John 6:41-59 Rejected by His Own
“The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. Most assuredly, I say to you, 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 which 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.”
The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?”
Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat 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, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 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. This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.” These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.”
The Jews are furious! Jesus is NOT performing up to expectations! First, Jesus does this great miracle, feeding thousands of people. Then when those same people follow Jesus, he refuses to repeat the miracle and even teaches that he has been sent from heaven to be the “bread of life.” The nerve of this man! After all, he’s just from Nazareth and everybody knows his family. Where does he get the crazy idea that he has come down from heaven and that God is his Father? What about Joseph?
“Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.” Now Jesus is virtually teaching blasphemy, making himself equal with God. The Pharisees and Sadducees are absolutely livid! All these men can think of is how can they get rid of this upstart? As the religious leaders rage, they completely ignore Jesus’ statement that “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Is God drawing the religious leaders? Yes! Forever and ever, God continues to draw all people to Himself. But only those who are spiritually hungry will respond. When Isaiah describes his call from God in Isaiah 6:8, God asks, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Only Isaiah answers, even though the temple might have been full of people. Isaiah is listening and longing for contact with God while those around him are merely practicing religious rituals. So, Isaiah hears God’s call, receiving the touch of God’s coals of fire on his lips, and becoming one of the most important prophets of all time while the rest of the crowd observes their rituals and returns home unchanged. This same phenomenon is about to happen to those hearing Jesus teach. And things are about to become even more radical.
“Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat 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, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 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.”
Jesus begins teaching about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. Drink blood?!?!?! From the time of Moses, Jews have been forbidden to drink blood or to use it in cooking. Even Jews caught up in idol worship avoid drinking blood. And eating human flesh is just as abhorrent an idea. The Jews fail to realize that Jesus is speaking of spiritual matters and not physical ones. Even the disciples likely remain confused until Jesus dies and is resurrected.
Jesus is speaking plainly; however, many in the audience fail to grasp the truths he is teaching. Blinded by prejudice or preconceived notions, thinking only of earthly things-it doesn’t matter. Many hearing Jesus reject him and his message because he fails to meet their expectations. But Jesus never waters down his messages or changes his focus. Jesus is speaking the truths his Heavenly Father wants him to speak; to do anything else would be to fail his Father.
Many times, we may be tempted to soften harsh truths, to water down the demands of the Gospel, or to try to explain that God doesn’t REALLY require holiness and righteousness…but if we do such things, we are failing God and ourselves. Jesus told spiritual truths, knowing that many would reject him, but he went ahead anyway.
My husband got saved at the age of 37 through the witness of a fellow worker named Jack. But this witness was anything but diplomatic. Daily, Jack would tell my husband, “Bob, either you accept Jesus, or you’re going to hell!” This statement was roughly the verbal equivalent of being smacked up alongside the head with a 2×4! Now, Jack was not the only Christian influence in Bob’s life; however, one morning Bob found himself asking Jack, “How do I get the Lord in my life?” Jack’s story bears out the fact that even rough approaches may work with the right people.
May God help us, so that we refuse to compromise the message of the Gospel or to water it down!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to fearlessly proclaim Your Word, being careful to deliver Your messages in Your fashion. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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