Engage The Scripture Podcast
Welcome to the Engage the Scripture Podcast, where the Bible is explored through its original historical, cultural, and literary context."
Engage The Scripture Podcast
Ep. 33 John 6: 41-71
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In the dramatic conclusion of John 6, thousands who once chased Jesus for miracles and bread now grumble and walk away after His hard teaching. Jeff and Brent explore the final part of the “Bread of Life” discourse and the painful moment when many disciples turn back. Jesus then asks the Twelve the crucial question: “Do you want to go away as well?” Peter’s powerful answer — “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” — reveals the heart of true discipleship.
Welcome back, everyone. God is good, and we are ready to engage the Bible with you today. In the last couple episodes, we have been going through John chapter 6, and today we will finish that chapter. We've seen where Jesus feeds the 5,000. It's Passover season, and that massive sign immediately brings Moses and the manna to mind. The crowd actually picks up on that connection. They don't just want more bread. They try to make him king on their own terms. And Jesus refuses that. So he moves the conversation in a whole new direction. He says, I am the bread of life. Not like the manna their ancestors ate, this bread gives eternal life. But the crowd pushes back, brings up Moses, asks for another sign, and Jesus keeps pointing them to the same truth. The Father is the one who gives the true bread, and that bread is him. And he ends this section with the big promise in verse 40.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's a bold statement. He says, I will raise them up. The eye is emphatic. He is saying he himself is the one who raises the dead.
SPEAKER_01That's right. Jesus Himself will raise the dead. He says it will happen on the last day. And he repeats that three times in this chapter. John 6 and 40, 44 and 54. And then again in John 11 and 24. The last day simply refers to the time of the final resurrection, when God raises his people, Daniel 12.2, Isaiah 26 19. And he restores them to a renewed, Eden-like existence. Isaiah 65 17, Isaiah 66 22, Revelations 21, 1 through 5. And Jesus says he is the one who carries this out.
SPEAKER_02Jesus repeats this promise again and again so we don't miss it, but the crowd starts pushing back hard.
SPEAKER_01And that's exactly where we're going to start our conversation today. Brent, go ahead and start our reading in John 6, 41 and 42.
SPEAKER_02So the Jews grumbled about him because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. They were saying, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, I have come down from heaven?
SPEAKER_01The crowd starts grumbling because Jesus just claimed to be the bread that came down from heaven. And John uses the exact same word for grumbling that the Old Testament uses for Israel's grumbling in the wilderness. It's the same pattern all over again. Their ancestors complained about the manna from heaven, and now this crowd is complaining about him, the one the manna was always pointing to. And part of why they're grumbling is because to them this doesn't make sense. They know him as a local guy, Jesus, the son of Joseph, and they know his parents. So they're basically saying, we know where this man is from. How can he claim to have come down from heaven?
SPEAKER_02Too much closeness often leads to disrespect. They think they got him figured out. To them, he's just the hometown boy.
SPEAKER_01Right. They know his parents, they know where he grew up, they know his whole story. So they're having a very hard time accepting that he comes from God. They're stuck on what they know, and they're completely missing who he really is.
SPEAKER_02You can feel the tension building. They're starting to push back hard.
SPEAKER_01And this grumbling, this pushback, it's going to set the stage for everything that happens next. Verse 43-44.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Jesus answered them, Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.
SPEAKER_01I like how Jesus jumps in here and basically says, Stop grumbling and listen. They're huddled up trying to sort this thing out on their own. And Jesus steps in and shuts it down fast. And then he says, No one can come to me unless the Father draws him. In other words, he's saying, You can't come to me on your own. You can't figure me out on your own. The Father has to draw you to me. Every scholar points this out. People don't drift into faith. God has to move first. And this drawing isn't God dragging people against their will. It's God opening hearts, opening eyes, helping people see Jesus for who he really is.
SPEAKER_02The Father draws and the Son raises.
SPEAKER_01They work together. Right. The main point is this: nobody comes to Jesus by accident. If you come to him, it's because the one true God has been drawing you. He's been working with your heart. And just to be clear, when Jesus says the Father draws someone, that word carries weight. In Scripture, draw isn't passive. It means God is taking the initiative. He is pulling you toward the truth in a way you could never do it on your own. Amen.
