Notes on John 6: 51 – 69
The passage
begins in the middle of a discourse which, we are told in verse 59, happens at
the synagogue in
After our usual read through we looked at verses 52 – 56 where Jesus says that only those who eat His flesh and drink His blood have life in them. Yet in verse 63 Jesus says that the flesh is useless as it is the Spirit that gives life. However Jesus continues by saying that it is His words which are both Spirit and life. So for those who eat Jesus words, i.e. take them to heart and act on them, there will be life. In the prologue John has called Jesus the Word of God in flesh. So by taking Jesus’ words inside us we take God’s word inside us.
Jesus appears to be prophesying His own death here, because His flesh and blood will have to be shed to provide the bread. Did Jesus know He was going to die? He probably knew it was inevitable at a certain point in His ministry, but He allowed events to happen.
There is a duality of meaning here. Jesus the bread of life has two meanings;
1.) Metaphorical bread i.e. the word of God made flesh.
2.) The literal bread which represents Jesus’ flesh represented in our Holy Communion.
Taken in the second sense alone we found verses 51 – 56 difficult because they seem to imply literally that when we take communion we have to think of it as Jesus’ body, not a symbol. This is a difficult idea for us but not for our Roman Catholic brethren. We thought that many of our congregations would have difficulty with this idea as well, and that perhaps a sermon on this theme might be difficult without upsetting people. We felt that perhaps we would use the bread as the image of the word of God.
The lectionary passage is long, but several earlier verses of the discourse are also important to its understanding. It is crucial to be aware of the fact that this discourse follows the feeding of the five thousand, and that the people have followed Jesus in the hope of more food. The discourse, of which our passage forms a part, is Jesus’ teaching that there is more to life than food. Verse 37 for instance “…anyone who comes to me I will never drive away for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of Him who sent me” is an important verse, as Jesus is saying that it is God’s will that He obeys. So it is God’s power that believers will take into themselves through the bread of Jesus’ flesh.
The bread that Jesus offers is compared to the Manna that God sent to the wandering Israelites through Moses’ prayer. Jesus’ offer of bread gives eternal life, which the manna did not. Jesus is saying here that He is the life source. The manna of the desert stopped starvation, but it is now Jesus who provides true nourishment both Spiritual and literal. Jesus teaches that not only can He provide literal food but also spiritual food, true nourishment for LIFE (verse 27). In verse 27 Jesus says that it up to us to work for this food. Just as we work to provide our physical food so we also have to work to receive our spiritual food. One of our group likened this to the Lord’s Prayer in which we pray for bread for today. The bread we pray for is both literal and metaphorical, as we put our trust in God for all things both physical and spiritual. Jesus is saying here that to trust in Him is to trust in God. By putting Himself on a par with both God and Moses as bread from heaven, Jesus is stepping out of the religious authority line. No wonder the Jews murmur against Him (verse 41) and that some of His disciples find the teaching hard (verse 66).
We asked the question: did Jesus engineer the feeding of the five thousand to provide an opportunity for this teaching? We thought probably not, but John certainly ordered his material to make good use of both occasions. There is of course another duality going on here because one is never sure whether it is Jesus or John speaking. We felt that John was writing from memory of what Jesus had said and done, but was also adding his own ideas and theology formed over the many years of his own preaching and teaching.
This is a passage of two halves. The second half talks mostly about faith. The faith of the disciples who leave is contrasted with Peter’s faith as he declares that Jesus is the Holy one of God. This is John’s version of Peter’s declaration of faith in the synoptic gospels. The question in verse 67 is a genuine question from God, and it is posed to us today just as it was to the disciples then. Even today some will leave Jesus, because the teaching is hard; and some like Peter will make a declaration of faith. We felt that there was a hesitancy about Peter’s declaration because he tells Jesus that they cannot leave because they have nowhere to go!
The final two verses of the chapter deal with Judas and do not form part of the lectionary. We however looked at them and asked the inevitable questions; did Jesus know Judas would betray him and why did He choose Judas as one of the twelve if He did? We thought that perhaps Judas started out with promise but along the way changed. Perhaps he could not accept the teaching we have just heard, but stayed on as one of the twelve? We wondered also why Jesus did not ask Judas to leave, when it became clear that Judas was not in tune with Jesus’ teaching any more. The answer is in verse 37 “Everything the Father has given me will come to me and any one who comes to me I will never drive away”.
The problems with teaching, theological ideas and images here are still with us today. The way different denominations understand Holy Communion has divided Christians for centuries. Some have a metaphorical approach, while others take it more literally. The difficulty of Jesus’ disciples then are mirrored by our difficulties today. We asked ourselves if it was the job of preachers to convince congregations that the churches’ traditional teaching is correct; or is it our job to help people come to their own understanding. We felt that, of all denominations, Methodism was probably the most liberal, and allowed people to question tradition and theology in a way that was healthy. How can we reconcile our different congregants, those who are very traditional in their belief and those who have a more liberal outlook? We have to be very careful not to damage the faith of either group. Do we know enough or hear enough of modern theology? Why is it that so many people find it very difficult to say the creed?
We felt that discussion groups during the week were a good way of expressing doubts and questions which were difficult to formulate after a Sunday service of worship, when there is not time and space to talk about theological ideas. We felt that such groups helped our preaching and would help congregations who would be more informed about lectionary passages before we preached.
We wondered
briefly whether God hoped that Jesus would not have to die. Jesus had to die to
redeem us as
The preordained nature of the ideas in verses 60 – 69 is not to our liking, and we do have difficulty with the thought that God has already chosen those who will follow Jesus. In Exodus God hardens Pharaohs heart so that he will not let the Israelites go. We find this difficult because it denies freewill. Today we start from the premise that we have God’s favour and this gives our understanding of God a different aspect from those of the past.
What would we preach on?
Verse 63
Verses 67 & 68
Verses 60 – 69 discipleship and faith
Spiritual life