John 6:42, commentary and pictures

After feeding the five thousand and walking on the water, Jesus taught in the synagogue at Capernaum that He had come down from heaven, and His hearers murmured at the claim because they knew Him as Jesus the son of Joseph whose father and mother they knew. Their familiarity with His lowly human family and life as a Galilean laborer made them stumble over His humanity, so pride and prejudice led them to scorn His heavenly origin and demand a different Messiah who would come in glory to reign by force. He is in truth the living bread which the Father gives, come down from heaven to give life to the world, clothing His divinity with humanity to reveal Himself as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. To eat His flesh and drink His blood is to truly believe on Him whom God sent, receiving and assimilating His words which are spirit and life until they become part of the self and bring oneness with Him unto eternal life. That declaration tested all who claimed to be His disciples, and when its spiritual demands exposed hopes for temporal benefits and an earthly kingdom, many were offended and turned away while only personal faith that wholly follows Him endures.

Setting After Feeding Multitude

The saying belongs to the teaching that followed the miracle of feeding the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes and the miracle of walking on the water. He had cared for the physical needs of the hungry multitude who followed Him to hear His words, and then told His hearers He was the bread of life, a teaching that caused some of His disciples to turn from Him. That teaching was given in the synagogue at Capernaum, where He spoke of Himself as the bread of life come down from heaven. It was addressed to priests, rulers, Jews, and Gentiles, calling them to receive His life as necessary for life.

Those who heard had seen His mighty works and heard teaching of exceptional purity and greatness, yet familiarity did not lead them to believe His words. Many were drawn by hopes of an earthly kingdom and wanted to make Him an earthly king, but He refused the honor and offered no earthly rewards to those who followed Him. The spiritual teaching that followed exposed those hopes and tested loyalty, and even people who had followed Him turned away when He rejected expectations of a temporal reign and spoke of Himself and His spiritual kingdom.

The people had not understood the spiritual teaching of the loaves miracle, thinking only of the feeding and of temporal food for bodily necessities. They were thinking only of the miracle of feeding the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes while Christ was trying to lead their minds to higher truth that He Himself is the bread of life.

Stumbling Over Familiar Humanity

They murmured at and rejected His claim to have come down from heaven because they knew Him as Jesus the son of Joseph whose father and mother they knew, and familiarity with His earthly family and human circumstances made His heavenly origin hard to accept. In unbelief they stumbled over His humanity and refused to receive Him, believe in Him, and become one with Him by eating His flesh and drinking His blood in order to have eternal life. Their objection was unbelief toward His self-revelation as heavenly bread, and their focus on His earthly origin led them to murmur rather than receive His words. Understanding this spiritual truth required God's teaching and the Father's drawing.

Their objection was driven by pride, jealousy, and prejudice, which treated His ordinary upbringing and work as reasons to dismiss His miracles and teachings and to stir up prejudice against Him. They scorned His poor, humble background and lowly birth as a Galilean laborer and carpenter among the poor and lowly, regarding it as proof He could not make such a claim. They insinuated that His birth made His parentage doubtful, using His mysterious birth to cast doubt on Him even though they could not explain away His works or refute His teaching.

His humble life conflicted with their expectation of a Messiah who would come in glory as a glorious ruler to restore David's throne by force. Their prejudice blinded them to evidence that had already moved their hearts and to their first recognition of Him as Redeemer, and led them to demand a sign before believing. Jesus did not explain the mystery of His birth or answer their challenge. Though He had made Himself of no reputation and taken the form of a servant, His words and works revealed His character so that those open to divine illumination could recognize Him as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Satan had gained access to their minds and with subtle, deceiving power strove to prevent yielding to evidence. Their familiarity with His human circumstances became an occasion for unbelief, which Satan was ready to foster, and the verse illustrates the danger of resisting evidence through cherished unbelief. It shows the darkness of the natural, unconverted mind that points to His known family despite evidence of Messiahship, and the same darkness appears whenever people refuse to learn humbly from Christ and His Word. Their prejudice made them easily swayed and unable to accept His teaching about Himself and His spiritual kingdom.

Their response illustrates how truth that rebukes people can offend them and lead them to turn away from Christ rather than reform. It shows He was not appreciated by those He came to bless, even as He gave others the bread of life.

