John 6:47-67

"I'm telling you the most solemn and sober truth now: Whoever believes in me has real life, eternal life. I am the Bread of Life. Your ancestors ate the manna bread in the desert and died. But now here is Bread that truly comes down out of heaven. Anyone eating this Bread will not die, ever. I am the Bread—living Bread!—who came down out of heaven. Anyone who eats this Bread will live—and forever! The Bread that I present to the world so that it can eat and live is myself, this flesh-and-blood self."

At this, the Jews started fighting among themselves: "How can this man serve up his flesh for a meal?"

But Jesus didn't give an inch. "Only insofar as you eat and drink flesh and blood, the flesh and blood of the Son of Man, do you have life within you. The one who brings a hearty appetite to this eating and drinking has eternal life and will be fit and ready for the Final Day. My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. By eating my flesh and drinking my blood you enter into me and I into you. In the same way that the fully alive Father sent me here and I live because of him, so the one who makes a meal of me lives because of me. This is the Bread from heaven. Your ancestors ate bread and later died. Whoever eats this Bread will live always."

He said these things while teaching in the meeting place in Capernaum.

Many among his disciples heard this and said, "This is tough teaching, too tough to swallow."

Jesus sensed that his disciples were having a hard time with this and said, "Does this throw you completely? What would happen if you saw the Son of Man ascending to where he came from? The Spirit can make life. Sheer muscle and willpower don't make anything happen. Every word I've spoken to you is a Spirit-word, and so it is life-making. But some of you are resisting, refusing to have any part in this." (Jesus knew from the start that some weren't going to risk themselves with him. He knew also who would betray him.) He went on to say, "This is why I told you earlier that no one is capable of coming to me on his own. You get to me only as a gift from the Father."

After this a lot of his disciples left. They no longer wanted to be associated with him. Then Jesus gave the Twelve their chance: "Do you also want to leave?"

Verse 63 here really hit me this morning. I want to look at it again in this version and some others:

The Message
The Spirit can make life. Sheer muscle and willpower don't make anything happen. Every word I've spoken to you is a Spirit-word, and so it is life-making.

Amplified
It is the Spirit Who gives life [He is the Life-giver]; the flesh conveys no benefit whatever [there is no profit in it]. The words (truths) that I have been speaking to you are spirit and life.

Living Translation
The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

KJV
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Young's literal translation
the spirit it is that is giving life; the flesh doth not profit anything; the sayings that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life;

NASV
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
The Spirit is the One who gives life. The flesh doesn't help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life

As I read this 63rd verse, in the context of the passage, I'm struck with how God just doesn't think like we do as people. Sometimes when we really hear Him, it can offend our human way of thinking. The disciples in the text above are the perfect example of this; verse 67 says that many of them left because they didn't want to be associated with Jesus due to what He was saying.

So frequently I hear in popular media to "follow your heart" and "be true to yourself" but the truth is - I'm sinful. I'm reminded of Jeremiah 17:9 that says: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

I spend so much, almost all of my time, living in the mental and physical realm. That's why it really hit me the way The Message paraphrase worded verse 63 - Sheer muscle and willpower don't make anything happen. I've been so saddened lately by the way I stress over situations and make life less enjoyable for my sons and husband and I've been trying to change this about myself, only to fail. Then I read here that neither muscle or will power is going to cut it.

God's saying that He is the real source of power and we have to "eat" of Him to see real life, His kind of life, manifested in us. It's like God's saying that if we first come to Him, seek to let His Spirit be built up big in us, read His Word, meditate on His word, spend time in His presence, allow Him to work in us to become spiritually aware and to really be alert to what's going on in the spiritual realm, THEN things in the physical and mental realm can change.

I'm really thinking this morning on this need to be spiritually alert. I'm reminded of 1 Peter 5:8 where it says: Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up.

Some of these things that I'm looking at as showing what a bad person I am - getting stressed about stuff, arguing with my husband, not having good relations with my teenage sons - aren't as simple as they may seem on the surface. Just as there is the physical realm where I'm seeing these things there is also the spiritual realm, the behind the scenes part of it all. The Word says to stay alert because the enemy is out there waiting to pounce, to mess up our lives, that I have to keep my guard up.

There are many thoughts in my mind. I need to really look at these thoughts and choose to focus and spend time pursuing only those thoughts that line up with God's word. THEN I can experience control over fly away emotions in stressful situations and not say negative/complaining things to my husband or sons that only hurts them and the relationship. When I just decided that "I won't do it any more" it doesn't work. Because it's in which thoughts I'm pursing prior to what I eventually end up saying, that the catalyst for my later poor behavior lies.

