John 6:34-47

Read John 6:34-47 Jesus is the Bread of Life who gives eternal life

In biblical interpretation, there is a concept known as a “type” – an event or person or thing in the Old Testament that foreshadows, in an incomplete way, an event or person or thing in the New Testament that has a deeper reality or meaning.  The perishable manna in the Old Testament was a “type,” or foreshadowing, of the eternal bread of life that God provides to us in his Son Jesus.  In verse 34, it is unclear whether the people in the crowd are beginning to understand that, or if they just want Jesus to feed them physical bread every day (their statement is similar to that of the Samaritan woman who asked Jesus to give her the living water always in John 4:15).

In verse 35, Jesus responds with his first “I am” statement – the first of 7 key “I am” statements in John’s Gospel.

What does “I am the bread of life” mean?

How is Jesus the bread of life?

How does what Jesus says in verse 35 parallel what he said to the Samaritan woman about the living water (4:13-14)?

In verse 35, what must one do in order to never hunger, and what must one do in order to never thirst?

We must come to him in order to never hunger, and believe in him in order to never thirst.

In verse 36, Jesus then tells them that they do not believe in him.  He does not say this in a way that rejects them.  What does he tell them in verses 37-39?

Jesus wants only to do the will of the Father and will not reject anyone the Father gives him.  He will not lose anyone the Father gives him.

In verses 37-38, Jesus says that he does not act on his own but does the will of the one who sent him.  In modern terms, we might say that Jesus has his marching orders and is a man on a mission.  What are his marching orders?  What is the mission?

In verse 36, Jesus says that those who are rejecting him have seen him but do not believe.  In verse 40 he says that everyone who sees him and believes in him has eternal life.  How does it happen that people see Jesus but don’t translate that seeing into the act of believing?

Their “seeing” in verse 36 is an awareness of him that does not lead them to put their trust in him.  In verse 40, Jesus calls us to go beyond a superficial “seeing” – to really see and act on what they see by believing in him.  The word for “see” in verse 36 is a word that means to stare at, but the word for “see” in verse 40 is a word that can be translated as to “behold,” which suggests a focused and receptive attention.

Are there ways that we “see” what God is saying to us but don’t act on it?  How can we catch ourselves when this is happening, and what can we do about it?

What do you think it means to “see” Jesus and believe in him?

In verse 40, Jesus adds an additional effect of believing.  In addition to having eternal life from Jesus, we will be raised up by Jesus on the last day.  Eternal life could be seen as something we have from the moment we believe in Jesus.  What is added when Jesus says that we will be raised on the last day?

What does this promise mean to you right now in your life?

In verse 41, the Jewish religious leaders “murmur” about Jesus.  What does that recall from the Old Testament?

When the Israelites were in the desert, they grumbled against Moses and complained about how God was caring for them in Exodus 15:24, 16:2-3, and 17:2-3, and Numbers 11:1.  God gave them the manna they have just been talking with Jesus about immediately after one of the gripe sessions (Ex. 16).

What is wrong with murmuring?

Murmuring is a form of grumbling, a lack of trust in God or a form of resistance to what God wants.

How are we susceptible to grumbling against God and the spiritual leaders he gives us?

What can we do to avoid inappropriate grumbling against God?

Notice why the Jewish religious leaders are murmuring about Jesus in verse 41.  It isn’t because he is describing himself as the bread of life.  They appear to understand that this is a metaphor.  What they object to is that he says he came down from heaven.  What is their objection to that claim in verse 42?

How might we be guilty of judging people based on their background – the class or group that we mentally assign them to – and not give due consideration to how what they are doing or saying might be inspired by God?

In verses 43-47 Jesus makes several points in response to their complaint.

In verse 44, Jesus says more clearly what he alluded to in verse 37: “No one can come to me unless the Father . . . draws him.”  What does this mean to you?

Who does God want to draw to Jesus?

Everyone.

We know from the rest of Scripture that Jesus is not claiming some sort of Calvinist predestination where God assigns people to be saved or damned.  We have free will and can choose to come to Jesus or not, and yet God draws us to come to him even before we do so.  In what ways does it involve our free action and in what ways does it involve God’s action?

Have you ever felt drawn by God (to himself, to Jesus, to the faith)?  What did it feel like and how did you react?

How do you see God’s hand or God’s grace at work in your life now, even as you act based on your own free will?

Jesus sums up what he has been saying with a short statement in verse 47 that doesn’t repeat everything but captures the most essential element.  What allows us to have eternal life?

Have you told Jesus in a definitive way that you believe in him?  Some people go through the rituals but never actually have that conversation with Jesus.  Is that something you are feeling called to do right now?

If you have already had that definitive conversation with Jesus, is there something you are feeling called to do right now to more fully live out your decision to believe in Jesus?

Take a step back and consider this:

Murmuring is not solely the province of unbelievers.  Even people who believe in Jesus can fall prey to murmuring or grumbling.

In fact, grumbling is one of the practices that can be most corrosive to our faith.  Grumbling involves complaining in an ill-tempered or annoyed way.  When we look at what is going on spiritually, we can see that grumbling is often a sign of trust.  When the Israelites were grumbling against Moses and God in the desert in Exodus 16 and Numbers 14, their grumbling was an expressing of their lack of faith in God.

Not all complaining falls into this category of grumbling.  There are times when it is appropriate to express a complaint.  But a complaint can be made with faith that the one hearing the complaint cares and will respond, or it can be expressed in a way that reveals a lack of trust.

Hannah was so distressed, by her barrenness and the ridicule to which she was subjected by her husband’s other wife, that she wept bitterly as she prayed to the Lord (1 Sam. 1:10).  She was bringing her deep pain to the Lord in faith.  Her prayer showed her trust in God.  The Israelites, in contrast, were expressing their lack of trust in God.

When Paul tells us, “Do everything without grumbling or arguing” (Phil. 2:14), the context is provided in the previous verse: “God is the one working in you . . . for his good purpose” (Phil. 2:13).  Negative grumbling is unnecessary and out of place when we recognize that God is at work in our lives and that we can trust him.

Similarly, Peter says, “Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.  As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Pet. 4:9-10).  There is no need for grumbling when we recognize that God is working through us to extend his grace to others through the gifts he has given to us.

Yet so often, Christians are prone to grumbling, allowing their negative attitudes to undermine their trust in God.

In what kinds of situations, or what areas of your life, might you be prone to the negative complaining or grumbling that may signal that you are having difficulty trusting in God?

How can you turn your thinking around, so that you can see more clearly how God is at work in your life and let go of any negative complaining or grumbling?