Christ the Living Bread

He is the true bread from heaven that the Father gives through the gift of Christ, the bread of life who came down from heaven to give life to the world. That bread is obtained from no human agent and is of far more consequence than temporal food for bodily necessities. Therefore chief labor is to be bestowed not for the meat which perishes but for that meat which endures to everlasting life. Though known as the son of Joseph, He is the divine Teacher who clothed His divinity with humanity to reveal Himself as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, in divine connection with the Father.

He Himself is the provision of the gospel feast, furnished by inexpressible love at infinite cost through His death to redeem man from the pit of sin. From Him flow the streams of salvation, from unsearchable, inexhaustible resources. To be invited to receive Him is the greatest honor that can be conferred. His work as substitute for all sin was the only hope of ancient Israel. The chapter defines His righteousness, which must be accepted, for without it a person does not have the wedding garment and is not fit for the wedding.

His words are spirit and life, and coming to Him and believing on Him whom God sent satisfies the soul. All true receivers never hunger and all believers never thirst. Those who hunger for Him are filled with His fullness. The chapter contains the plain expression of God's will and the divine antidote for the sin of the whole world. Eating His flesh and drinking His blood gives eternal life and resurrection at the last day, so that even if a believer dies the Saviour's life is in him and his life is hid with Christ in God. Jesus came to give life more abundantly, carrying on the great process by which believers are made one with Him in this present life to be one with Him through all eternity.

Belief in Him whom God has sent is the work of God that must come first before working the works of God. Believing in Christ is the way to heaven, and God's only begotten Son is the price of heaven.

Eating His Flesh Meaning

Eating His flesh and drinking His blood means true, earnest belief — receiving Him, believing in Him, and becoming one with Him in order to have eternal life. The Jews stumbled over this because He said He is the bread of life which came down from heaven, arguing He was Jesus the son of Joseph whose father and mother they knew and therefore could not have come down from heaven. Satan had gained access to their minds and with subtle, deceiving power was striving to prevent them from yielding to evidence, while they thought only of feeding the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes and Christ sought to lead them to higher truth. His claim belongs to figurative teaching about Himself as heavenly bread, and the same unbelief that insulted and mocked the world's Redeemer is what His messengers must expect when men refuse to believe them.

It means receiving and assimilating His words, which are spirit and life, until they become part of the self. As the body is formed by what it eats and drinks, the mind and spiritual life are shaped by what a person feeds on, bringing growth in His character and oneness with Him. All true receivers never hunger and all believers never thirst. Feeding on this living bread is receiving Christ's words and life into one's nature.

It means keeping God's Word and truth before us by studying and practicing them and looking to Jesus by faith. The flesh by itself gives nothing, while Christ's words are spiritual life. This eating is believing the Word of God and appropriating that Word to the soul by comparing Scripture with Scripture and bringing the requirements of Christ into the practical life. Spiritual life is sustained by receiving the Word personally as physical life is sustained by food, and taking it in and making it part of one's actions and character gives strength from God, lasting joy, and immortal vigor.

To study the Word is to eat the Word of God, that is to eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God, taking its truths into the soul and living them out as food is assimilated. This brings the principles revealed in Scripture home to the soul, not departing from its precepts, bringing its truths into daily life, grasping the mysteries of godliness, and living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. God in wisdom and love and goodness has made the Word plain and simple and has revealed all that is necessary for salvation, though not all has been revealed, and His word is to be lived by what He has revealed rather than left for human suppositions. Knowing the truth in Christ through prayer, communion with God, and proving the very mind of God and a knowledge of His will by those striving for eternal life is what enables revealing the truth to others.

The eating has special reference to the spirituality of the Word, a more exalted experience few understand. The Scriptures, including the directions given by Christ as the invisible Leader of Israel in the Old Testament, are to be read and fed upon, satisfying spiritual hunger. The living oracles are the flesh and blood of the Son of God, given even before He was crucified, because His work as substitute for all sin was the only hope of ancient Israel. It means being doers of the Word, obeying Christ's words and doing His works, advancing righteousness and restraining unrighteousness, with the Bible as the great educating Book above all other books. Belief in Him whom God has sent is the work of God that must come first before working the works of God, for believing in Christ is the way to heaven.