It's in my living almost exclusively in the mental and physical realm, not pursuing the spiritual realm and God's ways and seeking to Grow His ways in my mind/heart/life, that is the root of all my problems.

I always come back to this basic truth in my life.

Oh Father, please help me come close to You. I'm so sorry that I've strayed away from You so frequently. That I've let my selfishness take over as a way of living. Thank You for forgiving me. Help me change. Help me stay alert today. Thank You for being willing to work in my life. Thank you for Your Word. Thank You for Your grace.

John 6:43-46

Jesus said, "Don't bicker among yourselves over me. You're not in charge here. The Father who sent me is in charge. He draws people to me—that's the only way you'll ever come. Only then do I do my work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End. This is what the prophets meant when they wrote, 'And then they will all be personally taught by God.' Anyone who has spent any time at all listening to the Father, really listening and therefore learning, comes to me to be taught personally—to see it with his own eyes, hear it with his own ears, from me, since I have it firsthand from the Father. No one has seen the Father except the One who has his Being alongside the Father—and you can see me.

No matter how frustrated I get with life, the truth is that God is in charge of things.

It is He who draws us to Himself. I'm so thankful that He drew me to Him!

Jesus talks here about His work being to "putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the end". I need to be put together. I wonder how this is worded in other translations. When I look, no other translations put quite that spin of "putting together" on it. They all basically point to the fact that Jesus is saying that God draws us to Himself and that He, Jesus, makes us ready for the end or last days. I like to think on the fact that getting me ready for the End, or last days, is Jesus work. It's His work and I need to cooperate with it.

I look at me and see all my faults: issues with food and overweight, get too stressed out sometimes, struggle constantly with selfishness, never seeming to measure up (house could be cleaner and more organized, car never seems clean, don't have great scrap books for my kids, yard not all set up great, dog/puppy still jumps up on people, haven't made a success of home business yet, etc.), feel so anxious sometimes, difficulty making friends....the list can go on and on. When I look at me I get discouraged.

But I like Jesus. God is awesome and great to look at.

If it's Jesus that's gonna be in charge of making me into a better person who's ready to participate in God's Kingdom, then there's hope.

Thank you God for your love and that You drew me to yourself. Oh Jesus, thank You that You love me and want to work in my life. Help me not get in Your way. Help me today, for this day, to see life as opportunities for you to make me into who You want me to be. Help me to cooperate with Your work in my life today.

I also like in this passage the emphasis on how it's God who draws us to Himself. There are some corresponding scriptures on that topic that are so beautiful:

Jeremiah 31:3 - The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.

Hosea 11:4 - I led them with cords of a man, with bonds of love, And I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws; And I bent down and fed them.

What a picture of a loving God!

As I read these verses I am overcome with gratitude that God would love and care for me so sweetly and gently. This is a God I can trust.

May my life be Yours today Father. May I choose Your thoughts in my mind today. May I think on Your truth. I choose to trust You today.

John 6:35-38

Jesus said, "I am the Bread of Life. The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever. I have told you this explicitly because even though you have seen me in action, you don't really believe me. Every person the Father gives me eventually comes running to me. And once that person is with me, I hold on and don't let go. I came down from heaven not to follow my own whim but to accomplish the will of the One who sent me.

As I am reading through John and come across this scripture I am affected by it. Several things hit me all at once:

• Jesus says that a person needs to align themselves with Him; what does that mean?
• Just as those people had seen His miracles and seen Jesus "in action" and didn't believe in Him, so have I. I have seen Him work miraculously in my own and the lives of others, yet I doubt or just plain forget about Him in everyday life.
• It's a comfort to know that those whom God has given to Jesus WILL come to Him.
• It's a super comfort to know that He will hold onto me and not let go.
• Jesus' whole life was about accomplishing God's will. What's my life about?

I want to look at each one of these, ponder these things, more.

Alignment with God

wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn gives the following definition for align:

• place in a line or arrange so as to be parallel or straight; "align the car with the curb"; "align the sheets of paper on the table"
• align with; be or come into adjustment
• align oneself with a group or a way of thinking
• bring (components or parts) into proper or desirable coordination correlation; "align the wheels of my car"; "ordinate similar part


The last two definitions are the ones that really grab me in the context of how the word is being used here. I need to align myself with God's way of thinking. How can I do that? Through His word. Time in it, memorizing it, thinking about it. Changing my way of thinking to His way. Bringing parts into proper coordination - parts is a great word - parts of my life do need to be brought into correlation with God's way. Parts of my life are very selfish and grasping and all about me being the center of the universe. Boy am I glad for God's forgiveness and power to change!

