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Yeshua was in northern Israel. He had traveled to the eastern side of the Kinneret, and a very large crowd followed Him. God used Yeshua to do a great miracle. He fed five thousand men using five loaves of bread and two fish; and there was more that was left over than there was to begin with! Yeshua is Someone who is able to feed five thousand or five million, or the whole world – if only we would believe in Him.
Knowing that the crowd was amazed at what happened and intended to force Him to become king, He withdrew to a mountain. When evening came, the disciples went to the lake, got into a boat and headed to the western side of the Kinneret, to Capernaum. A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough, and they saw Yeshua approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were frightened. But He said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.” He got into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.
Yeshua is Someone who can walk on water. He is greater than the laws of nature, which is understandable, since He made the laws of nature. There will be times in your life when the sun is shining and the wind is with you and you are sailing along nicely toward your goal. But there will also be times when you are sailing at night and the wind is against you and the going is difficult.
Yeshua is Someone who can come down from the mountain, walk on water in the darkest night and get into the boat with you when the wind of life is blowing strongly against you so that you are able to make it to the shore. Having Yeshua in the boat with you can make all the difference between fear and fearlessness, failure and success.
The crowd followed Yeshua to Capernaum. He understood that the crowd was searching for Him with the wrong motivation – to get more free bread. This lets us know that it’s possible to seek Yeshua with the wrong motivation – a lesson those who attend prosperity churches have yet to learn. Yeshua challenged the crowd to seek God with the right motivation – for spiritual bread, spiritual life that comes from a life-giving relationship with God, a live-giving relationship with God that results in eternal life.
Speaking to the crowd, Yeshua claimed that God was His Father; which means that Yeshua is the unique Son of God, sharing the Father’s nature and the Father’s authority. Why wouldn’t the crowd want to accept the powerful and divine Son of God?
Yeshua claimed that God had placed His seal of approval on Him – which implied that everyone else should also approve of Him.
Yeshua claimed that He alone of all mankind, had a unique origin. He existed in Heaven before He was born on Earth. Why wouldn’t they want to become loyal to Someone who came from Heaven?
Yeshua claimed that God sent Him to Earth. Why reject Someone God sent to Earth?
Yeshua claimed that He was a gift from God to humanity to do something beneficial for the people of the world. Why not receive God’s gift? Why reject Someone who was a gift from God to the world?
Yeshua claimed that He was superior to the manna that our ancestors ate in the wilderness. He was the true bread from Heaven and was able to give spiritual life to a world devoid of spiritual life. Why not receive the spiritual life He was able to provide?
He claimed that the crowd could receive spiritual life from Him by coming to Him – by knowing who He is and transferring loyalties to Him. Why not do that?
Yeshua explained that not everyone who saw Him, heard His teachings or experienced one of His miracles, believed in Him the way they needed to. The reason why some believe and others don’t is because of the will of God. Only those who are given by the Father to the Son are able to see Yeshua and believe in Him. Yeshua taught a God-centered faith, not a man-centered faith. This should cause us to fear the sovereign God.
Yeshua promised to accept every one of the human beings that the Father gives Him, even though they are flawed and imperfect and have been tainted by sin – which should cause us to appreciate the gracious Son of God even more.
He explained that it is the will of God for Him to receive those the Father gives Him, and protect them, and resurrect them and give them eternal life, and Yeshua is totally committed to doing what God wants and has the power and authority to do what God wants. That should cause us, out of love and gratitude, to serve Yeshua even more.
Among the crowd were leaders who rejected one of the claims Yeshua made about Himself – that He came from Heaven. They assumed they knew enough about Yeshua and His family to know that it was impossible for Yeshua to have a heavenly origin.
Yeshua knew they were complaining about His claim to have a heavenly origin and reprimanded them for their unbelieving attitude. He explained to them that no human being is capable of understanding who He is and becoming loyal to Him unless God the Father is at work, revealing the truth to that individual, teaching him about Yeshua, drawing him to Yeshua.
Continuing to speak to these leaders (verse 46), Yeshua made more astounding claims about Himself. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only He has seen the Father. Yeshua claimed He was the only human being who had ever fully seen God the Father. Others had seen partial manifestations of God’s presence, like Israel at Sinai; or they had seen manifestations of the Son of God, like Jacob who wrested with the Mysterious Stranger, but no one had ever fully seen the Father, who is infinitely holy and greater than the universe. Moses, who had the clearest vision of God, while hidden in a rock, had a partial glimpse of a partial revelation of the back of God the Father – but Moses never fully saw God. Didn’t the leaders want to learn from the one who had the greatest and unique ability to see God? And shouldn’t we?