SPEAKER_02Boy, that's true. God is the one who helps you see Jesus for who he really is. Alright. So Jesus is correcting their grumbling, and he's explaining that God has to draw them to him. Verse 45.
SPEAKER_01Okay, I love this verse. Jesus quotes the prophets and says, They will all be taught by God. That line comes from Isaiah 54, 13, and the same idea shows up in Jeremiah 31, that God Himself would one day teach his people from the inside out. And Jesus uses that verse to explain how the Father draws people. It's not force, it's not pressure, it's God doing an inner work, opening hearts, opening minds, helping people recognize the truth about Jesus. And here's what I love about this verse. To be taught by God is to hear Jesus. That's exactly what Jesus said back in chapter 5. You've never heard the Father's voice because you don't believe the one he sent. In other words, if you really knew what it was like to sit under the Father's teaching in the Old Testament, if you had truly heard his voice, you would come straight to Jesus, because the Father's voice and the Son's voice are not two different messages. They're the same voice. And that's why Jesus says, Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from Him comes to me. If you're responding to God's voice, it will lead you to Jesus every time. The Father draws and the Son receives. They work together.
SPEAKER_02Then, after Jesus says, Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Then in verse 46, not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God.
SPEAKER_01Remember in the Old Testament, God didn't have a visible form. No one had ever seen God. So Jesus is making a huge claim here. He's saying, Don't think you can bypass me and go straight to the Father. No one has seen him except me. We spoke about this in one of our first episodes, John 1 and 18. No one has ever seen God, but the Son has made him known. So if you want to know the Father, you look at Jesus. If you want to hear the Father, you listen to Jesus. The Father teaches through the Son. Verse 47-48.
SPEAKER_02Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.
SPEAKER_01And that means Jew or Gentile. It doesn't matter who you are. Eternal life starts now. And then he's going to repeat that in verse 48. I am the bread of life.
SPEAKER_02Verse 49, your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
SPEAKER_01And now he sharpens the contrast. He says, Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. The manna was real, it was from God, but it only kept them alive for a day at a time. It couldn't give eternal life.
SPEAKER_02Verse 50. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.
SPEAKER_01He's talking about himself, the true life-giving bread.
SPEAKER_02Verse 51.
SPEAKER_01Okay, this is where Jesus intentionally steps into language that he knows is going to cause trouble.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that sounds really weird.
SPEAKER_01Yes, it does. And historically, people have twisted this into accusations of cannibalism, but they completely missed the point. Nothing points in that direction in the Bible. Cannibalism did exist in some corners of the ancient world, but not in Jewish culture, and not in the Greco-Roman moral world Jesus and his audience lived in. So obviously, Jesus isn't speaking literally. He is using imagery language for believing in him and relying on him for life. He's using the phrase, eat my flesh, as another way of saying, receive what I'm giving you. Trust me, take in the life I offer. And when he says, This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world, he's pointing straight to the cross. He's talking about his sacrificial death, the Lamb of God giving himself so the world can live. And there's one more layer I want to point out here. All through this chapter, Jesus has been making a comparison. Torah was called bread. Moses gave bread, but Jesus is the true bread, which is the word in human form, the bread from heaven. He's not replacing Moses, he's fulfilling everything Moses pointed to. As we've said, the bread in the wilderness kept Israel alive for a day, but the true bread Jesus himself gives life forever.
SPEAKER_02Verse 52. The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
SPEAKER_01So, right here, the argument breaks out. The Greek word shows it was a sharp dispute. They're fighting among themselves over the question, how can this man give his flesh to eat? This is classic John, just like Nicodemus with born again, and the Samaritan woman with living water. They're taking Jesus' words in the most literal physical way possible. And what they should be doing is asking Jesus what he means spiritually. In their culture, eating human flesh was absolutely revolting. So they're not thinking Jesus is promoting cannibalism. They're just confused and offended. They argue with each other instead of asking Jesus directly, and they keep calling him this man with a tone of contempt. What's tripping them up is simple. Jesus said the bread he gives is his flesh, so they connect the dots literally and completely miss the point. Now, before we go on, I want to be clear about how Christians have understood this. There are two main views. Many in the Catholic and Orthodox tradition take Jesus' words literally. They believe that in communion, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus. That's called the real presence, or this really big word called transubstantiation. I have friends who hold this view sincerely, and I respect their desire to honor Jesus. But for me, and for most Protestant scholars, Jesus is speaking metaphorically here. He's not teaching that the bread physically turns into his body. Communion is a faith-filled act of remembering and trusting Jesus, not a ritual that changes the elements. Scholars like D.A. Carson, Craig Keener, Michaels, Kostenberger, N.T. Wright, Heiser, Mackie, and Harris, they all see this passage as Jesus calling us to believe in him and take his life into ours by faith. Anyway, that's my take on it. And at the end of the day, both sides are trying to honor Jesus. We just land in different places on what he meant. We can disagree with respect.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so with all that in mind, let's hear what Jesus has to say next.
