Bible in One Year Day 100 (John 4-6, Proverbs 5:7-14)

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Day 100:  This is my Body

 

Agape Bible Study 

John 4 - 6 

Jesus in SAMARIA
V.  THE PRESENTATION OF THE SON OF GOD IN SAMARIA	4:1-42
A.  Jesus and the Samaritan Woman	4:1-26
B.  Jesus teaches His Disciples	4:27-38
C.  Jesus witnesses to Samaria	4:39-42
Jesus in GALILEE
VI. THE PRESENTATION OF THE SON OF GOD IN THE GALILEE	4:43-54
A.  Christ is received by the Galileans Cana and Capernaum	4:43-45
B.  SIGN #2: Jesus heals the royal official's son	4:46-54

The Presentation of the Son of God in Samaria

 John 4:1-26

Question: The encounter with the man Nicodemus in John 3:1-21 and the encounter in Chapter 4 with the woman of Samaria are separated by what incident and dialogue?  What is the link?

Answer: The baptizing incident of 3:22-30 and John's discourse on Jesus as the bridegroom of the purified Bride, the Church.  Baptism is the link.  In the encounter with Nicodemus the teaching is that through water and the Spirit a new birth is promised.  In the encounter with the Samaritan woman the symbolism is different: not a birth through water, but the drinking of living water.  Nevertheless, in both cases, the water is a symbol of the Spirit and the link is the sacrament of baptism.  St. Paul links these two symbols of water and the Spirit with baptism in 1 Corthians 12:13 We were baptized into one body in a single Spirit, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as free men, and we were all given the same Spirit to drink.

Samaritan Woman at the Well (Angelika Kauffmann)

Jesus witnesses to the Samaritan woman - Scene I

 John 4:1-4: When Jesus heard that the Pharisees had found out that he was making and baptizing more disciples than John (though in fact it was his disciples who baptized, not Jesus himself) he left Judea and went back to Galilee. He had to pass through Samaria.

Question: What kind of baptism is it that Jesus' disciples are giving?

Answer: It must be a baptism of repentance, similar to the baptism offered by John the Baptist since the baptism of Christ cannot be offered until after the crucifixion and resurrection.  

Question: Why didn't Jesus baptize?  Please read Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 1:5-9.

Answer:  He was preparing the disciples for the time when He would give them the Great Commission to baptize all nations in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, beginning in Jerusalem and Judea, and then in Samaria, and to the Gentile nations of the earth.  But if Jesus had also been baptizing before His crucifixion it would have caused confusion between the baptism of repentance and the baptism of re-birth into the New Covenant in Christ that was to be offered after the Resurrection.

Question: Why is it that this knowledge that Jesus' disciples were baptizing so many people should force Jesus and the disciples to withdraw from Judea to the Galilee?

Answer: This point marks the beginning of the Pharisees' hostility towards Jesus. Since it was not the time for the final confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees, the Lord withdrew to the North where the Pharisees had less influence.

Question: Why was it that Jesus had to pass through Samaria?  There were two main routes back to the Galilee: through Samaria and the other route up the East Side of the Jordan River valley.  Most Israelites avoided Samaria.  The Samaritans were extremely hostile to Jews and Israelites and the Jews and Israelites regarded the Samaritans as heathen, half-breed heretics.  Any association with a Samaritan could ritually contaminate the believer.

Answer:  Jesus had to pass through Samaria because that was God's plan.  This is the time in God's plan that the Messiah will witness to Samaria.

Christ and the Samaritan Woman (Duccio di Buoninsegna) 

John 4:5-6.  On the way he came to the Samaritan town called Sychar near the land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.  Jacob's well was there and Jesus, sat down by the well.

Question:  What kind of role does Shechem play in the Salvation History of the Old Testament and how does that role impact this encounter with Christ? 

