John 6:60-71 (2)

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John 6:60–61 ESV

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?

John 6:60- 61

“This word is hard. Who can hear it?”

·”Many disciples”

o not all

· troubled by Jesus’ words about eating his flesh and drinking his blood

o Like “the Jews” too, they speak to each other, not to Jesus

o calls it by its right name, “murmuring”

· What is it that “makes them stumble” (Joh_6:61)?

o Was it …

§ Jesus’ claim to have “come down from heaven” (Joh_6:38)?

§ is it the notion of “eating” his flesh (Joh_6:51-58)

§ Or both?

o Maybe Jesus’ words were too clear, not unclear.

§ Eat my flesh, drink my blood (vss 51, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58)

+ Vs. 35 Jesus explains the metaphor - follow/believe - so maybe they understood completely.

§ If, …he has been saying that life for the world comes about only through violent death, his own and by extension theirs, it is not surprising that they would find such a prospect “hard” to listen to, much less accept and embrace.

+ They don’t pcik on Jesus’ phrase “I will raise him up on the last day”. (vs. 40, 44,54)

John 6:62

John 6:62 ESV

Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?

There is no ambiguity here.

If they were to see Jesus “going up where he was at first,” it would demonstrate that his claim was true.

· The reader knows what they do not:

o that Jesus (and he alone) has “gone up to heaven” (Joh_3:13),

o that only he “has seen the Father” (Joh_6:46), and consequently

o that his claim is indeed true (see also Joh_20:17).

· The phrase “where he was at first” reaches all the way back to the Gospel’s opening glimpse of “the Word” who was “with God in the beginning” (Joh_1:2).

· No such visible demonstration is promised, however. All they have to go on is Jesus’ spoken “word” (Joh_6:60), “hard” though it may be, and what he requires of them is faith in him, and in that “word.”

· Does this offend you?

o Yes - You could have been more gentle.

o Yes - You could have tried to fit in with other groups of believers and not started something new.

o Yes - But I believe in you anyway.

o No? - everyone seems to be offended, or they’re not listening.

John 6:63 ESV

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

Joh 6:63

“The Spirit is that which makes alive; the flesh accomplishes nothing,” Jesus continues. “The words I have spoken to you are spirit, and they are life.”

· Here “the Spirit” is contrasted to “the flesh” (a term carried over from Joh_6:51-56), recalling Jesus’ comment to Nicodemus that “What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit” (Joh_3:6). Spirit means the essence of life, and is not actually referring to the Holy Spirit, but to the spirit in us that causes us to be alive.

o associating it closely with “raising the dead” (Joh_5:21).

o Here too it suggests resurrection, echoing Jesus’ repeated promise, “I will raise it [or him] up at the last day” (Joh_6:39, Joh_6:40, Joh_6:44, Joh_6:54).

· But what is different is the role of “the Spirit” in “making alive,” or raising the dead.

o Nowhere else in John’s Gospel is this connection explicitly made,

o yet unsurprising if the following is taken into consideration:

§ the Old Testament (for example, Gen_2:7; Eze_37:5)

§ or with Paul’s letters [See 2Co_3:6, “For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα ζῳοποιεῖ); 1Co_15:45, where Christ himself (“the last Adam”) is identified as “life-giving Spirit” (εἰς πνεῦμα ζῳοποιοῦν); Rom_8:10-11, “If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life [τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα ζωή] because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring to life [ζῳοποιήσει] your mortal bodies through the Spirit that dwells in you” (also 1Pe_3:18, “put to death in the flesh, made alive [ζῳοποιηθείς] in the Spirit”)

o But a solution presents itself if we go back to Jesus’ first use of the word “flesh” (Joh_6:51): “and the bread I will give him is my flesh for the life of the world.”

§ There, as we saw, “my flesh” was a metaphor for Jesus’ death “for the life of the world.” Here, the point is that “flesh” is no good without “Spirit,” that is, death even for a noble cause “accomplishes nothing”—unless it is followed by resurrection.