SPEAKER_01Brent, go ahead and read verse 53 through 59. And as you listen, notice how Jesus is using strong metaphor here. He is intentionally pushing the imagery to its limits. He's drawing on Jewish wisdom traditions like Proverbs 9, where wisdom says, Come eat my bread and drink my wine. In that world, eating and drinking meant taking in the teacher's life and teachings. And remember, John never even tells the story of the Last Supper. So this isn't communion language. It's rhetorical hyperbole, a common Jewish teaching technique. All right, Brent, now go ahead and read for us.
SPEAKER_02Verse 53 through 59. So Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, 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 feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on 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 whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever. Jesus said these things in the synagogue as he taught at Capernaum.
SPEAKER_01Alright, let's slow down and walk through what Jesus said, because this is some of the strongest language in the entire gospel. He takes the bread imagery and intentionally pushes it to the edge. He doesn't tone it down, he tones it up, and he does it on purpose to force them to confront the real issue, which is his coming death. He's speaking metaphorically, pointing straight to his sacrificial death on the cross, the Lamb of God giving his life for the world.
SPEAKER_02Jesus is using language designed to wake them up.
SPEAKER_01Yes, he is, and every major scholar we've studied agree that Jesus is speaking metaphorically here. Eating and drinking meant taking in the teacher's life and teachings, internalizing it, embracing it, and letting it shape you.
SPEAKER_02So Jesus is saying, Take me into your life, let my death give you life. Trust me fully. Verse 60 says, When many of his disciples heard it, they said, This is a hard saying. Who can listen to it?
SPEAKER_01And notice it's not the hostile leaders, it's Jesus' own disciples who are struggling. Now, when John says many of his disciples, he's not referring to the twelve. At this point, Jesus had a much larger group of followers traveling with him. People who listened to his teachings and consider themselves his disciples. But they were not as committed as the twelve. We see this same distinction in Luke 6.13, where Jesus chooses the twelve out of a larger group of disciples. So this larger group is the one starting to peel away. When they say this is a hard saying, they don't mean it's hard to understand. The Greek word means harsh or offensive and unacceptable. They loved the miracles and the free bread. But this talk about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, they weren't confused by the metaphor. They understood Jesus was talking about giving his life. They just didn't want that kind of a messiah. That's not the Messiah they wanted. So they're offended and start to walk away.
SPEAKER_02Verse 61. But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling, said to them, Do you take offense at this?
SPEAKER_01Jesus knows exactly what's happening. He asks, Does this offend you? The Greek word is scandalesia, the same root as scandal or stumbling block. He's basically saying, if this offends you, just wait until you see what's next.
SPEAKER_02Verse 62, then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?
SPEAKER_01This is big stuff. Jesus is claiming to be the Son of Man from Daniel 7, the one who comes on the clouds, approaches the ancients of days, and receives everlasting dominion. When he says ascending to where he was before, he's openly claiming deity. I came from God and I'm returning to God. And here's the irony. In John, this ascending also includes being lifted up on the cross. If they are already offended by his words, how much more when they see the Messiah crucified?
SPEAKER_02Oh wow, that makes sense. Verse 63. The flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
SPEAKER_01This is the key to the whole chapter. Jesus says, the flesh counts for nothing. The spirit gives life. He's not contradicting himself. He's saying if you stay stuck on the physical and literal, you'll miss everything. His words are spirit and life. Just like he told Nicodemus, what is born of the flesh is flesh, but what is born of the spirit is spirit. Only the spirit can give life.
SPEAKER_02Verse 64, but there are some of you who do not believe.