Yeshua claimed that there was a new way to be reconciled to God so that one could live forever. It was no longer necessary to go to the temple and sacrifice bulls, goats, lambs, rams and pigeons to experience atonement followed by eternal life. Faith in Yeshua was the new way to gain eternal life. Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. Didn’t the leaders want to believe in Yeshua and have eternal life? And shouldn’t we?
Yeshua claimed to be able to supply humanity with spiritual life that comes from a life-giving relationship with God which Yeshua alone is able to provide. I am the bread of life. Didn’t the leaders want to have spiritual life? If so, they needed Yeshua. As do we.
Yeshua claimed He could give a superior benefit than the manna Israel ate in the wilderness. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from Heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. In spite of eating supernatural food, the majority of the Jewish people in the wilderness had no spiritual life. God was angry with almost everyone in that faithless generation and punished them by not allowing them to enter the promised land. They died in the wilderness – physically and spiritually. Didn’t the Jewish leaders want to experience spiritual life? If so, they needed Yeshua. As do we.
Yeshua claimed to have a heavenly origin – unlike every other human being. I am the living bread that came down from Heaven. Didn’t the leaders want to be in the good graces of Heaven? If so, they needed to receive Yeshua. As should we.
Yeshua claimed that He is the source of spiritual life for humanity, and the life He provides lasts forever. I am the living bread that came down from Heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. Didn’t the leaders, who were headed to death, not life, want to live forever? If so, they needed to become loyal to Yeshua. And so should we.
Yeshua claimed that He would provide eternal life in a very special way – by means of His death. This bread is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Yeshua often used physical things like wind, bread, leaven, food, salt, water, birth, seeds, sowing and reaping, darkness and light to help people understand spiritual realities – which very often they didn’t initially understand. He did the same thing here. When He said that the bread that gives spiritual life is His flesh, He did not mean that people need to literally eat His body, or that a piece of bread turns into His body and needs to be eaten. He meant that His death is the God-ordained way to provide life for a world that is immersed in death, not life. Didn’t the leaders want spiritual life? If so, they needed to believe in Yeshua and His sacrificial death to provide atonement. As do we.
And as happened so often, Yeshua’s use of non-literal language was misunderstood. Then the Jewish leaders began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” They knew that according to the Torah, it’s forbidden to eat human flesh. Yeshua’s claim to be able to give life to those who ate His flesh didn’t make sense. Yeshua addressed their confusion by “doubling down” – intensifying His statement. Yeshua 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. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life.
Yeshua claimed that He is the Son of Man – the ideal human being. Why wouldn’t they listen to a perfect human being? Why wouldn’t we?
Yeshua claimed that these leaders were without spiritual life, and the only way for them to get spiritual life was to eat His body and drink His blood. Just as it is against the Torah to eat a human body, it’s against the Torah to drink blood. Again, Yeshua used physical things to express spiritual truth. He was telling them that the only way for them to have spiritual life was to receive Him – not by literally eating His body and blood, or eating bread and wine that supposedly turns into His body and blood, but by believing in Him and understanding He would die a very special death. Didn’t they want eternal life? If they did, they needed to receive Yeshua, by faith, and embrace His sacrificial death. As do we.
Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. Yeshua claimed that He would die; His blood would be spilled; He would come back to life; and He would resurrect and give eternal life to those who believed in Him. Didn’t the leaders want to be resurrected so they could live forever? If so, they needed Yeshua. As do we.
Yeshua claimed that the death of His body and the shedding of His blood provided real spiritual nourishment. For My flesh is real food and My blood is real drink. Didn’t the leaders want a real, life-enhancing, soul-enhancing relationship with God? If so, they needed to come to Yeshua – by having faith in Him. And so do we.
Yeshua claimed that those who believe in Him will be united to Him. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in them. Didn’t the leaders want to be united to the wonderful Son of God? If so, they need to welcome Yeshua. As do we.
Yeshua claimed that His life is intertwined with the life of God the Father. And He claimed that the life of the one who believe in Him will be intertwined with His eternal life. Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me. Didn’t the leaders want their lives intertwined with the life of the one God sent, whose life is intertwined with the life of God? If so, they must follow Yeshua. As we must.