§ Jesus has promised vindication, not once but over and over again:

· “never go hungry,” and “never ever thirst” (Joh_6:35),

· “never cast out” (Joh_6:37), “raise it up at the last day” (Joh_6:39),

· “have life eternal,” and “raise him up at the last day” (Joh_6:40),

· “raise him up at the last day” (Joh_6:44),

· “has life eternal” (Joh_6:47),

· “will live forever” (Joh_6:51),

· “has life eternal,” and “raise him up at the last day” (Joh_6:54),

· “dwells in me, and I in him” (Joh_6:56),

· “will live because of me” (Joh_6:57), and

· “will live forever” (Joh_6:58).

· Jesus’ “word” (Joh_6:60) sounded “hard” to these would-be disciples because it seemed to be all about “flesh,” and consequently all about death.

o On the contrary, he now claims, “The words [Gr. τὰ ῥήματα.] I have spoken to you are spirit, and they are life.” Not “flesh,” but “spirit” .]—not “death,” but “life.” They are life because Jesus spoek them, and He gives life.

o It is true that life comes only through death, whether his or theirs (see Joh_12:24), and this they find disturbing,

§ but the other side of the truth is that death is not the last word.

§ In resurrection, “life” trumps “death,” and “the Spirit that makes alive” trumps “the flesh.”

§ Jesus invites these “disciples” to hear his words in faith as “spirit” and as “life,” but he knows already that some of them will not.

John 6:64 ESV

But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.)

Jesus now unmasks the unbelief of these so-called “disciples,”

· there are only “some of you,” he says, “who do not believe,”

o fewer perhaps than the “many” who “stumbled” at his message (Joh_6:60).

This didn’t disturb Jesus, like it would me.

The Father called only some (vss 37&39)

He was here for those who would receive him.

Just as He knew some wouldn’t believe, He knew some would. And that was satisfactory.

· add a narrative aside

o calling attention once again (as, for example, in Joh_6:6) to Jesus’ foreknowledge: “For Jesus knew from the beginning who they are who do not believe, and who it is who will hand him over.”

o Jesus by surprise, but that all of it was within his knowledge and part of God the Father’s plan.

o If Jesus’ knowledge of who did not or does not believe looks very generally at the past and the present (see Joh_3:11-12; Joh_5:38; Joh_6:36),

o looks at a specific event in Jesus’ future. It has become customary to translate this verb as “betray,” but in itself the verb does not connote treachery. Jesus will be “handed over” more than once in this Gospel, and in different ways (see, for example, Joh_18:30, Joh_18:35, Joh_18:36; Joh_19:16).

Jesus knos who will betray him

He accepted this also, it didn’t throw him off balance.

He knew this when he called Judas.

We don’t have the story of this, but it is told to us here very briefly.

Imagine calling Judas when He knew this.

The Father also knew it, and directed Jesus to call Judas.

What would you do if God called you to do something that you knew would get you killed?

Maybe there are times when God may ask us to draw close to a Judas in our own lives.

This didn’t shake Jesus.

We should accept this also.

Maybe this is part of sucessful ministry - to be betrayed, and to not back away from being betrayed.

John 6:65 ESV

And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

The writer returns to Jesus’ direct speech … “But there are some of you who do not believe” … ‘This is why I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is given him from the Father.’

· ” When had he told them that?

o Never in exactly those words, but the quotation is indirect, not direct, and verse Joh_6:44 is close enough

o ,” recalling the principle first laid down by John to his disciples three chapters earlier, “A person cannot receive anything unless it is given him from heaven” (Joh_3:27).

o The two pronouncements (all three, in fact) can fairly be regarded as amounting to the same thing.

· More striking is the pronoun “you.”

o “I have told you,”

o This confirms what the reader has long suspected: that Jesus’ audience throughout the chapter (and through much of the public ministry) is always the same,

§ whether they are called “the crowd” (Joh_6:22, Joh_6:24),

§ or “the Jews” (Joh_6:41, Joh_6:42), or

§ “the disciples” (Joh_6:60, Joh_6:66).

§ What he says to one group he says to all.

o They are all potential disciples or believers, yet they do not believe, at least not as a group, and sooner or later their unbelief is unmasked (see Joh_12:37).

If you follow me - You are a gift given to me by the Father.

This is Jesus’ focus - He is receiving gifts from His Father.

His focus is not on “What did I do to deserve to be betrayed.

Would we be able to look at things the way Jesus did?

Some of Jesus’ frustration with disbelief comes out here.

He pushes awy those the Father has not called.

He wants to focus on those called by the Father.