SPEAKER_01Now Jesus exposes the real issue, unbelief. And he's still talking about that larger group of disciples who had been following him, not the twelve. But John also adds a little narrator's note here. Jesus already knew who didn't believe, including the one who would eventually hand him over. So this is like our first hint about Judas. Nothing here surprises Jesus. He's not losing control.
SPEAKER_02Verse 65. This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.
SPEAKER_01Jesus brings it full circle back in verse 44. Genuine faith is a gift from the Father. People are responsible for their unbelief, but real faith is always God's work. The Father draws, the Spirit gives life, the Son keeps and raises. And now we're about to see the painful moment when many of his disciples turn and walk away.
SPEAKER_02After this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, Do you want to go away as well? Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know that you are the holy one of God. Jesus answered them, Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil. He spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscaria, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
SPEAKER_01Okay, let's land this plane on John 6. Up to this point, we've been watching the crowds grow, the excitement build, and people literally chasing Jesus around the lake. Then in this teaching, it all collapses. John tells us that many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. We're not told exactly how many, many was, but this wasn't a small Bible study group. This was a movement. Thousands had been following Jesus, and now they're gone. At this point, we're only about a half a year from the crucifixion. So this is a major turning point for sure.
SPEAKER_02Jesus is losing the protective buffer of the crowds, the very people who had shielded him and made it harder for the authorities to move against him.
SPEAKER_01That's that's it. At this point in the gospel, you can start to feel the atmosphere shifting. He's no longer the popular miracle worker on the hillside. He's now the controversial rabbi in the Capernaum synagogue whose words have turned the crowds against him. And right then Jesus turns to the twelve, the inner circle, and asks the question that every disciple eventually has to answer Do you also?
SPEAKER_02I love Peter's reply.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I do too. It's not polished theology. It's an honest response from a man who's walked with Jesus for over two years.
SPEAKER_02He says, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words to eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God. Peter is basically saying, Where else would we even turn?
SPEAKER_01I believe he is saying everything else is darkness compared to Jesus. Nothing else gives real life. Nothing else heals the human heart like he does. Then notice Jesus doesn't let the moment get prideful. He answers, Did I not choose you, the twelve? Yet one of you is a devil. John adds the narrator's note, Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, one of the twelve, was going to betray him. So is he calling Judas a devil? Good question. The word used here for devil is Diablos. It literally means slanderer, false accuser, or one who throws accusations around. The word devil here isn't calling Judas the devil himself, but it's the same strong term used elsewhere in the New Testament for someone who stirs up opposition and acts like an adversary. So Judas is already moving in that direction.
SPEAKER_02And Judas was even chosen by Jesus. Just goes to show even being chosen doesn't guaranteed faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01That's the heartbreaking part. Judas walked with Jesus, heard every teaching, saw every miracle, and still chose betrayal at the end. But we see here that Judas was not the only one who turned back from following Jesus. Many turned back on this very day.
SPEAKER_02You know, it's sad, but by the time we get to the cross, the crowds are long gone. Most of the disciples have thinned out, and even the twelve's gone scattered. Jesus pretty much ends up alone.
SPEAKER_01So this moment in John 6 launches the final stretch of Jesus' ministry. Opposition is rising, tension is building, and the only ones left with him are those who say, Lord, where else would we go? And that's the heart of discipleship. Not perfect theology, not perfect performance, just a simple Jesus, if I don't have you, I have nothing.
SPEAKER_02Amen. That's powerful. It really makes me examine my own heart. Am I following Jesus because he's convenient right now, or because he alone has the words of eternal life?
SPEAKER_01And Brent, that is the question every one of us has to face when Jesus' words challenge us. But that will do it for today. Next week starts chapter 7 and the final month of Jesus' public ministry. Until next week, I'm praying for you. God knows who you are, and He loves you. Keep on keeping on for Jesus.
SPEAKER_02Blessings and peace, everyone. See you next time. Shalom friends.
SPEAKER_00You've been listening to Engage the Scripture Podcast, where context reveals the meaning. The spirit reveals truth, and together they illuminate God's word. If you have questions or want to dive deeper into today's topic, visit engagethescripture.com. Click on the link, podcast notes. This podcast for educational and devotional topics is only the views expressed by those of the host and guests that do not constitute professional advice. Listeners are encouraged to study scripture and seek guidance from trusted spiritual leaders.