Yeshua restated His earlier claims to have come from Heaven; and that in contrast to the manna, which did not spiritually benefit the generation that ate it, He is able to provide real spiritual benefit. This is the bread that came down from Heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” If the leaders wanted to live forever, they needed to have faith in the One who came from Heaven. And so do we.
He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. I love that! Israel’s Supreme Rabbi is teaching these leaders of Israel in the synagogue. That’s where Yeshua belonged then and that’s where He belongs now – as the Chief Rabbi of our synagogues teaching all of us. And He will be acknowledge as Israel’s Supreme Rabbi one day.
Yeshua’s teachings are among the most astounding claims any human being has made about himself, and undoubtedly the leaders rejected these claims. But it wasn’t just the leaders who rejected what Yeshua said. On hearing it, many of His disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” Yeshua’s claims were difficult for many of His followers to accept – even though God had just used Him to feed five thousand men using five loaves of bread and two fish, which should have revealed to them that He was close to God.
Yeshua knew that many of His disciples were offended by what He had said, but not only did the courageous young Rabbi not tone things down, He spoke even more forcefully. Aware that His disciples were grumbling about this, Yeshua said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where He was before! He told His followers that if His claims about Himself offended them, then they could expect to be much more offended when they saw Him back in Heaven, in His rightful place, at the right hand of God, ruling over all things!
Why were some offended by the truths Yeshua spoke and others weren’t? Yeshua knew why. The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you – they are full of the Spirit and life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe. Salvation comes from God, not man. Salvation is initiated by God, not man. There is nothing a human being can do to give himself spiritual life. It is the Spirit of God alone who gives life. That’s why one person will hear the truth and respond positively, and another will hear the same truth and not respond. The Spirit of God is at work in one in not another, enabling him to respond.
And it is the words of Yeshua, the words of the Gospel, that the Spirit uses to produce spiritual life in people – not in all people, but in some people. Yet there are some of you who do not believe. Some may seem have faith in Yeshua, but the reality is that they do not really believe and they will not be saved. Make absolutely sure that is not you.
Often, we can’t discern the true believers from the false believers; tell the wheat from the tares; distinguish those who say “Lord Lord” from those who actually are doing what God wants. Not Yeshua. He always knew who was who. For Yeshua had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray Him. Yeshua knew those who had this false kind of faith and He knew the one who would betray Him. And, even though He knew, He didn’t separate the unfaithful or remove the traitor from their midst. He treated them all with grace and kindness and allowed them to remain. But, He spoke the truth clearly enough that those who didn’t like the truth would remove themselves.
Again, Yeshua made it clear that real faith that saves is something that only God can produce in us. He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless the Father has enabled them.” The sovereign God enables some to come to Yeshua by hearing the truth, with the Spirit of God giving them understanding so that they are able to respond with faith in Yeshua and be saved. That gift of faith, which God enables, is only given to some, and not others. Yeshua taught a God-centered religion, not a man-centered religion.
John let us know that this was a decisive moment for many of Yeshua’s followers. From this time many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him. While it must have been discouraging to see so many leave, it’s good to know you have the loyalty of that faithful few. Yeshua asked the men He chose to be the future leaders of His Faith Community if they would remain faithful to Him. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Yeshua asked the Twelve.
Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that You are the Holy One of God.” Peter spoke for the Twelve, letting Yeshua know they would remain with Him. It made no sense to leave Him and become a disciple of anyone else since they were convinced that Yeshua was the Holy One of God, uniquely set apart by God to accomplish very special purposes. And they were convinced Yeshua’s teachings, if believed, would produce eternal life.
The loyalty of the Twelve must have encouraged Yeshua. But even among Yeshua’s most loyal disciples was someone who would not only leave Yeshua, but betray Him. And Yeshua knew the identity of the traitor. Then Yeshua replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray Him.) Yeshua was not fooled by Judas’ betrayal. He allowed the traitor to remain, because that was part of God’s plan, and Yeshua was committed to fulfilling God’s plan, even if it meant being betrayed and executed.
The Holy Spirit wants the Community of Faith to know that people who claim to be Christians and Messianic Jews may not be true believers; and some will abandon Yeshua; and some will go over to the dark side and betray Yeshua and His people.
Most of us claim to be disciples of Yeshua. One of our greatest challenges is to make absolutely sure that we really believe and remain loyal to Yeshua – by periodic self-examination, by taking an internal spiritual inventory from time to time, and by asking mature believers if they think we are true followers of Messiah; and by taking the necessary corrective action if we are falling short.
May the sovereign God give each one of us the grace to do just that. Amen?