John Chapter 6

vs 41

Jews grumbling? That would never happen! They'r grumbling because Jesus says came down from heaven, and that he's the bread of life.

vs 42

Where, obviously, he did not, because they know his parents, and they probably knew him as a child. Now this kid that they know has grown up, and he has delusions of grandeur? This would be a hard thing to get over. I mean, even though Jesus has the testimony of John the Baptist on his side, prople still aren't convinced, especially if they knew him for ages.

I have this same problem trying to witness to my family. They don't see a changed person, a Christian whose life has turned around. They see their brother or son. Because there is more to sharing the gospel than relationship - there also needs to be pre-evangelistic groundwork. That's what my sermon is on this Sunday, hence the harping.

vs 43

Hooray! How long have you wanted to hear God tell the Israelites "Stop your bitching!"

vs 44

That is so the truth! We can forget that when we're doing evangelism sometimes, and it can be really demoralising. You know, I've only brought one person to Christ, but I've shared the gospel with heaps of people, and been a witness to even more. But how many of them did I try to convince with fine sounding arguments? Probably more than I should have. In fact, God plays such a major part in this that we need to rely on him to do his work.

vs 45

Why doesn't Jesus quote it exactly? Well, there are no verse numbers yet, but why not name the prophet? Probably he did, but John couldn't remember where it is from. It happens in the Bible from place to place.

But the point is clear - God is doing his own ministering and teaching to people, and it is those people who will come to Christ, not necessarily the ones who we teach and minister to.

vs 46

I think this verse is specifically talking about Jesus - only Jesus has seen the Father. If we are talking about actually, physically (or reality-wise) seen, though, then we must admit that this means Jesus has some sort of residual or latent memory of his eternal being. You might not have a problem with that, but it is a position that has its problems.

vs 47

Wow, these verses get short. Short, snappy sentences. But Jesus wants to stress that what he is saying is true (lit. Amen Amen) - and if you believe, eternal life is yours.

vs 48

He really is. You have to believe that. It may be hard to get past the fact that he's a human like everyone else, because he's not a human like everyone else. He is perfect. He is sinless. He has God's authority. He is the bread of life.

vs 49

All other gifts of God have been great miracles which have bouyed the faith of Jews for generations. And yet, even miracles of the greatest supply did not give his people eternal life. It might have helped them live, but eventually they were all gone. In fact, manna was a gift to a disobedient people because of their disobedience. Well, so is the bread of life - it is a liferaft.

vs 50

Oh, this gets wierd. This is where we get into the whole "Christians are cannibals" thing, and I have been told it gets really difficult to explain it to cannibalistic tribes (who think you really do eat someone) and to everyone else for whom cannibalism is abhorrent (who can't understand why a holy man would suggest it).