John 6:51-58
Summary
TLDRThis presentation delves into John 6:51-58, focusing on the 'Bread of Life' discourse. The speaker explores the text's placement within the chapter and its rabbinic homily structure, providing detailed commentary and theological insights. Key themes include the Eucharist, Jesus' sacrificial offering, and the concept of true spiritual nourishment. The presentation encourages reflection on faith, discipleship, and the meaning of Jesus' death and resurrection, concluding with a prayer for unity and spiritual sustenance.
Takeaways
- 📖 This presentation focuses on John chapter 6, verses 51-58, exploring the themes of the bread of life and the Eucharist.
- 🍞 The reading discusses Jesus as the living bread that came down from heaven, emphasizing the importance of eating his flesh and drinking his blood for eternal life.
- 🔍 The structure of the presentation includes a word of welcome, reading the text, noting its place in the chapter, commentary, conclusions, and a prayer.
- 📝 The homily is divided into an introduction, three steps (bread of life, come down from heaven, to eat), and a conclusion.
- 🗣️ Jesus' statement about eating his flesh and drinking his blood is a figurative way of expressing faith in his sacrificial death and resurrection.
- 📜 The commentary highlights the misunderstanding of Jesus' words by the Jews, comparing it to other instances in the Gospel where literal interpretations caused confusion.
- ⚖️ The term 'true' in this context means faithful, trustworthy, and reliable, emphasizing a relational understanding rather than literal truth.
- 🌿 The passage invites reflection on the relationship with Jesus and the significance of the Eucharist as a means of abiding in him.
- 💬 The small Greek word 'kathos' (just as) plays a significant role in connecting the mission of Jesus with that of his disciples.
- 🙏 The prayer at the end emphasizes the unity and nourishment provided by the word of life and the bread from heaven, asking for a taste of the life to come.
Q & A
What is the main focus of the presentation in John chapter 6?
-The main focus of the presentation is on John 6:51-58, which is the climax of the rabbinic homily, discussing the Bread of Life discourse and its implications for the Eucharist and Jesus' death and resurrection.
How does the presenter plan to structure the presentation?
-The presenter plans to start with a word of welcome, read the text, discuss its place in the chapter and within the rabbinic homily, provide commentary, draw conclusions, and end with a prayer.
What two directions does the gospel reading invite reflection on?
-The gospel reading invites reflection on what happened for us in the great events that give us new life in Christ, and what we are doing when we celebrate the Lord's Supper.
What is the significance of verse 51 in John 6?
-Verse 51 is significant because it is the third time Jesus says, 'I am the living bread that came down from heaven,' emphasizing the Eucharistic overtones and the sacrificial nature of Jesus giving his flesh for the life of the world.
What misunderstanding do the Jews express in verse 52?
-The Jews express a literal misunderstanding of Jesus' statement about giving his flesh to eat, questioning how he can give them his flesh to eat.
How does Jesus respond to the misunderstanding in verse 53?
-Jesus responds by intensifying the statement, saying that unless they eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, they have no life in them, emphasizing the spiritual significance of his death and resurrection.
What does the term 'true' signify in the context of this passage?
-In this gospel, 'true' signifies something that is faithful, trustworthy, and reliable, rather than simply meaning accurate or real.
What does the mutual language in verse 56 indicate?
-The mutual language in verse 56 indicates a relationship between Jesus and his followers, where abiding in Jesus and Jesus abiding in them is central to the passage's meaning.
What is the significance of the word 'catholics' (just as) in verse 57?
-The word 'catholics' (just as) carries immense meaning, indicating that the actions and mission of Jesus continue through his disciples in a similar manner.
How does verse 58 conclude the homily?
-Verse 58 concludes the homily by summarizing the key points about the bread from heaven, contrasting it with the manna eaten by the ancestors, and emphasizing that those who eat this bread will live forever.
Outlines
📖 Introduction and Overview of John 6:51-58
The presentation begins with a welcome and an overview of John 6:51-58, the final part of the homily on the bread of life. The speaker outlines the steps for the presentation: a welcome, reading the text, discussing its place in the chapter and rabbinic homily, commentary, conclusions, and a prayer. The reading reflects on two themes: the great events giving new life in Christ and the celebration of the Lord's Supper. The passage revisits verse 51, highlighting Jesus as the living bread from heaven.
