” Just the thought of Jesus' scandalous parents was enough to condemn any suggestion that He came from God (41-42).
Jesus then asked them to cease their complaining and whispering among themselves regarding His scandalous birth and His claim to be sent from God (43).
Jesus added that they were in no place to make assessments of Him, for no one could be drawn to Him and understand Him, much less know Him, unless the Father were to draw them. Those whom the Father had drawn were going to be the same people who would be raised up on the final day (44).
Jesus, quoting the prophets (Isaiah 54:13; Jeremiah 31:34), told the complaining Jews a spiritual truth. All who came to Christ would be “taught by God”; all who came would come because they had “learned from the Father.” They would have no manipulative teacher, no grandiose messiah. The Father would teach people about the Messiah, and they would give their allegiance, not based on exploitation but on the Father's teaching. Jewish leaders had been manipulating for so long that they had no idea how the Father could directly teach a heart (45).
Jesus who was God did not obsess the world with Himself but pointed to the Father. Jesus was no false messiah seeking a following for Himself, but He was seeking a following for His Father. He had seen the Father, so He really knew and loved the Father, did the will of the Father, and kept safe those whom the Father was saving. False messiahs were always creating a following for themselves, but Jesus' whole mission was to get people to the Father and keep them safe with the Father (46).
Jesus Summarizes His Teaching and Signs (47-59)
Jesus warned them to listen carefully again: “Truly Truly.” Everyone who possessed a constant believing allegiance to whom the Father had sent would have eternal life (47).
Jesus was God and the Father's source of eternal nourishment (48). Even the Manna in the wilderness, provided by God, did not sustain eternal life (49). Jesus, the true eternal Bread of God sent from Heaven, was who they could feast on and not die (50).
Jesus then began the most difficult part of the passage, the offensive part, the messages that began to transform those who believed.
Jesus claimed He was the living Bread. He, like manna, came from Heaven, from His Father. If anyone were to eat of this Bread, the loaf of His flesh, they were promised eternal life. The Bread given for the life of the world was the loaf of His flesh. Jesus was clearly stating that to experience eternal life, one must eat His sacrificed life (51).
The Jews were just like religious people who don't understand something new and interrupt before the speaker is finished, rejecting it before they fully hear or understand. Their mocking of what Jesus said interrupted Jesus so we don't get to hear Him finish (52).
Jesus then started anew, grafting into His explanation their mocking, unbelieving disputes.
Unless they ate Jesus' sacrificed body and drank His sacrificed blood, they could have no life in them at all. We know Jesus was talking about His sacrificed life because, in verse 51, Jesus clearly states He would—future-tense—“give” His flesh to the world so they could partake of life. Those who feasted on His sacrificed flesh and blood would immediately experience eternal life and would also be raised in the resurrection on the last day of the last days (53-54).
Jesus did not back down as He pushed the metaphor with layered intensity. His sacrificed body was true food. His blood shed in the sacrifice was true drink (55). Whoever would feed and drink on His sacrifice would come to find a home in Jesus, and Jesus would find a home in them. The word for “home” or “abiding” in the Greek is meno. This meno concept is important to John as the Father had made a meno, or “remaining home,” in the Son; the Spirit had made a “remaining home” in the Son; and those who gave their believing allegiance to Christ would find a “remaining home” in Him (56).
Jesus' life was in the living Father who sent Him. Jesus fed on the living Father who sent Him. Jesus fed on the Father's “sacrificial” mission, His “sacrificial” Word.
In the same way, whoever fed on Jesus, on the words of Jesus’ “sacrificial” mission, would live.
They must feed on the sacrificed Jesus and the word and mission of Jesus' sacrificed life. This was the source of all life; this was how the entire world would be turned around and thrive in life (57).
Jesus then declared that this was the kind of Bread He was giving them. This was the true Passover Bread, His sacrificed life. This bread was not like the manna that was eaten but could not sustain eternal living conditions. The sacrificial loaf of Christ's flesh would sustain life eternally (58).
Offended Disciples (60-71)
Jesus' metaphor concerning His body was too much for some to take. It was difficult to stomach. Some felt He had gone too far, and even His own disciples were questioning His wisdom in using such a graphic, offensive object lesson to explain a truth they didn't even like considering. Jesus then encouraged His disciples not to become offended by the metaphor He used, even if it did thin out some of His followers (60-61).
