JOHN 6: 59-71
WHO CAN ACCEPT WORDS OF SPIRIT AND LIFE?
During the first part of Jesus’ ministry people were attracted by His teaching and flocked round Him. Many attached themselves to Him, some of them wholeheartedly, some loosely. Then came a time when their allegiance was tested. The real nature of the claims of Jesus became apparent. The true disciples were sifted from the false, and the deep from the shallow. Jesus’ claims for Himself and His claims on His followers are such that it is no longer possible to follow Him unreflectively, and without fully committing oneself. [Morris, NIC Com., 382]
Jesus revelation that He Himself was bread made the crowds grumble (6:41), the revelation that they must eat His flesh and drink His blood even offends Jesus’ own disciples. For them this is not simply a difficult teaching but is something unacceptable, a disclosure beyond their comprehension. These are the deeper things of Jesus, and only with divine help can anyone comprehend them. [Jesus points to yet another aspect that is difficult to comprehend, His ascension.] So John now tells what is happening, not among the crowd, but among Jesus’ professed adherents.
I. WORDS OF OFFENCE, 59-61.
II. WORDS OF SPIRIT, 62-65.
III. WORDS OF CONFESSION, 66-69.
IV. WORDS OF SOVEREIGNTY, 70-71.
[59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum] Verse 60 contains the reaction of many of Jesus’ disciples to His challenging declarations. Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?”
“His disciples”(2: 2) indicates a much larger group than the twelve. The reference is to those who had attached themselves loosely to Jesus, but without giving much consideration to the implications. "Hard" means not so much that the saying is difficult to understand as that it is hard to accept. [Calvin comments, "the hardness was in their hearts and not in the saying."] "Hear" means "hear with appreciation, take in" (5:25). The disciples no doubt found the teaching mysterious, but it was the part they could understand rather than what they could not that bothered them.
Being fed by God is beyond our natural comprehension. It is utterly mysterious and will evoke feelings of fear and confusion and in some cases anger. These are divine things, heavenly realities that lie beyond our abilities. We should not complain or grumble about them. It is God alone who can supply divine insight. Our task is to receive them and to be open to the work of the Spirit even as He permits us glimpses into realities too deep for us.
In verse 61 we again see Jesus’ knowledge of people’s inward attitudes. But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble?
We find another demonstration of Jesus’ unusual powers of knowledge (see 2:24f; 4:18). Jesus knew what was going on with His disciples. His own disciples do not like the sound of what He is saying. So He asks “does this cause you to stumble?" "Do you take offense at this?" He knew exactly what was going on with them.
If they were stumbled by that claim, much in the true Christian life would cause them to stumble also. Barclay comments: "Here we come upon a truth that re-emerges in every age. Time and again it is not the intellectual difficulty of accepting Christ which keeps men from becoming Christians; it is the height” and depth of commitment. There is mystery in religion, of necessity. But "Any honest thinker will accept the mystery. . . to this day many a man’s refusal of Christ comes, not because Christ puzzles and baffles his intellect, but because Christ challenges him and condemns his life."
The confusion, anger, and outrage of the disciples is not something unique to them, as if they have some deficit, some blindness, or some spiritual malady that makes them incapable of embracing the profundity of Jesus’ revelation. Hearts that are religiously inclined can become angry when the formulas change, when things don’t happen as predicted, when conventions become upset. It is a religious rebellion that in some fashion disguises itself as piety, as right — but in the end is darkness nonetheless. I assume that as a follower of Christ I think clearly in a world of darkness. But the truth is that I’m in darkness until I let Christ’s brilliance shines on me.
Christ may have things to say that we cannot accept. We may hear ourselves saying, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” (6:60). We have built our religious structures and justified them with verses from the Bible. We have forged coalitions of people like us who are sensible, biblical, and theologically orthodox. We have a history to protect, an agenda to promote, a vision to foster, and any who impede our progress — no, God’s progress — deserve our militancy. [Burge, Gary; NIV Application Commentary, John: 215. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, © 2000]
II. WORDS OF SPIRIT, 62-65.
In verse 62 Jesus asks if they can understand the concept of Him being part of two different realms. “What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?
They stumbled at partaking of the True bread that came down out of heaven, what about the fact that He would return to heaven? If they stumble at His claim to be the way to heaven, what about the fact He is returning home to be the sovereign of heaven? If you don’t want to accept Jesus as God in human flesh and commit yourself to Him, what about the realization that He is the God of heaven and earth? True belief in Him, even though it is challenging and costly, is they only way to eternal life.
[This full glorification is thus the complete picture of Jesus’ death (cross, resurrection, ascension) that the disciples must now understand. Not only will He die, but he will return to heaven. It is through this complete work of Christ that life can be given to the world.]