Answer:

Genesis 12:7	Yahweh appeared to Abram and promised the land to his descendants. Abram built an altar.  This is the first of 3 promises to Abram that will become the Abrahamic Covenant.
Genesis 33:18-20	Jacob camped opposite the town upon his return from Paddan-Aram and purchased land from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem and built an altar.  The city is named for this gentile man who loved Dinah, a daughter of Israel.
Genesis 34	The site of a failed covenant, a failed marriage, and a terrible injustice when the gentiles of Shechem, who had submitted to circumcision, were murdered by the sons of Jacob/Israel.
Deuteronomy 27:4, 11-12	Site designated by Moses (between Mt. Ebal and  Mt. Gerizim) for renewal of Covenant oath.
Joshua 8:30-35	Site of the reaffirmation of the Covenant oath and the blessing of the people as ordered by Moses in Deuteronomy 27
Joshua 24	Joshua called a great assembly of all the tribes of Israel.  The reaffirmation of the Covenant before Joshua's death.
Judges 8:29-9:21	Shechem incited to follow a false king of Israel who betrays them.
1 Kings 12:1-25	Great Assembly of the 12 tribes to proclaim Rehoboam, son of Solomon, as King of Israel.  The site of the beginning of the end of Israel as a united kingdom. After the civil war the rebel Jeroboam, new King of Israel, makes Shechem his capital.
Hosea 6:7-9	Priests commit murder on the road to Shechem—broken Covenant.
Jeremiah 41:1-10	Murder of the men from Shechem and Samaria by Jews led by a descendant of David.  These men had come in peace to mourn the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem and to bring offerings.

Question: What are the re-occurring themes associated with Shechem?

Answer: Covenant, failed covenant/ failed marriage, murder/ terrible wrongs committed, betrayal and lost opportunity to witness to the Gentile people of the One True God.

Jesus, King of Israel, descendant of King David, will undo all these centuries of wrongs and abuses as He calls Samaria, Israel, back into the Covenant.  He has come to save that which was lost.  He is the bridegroom who loves this daughter of Israel.

John 4:6-7a:  Jacob's well was there and Jesus, tired by the journey, sat down by the well.  It was about the sixth hour.  When a Samaritan woman came to draw water....

Question: Why does John include the information that Jesus was tired?

Answer: John wants to remind us that Jesus was fully divine and fully human.  Like us He suffered from hunger and thirst and felt fatigue, but despite His tiredness Jesus, the good Shepherd, does not waste the opportunity to reach out to the lost sheep.

The place of their meeting has theological significance. Although wells figure prominently in the Old Testament, this particular "well of Jacob" is not mentioned in the Old Testament.  The site of Jacob's well is located at the foot of Mt. Gerizim in the West Bank, 40 miles north of Jerusalem and 1 mile east of the modern Palestinian city of Nablus.  It has been a site of religious pilgrimage since the 4^th century AD.

Question: Can you recall when a man has found a girl/woman at a well in the Old Testament?  What is the outcome of each of these encounters?  Hint: see Genesis 24:10-67; Genesis 29:1-30; and Exodus 2:15-21.  There are the only 3 places in the Old Testament where a man encounters a woman at a well with a very interesting outcome.

Answer:

Genesis 24:10-67	Rebecca the future bride of Isaac is found at a well by Abraham's servant
Genesis 29:1-30	Jacob (Israel) meets Rachel, his future bride, at a well
Exodus 2: 15-21	Moses meets Zipporah, his bride, at a well

A bride is courted at a well.  Jesus the divine bridegroom has come to court His Covenant

Bride, Israel (Samaria) as symbolized by this woman and as promised by the prophets of God [i.e. see Hosea chapter 2].  

Question: What earlier passage prepared us for the symbolic importance of this encounter?

Answer: John the Baptist's last witness of Christ as the Bridegroom in 3:29

John 4:7-9: When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, 'Give me something to drink.'  His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.  The Samaritan woman said to him, 'You are a Jew. How is it that you ask me, a Samaritan, for something to drink?''Jews, of course, do not associate with Samaritans.

That Jesus' disciples went into town to buy food suggests that this is the end of their traveling day and that they are planning to make camp for the night.  This information would agree with a 6PM time frame.

This is a rather amusing first encounter. The woman, astonished at Jesus' willingness to speak to her, reminds Him of proper Jewish/Samaritan etiquette.

Question: Why was this woman astonished that Jesus would speak to her?  Was she even more astonished that He would ask for water from her hand?  Why didn't Jews associate with Samaritans?

Answer: To associate with a Samaritan, much less to accept food or drink from such a person, would cause a Jew to become ritually unclean [John 4:7].  Samaritans were considered to be worse than Gentiles!  It is also outside the boundaries of Jewish customs for a man to converse with women in public who are not part of their immediate family [John 4:27] much less a woman who is a recognized sinner [John 4:18].

Question: What happens when the ritually unclean come in contact with Christ?

