The Gospel of John (1-20-2013)
Lesson 19 – John 6:48-71
In vs. 48-58 He begins to share with them a very difficult
concept again calling Himself ‘the Bread of Life’ using descriptive terms that
were raw and socially unpleasant in that day and in ours as well. The Gospel
offers a beautiful outcome, but deals with a very unpleasant and even downright
ugly topic. Dealing with the problem of man’s sin is in reality an ugly mess.
If anyone doubts this all they need to do is to look at the effect of man’s
sinful actions and the messed up lives and the reality of these actions being
clearly seen if we are willing to take an honest look at ourselves.
Jesus was willing to deal with this problem, but it is what it is and for Him to deal with man’s
sin and fix the problem and not just cover it over requires a method of payment
that costs big…giving His Life, His flesh and the shedding of His blood. Jesus
was telling them if one is not willing to look at the cost and swallow,
receive, digest the truth of it they did not believe in Him because this is
what it took. The Gospel is beautiful, but the reality of it is gross and is
not pleasant. Christ’s Passion and road to the cross was not pleasant at all.
He only found Joy in His passion because He was motivated by and was full of
Love!
It is also important to remember that even though the
concept that Jesus was sharing with them was real, in reality these were
spiritual concepts and are not completely and fully understood by them because
they were thinking on a horizontal or physical plain. In reality one must
receive into themselves, their heart or being, the truth of Christ spilling His
blood and tearing His flesh in payment for our own personal sin, offering us a
plate of His pain and His suffering to receive as payment for our wrongs. He
was not just asking them to follow Him. We will see later in this chapter that
a commitment to follow Christ by itself was/is not good enough. This section of
Scripture is in no way pleasant and is hard to embrace. We observe communion contemplating
and reflecting on His pain and His suffering using the bread to represent His
body and grape juice to represent His blood. It is like a plate of bitter
herbs, but His pain was our gain.
In vs. 48-54 He again gives them the details of how this works
and what He is offering saying that the bread (food) that we eat on a physical
level will eventually fail us, but what He is offering will indeed last
forever. In v. 54 He gives them ‘the key component’ of what is included in His
offer that does not come with the offer found in this world…eternal life. This
one act in v. 54 is the primary difference between the two offers and why it
comes at a Premium cost. But, this is the offer that makes the difference…all
the difference between what this world has to offer and what God has to offer.
All of eternity for us rests on this one Promise which will not be made good
until the very end..the last day. Do we believe Him and His offer? Our actions
will demonstrate our decision. Jesus was indeed offering them more…much more in
life, but some of the details were difficult to receive to say the least.
In v. 60 even His disciples tell us of the difficulty in
understanding and receiving this concept and doctrine expressing to each other
their true feelings saying when they heard this that ‘it was a hard saying’. It
was so hard to them that they were not sure that they could accept it, and in
essence as we will see that many did not continue following Him and His
teachings saying that the reality and the cost was too much turning and leaving
Him.
Jesus was however very descriptive in the previous verses.
Did He have to be so blunt? If He had just created a little prettier picture
not giving them all the details in making it clear what it cost Him, and, by
the way what it might cost them, maybe more would have stuck with Him.
But, the reality was that many of those who were following
Him were also not believers at all and were following Him for the wrong reason,
v. 64. This conversation was the litmus test for those that truly believed in
Him for those who truly are followers will respond like Peter in v. 68
realizing that these words are hard, but understanding that Jesus is speaking
Truth and those seeking truth have no other place to go no matter how hard the
road is.
Jesus presented further challenges to their faith in vs. 62
and 63 pinpointing the exact area in their problem in accepting and or
rejecting the truth of the Gospel. What Jesus was presenting to them was the
reality of principles and things that they had never seen before and could only
be received by faith in Him. The Door or passage to receiving the reality of
what He was offering was through Him much like passing through a tunnel into
another world, like the wardrobe in C. S. Lewis’ book. They had to believe Him
in order to recon on any of it. It was a world that could only be perceived and
received by faith being that He was speaking of spiritual realities. They were
not willing to give up what they were familiar with even though it was the
wrong perspective for what He offered was in actuality reality. This is the
same pivot or turning point for all men..including us.
In v. 62 He continues to challenge them with realities that
were and would be essential to accept to receive the benefit of what He had to
offer. He tells them about His ascension which to them was a strange concept
because they did not believe what He was telling them, i. e. that He came down
from God. However, to us we see the reality of what He was saying being on the
other side of this historic event.
In v. 63 He makes a very important statement. He tells them
in essence that what man has his whole life focused on investing his whole life
on, his time and attention on, has little benefit. In v. 63 He actually
apparently goes further saying that there is no profit in the commonly accepted
way of life at all.
Wow…what a message of us as well as them. The best example
of what He was talking about was found in His own life. His works, His
perspective and His life focus. His actions and His life really were different
than ours. His focus was on another world which He found now to be present on
earth which is essentially not perceived by us with our physical senses, being
understood only by faith. He tells them that this other world that is unseen by
us physically is truly the reality that will give us the goods that we are
looking for giving us life and not death, Mt. 6:33 Mk. 10:30. But, many that He
was talking to did not believe Him..they are not believing Him still even in
our day.
In v. 64 however, it tells us that Jesus was not fooled as
to who was actually following Him. It tells us that He knew those who actually
followed Him in faith believing what He shared with the concerning the Kingdom and
those that really did not believe what He was saying at all. In vs. 60-5 he
tested their faith by doctrine. By doing so He separated out many that did not
really believe Him, but were following Him for other reasons, i. e. what they
could get. He knew that for them to be true followers that the Father would be
at work revealing to them spiritual things pertaining to the Kingdom. As the
Father and or the Holy Spirit begins to work in someone’s life they will begin
to understand and recon on spiritual things that do not make sense to others
that are not looking for the truth. Those who are truly of this world will not
understand nor receive these truths rejecting them as those present here did
embracing the laws and ways of this world instead.
But, in vs. 66 to the end of this chapter He challenges them
even further asking the few that are left if even they were going to leave Him
because of the Truths and doctrine that He had shared with them. But, Peter
reveals that not all of them are unbelieving replying to His request in v. 69
that they did believe His message and were fully confident that what He
represented to them was the Truth. Jesus knew that even this faith that they
expressed here would be tested and found not yet complete, but He also knew and
trusted that the Father would keep them by His strength even if their faith in
Him faltered.
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