John 6:66 ESV

After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

Like “the crowd” and like “the Jews,” these “disciples” do not reply when their unbelief is exposed. Instead, the narrative resumes.

“From this” ... more likely echoes Jesus’ phrase “this is why” or “for this reason” (Joh_6:65), and carries much the same meaning: “as a result of this,” or “consequently.”

What results is that instead of answering Jesus, “many of his disciples turned back and would no longer walk with him.”

We are not told explicitly whether this was an immediate or a long-range result, but Jesus’ words to “the Twelve” in the next verse, “Do you also want to go away?” argue strongly that it happened immediately, right at the scene.

writer leaves the impression

that Jesus has failed to calm their fears

that he has been proven right on two counts

One is that there are indeed “some … who do not believe” (Joh_6:64),

and the other is that “no one can come … unless it is given him from the Father” (Joh_6:65).

They are themselves living proof of it, as they turn and walk away.

They have “followed” Jesus (Joh_6:2),

“come to him” (Joh_6:5),

hailed him as “the prophet” (Joh_6:14),

tried to make him king (Joh_6:15),

“looked for” him and “found” him (Joh_6:24-25),

but now they “turned back,” ... an expression with an almost military sound (see Joh_18:6!). The verb is aorist, marking in this instance not a momentary setback but a decisive turning away. The accompanying verb is imperfect: they “would no longer walk with him,” making their defection permanent.

“Walking” becomes a metaphor for living one’s life, [See BDAG, 803.]

“walking with Jesus” or “walking in the light” a metaphor for being his disciple,

and “walking in darkness” a metaphor for unbelief.

When these disciples “turned back and would no longer walk with him,” the writer implies, they stopped “walking in the light,” and began to “walk in darkness.” [What was not true of Jesus’ disciples in the boat (Joh_6:17) was true of them: “the darkness overtook them.”]

We might not call them “disciples” but “washouts”

The gospel writer calls them disciples.

Did they later change their minds and follow Jesus then?

Paul was that way.

Jesus brother James later followed Jesus.

Or did refusing to follow Christ mean a point of no return?

Probably best not to make any had and fast rules.

This is a turning point.

Jesus is now a divider of people.

Believers and nonbelievers.

John 6:67 ESV

So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?”

introducing the term as if he expects the reader to understand who “the Twelve” are

no other Gospel introduces them so abruptly as this

Those who are unfamiliar with other Gospels have nothing to go on except the fact that “his disciples” had gathered up “twelve baskets” after Jesus fed the crowd (Joh_6:12-13), so that possibly “the Twelve” could be the same disciples who had assisted at the feeding, each now carrying a basket of leftover crumbs.

In any event, Jesus asks the Twelve as a group, “Do you want to go away too?” giving them the freedom to leave with the unbelieving disciples if they so choose.

John seems to assume we know about the 12 disciples from another Gospel account. He tells us very little about the 12, and never even names all of them.

“Will you go away?”

God chose them but they had the ability to choose whether or not to follow Jesus.

God’s choice didn’t erase their ability to choose.

They are fully responsible for their choices.

John 6:68–69 ESV

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.”

“The Twelve” now come to represent an inner circle of Jesus’ disciples who remained faithful (without necessarily implying that they were the only faithful disciples).

Simon Peter, speaking for the Twelve, replies, “Lord, to whom shall we turn? You have words of life eternal, and we have believed and we know that you are the Holy One of God.”

From here on only disciples or believers will address him in this way, and (all but twice) with the more confessional meaning, “Lord.”

But from here on only disciples or believers will address him in this way, and (all but twice) with the more confessional meaning, “Lord.”

“To whom shall we turn?” picking up the verb from the preceding reference to those who “turned back” from following Jesus (Joh_6:66).

“To whom” leads us to expect an emphatic “you” in the next sentence, but instead the pronouncement puts the phrase “words of life eternal” front and center, echoing Jesus’ own claim that “The words I have spoken to you are spirit, and they are life” (Joh_6:63).

The Twelve recognize the life-giving quality of Jesus’ words, even if the other “disciples” do not.

Unlike the others, they do not “stumble” at his words (Joh_6:61), but recognize that “life eternal” comes through death and in no other way.

Simon Peter articulates for them their faith in Jesus, and this is where we finally encounter the emphatic pronouns that we expect: “and we believe and we know that you are the Holy One of God” (Joh_6:69, italics added). Not “I” but “we.”