Answer:  They are cleansed ritually and spiritually.

John 4:6-15:  7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, 'Give me something to drink.'  8 His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.  9 The Samaritan woman said to him, 'You are a Jew.  How is it that you ask me, a Samaritan, for something to drink?''Jews, of course, do not associate with Samaritans. 10 Jesus replied to her: 'If you only knew what God is offering and who it is that is saying to you, "Give me something to drink," you would have been the one to ask, and he would have given you living water.' 11 'You have no bucket, sir,' she answered, 'and the well is deep: how do you get this living water?  12 Are you a greater man than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself with his sons and his cattle?'  13 Jesus replied: 'Whoever drinks this water will be thirsty again; 14 but no one who drinks the water that I shall give him will ever be thirsty again: the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water, welling up for eternal life.' 15 'Sir' said the woman, 'give me some of that water, so that I may never be thirsty or come here again to draw water.'

Scene I part 1: Introduces the topic of "living water" and Jesus' claim to be the Messiah.

John 4:10 (Jesus to the woman) "If you only knew what God is offering and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me something to drink,' you would have been the one to ask, and he would have given you living water."

Question: What is the 2-part challenge that Jesus issues to the Samaritan woman?

Answer:

1. That she recognize who is speaking to her and
2. That she will ask Him for "living water".

John 4:11-12  (Woman to Jesus): "You have no bucket, sir," she answered, "and the well is deep: how do you get this [zoe] living water?  Are you a greater man than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself with his sons and his cattle?"

The Greek word kyrie means both "sir" and "lord". She is addressing Jesus with increasing respect, unlike Nicodemus who becomes more skeptical in each exchange in his encounter with Jesus.

Question: What meaning of the word zoe does the woman of Samaria think Jesus' is using?

Answer: Considering that they are at a well it is natural that she is thinking of water on a materially, earthly level as "flowing" water which is a preferable source of water to stagnant well water. 

Question: What was Jesus referring to when He spoke of giving zoe "Living water" to the woman? The living water is not Jesus himself but something spiritual that he offers to the woman and to the believer who can recognize God's gift.  The living water is not eternal life but leads to it.  

Answer: In the 2^nd -4^th centuries AD Christian scholars like St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustine of Hippo, and St. Jerome saw "living water" as the revelation which Jesus gives to men, or the Spirit of God which Jesus gives to men.  Since Medieval times Biblical scholars like St. Thomas Aquinas and others have seen the "living water" as a symbol for sanctifying grace.  Most modern Catholic scholars believe Jesus is speaking of the life and vitality of the Spirit of God that is God's gift to us.  All these scholars, however, would agree that this gift is given in the Sacrament of Christian Baptism. The use of the symbol of water is a very realistic way for Jesus to symbolize the importance of this gift: water is to natural life as living water is to eternal life.  He is speaking in the same sense as the prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel and Zechariah:

1. Isaiah 12:3: Joyfully you will draw water from the springs of salvation and, that day, you will say, "Praise Yahweh"...


2. Ezekiel 47:1-12: [Ezekiel's vision of the restored Temple and the River of Life].  He brought me back to the entrance of the Temple, where a stream flowed eastwards from under the Temple threshold...it was now a river which I could not pass......and flowing into the sea it makes the waters wholesome....Along the river bank, on either bank, will grow every kind of fruit tree with leaves that never wither and fruit the never fails....this water comes from the sanctuary...


3. Zechariah 14:8-9:  When that Day comes, living waters will issue from Jerusalem, half towards the eastern sea, half towards the western sea; they will flow summer and winter.  Then Yahweh will become king of the whole world.  When that Day comes, Yahweh will be the one and only and his name the one name.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches in # 694:  The symbolism of water signifies the Holy Spirit's action in Baptism, since after the invocation of the Holy Spirit it becomes the efficacious sacramental sign of new birth: just as the gestation of our first birth took place in water, so the water of Baptism truly signifies that our birth into the divine life is given to us in the Holy Spirit.  As "by one Spirit we were all baptized," so we are also "made to drink of one Spirit."  Thus the Spirit is also personally the living water welling up from Christ crucified as its source and welling up in us to eternal life.  Also see Baptism in the Economy of Salvation CCC#s 1217-1222 ; Christ's Baptism 1223-1225; and Baptism in the Church #s 1226-1228.