🍞 Commentary on Eating the Bread of Life
The commentary begins with verse 51, emphasizing Jesus as the living bread from heaven, with a focus on eating and Eucharistic overtones. The speaker references John Marsh's commentary, explaining the significance of flesh and blood in Jewish sacrificial terms. The true food is Christ's flesh and blood, providing nourishment for eternal life. Verse 52 shows the Jews' literal misunderstanding of Jesus' words, which is a common theme in John's Gospel.
💬 Misunderstandings and True Meaning of Jesus' Words
Verses 53-56 detail Jesus' explanation of eating his flesh and drinking his blood as essential for eternal life, symbolizing faith in his sacrificial death. The term 'true' in this context means faithful and trustworthy. Jesus' language is mutual, emphasizing a relationship rather than literal consumption. This is further explored in the farewell discourse, where abiding in Jesus is key to understanding the relationship he offers.
🔄 The Significance of 'Just As' in John's Gospel
Verse 57 discusses the phrase 'just as' (cathos), highlighting its deep significance in John's Gospel. It denotes the continuity of Jesus' mission and love through his disciples. Examples include loving one another, abiding in Jesus' love, and the disciples' mission mirroring Jesus' mission. Verse 58 concludes the homily, summarizing the key themes of bread, heaven, and eating for eternal life. Verse 59 confirms the setting in a synagogue, reinforcing the structure as a rabbinic homily with Christian reflections.
🙏 Final Reflections and Prayer
The speaker concludes with reflections from the full PDF notes, emphasizing the connection between Jesus' teachings and lived experiences. This includes recalling situations where self-giving nourished others, paralleling Jesus' gift of life through his sacrifice. Questions for personal reflection are suggested, such as what gives nourishment and energy in one's life. The session ends with a prayer, thanking viewers and summarizing the teaching on the death and resurrection of Jesus and the Eucharist.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡John Chapter 6
💡Bread of Life
💡Eucharist
💡Flesh and Blood
💡Rabbinic Homily
💡Eternal Life
💡Faith
💡Mutual Abiding
💡Sacrifice
💡Resurrection
Highlights
Welcome and introduction to John 6:51-58 as the focus of the presentation.
Overview of the structure of the presentation, including reading the text, commentary, and prayer.
Emphasis on the dual reflection: understanding the events that give new life in Christ and the meaning of celebrating the Lord's Supper.
Discussion on the significance of 'I am the living bread' and its eucharistic overtones.
Insight into the Jewish understanding of 'flesh and blood' as sacrificial terms and their relevance to Jesus' teachings.
Clarification that Jesus' statements about eating his flesh and drinking his blood are figurative, not literal.
Connection to other instances of literal misunderstandings in the Gospel, such as Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman.
Explanation of the importance of faith in Jesus' death and resurrection for eternal life.
The term 'true' in the Gospel means faithful, trustworthy, and reliable, rather than simply factual.
Abiding in Jesus as a mutual relationship highlighted in the farewell discourse.
The significance of the phrase 'just as' in the Gospel, indicating the continuation of Jesus' mission through his disciples.
Summary of the homily with key terms: bread, heaven, and eat.
Confirmation that the discourse is a Christian homily in a rabbinic outline, reflecting on Jesus' teachings and controversies.
Conclusion emphasizing the practical application of Jesus' teachings in everyday life through self-giving.
Final prayer for unity and nourishment through the Word of Life and the Bread from Heaven.
