Bible Study Notes - John 6:60-71

Bible Study Notes - John 6:60-71

“Relationship Not Religion” – This phrase exquisitely captures the evangelist’s overarching theme within the “Bread of Life” discourse of the sixth chapter of the gospel.  In the midst of a crowd of disciples, followers, seekers, religious people and onlookers, Jesus personifies the Heavenly Father who sends Jesus to reveal divine love.  Instead of historical, traditional and institutional religion, true worshippers serve the Father in spirit and truth as they mature in relationship with Him instead of acquire theoretical theological knowledge in lieu of Him.  Being a disciple means a commitment to lifelong learning of Jesus’ teachings.  It further means an enduring commitment to spiritual maturity and personal development as you attain the mind, heart and character of Jesus Christ.  This knowledge emerges in your life in a two-fold way.  Study of the Lord’s teachings fits perfectly like a hand in a glove with developing relational experience and practical application of His teachings.

The essence of Christianity is an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.  It is neither religion nor the ritualistic, liturgical and traditional trappings associated with institutional structures and formal theology.  It is not the personal religiosity we cultivate over time with church attendance, giving, community service and other external displays of righteousness.  The evangelist records the truth of Almighty God’s highest revelation of Himself in the Person of Jesus Christ who freely offers abundant and eternal life to anyone who believes in Him whom the Father sends.  Christ surpasses the Law, Prophets, Temple and teachings of the religious leaders, the Pharisees and Sadducees.  The miracles, signs and wonders of the first twelve chapters of the gospel demonstrate Christ’s greatness and the Father’s seal of approval as no one is able to perform these extraordinary deeds without the Father’s sanction.  Moreover, the Father lavishes His love on humankind in the gift of Christ (John 3:16), an act of love that great exceeds temporary suspensions of natural law to provide physical and emotional comfort. 

This passage concludes the “Bread of life” teachings.  The crowd reacts harshly to Jesus’ forthright and hard sayings.  They ask, “Who can endure this teaching?”  How do Christ’s commands cohere with their religious traditions?  His unequivocal demands necessitate faithful adherence to Him; otherwise disciples cannot share in the rewards of abundant life and eternal life to come.  A crisis of faith emerges for many of Jesus’ followers who leave Him.  Actually, the original eleven disciples entertain the possibility of deserting Him.  The pangs of faith crisis such as suffering, pain, emotional droughts, waiting on the Lord, living with evil, social ills and feeling forsaken by God often tempt disciples to abandon Christ.  Yet, when Jesus asks the disciples if they are going to follow the crowd and leave too, they respond with the poignant question, “To Whom shall we go?”  The evangelist stipulates the non-negotiable tenet of Christian faith that only Jesus possesses the words of eternal life.

This tumultuous scene in John’s gospel reminds disciples of the necessity of self-denial in a relationship with Jesus Christ.  It further requires sacrifice of time, talent, treasure and temperament.  Disciples subordinate their personal will and preferences to the supremacy of furthering Christ’s gospel and expanding His kingdom on Earth.  Disciples relinquish their right to hedonism and self-determination.  They surrender the fallacy of the comfort zone.  Instead, they make Jesus their “Ultimate Concern” seeking to be an instrument of His love, messenger of His grace and channel of His peace.

“To Whom shall we go?”  Society offers many alternatives to the Christian gospel.  Atheism is on the rise in the United States and throughout the world.  It appears empowering to assert a disbelief in God and sole belief in one’s own abilities.  A polar opposite belief system to Christianity and other faiths, atheism grants zero relevance to the existence of a supreme being.  It spiritualizes the American dream and cultural phenomenon of “pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps.”  Second, humanism values the power of the humankind’s will, spirit and determination for progress.  This belief system stipulates humankind’s propensity toward advancement in time.  It sees humanity’s achievement throughout history and expects further growth.  Secularism and the state also offer a third alternative as “American civil religion” complete with the “sacred” texts of the U. S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers and other historical works suggests belief in the power of the federal and state governments to protect citizens and offer them the summum bonum.  Many Americans worship the power of our country’s advancement in nearly two hundred and forty years notwithstanding slavery, the plight of women, the treatment of Native Americans and other enduring historical crimes against humankind. 

Marginalized citizens within those communities, as a fourth option, ground their identities in politics, community activism and myriad social justice causes.  Creating societies to empower previously disenfranchised, exploited, subjugated and oppressed people against the systemic forces that perpetuate their dehumanization, these citizens relegate matters of faith to a public sector seeking justice. They do not necessarily pursue any type of religious commitment for its inherent worth.  Possibly, the historical use of religion to further the oppression of marginalized people and support the aims of the ruling classes causes them to rebuff its authenticity.  Fifth, with the ascendancy of technology, psychology, psychiatry and other social and behavorial disciplines, science is the fastest growing religion of the twenty-first century.  Contemporary persons uncritically accept the premises of Darwinism, empiricism and materialism which rely upon the scientific method as the only means of ascertaining truth.  Those presuppositions inevitably fuel the creation of modern and postmodern spiritualties such as the New Age Movement, values clarification, process theology and other forms of syncretism of philosophical, ideological, political and theological systems.  Summarily, many alternatives to the saving message of Jesus Christ exist; yet none of them adequately addresses the holistic challenges of human life as comprehensively as Christianity. 