Not “Peter’s confession” but that of the Twelve.

In contrast to those who did “not believe” (Joh_6:64) but “turned back” (Joh_6:66), they “believe” and consequently “know” who Jesus is.

If so, the confession by the Twelve confirms that “the Holy One of God” exactly describes who Jesus is. In the synoptics, “Holy One” implied ritual and moral purity, making Jesus a terror and a threat to the world of the demonic, and all that was impure or unclean.

John 6:70 ESV

Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.”

Recognizing that Simon Peter was speaking for the Twelve and not just himself, Jesus answered “them” (not just Peter) with a rhetorical question of his own, “Did I not choose you as the Twelve?”

and a startling revelation: “And one of you is ‘the devil.’

” When and where did Jesus “choose” [Gr. ἐξελεξάμην.] these disciples and designate them as “the Twelve”?

Nowhere in this Gospel.

Just as the text requires some familiarity with who the Twelve are, so it seems to require familiarity with a story in which Jesus chose or appointed twelve disciples to travel with him and share in his ministry (that is, a story resembling Mar_3:13-19, Mat_10:1-4, and Luk_6:12-16).

The reader is free either to fill in the gap from prior knowledge of a synoptic-like account, or simply to take the writer’s word for it that Jesus “chose” the Twelve, without wondering why or how or under what circumstances.

Why are “the Twelve” mentioned in these few verses but virtually nowhere else in the Gospel?

Apparently to heighten the irony and shock of what comes next: “And one of you is the ‘devil.’ ”

Not “a devil,” as in virtually all English translations, but “the devil,” because of the same grammatical rule that dictated “the Word was God” (rather than “a god,” Joh_1:1), and “the King [rather than “a king”] of Israel” (Joh_1:49), the rule that “definite predicate nouns which precede the verb usually lack the article.”

Moreover, “a devil” would imply a plurality of devils, something of which the New Testament knows nothing.

For Jesus to call him “the devil” here is not so different from calling Simon Peter “Satan” in Matthew (Mat_16:23) and in Mark (Mar_8:33).

There too the etymology of “Satan” as “the Adversary” [See BDAG, 916.] is clearly at work. On the traditional Jewish principle that “an agent is like the one who sent him,” or “the agent of the ruler is like the ruler himself,”

someone who does the devil’s work is in that sense himself “the devil” or “Satan.”

The supreme irony of the pronouncement, of course, is that one of “the Twelve,” one of those “chosen”—not just by Jesus but by the Father—turns out to be “the devil”!

John 6:71 ESV

He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.

Jesus’ pronouncement leads us to expect some reaction from the Twelve, but instead the Gospel writer inserts another of his “narrative asides” (as, for example, in Joh_6:64), explaining that Jesus “meant ).] Judas of Simon Iscariot.

Here for the first time Judas is named, as “Judas of Simon Iscariot,” revealing both his father’s name and his place of origin, and at the same time explicitly identified as “one of the Twelve,” and yet as the one who, Jesus knew, would “hand him over” (Joh_6:64), presumably to those who were seeking his life (see Joh_5:18; Joh_7:1).

Here, of course, the Twelve are not privy to the writer’s parenthetical aside, nor can Judas know that he has been singled out.

Yet the pronouncement, “And one of you is ‘the devil’ ” (Joh_6:70) should have caused an uproar, and does not.

This is where the Twelve should have “kept looking at each other, perplexed as to which one he meant” (Joh_13:22), or asked him each in turn, “Is it I, Lord?” (Mat_26:22; also Mar_14:19).

Instead, the Gospel writer postpones that moment until much later, when Jesus puts it another way: “Amen, amen, I say to you that one of you will hand me over” (Joh_13:21).

What triggers the confusion finally is not Jesus’ mention of “the devil” (which seems to have gone right over their heads), but the prospect of Jesus being “handed over,” something the reader knows about already because of the two narrative asides (Joh_6:64, Joh_6:71), but something about which the Twelve are still totally in the dark. Evidently the pronouncement, “And one of you is ‘the devil,’ ” is more for the readers’ benefit than theirs, underscoring (as we have seen) the irony that even being “chosen” does not guarantee either faithfulness or salvation.

The reader can grasp the irony, but cannot tell whether or not the Twelve did so, for they held their peace.

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