John Chapter 6 part 3
67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?”
68 But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. - Jn 6:67-68
Starting in verse 41, the Jews began to complain amongst themselves about Jesus. Pastor Steve mentioned that complaining is a sign of unbelief as it is a sign of natural thinking rather than embracing spiritual truth. Despite having prophecies of the virgin birth in Isaiah 7:14, they missed the sign. Many times, we reject truth in favor of our own understanding or, worse yet, OPINION. As Jesus rebukes them for their grumbling, He offers His flesh and blood as the new and eternal mana. That they must eat of His flesh and drink His blood. While that paints a gruesome picture for His audience He was speaking of partaking of Himself in a spiritual sense. Yet, in the physical, the only way to separate flesh and blood is to kill the body. Here Jesus is foreshadowing His physical sacrifice on the cross to meet the spiritual needs of our souls. As the Jews were offended by this He turned to His disciples in verse 61 and asked “Does this offend you?”, as many Jews departed He offered His disciples a choice at vs 66: ‘Are you also going to leave?’. Listen to Peter's response in verse 68, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”. Just as Jesus gives His disciples a choice, He gives us a choice every day. We can live by the spirit or die by the flesh. How can you live in the spirit today?
Read John 6:41-70 What is a proper response to Truth?
The next day, some of the Jews who were following and looking for Jesus found Him at Capernaum and proceeded to question Him. They were asking for yet ANOTHER sign that they would believe. Part of me wonders, how many signs must we see before we have faith in Christ? Then again, how many signs have we missed? Ultimately, the signs are there for us to see all throughout scripture that point to who Jesus is! If we never read them, how can we believe them? Chapter 6 is no exception to the rule, in fact, this chapter deals significantly with the identity of Christ. If we get lost in the miracles and wonders of the narrative we may never see who Jesus truly is. The Jews that followed to Capernaum wanted free bread for life. They didn't come to find the messiah, all though some did, they came to be amazed by their physical needs being met by supernatural means. Yet, they never stopped to consider their spiritual needs being met by a physical sacrifice.