Here was the problem: Jesus' explanation of the Messiah's world was turning people's worldview on its head. They imagined the Prophet, like Moses or the Messiah, to be a certain way, overcoming and conquering Roman oppression and liberating them. His metaphor of Himself was not fitting into their mental picture. The multitude ate bread but were not interested in contemplating what the sign was pointing to. The bread they ate was tangible, but it was also a sign pointing to something abstract. Jesus was not just the source of miracles—He was the true Bread of God with which the Father was wanting to feed the world.
Then Jesus took the metaphor further—they would need to eat His flesh as they would an animal sacrifice, literally the Passover sacrifice. This view of the Messiah was crumbling their entire worldview of who the Messiah should be.
Remember, this entire Gospel is about the Word becoming flesh. Jesus was not a good idea or a novel concept in John's revealing of the Gospel. Jesus was the very Word of God. Part of God's Word in Jesus was His sacrificial mission. What was difficult to comprehend was not the eating of Jesus' flesh as much as the fact that the Kingdom coming would end up in the sacrificial death of the King.
Eating or partaking of the sacrificed life may have been a metaphor they could have grasped, but their Messiah being an actual sacrifice was too much.
So, here in this verse, what does the ascension of the Son of Man have to do with the explanation of eating the loaf of Jesus' sacrificed body?
Jesus was asking His disciples to consider what His ascension just might mean. Jesus wanted them to consider that possibly the King and His Kingdom were from another world. Maybe Jesus was not just the King of Earth but of Heaven and Earth, and His reign was different from what they had ever experienced or imagined (62).
Jesus announced that it was the Spirit who gave life. What Jesus had been talking about was more than just a physical body; His words had Spirit-significance and were life-giving. They were not to think in flesh terms. God was doing something of His Spirit that would give life. A sacrifice was coming, but also a resurrection and ascension. These events would be Spirit-events and life-giving events. Those who gave their believing allegiance to Jesus would need to learn to feast on His words, which would become actual reality. Jesus was putting the whole world back together again—He was reuniting Heaven and Earth. This was a Word-activity, a Spirit-activity, and a life-giving activity. To feast on the words Jesus spoke would be like eating the very Person of Jesus because He was the Word.
The disciples might have been offended by the words because they were Spirit-words and life-words, breaking apart how they viewed life.
If His disciples could embrace the kind of Messiah the Father was sending—One who would be a sacrificed King—they would feed on Him via His words and they would live (63).
Some (Judas) could not bring themselves to believe God would send a King who would be a sacrifice and a King who would reign over a different kind of world (64). Some wanted Rome defeated now and at all costs.
Then Jesus reminded them that this was the very reason the Father needed to draw people. The sacrificial part of Jesus' life was, and still is, the bitter pill to swallow. The Father must reveal for any who would come to Him: Christ, His sacrifice, His Resurrection, and the power of His word (65).
Many were “done in,” disappointed with Jesus’ explanation of the true nature of His mission and His Kingdom (66).
Jesus asked the 12 disciples if they felt the same and wanted to stop following Him (67).
Peter piped up and essentially told Jesus that they weren't necessarily happy with what they had heard, but no one else had the words that were opening up eternal Kingdom life to them (68). Further, Peter announced that they had given Jesus their believing allegiance and had come to know He was the Holy One of God (69).
Jesus then announced that He had chosen them all, but one of them, at the explanation of Jesus being a sacrificial Messiah, had become a devil (70). It was based on Judas' complaint and murmuring over this sermon that a devil entered him and led him to betray Jesus (71).
This chapter bears overtones to the Communion table but is not about the Table. This chapter was devoted to feasting on Jesus' sacrificial body, specifically feasting on and giving allegiance to His word concerning His sacrifice, and then letting that word be lived out in our lives.
At the Table, we are reminded that the bread and the cup are His flesh and blood because His word says so. At the Table, we again and again eat and drink of His sacrifice so we may be God's sacrifice to others.
The City of Yahweh
Psalm 48 has three sections:
The city where God makes Himself known (1-3)
The city where God makes Himself strong (4-8)
The city where God makes Himself remembered (9-14)
Observation: these three Psalms teach us how important it is for us to take time to celebrate what God has done, putting our accomplishments in essential perspective.
Purpose: To show us how to pray, celebrating the victories of the Lord as God makes Himself known (1-3), shows Himself strong (4-8), and causes Himself to be remembered.