It means clinging to and receiving the truth of His word into the life, not merely hearing repeated ideas. This brings eternal life, union with Christ by living faith, full assurance of hope in believing every word of Christ, the witness of the Spirit that ways please God, and the joy of Christ remaining in the soul, so that the obedient believer bears much fruit and is no longer condemned by the law. Such spiritual nourishment renews a minister's understanding and work. It is an actual spiritual experience of having tasted that the Lord is gracious as a real part of personal experience, desired as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that they may grow thereby. It is received by opening the mind to the entrance of God's word with determination to practice it so that light comes. It is true conversion, being born again and seeing the kingdom of God and discerning its spiritual requirements.

That experience transforms character under the gaze of heaven, forsakes the common level, places the feet on the first round of the ladder which is Christ Jesus, and mounts step by step heavenward. It reveals Christ in spirit, words, and actions as living stones built up a spiritual house. Those who receive His life, pictured as eating His flesh and drinking His blood, are to become Christlike, marked by love for God and others and by His Spirit. Receiving Christ as perfect Saviour means taking in the bread of life and following Him wholly, with Christ abiding in them so their words and actions show His character as living water flows through the life.

Its meaning must be studied because it shows how eternal life is gained by cherishing in the heart the truth that works by love and purifies the soul. Receiving and obeying His life-giving words brings eternal life and makes people observers of the Word. Partaking of the bread of life, which is the Word of God received and lived out, gives opportunities to grow and form a firm, Christlike character. The heavenly bread is contained in the Bible as food given to the mind by which men and women are spiritually built up, so time should not be spent reading books and magazines that lead the mind astray and hinder spiritual growth. The sixth chapter should be read with prayer for clearness of understanding to comprehend its important statements, showing dependence must be on God and not on any human being, for when Christ is received by faith He is sanctification and righteousness and exceeding great reward.

That Word aims at the heart, addresses the moral nature, takes possession of the will, casts down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and brings every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Learning this bread of life requires being a submissive student in the school of Christ, with the soul emptied of all proud possessions, that Christ may imprint His image on the soul and the soul-temple may be the abiding place of the Most High. Those ready for service are those who feed most on Christ by reading and studying His Word, drinking in the inspiration of His Spirit, and receiving His grace not to hoard but to give to others. Teachers must first be learners at the feet of Jesus, joining intensely busy religious activity and doing good with learning, which even the most zealous workers need.

Division and Discipleship Call

His declaration that He is the bread come down from heaven tested those who claimed to be His disciples, and when the conditions of eternal life and the demands of that teaching became clear, many were offended and some disciples turned away from Him. Their turning away exposed that many had followed Him for temporal benefits rather than for Himself. That apostasy before He left them was permitted so it would not surprise faithful followers or make their trial too severe. The twelve did not show themselves unfaithful then, with Peter speaking for his brethren in declaring loyalty to Christ.

The truths He taught were to lead hearers to decide for or against Him and to reveal their real feelings toward Him, and those who were not wholly with Him would take a position against Him at His trial. The same unbelief by which the world's Redeemer was insulted and mocked is what His messengers must expect when men refuse to believe them. A mere outward connection with any church will not save a man, while personal faith in a personal Saviour brings the soul into spiritual union with Christ. Receiving Christ as the perfect Saviour means taking in the bread of life and following Him wholly, having Christ abiding within so that words and actions show His character as living water flows through the life.

The whole sixth chapter contains most precious and important lessons for all who are being educated in schools, giving an education that will endure through time and through eternity when its wonderful truths are brought into practical life and show what Jesus is to each person and what advantage comes to each individually from eating His words. The chapter is very instructive but is only faintly understood, so its words are to be taken in that privileges may be understood, with Himself as the great center of life. Feeding upon Christ, receiving His words as His very flesh and His blood, is the most important education for children and youth, joined to instruction in the law of Jehovah and the penalty for breaking it and to the truth that God accepts the ransom made by the Saviour for them when they are obedient to that law. Failing to appreciate this provision comes from not praying for the Holy Spirit to enlighten reason and not placing oneself to receive the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness to be sanctified in soul and spirit. Knowing the truth in Christ through prayer, communion with God, and proving the very mind of God and a knowledge of His will by those striving for eternal life is what enables revealing the truth to others.