On Line Bible Study - For the Week April 30-May 6, 2012

Lesson 534

(We are considering John 6:60-71.  The full chapter can be found by clicking here.)

John 6:   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 and life.

We come to the end of this Sixth Chapter of John and are confronted with "words of life" that drive many of the disciples of Jesus away.  The 'hard teaching' has to do with what Jesus has told them: I am the living bread ... if anyone eats this bread he will live forever.  And the bread that I shall give is my own flesh for the life of the world.

This crowd is a 'murmuring' one - they murmured (grumbled) in Verse 41 and here again in 61.  What exactly are they grumbling about?  Is it that Jesus claimed to be the "bread of life"?  Or is it that he told them this 'bread' was his flesh?  Or did it have to do with the notion of their having to eat his flesh?

The "hard teaching" is a phrase that can be translated as referring to something that is offensive.  It can also mean that something is fantastic, hard to believe because it stretches the limits of the possible.  Theologians debated whether John 6 insisted upon the "real presence" of the body and blood of Jesus in the Eucharist, or is it the "Spirit" that gives life?

Is the "hard teaching" a reference back to Verse 41 ... 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’?”

So here is another take on the problem - that Jesus claims to have "come down from heaven".  In this case, it would be an example of the adage: Familiarity breeds contempt.

It seems as if some folks will grasp at any reason in order not to believe in Jesus or to discredit him.
Jesus seems to suggest that his ascension will help them understand who he is and what he is about.  Recall that, in his conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus insinuates there will be clarity once he has gone into heaven - No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven - the Son of Man (John 3:13).

Many of the disciples "turned back and no longer followed him" ... and Jesus turned to the Twelve - the first time in the gospel this group of men is referred to in that manner - wondering if they will leave, too.
To whom shall we go? says Peter. 
To whom, indeed.  That's the question, isn't it?