2/29/11 John 6:41- 51 Grace Sent

41 At this the Jews there 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’?”
43 “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. 44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. 46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”



Thoughts: Jesus was saying two important things with the same root.  The root is God's undeserved grace.  The two things are 1) Jesus is sent to us from the Father, and 2) We cannot come on our own- the Father draws us to Himself.  God sees the mess we are in, and at his own expense He comes to aid us in our trouble- sending help in the form of Jesus and pulling us toward Him.  It is not that we are climbing a spiritual ladder to heaven, but our ladder is broken- and God jumps down on our level and draws us up to His level.

Prayer: Thank you for your grace and mercy, Lord.  Apart from you we are nothing.  With you all things are possible.

John Calvin Abridged: The people did not understand because he was they thought he was the Son of Joseph (which was false) and was clothed in human flesh (as he emptied himself for our sakes of his divinity).  We also tend to look on Christ with fleshly eyes- forgetting his power.  Many make up monstrous things about Christ and the church in order to not believe.  He reminds them that it is a gift of God to be able to believe.  Though the Gospel is preached to all, cannot be embraced by all.  All are not drawn, but God bestows this grace on those He has elected.