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4. Jesus offers people the choice, "Accept or Reject!" (John 6:22-59)
JOHN 6:41-42
41 The Jews therefore murmured concerning him, because he said, “I am the bread which came down out of heaven.” 42 They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then does he say, ‘I have come down out of heaven?’”
John the evangelist called the Galileans Jews even though they did not belong to this group of people, but as they refused Christ’s Spirit they were not better than the Jews and those of the residence in the south.
The scribes produced another reason for them to refuse Jesus because their lawful thinking and beliefs in self reformation contradicts the love of Jesus. But the Galileans stumbled on the social Jesus for they knew his family because "his father" (Joseph the carpenter) lived with them, a simple man, untalented in prophetic or special gifts. And his mother Mary had nothing to differentiate her from other women except that she became a widow, which was considered a sign that there was godly anger. So the Galileans did not believe that Jesus is the bread from heaven.
JOHN 6:43-46
43 Therefore Jesus answered them, “Don’t murmur among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who hears from the Father, and has learned, comes to me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God. He has seen the Father.
Jesus did not try to explain the miracle of his birth to those who refused him for they would have not believed. Nor are we able to know on our own the deity of the man Jesus, only by the enlightening of the Holy Spirit. Whoever comes to him in faith will see him and know his great truth.
Jesus forbade the crowds to murmur against divine revelations. The stubborn spirit hears nothing of God’s Kingdom, but the one who heeds and feels his need experiences God’s love.
God in this love draws people to Jesus the Savior, desiring their illumination and teaches them individually, as we read in Jeremiah 31:3. In the New Testament it is not man’s will or mind that brings about faith; rather it is the Holy Spirit who illumines us, and creates in us the divine life for us to realize that the mighty God is truly our God and Father. He teaches His children, and preserves a direct relationship with them. He creates faith in our hearts through the calling of the Spirit. Have you felt this calling in your conscience? Are you open to the moving of God’s love?
The Father’s Spirit leads us to Jesus and moves us towards him. He arouses our longing for him until we go and meet Jesus and love him. He accepts us as we are, and does not cast us out, giving to us life eternal so that we share in the power of the resurrection to enter his Father’s glory.
There remains however, a distinction between Jesus and the born again believer. No man has seen God, apart from the Son. He was with the Father from the beginning and saw him. Father and Son were inseparable. Jesus shared in the heavenly peace and in all divine qualities.
JOHN 6:47-50
47 Most certainly, I tell you, he who believes in me has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, that anyone may eat of it and not die.
After proclaiming his unity with the Father and the Spirit’s work in his hearers, Jesus again presented the truth of his essence for them to trust him. He explained the Christian principle briefly: He who believes in Jesus lives for ever. This truth is an assurance that death cannot cancel.
Jesus is like a loaf from God to the world. Just as the bread did not run out as it passed through his hands in the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, so also Jesus suffices for the need of the world at all times, for in him the fullness of God dwells. From him you receive hope, joy and blessings. In a word, he offers the world God’s life, yet the world rejected him.
Manna descending in the wilderness was a gift from God; this provision lasted only briefly. All who ate it died. Thus we see in charitable works, technical developments and scientific discoveries, that they help for a while and in part. There is no cure for death in these features or victory over sin. But whoever accepts Christ will not die. This was Christ’s purpose, coming and living in you. He wishes to dwell in you personally, so that no other spirit may rule over you. He can put out all evil desires and calm your fears, as well as strengthen your weakness. He is God’s bread appointed for you. Eat and live, so as not to perish like other sinners.
QUESTION:
- How did Jesus respond to the murmurings of his hearers?