41 At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." 42 They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?"
Grumbling is the predecessor of unbelief leading to death. When I was in the Navy, grumbling was constant. The food wasn’t good, the night watch was boring, the pay was too little, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. It was almost considered that if the troops weren’t grumbling, something was wrong. It is at the heart of unsaved people to grumble and never be satisfied. I’ve seen a stereotype in movies (Fiddler on the Roof) and TV of the old Jewish woman who starts every conversation with, “Oy vey,” then provides a litany of all her troubles. The Exodus was riddled with grumbling that the Lord solidly denounced. It was tied directly to the older generation’s unbelief and resulted in their banishment from the Promised Land and death in the wilderness as they waited for the next generation to grow up. They grumbled because they didn’t believe God would give them water, feed them, and take them into the Promised Land.
What a comparison to what Jesus has done to show these people who he is. He has promised living water, bread of life, and resurrection i.e., eternal life. So what do they do? They grumble. They grumbled against Moses. Now, their descendants are grumbling about One who is greater than Moses.
It is possible for us to grumble when we look at the circumstances instead of the Lord who is in control of the circumstances. They only saw Jesus as a human being with an earthly father and mother. It has been over thirty years since the news of his birth was spread by shepherds (Luke 2:18, 20). Perhaps Mary tried to explain to people at first but finally, could only treasure the truth in heart when she was probably met with skepticism (Luke 2:19). Put in the same faithless shoes of the people, we all echo the grumbling of the crowd for it is all too common for people to question the claim that Jesus came from heaven. This kind of grumbling only leads to eternal death.
43 "Stop grumbling among yourselves," Jesus answered. 44 "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
I think Jesus is in some way confirming that their grumbling is pointless. They can look at what they consider the facts, and it still doesn’t do any good. The only way they can stop grumbling is if they are the people that the Father draws to Jesus.
Draw is an interesting word as it is used only eight times in the New Testament. If is the Greek word, helkuoo, which means, “To draw, to attract; to drag (in connection with coercion); to haul in; to draw (a sword).”[1] In these various verses, the object is never empowered to do anything. Whether it is a sword (John 18:10), a net (John 21:11), or even a person (Acts 21:30), the object has no say in the matter. In the case of Paul being dragged out of the temple, he certainly didn’t go willingly. We must conclude that people come to Jesus because the Father draws them in some way that while not violating their free will, it still isn’t something that they would have willing done before the Holy Spirit gives them the will to come to Jesus which describes being born again.
Again, Jesus affirms that he will raise us up on the last day. This is assurance of our salvation. If the Father draws us and gives us to Jesus, then we can be assured we will be resurrected to eternal life with Jesus.
45 It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.
This a crucial statement. For anyone who thinks that all they need for salvation is sincere faith, they are mistaken. Faith, even sincere faith is not faith if it doesn’t result in listening to and learning (which implies obeying) from God the Father. Jesus quoted from Isaiah 54:13 which is in a snippet describing the heritage of the servants of the Lord (Is 54:17). Jesus is clarifying that listening to and learning from God are marks of his servants, the ones who come to him.
The application is clear. If we know Jesus then we will be taught by God. We will enjoy reading and studying the Bible and learning from him from what he has given us by the prophets.
46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father.
The Jews would no doubt agree with Jesus that no one has seen the Father. All the manifestations of God in the Old Testament were theophany’s – a physical representation of God provided for the express purpose of establishing communication. None of these provided a clear description of the Father. As God told Moses, “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Ex 33:20 ESV). The second part of the statement that the one who is from God has seen the Father seems to have slipped past them. Perhaps, because they didn’t believe he was from heaven, they didn’t consider that he was speaking about himself. One thing about Jesus’ statement is that it reveals the intimate relationship he has with the Father and that he is perfectly holy as only a holy person can see God. It speaks to his deity.
47 I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die.
Again, Jesus is emphasizing the need to believe to have eternal life. That belief is connected to the bread of life. Jesus keeps on telling us in different ways that we must believe in him. If we don’t, we will have eternal death just like the Jews in the desert who didn’t believe and died. That was a symbol, an example that points to Jesus. Now the stakes are higher. They had physical bread and a physical death. Now we have Jesus and belief in him results in spiritual life and eternal life while disbelief results in spiritual death and eternal destruction.
[1]NT:1670, Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, PC Study Bible formatted Electronic Database. Copyright © 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc.
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