Meditations on John Chapter 6
Jesus had just fed the 5,000 with the five loaves and two fishes.
S. John mentions that it was the Feast of the Passover.
26 Jesus … said, Amen, Amen, I say to you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the signs, but because ye ate your fill of the loaves.
[Are we not still the same? It’s all about what’s in the wallet!]
27 Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you: for on Him has God the Father set His seal.
28 Then they said to Him, What must we do, to be doing the works of God?
29 Jesus answered them, This is the work of God, that ye believe in the One whom he has sent.
30 They said therefore to Him, Then what sign do you show us, that we may see, and believe thee?
31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, He gave them bread from Heaven to eat.
32 Then Jesus said to them, Amen, Amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from Heaven, but my Father who gives you the True Bread from Heaven.
33 For the Bread of God is that which comes down from Heaven, and gives life to the world.
34 Then said they to him, Lord, give us always this bread.
The Greek text of Jn 6:33 reads:
ho gar artos toú Theoú estin ho katabainón ek toú ouranoú kai zóén didous tó kosmó.
[The King James Bible here has:
33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
Is the translator here trying to downplay the material bread by using ‘he’ instead of ‘that which’?
N.B. the Greek ‘ ὁ’, ‘ho’ = ‘the one’ , and could be translated, according to the basic rules of grammar, as either ‘he’ or ‘that which’– proving yet again the inadequacy of ‘Bible Only’, especially if we are relying on a translation into another language…
Is it not true that this KJB ‘translation’ has been slanted to suit the presuppositions of the Protestants? because if you translate it as ‘he’ it misses the point of the next question:
34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. (KJV)
But they would not have said that here if they had understood He was referring to Himself. They did not expect Him to remain on Earth with them forevermore. They were still considering whether to listen to Him or not, which is why they were asking Him for a sign. See also vv 41,42 below. The circular reasoning of the ‘Bible Only’ approach is here clearly shown: a translation is chosen which does not suit the natural meaning of the passage. Then we forget that and persuade ourselves that we are taking our understanding from a sacrosanct text, whereas the reality is the other way round. We have forced our interpretation upon the text, and then use the text as the authority for our interpretation.
41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven.
42 And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he says, I came down from heaven?
As so often in S. John’s gospel, His hearers misunderstand His words until He explicates them. What they obviously thought was that He was going to improve on the miracle of the loaves and fishes by calling down manna from Heaven, and perhaps that they would never again be hungry for earthly bread after eating the manna. then He upset them by saying that He Himself was the Bread come down from Heaven.]
35 And Jesus said to them, I am the Bread of Life: he that comes to Me shall never hunger; and he that believes in Me shall never thirst.
36 But I said to you that ye have seen Me, and yet do not believe.
37 All that the Father gives me will come to me; and him who comes to Me I will not cast out.
38 For I have come down from Heaven, not to do My own Will, but the Will of Him who sent Me.
39 And this is the Will of Him who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given Me, but raise it up at the last day.
40 For this is the will of my Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up on the Last Day.
41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the Bread that came down from Heaven.
42 And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he says, I came down from heaven?
43 Jesus answering said to them, do not murmur not among yourselves.
44 No man can come to Me, unless the Father who has sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
45 It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.
46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is of God, He has seen the Father.
47 Amen, Amen, I say to you, he that believes in me has everlasting life.
48 I am that bread of life.
49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die.
51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.
52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
[RSV commentary: A natural question to ask. Jesus answers, not by explaining it away, but by re-emphasising the reality, though not, of course, in the crude sense implied in their question.]
53 Then Jesus said to them, Amen, Amen, I say to you, unless ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye will have no life in you.
54 Whoever eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
55 For my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink.
56 He that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, abides in me, and I in him.
57 As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eats me, he shall live by me.
58 This is that bread that came down from heaven: not as your fathers ate manna, and are dead: he that eats of this bread shall live for ever.
59 These things He said in the synagogue, as He taught in Capernaum.
60 Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?
61 But Jesus, knowing in Himself that his disciples murmured at it, said to them, Do you take offence at this?
62 What then if you were to see the Son of man ascending where he was before?
[Notice – not only did He not backtrack on His words, saying “I was only using a figure of speech” – He threatened to abandon the world and go back to Heaven. These are among the strongest words He ever uttered on Earth.]
63 It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak to you, they are spirit, and they are life.
[“The words are spirit” – not “the Bread is spirit”. The sacramental way gives supernatural Grace through the material world. Thus a sacrament is the interface between the two worlds, this world and The Next. But those who partake without Faith or good intention receive ‘the flesh’ without ‘the spirit’ – not only do they not profit, but they incur the sin of sacrilege.]
64 But there are some of you that do not believe.
For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that did not believe, and who would betray him.
65 And he said, This is why I told you, that no man can come to me, unless it were granted him by the Father.
[This is the doctrine of Prevenient Grace. The first step always comes from God. But He leaves us free will to accept or reject it. The Pelagians had taught that Man is able to take the first step by himself. The Calvinists taught that man’s will is not at all involved at all in God’s election to Heaven or Hell. Both statements have been infallibly condemned at ecumenical councils.]
66 From that time many of his disciples drew back, and walked no more with him.
67 Then Jesus said to the Twelve, Will ye also go away?
68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
69 And we have believed and have come to know. that you are the Holy One of God.
[The KJV has: that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.] This reading is possibly from the Textus Receptus manuscript, the late manuscript tradition favoured by the Protestants, incorporating certain harmonisations not in the earliest manuscripts. This another pitfall of relying on the KJV as a primary document.
70 Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?
71 He was speaking of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that would betray him, even though he was one of the twelve.
7:1 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to put Him to death.
Be it noted that it is this that marked the definitive turning point in His ministry. And all this could have been avoided if He had simply said, 'I just meant that My teaching was life-giving bread'.