Consider the following ideas and questions as you study the passage

·         In response to the crowd’s question in John 6:60 consider a time when you entertained ideas of abandoning Christ.  What lead to your crisis in faith?  How was it resolved?  What did you learn from asking hard questions? 

·         Additionally, have you found the teachings and commands of Christ to be burdensome?  Have you ever said aloud, “Who can accept it?”  If yes, was your inquiry rhetorical or did it emerge from a deep, longstanding and internal dilemma you had with Christianity?  I recall in seminary feeling particularly bewildered when I read a theologian who noted that the gospels did not mention any condemnation of slavery.  He intimated that Jesus’ failure to explicitly denounce slavery logically meant His acceptance of its practice.  For a while, I experienced a substantial crisis in faith as a descendant of African Americans who understood the Christian gospel as antithetical to a system of converting people into property.  Through an extensive study of history and literary criticism in which I accepted that the gospel writers as residents of the historical milieu of the Roman Empire undoubtedly did not question slavery, I resolved that this theologian’s assessment did not warrant a negation of Christianity.  Moreover, it is necessary to differentiate the practice of slavery in the Roman Empire in which slaves retained autonomy over their minds, bodies and physical lives with the vulgar institution of chattel slavery in the American South in which slaves, although human and created in the image of Almighty God, were relegated to the status of livestock and material possessions.  Summarily, progressive faith necessitates asking hard questions and willingness to live without answers.

·         The next two verses record Jesus’ recognition of the crowd’s grumbling.  They are dissatisfied with the unequivocal nature of the “Bread of Life” discourse.  Their complaints are reminiscent of the wilderness generation’s groans about manna, water and meat.  Contemporarily, many seekers and church attendees complain whenever anyone insists upon the purity of the gospel.  They prefer to combine Christ’s gospel with other ideologies they prefer.  Orthodox Christianity resists any such fallacies as combining Christ’s teachings with systems of thoughts that are inherently incompatible and irreconcilable.  Like the first century audience, many people today take offense when pastors and theologians insist upon integrity as it relates to a biblically based faith.

·         The Holy Spirit interprets the Lord’s teachings for contemporary believers and provides them with wisdom to apply Christian principles in everyday living.  As is His mission to guide toward truth and supply divine wisdom, the Holy Spirit empowers disciples as they practically follow the Lord’s example.  If disciples become self-reliant rather than interdependent upon the Lord, they digress to satisfying their self-seeking motives and self-centered fears.  Gratifying the lusts of the flesh and fantasies of the mind equates with the evangelist’s use of the word, flesh.

·         The life which the Holy Spirit gives is not attainable via religiosity.  Christianity is not a system of “Dos” and “Don’ts.”  It is relational devotion to the Lord whereby gratitude for His sacrifice and love coerces obedience to His commands.

·         Sensing the crowd’s complaints which encourage their unbelief, Jesus challenges their refusal to believe in Him and thereby the Heavenly Father who sends the Son.   

·         John alludes to Jesus’ foreknowledge as He knew who would believe and who would betray Him.  This divine characteristic reminds us that the Lord looks to the heart and not a person’s external appearance.  Faith is not a matter of rhetoric and ritual.  Eventually, the Lord coerces us to state, affirm and live our faith with integrity.  It is not enough to verbally assert belief or practice it ritualistically.  Disciples genuinely rely upon the Lord as the source of their life and strength.    

·         Jesus providentially confronts the crowd as to their sincerity.  He reminds them of the Father’s gracious initiative in drawing them to faith in Christ.

·         The sixty-sixth verse records the desertion of many disciples.  “They turned back and no longer followed Him.”  Many questions arise as to what causes these desertions.  How do we handle crises of faith?  How do we live with hard questions when we anxiously desire resolution?  Often, perseverance requires living with irony and contradictions until reasonable resolutions organically emerge.

·         Nevertheless, deserting the Lord hardly seems the best answer.  Elsewhere in the gospels, the Lord warns sternly against “putting one’s hand to the gospel plow and looking back to the world.”  A disciple cannot have one foot in the kingdom of God and the realm of the secular world.

·         In the sixty-seventh verse, Jesus straightforwardly asks the original eleven apostles, “You do not want to leave too, do you?”  Through difficult and rather perplexing circumstances, the Lord asks each of us the same hard question to ascertain the authenticity of our faith in Him and commitment to His teachings.

·         Then, Simon Peter, ever the impulsive and loquacious disciple, replies “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”  We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”  This affirmative statement of faith is a non-negotiable prerequisite for disciples.  The New Testament writers from their various theological perspectives concur on the necessity of making this personal declaration of mind and heart (Romans 10:9-10 and Matthew 16:16).  Belief and knowledge are intellectual and mental as well as emotional and experiential.  These two major poles of faith comprise the main divisions of “The Great Commandment” which requires disciples to love the Lord God with all of their heart, mind, soul and strength. 

·         Implementing this assertion of faith into daily living is a sign of progressive spiritual maturity and personal development.  An important practical component of a disciple’s life studying the Lord’s teachings for encouragement and empowerment to live faithfully and genuinely as His disciple.  The “Bread of Life” discourses in John’s gospel confront us with this essential aspect of Christian living.