Transcripts
so welcome again
everybody to hears of the word for the
second last presentation on
john chapter six and our reading this
sunday is verses 51 to
58 the last part of the homily so to
speak
in john chapter 6. so i look forward
very much
to being with you
the bread of life exploring john
6 51-58 continuing
the discourse
for this presentation we'll take the
following steps
the usual word of welcome then we'll
read the text
itself notice the place in the chapter
as a whole
and in particular its place in the
rabbinic homily and then we spend some
time on the commentary
before drawing some conclusions and
finally a prayer
our gospel reading invites reflection
in two directions firstly what do we
believe
happened for us in the great events that
gave give us new life
in christ and secondly
what are we doing when we celebrate the
lord's supper
and the fourth gospel has deep
reflections on both topics to offer
in this passage
this time our gospel reading repeats the
previous
sunday's last verse so verse 51
i am the living bread that came down
from heaven
whoever eats of this bread will live
forever
and the bread that i will give for the
life of the world
is my flesh
the jews then disputed among themselves
saying
how can this man give us his flesh to
eat
so jesus said to them very truly i tell
you unless you
eat the flesh of the son of man and
drink his blood you have
no life in you those who eat my flesh
and drink my blood
have eternal life and i will raise them
up on the last day
for my flesh is true food and my blood
is true drink
those who eat my flesh and drink my
blood abide in me
and i in them just as
the living father sent me and i live
because
of the father so whoever eats me
will live because of me this is the
bread
that came down from heaven not like the
bread which your ancestors ate
and they died but the one who eats
this bread will live forever
according to my overall map of john
chapter six
we're still in section four the remarks
about the bread
and we're in the closing section of that
and even in these paragraph divisions
you can see that our reading
cuts across two passages
it is perhaps a little more significant
to see the section within the outline of
the rabbinic homily
and according to my own analysis this
homily is in
five parts with an introduction and
a conclusion and then within that there
are
three steps the bread of life 35 to 40
come down from heaven 41 to 47 and
to eat 48 to 57.
so our reading gives the substance of of
uh
bread from heaven to eat part three and
then takes us
into the conclusion in verse 58.
as before it may be easier to see the
structure by looking at the whole text
of the homily here with its introduction
and conclusion
and its three parts we find ourselves in
the third part a little bit into it but
it includes the conclusion in verse
58. as before the
viewer may like to pause the video here
and just consider the text
of the whole homily
and so we come to the commentary
beginning with verse
51 i am the living bread that came down
from heaven
whoever eats of this bread will live
forever
and the bread that i will give for the
life of the world is
my flesh so this is the third time we've
had the expression
i am the living bread a kind of heading
over each of the sections
and here the emphasis is going to fall
on eating
and the eucharistic overtones are
evident
and as noted in the previous talk in
paul we have this is my body that is for
you
and in john for you becomes for the life
of the world
and in john body becomes flesh
a comment on at this point by a very old
commentary on john's gospel that of john
marsh
in the penguin series may help us john
marsh wrote
in jewish thinking the twin terms flesh
and blood constitute a pair
used in reference to the sacrificial
giving and taking of life
so in speaking of eating his flesh and
drinking his blood
jesus is saying that unless we come to
live by his death
and find our own real life in accepting
the destiny
that his own life has marked out as
characteristic for the disciples
we cannot find the way to the life he
has come to bestow
entry upon life in this world and
inheritance of life in the world to come
are both bound up with our relationship
to the self-offering of jesus in his
sacrifice
so it is the conclusion of the discourse
that the true food is christ's flesh and
the true drink
is blood both of these are what satisfy
those hungers and thirsts from which we
suffer
in distinction from all other earthly
creatures
our genuine nourishment lies in them
without them the really human person
dies
even though they continue to live in the
flesh but with them
they live the life that is really life
both here in the course of history
and in that which lies beyond history in
the world
to come i have changed the language a
little to make it
inclusive
verse 52 the jews then disputed among
themselves
saying how can this man give us his
flesh to eat
so as before the reaction remains at the
physical level
already criticized by jesus of course
jesus had not said
people must literally eat his flesh he
was speaking
figuratively but this sort of literal
misunderstanding occurs elsewhere in the
gospel
for instance in the story of nicodemus
we read how can anyone be born after
having grown old
can one enter a second time into the
mother's womb and be born
or in the case of the woman at the well
sorry give me this water
so that i may never be thirsty or have
to keep coming here
to draw water and both of these are
kind of fairly crass misunderstandings
and
the question must we eat jesus kind of
cannibalistically
is also a crude and crass
misunderstanding
verse 53 so jesus said to them
very truly i tell you unless you eat the
flesh of the son of man and drink his
blood you have no life in you
those who eat my flesh and drink my
blood have eternal life
and i will raise them up on the last day
for my flesh is true food and my blood
is
true drink as with nicodemus and the
samaritan woman
jesus kind of sarcastically intensifies
the problems the expression son of man
is always linked to the passion so an
indication that we are must be thinking
of
the death and resurrection of jesus so
the primary meaning here is
faith in jesus death on the cross where
he actually gives his flesh and his
blood
pours out and the gift of life
then expanded in two directions number
one
eternal life present and number two
resurrection
in the future the adjective true
is worth commenting on truth are true in
this gospel
do not simply mean some veracity instead
it means faithful trustworthy
reliable it's a relationship term
in the jerusalem bible translation
electionary it's translated as
real which is retained in the new
jerusalem bible
but the revised neutralized jerusalem
bible is more accurate
using the word true
verse 56 those who eat my flesh and
drink my blood
abide in me and i in them
and here we see the confirmation that
the language is really
mutual language rather than literal
abiding and dwelling become very
significant in the farewell discourse
in chapters 14 to 17 in particular in
two places
the true vine discourse in chapter 15
but also in the
great final prayer in chapter 17.
