Conversation Points for John 6:35, 41-51

Study Format:
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?

Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• V. 35 is the first of the “I AM” statements. These are another literary technique in John’s Gospel. In these statements, Jesus identifies himself with common ancient Near East experiences. “I AM” helps connect to the Exodus experience. We already saw that in the manna reference, now Jesus’ “I AM” harkens to God speaking to Moses from the burning bush in Exodus 3:14, “I AM who I AM... Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
• The second half of verse 35 connects coming to Jesus and believing in him as synonyms. As was also true in Jewish wisdom tradition, the bread of life Jesus was speaking of was his teaching and revelation.
• The crowd’s response to Jesus was unbelief. V. 41 is the first time in the dialogue the crowd shifts to “the Jews.” It is important to make the distinction that in John’s Gospel “the Jews” is used negatively, which is more a reflection of the Johannine community’s tension with the mainstream Jewish religious movement than conflict between Jesus and the wider Jewish community. Jesus’ tension was with the religious leadership, not with the Jewish people.
• The word in v. 41 and 43 translated “complained” is the Greek word gongyzo. It is the same word used in the Septuagint to describe the Israelites grumbling in the wilderness (Exodus 15:24; 16:2, 7, 12: Numbers 11:1; 14:2, 27; Psalm 105:24-25).
• Rather than address the complaints, Jesus reiterated the theme of the discourse, that God is drawing people to Jesus and resurrection.
• The reference to the prophets in v. 45 is not totally clear. It could be Isaiah 54:13, “All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the prosperity of your children.” Another possibility is Jeremiah 31:33, “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
• In v. 45, “hearing” and “learning” are used as synonyms for “seeing” and “believing,” as the human response to what God offers.
• In v. 47, “very truly I tell you” (amen, amen, lego ami) signals the start of a new section. Yet rather than a new topic, Jesus reiterates the previous themes of eternal life and Jesus as the bread of life.

Works Sourced:
O’ Day, Gail. “The Gospel of John.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume IX. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.