Oh Father, please forgive my selfishness. I'm like a tick always looking for succor. Thank you for your forgiveness. Please help me change, empower me to live life Your way. Thank you Father.

Disbelief
Daily, repeatedly, I see the power and importance of what I'm seeing, believing, looking toward. Am I going to believe God and His word and base my life on that or the lies that sometimes are "spoken" in my mind? So many thoughts in my mind at any time, which ones am I going to choose to go with?

Today, right now, I choose to listen to the voice of truth and speak out those thoughts.

Oh Father, help me choose to think on thoughts that correspond to You and Your Word today. Please grant me the wisdom to sense truth and put my focus there. Thank You Father.

His own
Oh Lord, you know my heart longs for each of my sons to come to you for all eternity. May you bring them close to You and keep them there. Please give me great wisdom on how to help vrs hinder that process.

Accomplishing God's will
Father, please smite my conscience and make me aware of when I'm living for me, me, me. Help me be sensitive to You and make my life about serving You and loving You and loving people.

Thank You Father.

John 6:22-29

The next day the crowd that was left behind realized that there had been only one boat, and that Jesus had not gotten into it with his disciples. They had seen them go off without him. By now boats from Tiberias had pulled up near where they had eaten the bread blessed by the Master. So when the crowd realized he was gone and wasn't coming back, they piled into the Tiberias boats and headed for Capernaum, looking for Jesus.

When they found him back across the sea, they said, "Rabbi, when did you get here?"
Jesus answered, "You've come looking for me not because you saw God in my actions but because I fed you, filled your stomachs—and for free.

"Don't waste your energy striving for perishable food like that. Work for the food that sticks with you, food that nourishes your lasting life, food the Son of Man provides. He and what he does are guaranteed by God the Father to last."

To that they said, "Well, what do we do then to get in on God's works?"

Jesus said, "Throw your lot in with the One that God has sent. That kind of a commitment gets you in on God's works."

As I'm reading through John 6 this is the first passage I see that really hits me. I'm always seeing how Jesus' way is different from that of my culture. In our world it's all about working for money to buy stuff and the one with the most money and power is the most respected. The movies and ads all "preach" that.

Here's Jesus saying not to waste our time striving for those things. He says to work for lasting food that nourishes our lasting life. He says that He provides that food. He says that what He says and does lasts. He says to throw in our lot with him, commit to Him and we can get in on God's works.

I wanted to see what others think about this passage so I looked at some classic commentaries.

The Geneva study bible emphasized faith. It talked about how the Jewish religion of that day was so into the law and that Jesus was saying doing good things will not get you right with God, it is only through our faith in Him (Jesus) that we become right with God. Liftfoot emphasized the same thing - that it is our faith in Jesus, this is the only "work" that gets us right with God.

I've been thinking lately about how it always comes back to Jesus. It's Jesus that people tend to have problems with. No one really seems to mind if I talk about God in a general sense but when I speak of Jesus, that's when they become uncomfortable.

My husband and I went to see a movie, "Evan Almighty", recently. During the movie my husband leaned over and whispered to me that he couldn't believe that Hollywood would produce such a movie. I don't want to detract from that which is good in the movie because it is a family movie with some positive, encouraging aspects about trusting God even when you don't understand what He's doing and I like that and think it's great. But in my heart I know that Hollywood is fine with it because it's about God and you can say God is whoever you want but when we start talking about Jesus...that's when it gets offensive.

I guess the question is - As a person who's already a Believer, what do Jesus' words here mean to me, today?

What hits me is the time reference. Jesus tells the people not to waste their time striving for things that don't even matter.

How am I spending my time?

What are my plans for this very day?

What can I do today that will matter, that are part of throwing in my lot with God?

Amusing, literally as I was sitting here pondering this, my youngest son (age 13) came in and started asking me questions about Ephesians 5:18. He's apparently having his time in the word right now too and he started asking questions. So, instead of saying I'm busy now, I dropped everything and we discussed it together. Looked up things together.

Perhaps, for today, I can apply this passage best in terms of seizing opportunties. As things come up in the day, take every opportunity to turn my heart and others towayd Jesus and His way. Toward those things that are of real value.