so we're meant to think of the whole
gift as a gift of
relationship and we're meant to respond
on the level of relationship
verse 57 just as the living father sent
me
and i live because of the father so
whoever eats me
will live because of me the little
expression
just as in greek is catholics a tiny
word
carrying an immense meaning in this
gospel as you can see from these
selected quotations all using catholics
just as i have loved you you also should
love one another meaning
the love from jesus continues itself in
the love of disciples
as the father has loved me so i have
loved you abide in my love
this is my commandment that you love one
another as
i have loved you again catholics
as you have sent me into the world so i
have sent
them into the world otherwise the
mission the sending of jesus continues
in the descending of the disciples
and finally peace be with you as the
father has sent me
so i send you and so the mission of
jesus continues
in the mission of the disciples and in
the mission of the community of faith
so little word catholes just as or as
is highly significant in the fourth
gospel
verse 58 this is the bread
that came down from heaven not like that
which your ancestors ate
and they died but the one who eats this
bread will live
forever so here we have the homily
conclusion
taking us back to the start in verses 30
to 34
and the important words present are
bread
heaven and eat so it makes a very fine
summary of the whole homily
for the sake of completeness i'm going
to include verse
59 he said these things
while he was teaching in the synagogue
at copper nam
and teaching in a synagogue is a kind of
confirmation
that the whole discourse is a homily in
good rabbinic outline
as we saw it is of course
a christian homily written much later
in the light of the events of salvation
and in the light of the controversies of
joanna and christianity including its
crisis
so it's a a christian reflection put
back on the lips of jesus
this is jesus only time actually in a
synagogue
in the fourth gospel even though he says
in chapter 18
that he was in many synagogues where we
read jesus answered
i have spoken openly to the world i've
always taught in
synagogues and in the temple where all
the jews come together i have said
nothing in secret and so the great
homily of john chapter 6
comes to rest
our conclusions this time are really
some reflections
taken from the full pdf of notes
even though this text is very focused on
jesus
and may seem distant from ordinary life
nevertheless the starting point
has to be something within our lived
experience
thus providing a foothold in the
familiar to open up the gospel passage
one could launch the reflection by
recalling significant situations
in which the costly gift of self
nourished
others leading perhaps to the gift of
new courage and
new life christians believe that jesus
gives life by giving himself
this is also the path of discipleship
the believer also gives life by the gift
of self
and such memories may lead to the real
heart of what is being said here
faith in jesus and the meaning of his
death and resurrection
at this point questions arise such as
what is at the center of my life
what gives me nourishment and energy how
has that actually taken place in my own
quite personal journey and so on
and so we pray wise and
gracious god you spread a table before
us
and nourish your people with the word of
life and the bread from heaven
in our sharing of these holy gifts show
us
our unity in you and give us a taste
of the life to come we make our prayer
through our lord jesus christ
who lives and reigns with you in the
unity of the holy spirit
god forever and ever amen
once again thank you for your patience
in
watching this program on john 6 verses
51 to
58 the climax really of the rabbinic
homily
when the teaching on the death and
resurrection of jesus and the teaching
on the eucharist really do come
together so i hope the few reflections
have been helpful
will help you to reflect and to pray and
to live
the marvelous teaching in this passage
thanks very much
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