Jesus and His apostles had entered the city of Capernaum, where as usual, He drew a large crowd. Many of them were just looking for a free handout, after hearing about Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the 5000. Jesus perceives their motivation. Instead of performing a miracle, He begins to preach:
“Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” Jn. 6:27 NKJV
What Jesus is saying is that God has placed His authority upon His Son. Thus, Jesus speaks with the authority of His Father, and that the content of His speech (the gospel) is the key to eternal life.
The crowd doesn’t get it. They’ve been brainwashed by the Pharisees, who taught them that they must earn their way to heaven. So, they ask Jesus to tell them of the nature of the works that they must perform. He responds:
“This is the work of God: that you believe [adhere to, trust in, rely on, and have faith] in the One whom He has sent.” Jn. 6:29 AMP
The stiff-necked crowd wants to see a miracle instead. But Jesus tries to steer them towards a greater spiritual understanding:
“Our fathers ate manna in the desert, as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’…”Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Jn. 6:31 – 33. NKJV
The crowd can’t stop thinking with their stomach. They ask Him to give them some of this ‘bread.’
Our Lord of infinite patience, love and mercy, continues:
“I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” Jn. 6:35 – 40. NKJV
Jesus could not be clearer. He is the ticket to eternity – the walking, talking plan and method of God’s redemption. But, Jesus is facing a tough crowd here. They still have doubts. Jesus persists:
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” Jn. 6:44 NKJV
“…he who believes in Me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever, and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” Jn. 6:47 – 51. NKJV
NOW, WE GET THE COMPLETE PICTURE OF OF OUR GOD CONNECTION!
When we seek God, He leads us to Christ. Jesus in turn, if we accept Him as our Savior, connects us to God, through Himself. Jesus willingly vacated His seat next to His Father in heaven, to inhabit flesh, so that we could relate to Him and to the redemption that God offers through His Son – which is accomplished through the sacrificial gift of Jesus’ flesh and blood. That’s it!
Unfortunately, this spiritually blind and hardened of hearts crowd cannot get past their literal take on Jesus’ teaching allegory. They become angry and horrified at the notion (as they understood it) of actually eating Jesus’ flesh.
Undeterred, Jesus is committed to bring His Father’s salvation to as many as possible. He pushes back:
“…unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life…He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.” Jn. 6:53, 54, 56, 57. NKJV
Jesus is trying to break through the Pharisaic conditioning that binds and blinds this crowd, so that they can comprehend the spiritual implications of His death and resurrection. He’s trying to plant seeds of faith – the faith required to hold onto the hope of salvation, when these events occur.
Christ is trying to get them to see that His flesh is in reality the ‘spiritual food’ found in the gospel, that they must ‘eat’ (bind to their hearts), in order to walk a godly path towards salvation. And He wants them to understand that the blood (the life) that He is going to shed for them, must be ‘drunk’ (believed in) to acquire His atonement for their sins, so that they can receive that same salvation.
The crowd doesn’t see it, so they scattered. Even many of Jesus’ followers abandoned Him after this teaching. Thank God that the Holy Spirit brought the Apostle John all of this recollection and revelation, so that we could make that God connection and help others do the same…
Goodnight and God bless.