The Gospel of John - Outline Part 16 - The Most Satisfying Food in the World

TITLE

John 6:41-59 – The Most Satisfying Food in the World

EXPLANATION

Continuing the conversation from the previous passage, we see the ongoing complaints and unbelief of the Jews.  Having been confronted over and over with the truth, and being completely unwilling to yield in their hard hearted stubbornness, they now resorted to ad hominem attacks against Jesus’s character.  Rather than dealing with the truth He was teaching, they began to discuss the fact that He was a simple carpenter’s son whom they had all known for years.  The implication that hangs over the text is that, because they knew of Jesus and His family, He had no right to be saying the things He was saying.

In spite of the intense and personal opposition, Jesus did not let up His attack.  He rebuked the people for their grumbling.  And He maintained His position.  He said no one could come to Him unless the Father drew them, only He had seen the Father, and whoever believed in Him would receive eternal life.

Then, Jesus layered additional doctrine on top of what He had already covered.  This extra doctrine was intended to communicate the all satisfying sufficiency of a relationship with Christ.  He likened it to bread.  But, this bread is unlike all material bread.  It gives life forever.  The image that emerges here from Jesus’s teaching is of a wonderful unity and symbiosis that is produced through faith in Christ.  Bread, or really any food, is an excellent metaphor.  Material food passes into a person’s body through the mouth.  It is then assimilated by the body and literally becomes a part of that person.  The nutrients provide fuel to maintain the body and keep it running. 

So, Jesus taught, believing in Him is like that in a spiritual sense.  A person who “feeds” upon Jesus takes His teaching, His words, and His example deep inside their soul.  Jesus becomes a part of them and becomes inseparable.  The Messiah provides the spiritual nourishment to maintain an inner life that is dedicated to God rather than self.

APPLICATION

This teaching by the Lord Jesus was and is profound.  Unfortunately, people today often still do not really understand it.  Even Christians sometimes intellectualize or legalize the Christian life.  We make our walk with God into an external behavioral system devoid of any experiential, inward witness, presence, and interaction with God and His Christ.  This is a perversion of the gospel that Jesus taught to the Jewish crowds here in Capernaum.  When God is pleased to draw us to Himself and build a relationship with us, that relationship begins in the heart.  And, it never leaves the heart.  Although it may and should be manifested externally, we must never lose sight of the internal unity with God that is absolutely essential to a profitable, productive, and all satisfying union with Him.