An interesting series of arguments from John 6, after Jesus’s miraculous feeding of the five thousand:
When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”
Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.”
Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?”
Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.”
Let’s pause here. The reader knows that Jesus is not literally a loaf or slice or hunk of bread. But he is sent by God (“come down from heaven”) in order to bring something akin to everlasting nourishment – which the reader knows is “eternal life.” (John 3:16, John 3:36; John 4:14; John 5:24)
Cue the clowns, his spiritually blind critics. They seize on the “coming down” language:
Then the Jews began to complain 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 can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
Present-day proof-texters of preexistence will miss that this is supposed to be foolish point-missing. Like several other places in the book (John 2:20; John 3:4; John 8:57; John 7:34-36; John 8:22; John 10:33), they’re missing Jesus’s point – which is not about whether he had at least one parent or whether he floated down from the sky, or traveled from God’s domain to the earth. His point is that he is truly God-sent, and that “eating him” (i.e. believing his message) brings eternal life. For his part, Jesus soldiers on, ignoring the foolish distraction.
Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.
He is insisting on his genuine authority, as really having been sent by God – not, note, on his literally having come down from heaven. And then on to his main point, that his message, if believed, brings a new and everlasting life. Not that one will never die, but rather, one will be raised, resurrected (by Jesus!) to everlasting life. But rather than correct their interpretation of his talk of “coming down from heaven,” he doubles down on that language, and on the metaphor of “eating” him, this life-giving bread.
Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Cue the clowns:
The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Again, this is egregious point-missing. Eager to be offended, they seize on his talk of being eaten (like any worthy “bread” should be). Interestingly, he again turns the knife. Just as he repeated and ramped up his talk of “coming down from heaven,” so now he doubles down on his assertion that he should be eaten. Not only that, but you have to wash down the meal with his blood, vampire-style!
So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.
The crowd’s reaction was not recorded. Presumably, this little sermon was the proverbial turd in the punchbowl that Sabbath at the synagogue in Capernaum. He likely cleared the room, or else caused such a commotion that he needed to exit the room!
Next time: how the author prevents the reader from throwing the book across the room.