In verse 63 Jesus testifies to the significance and depth of His words. “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
To try to take His words in a material sense, without attempting to penetrate beneath their surface meaning, is to miss their point. Eating the flesh of the Son of Man and drinking His blood must be understood as an attitude and activity of the spiritual realm. Eating material food cannot impart spiritual life; that much was evident from the fact that the Israelites who ate the manna died nevertheless. The distinction between spirit and flesh is as sharp here as it is in the conversation with Nicodemus (Jn 3 :5-12).
One way of feeding on Christ is to cherish and obey His words; they are spiritual, life-giving food. Jeremiah found the words of God to have this property: ’Thy words were found, and I ate them, and thy words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart’ Jer. 15: 16). J e for the words of God. To believe Jesus’ words is part of believing in Jesus himself. This is made plain in His challenge to the Jerusalem leaders: ’If you believed Moses, you would believe me . . . But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?’ (Jn 5 :46 f.). The history not only of the apostolic age but of the whole Christian era shows what regenerative power resides in the words of him who spoke as no other ever did. But if his words do not meet with faith in the hearers’ (Heb. 4:2), they cannot do them the good they otherwise would; and so it was with those ’disciples’ .
The “flesh” that is of no avail is the life and work of the literal flesh (6:53, 63; 3:6). Jesus clarifies that taking his words literally (“eat my flesh; drink my blood”) is not the point. This thought parallels Jesus’ message to Nicodemus and the woman of Samaria: What they need cannot be found in the material things of this world. They require new birth, living water. Moreover, Jesus is giving a signal that here in the course of His glorification, when the Son of Man ascends, a gift will be provided that will facilitate belief and give life. The life-giving gift is the Holy Spirit
God has made provision for each believer to live holy and pure lives regardless of his or her environment. That provision is the power of His Word. The ability to live above the filth and evil in the daily world around us can be achieved only through listening to and responding to the truth of the Scriptures.
Verse 64 indicates that Jesus discerned whose faith was genuine and whose attachment was superficial. “But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him.
The Evangelist once more emphasizes Jesus’ foresight and insight into the human heart. He was not taken by surprise when many turned away from Him. But among His followers none turned away so far as did Judas, who became treacherous. Though Judas defection was still in the future, Jesus already had foreseen it.
In verse 65 Jesus again implies that faith is the result of God’s enabling. And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”
The words echo verses 37 and 44. Unbelief is the norm. Apart from the calling and enabling of the Holy Spirit, none can come to Jesus. Left to himself or herself, the sinner prefers sin. If the Holy Spirit does not awaken and empower the heart it will remain in unbelief. Belief in Jesus and following Jesus is always a work of God’s grace.
III. WORDS OF CONFESSION, 66-69.
Verse 66 gives us the result of Jesus’ no nonsense words. As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.
They turned their back on Jesus because the cost of discipleship was not in them. These disciples had already turn from Jesus’ “hard” sayings, and His additional words did nothing to appease them. Until His refusal to be made their king, they had heard Him gladly, but when He put them off, by His insistence on the superiority of the bread of eternal life and the need to partake of His life till it became their life, they lost interest. What they wanted, He would not give; what He offered, they would not receive.
So, like many of His Jerusalem followers earlier (John 2:23-25), many of His Galilean followers failed the test of unreserved allegiance. To be attracted by Jesus is one thing, to embrace His difficult words is another but only those who do are counted as true disciples. [F. F. Bruce, The Gospel & Epistles of John, 164]
In the children’s game “FOLLOW THE LEADER" the idea is to imitate the leader in all he or she does: jumping, walking, rubbing the nose against the wall, screaming, or just making silly gestures.
From time to time the leader may be an older and mischievous child who loves difficult tricks. Those who are not able to follow him are left behind.
To follow Jesus is to follow the Leader. We are supposed to do exactly as He does. The difference in the children’s game we used to play is that our leader knows our capabilities and possibilities. He does not lead us into situations we cannot handle. Moreover, He has walked the path He asks us to walk.
But many of us have already set our standards and according to them we find His Word too hard to follow. We expect the Lord to talk about love, about forgiveness, about heaven. We don’t like to hear about tithing, sacrifice, or discipline. We follow Christ as long as we enjoy what He is saying. When we don’t like what He is saying, we quit following. We refuse to listen and walk with Him. Pray that you will follow Him, even if you are troubled by what He is saying.
With some of His following now collapsing, Jesus turns to the Twelve in verse 67 to inquire if they wish to depart as well. So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?”
Had they, too, found His sayings too hard to take? Were there unspoken, misgivings, and resentments in their hearts too because of words which had caused offence to so many others? [The use of the Greek negative me in a question indicates that the answer ’No’ is expected. ’You don’t want to go away too, do you?’]
This is clearly a turning point for Jesus. The mystery of His person and work has now been laid out in full. People would no longer follow Jesus just because it boosted their self-sufficiency. Only those who heed the call of the Father would.
