John Adds to Confirming the Belief of Jesus’ Divinity

[newton3005]

John 6:16-20 describes Jesus walking on the water of the Sea of Galilee toward his disciples who were struggling in their boat as they rowed across the roughness of the stormy Sea, amidst strong winds, toward Capernaum. The second he steps into their boat, they are whisked to the shoreline leading to Capernaum. No, this isn’t the part of John 6 that may have exclusively determined the truth of Jesus’ Divinity, although combined with what happens later, it comes to be more acceptable to many, when through John’s depiction of people’s reactions to what Jesus says, perhaps to relate to any doubts that those, including us, who weren’t there may have, those doubts are allayed.

What happens later is described in John 6:33-65. Among those Verses, Jesus says to the crowd “...For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world...” “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst...I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh... Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Now, whoever wrote those passages, be it either God or those who wrote them upon God’s Inspiration, could have left out the subsequent verses which describe the puzzlement of not only the Jews who heard this, but Jesus’ own disciples. The Jews ask, in Verse 52, ““How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” And even his disciples, in Verse 60, state, ““This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”

Clearly, whoever penned these verses wanted to at least convey to us the doubts and consternations that the Jews and the disciples felt upon hearing these words. Was it necessary to do so? After all, a belief in God and the acceptance of what His Bible says is based on a matter of faith; fact checks need not be made. But here, perhaps, for the purpose of heading off any possible wonderments of those who read the words of John 6, we get a bonus, if you will, telling of how ‘people like us’ reacted to Jesus’ words, as if to say we aren’t the only ones who may shake our heads. And the fact that, as we see in the Bible, not only did his disciples remain his disciples despite how Jesus portrays himself, but there were also many Jews who converted on the same despite.

This is the part of the Bible that John 6 helps to justify...that if people like us resolved to overcome potential misgivings and reconciling themselves to Jesus, then who are we to not do the same? Furthermore, if the same doubting disciples tell us that Jesus walked on water, as if to say, ‘Yeah, Jesus says we can eat his flesh, and by the way, we saw him walk on water, so he’s the real deal,’ as the decent disciples striving for righteousness and to wake up the world have asserted, then some understanding that may be perceived as leaps of faith are deemed justified.

 

[Clare73]

John 6:16-20 describes Jesus walking on the water of the Sea of Galilee toward his disciples who were struggling in their boat as they rowed across the roughness of the stormy Sea, amidst strong winds, toward Capernaum. The second he steps into their boat, they are whisked to the shoreline leading to Capernaum. No, this isn’t the part of John 6 that may have exclusively determined the truth of Jesus’ Divinity, although combined with what happens later, it comes to be more acceptable to many, when through John’s depiction of people’s reactions to what Jesus says, perhaps to relate to any doubts that those, including us, who weren’t there may have, those doubts are allayed.

What happens later is described in John 6:33-65. Among those Verses, Jesus says to the crowd “...For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world...” “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst...I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh... Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Now, whoever wrote those passages, be it either God or those who wrote them upon God’s Inspiration, could have left out the subsequent verses which describe the puzzlement of not only the Jews who heard this, but Jesus’ own disciples. The Jews ask, in Verse 52, ““How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” And even his disciples, in Verse 60, state, ““This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”

Clearly, whoever penned these verses wanted to at least convey to us the doubts and consternations that the Jews and the disciples felt upon hearing these words. Was it necessary to do so? After all, a belief in God and the acceptance of what His Bible says is based on a matter of faith; fact checks need not be made. But here, perhaps, for the purpose of heading off any possible wonderments of those who read the words of John 6, we get a bonus, if you will, telling of how ‘people like us’ reacted to Jesus’ words, as if to say we aren’t the only ones who may shake our heads. And the fact that, as we see in the Bible, not only did his disciples remain his disciples despite how Jesus portrays himself, but there were also many Jews who converted on the same despite.

This is the part of the Bible that John 6 helps to justify...that if people like us resolved to overcome potential misgivings and reconciling themselves to Jesus, then who are we to not do the same?

Furthermore, if the same doubting disciples tell us that Jesus walked on water, as if to say, ‘Yeah, Jesus says we can eat his flesh, and by the way, we saw him walk on water, so he’s the real deal,’ as the decent disciples striving for righteousness and to wake up the world have asserted, then some understanding that may be perceived as leaps of faith are deemed justified.

Keeping in mind that the resurrection (and ascension) removed all previous doubt. . .

But when it comes to the word of God written, "leaps of faith" must be verified as truth by demonstration of their agreement with that word of God written, just as Jesus' words were verified as truth by his resurrection.

 

[BobRyan]

What happens later is described in John 6:33-65. Among those Verses, Jesus says to the crowd “...For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world...” “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst...I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh... Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Interesting. Clearly a metaphor where bread is standing in the place of Christ -- but it is not a claim that the people in the audience see Jesus as a loaf of bread.

Now, whoever wrote those passages, be it either God or those who wrote them upon God’s Inspiration, could have left out the subsequent verses which describe the puzzlement of not only the Jews who heard this, but Jesus’ own disciples. The Jews ask, in Verse 52, ““How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” And even his disciples, in Verse 60, state, ““This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”

Indeed - even today cannibalism is not looked upon as a "good thing" by Christians. So the symbolism Christ is using is in the extreme.

Clearly, whoever penned these verses wanted to at least convey to us the doubts and consternations that the Jews and the disciples felt upon hearing these words. Was it necessary to do so? After all, a belief in God and the acceptance of what His Bible says is based on a matter of faith; fact checks need not be made. But here, perhaps, for the purpose of heading off any possible wonderments of those who read the words of John 6, we get a bonus, if you will, telling of how ‘people like us’ reacted to Jesus’ words, as if to say we aren’t the only ones who may shake our heads.

The faithless disciples in John 6 leave because they think Jesus is talking about literal cannibalism.

A similar use of symbolism with bread and leaven is used by Christ in Matt 16 and when the disciples insist on taking the symbols too literally in Matt 16 - Jesus rebukes them.

In John 6 Jesus makes the matter plain when he says "eating literal flesh is worthless" -

60 So then many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This statement is very unpleasant; who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus, aware that His disciples were complaining about this, said to them, “Is this offensive to you? 62 What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh provides no benefit; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit, and are life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe​

Jesus tells them that the symbols He is using are not to be taken literally --- but rather they are symbols pointing to His WORD - His teaching, and to the need of BElIEVING His Word that became flesh and dwelt among us. Which is what Moses said was the spiritual lesson of manna - bread falling down out of heaven.

67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to leave also, do you?” 68 Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. 69 And we have already believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.​