Peter’s Confession of Faith beings in verse 68. Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.
For Peter this difficult exchange provides an opportunity to give a courageous confession: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God
The advantage of Peter’s constant willingness to act as spokesman of the twelve was his utter lack of sophistication, his inability to say anything but what was uppermost in his mind. When he spoke, he said what he thought. Another might have used words which masked his real thoughts from a desire not to hurt his Master’s feelings; not so Peter. His reply therefore showed that he had indeed grasped what His Master had tried to make plain to all His hearers - that by believing in Him they might have eternal life. Jesus just said, ’The words that I have spoken to you - they are spirit, they are life’ (verse 63). Peter accept this as the truth; he had already begun to experience their life-giving properties. If the words of Jesus were words of life, as the words of no other were, how could Peter or anyone like-minded ever wish to leave this Master to follow anything else? Others might be disillusioned because Jesus, instead of fulfilling the expected messianic propaganda and leading a war of national liberation (verse 15), insisted on the spiritual character of His followers. But Peter and his companions had begun to prove for themselves that Jesus could supply them with spiritual food which brought much more enduring satisfaction than material bread.
Peter’s momentous confession continues in verse 69. “We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”
One who could speak as Jesus had done must be the Messiah, whatever might be said about His failure to come up to popular expectation. Peters great confession parallels those given in the other (Synoptic) Gospels (Mt. 16:16; Mk. 8:29; Lk. 9:20).
We is emphatic and states a contrast between the 12 and those who deserted Jesus. Others had wanted Jesus to be second Moses who provide food and political liberation for the people. They refused though to partake of the life of Jesus and let it become their own. Peter and his companions wanted Jesus to be the real bread of their life. They have reached a settled and conviction of who Jesus is and are therefore willing to base their life, nurture their life on His word. This episode becomes the turning-point in Jesus ministry.
[The confession of Peter is not simply a tribute to Peter’s courage but also as evidence of God’s supernatural movement in his life. As Jesus said in Mt. 16:17, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.”]
IV. WORDS OF SOVEREIGNTY, 70-71.
Jesus indicates in verse 70 that was the reason His chose the twelve. Jesus answered them, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?” The word devil is literally “slanderer.” (71) Now He meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him.
I must keep in mind that Judas Iscariot’s traitorous act is born when Jesus reveals the deeper things about Himself. Was this man not a coworker with Jesus for three years? Did Jesus not choose each of the Twelve, including Judas (6:70)? Judas worked miracles in Galilee and preached for Jesus. He evangelized villages and brought converts into the fold. Even his fellow apostles did not detect anything unusual in him (13:29). [He was not chosen by Jesus simply so that he would play the role of betrayer.] Something happened, some overwhelming despair engulfed him, some cynicism settled in his heart — and he decided to act against the man in whom he once believed. [Perhaps he liked the way things were in Galilee, and when they arrived in Jerusalem and Jesus disclosed his identity as the Messiah and Son with abandon, he simply couldn’t bear it. The Jesus Movement, he concluded, might do better without Jesus. In the end, it was a decision he regretted profoundly (Mt. 27:5).]
Do the grumbling disciples and the fiercely rebellious Judases live today in the ranks of the church? Arming ourselves against God, we may not want to hear any new thing Jesus may have for us.
For some, Jesus’ critique of their religion and the exercising of that religion was too much to bear. For some — particularly the promoters of religious traditions — this demolition and rebuilding are unacceptable. Some flee. Others argue. Still others join Judas and plot to destroy that which would threaten them. [Burge, Gary; NIV Application Commentary, John: 207-208. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, © 2000.]
CONCLUSION / TIME OF RESPONSE
In his book Amusing ourselves to Death: Public Discourse In the Age of Show Business, Neil Postman warns us of the danger of a world of information overload. He reminds us of a chilling futuristic vision-Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, which describes a world thoroughly flooded with information. But that data is manipulated so that none of it has any real significance.
A glance at the Internet or a magazine rack hints that we are living in just such a culture. We’re drowning in a sea of information often marketed by the unscrupulous. We need discernment to choose wisely whom we will listen to.
In a world swamped with confusing information, we can like Peter turn to Christ for wisdom. He cuts through the words of confusion with words of life. Though the deeper things of God were difficult, Peter realized their value. He testified in wisdom, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. Or we can be like those who stopped following Jesus. They chose to stop listening to Christ because He did not tell them what they wanted to hear.
[The deeper things of God will not be embraced by anyone, but only by those whom God has enabled (John 6:65) and called (6:70). This is a profound and important thought for John, and one we will meet again and again in his Gospel. God’s entry into the world in Christ is so profound and His teachings so contrary to human understanding that God must empower men and women to see it and embrace it. Humanity cannot defeat the darkness that holds it in its grip; only God possesses this sort of power. [Burge, Gary; NIV Application Commentary, John: John. 204. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, © 2000].