Question: Is Baptism necessary for salvation?

Answer: Jesus affirmed that Baptism is necessary for salvation in John 3:5.  He also commanded his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them in Matthew 28:19-20.  Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament.  The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is why she takes care not to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized are "reborn of water and the Spirit." God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments.  CCC# 1257. 

The last statement opens the door to the exceptions of "baptism by desire" [when someone who intended to be baptized unexpectedly dies] and "baptism by blood" [when those who suffer death for the sake of their faith in Christ receive their baptism through their martyrdom]. Included in these exceptions is the belief that Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it can be saved.  It may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity.  CCC# 1260; also see CCC# 1258-1260.

Question: How many times may one be baptized by the Spirit? 

Answer: The Church, from its first centuries, has always taught that just as there is one birth through the flesh, so there is but one birth through the Spirit.  

John 4:13-14 "Jesus replied: 'Whoever drinks this water will be thirsty again; but no one who drinks the water that I shall give him will ever be thirsty again: the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water, welling up for eternal life.'"

Question: In our Christian tradition how do we associate this "living water" which Jesus offers?

Answer: Christian tradition associates "living water" with the Spirit and the waters of baptism in Christ, which lead us to "eternal life".  St Paul describes Baptism in terms of drinking from the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12:13: We were baptized into one body in a single Spirit, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as free men, and we were all given the same Spirit to drink."

John 4:15 "'Sir', said the woman, 'give me some of that water, so that I may never be thirsty or come here again to draw water.'"

Question: What has the woman finally discerned from Jesus' challenge in verse 10 and His teaching about living water?

Answer: She has realized that He is referring to "living" and not "flowing" water and she has asked for this water as He challenged her to do when He said: "If you only knew what God is offering ...you would have been the one to ask.."

John 4:16-25: (Jesus to the woman) 16 'Go and call your husband,' said Jesus to her, 'and come back here.' 17 The woman answered, 'I have no husband.'  Jesus said to her, 'You are right to say, "I have no husband"; 18  for although you have had five, the one you now have is not your husband.  You spoke the truth there.'  19 'I see you are a prophet, sir,' said the woman.  20 'Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, though you say that Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.' 21  Jesus said: 'Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.  22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know; for salvation comes from the Jews.  23 But the hour is coming, indeed it already here, when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth: that is the kind of worshipper the Father seeks.  24 God is spirit, and those who worship must worship in spirit and truth.

John 4:16-19 "'Go and call your husband,' said Jesus to her, and come back here.'  The woman answered, 'I have no husband.' Jesus said to her, 'You are right to say, 'I have no husband'; for although you have had five the one you now have [he who is with you now] is not your husband.  You spoke the truth there.'" [ ] = more literal translation.

Jews were allowed only three marriages.  We do not know enough about the practices of the 1^st century Samaritans but if they had the same rule then the woman's life was immoral.  

John 4:19-20 "'I see you are a prophet, sir', said the woman.  'Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, though you say that Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.'"

The woman obviously realizes that Jesus is speaking about more than just her own life.  She acknowledges him as a prophet.  

Question: What Biblical passage is the woman referring to when she suggests that Jesus is a prophet?

Answer: The only passage the Samaritans have in their Bible about a future prophet coming to the people is in Deuteronomy 18:17"From among their own brothers I shall raise up a prophet like yourself."  The Samaritans only expected the Messiah to come as a prophet, unlike the Jews and Israelites who had the whole canon of Scripture and expected the Messiah to come as prophet, priest, and king.  This is an example of how imperfect Sacred Scripture translations can hinder or distort divine revelation.

Perceiving that Jesus might be the promised prophet, she tests Him by asking him a question about worship.

Question: What does she ask Jesus, seeking some assurance that her people are not in error, and what is Jesus' firm response.

Answer: She mentions the difference between Samaritans and the Jews as to the center of the worship of Yahweh.  Jesus affirms that the Jews have the authority by the statement: "Salvation is from the Jews."  In the Old Covenant Church as in the New there can only be one center and one hierarchy of authority.  This is why in Matthew 23:2 Jesus tells the crowds: The scribes and the Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses.  You must therefore do and observe what they tell you..." 

Question: In the New Covenant Church is there a central authority similar to the "chair of Moses?"
Answer: There is the "chair of St. Peter" where the authority of the Universal Church of Jesus Christ rests and the site of that authority is in Rome from which Christ's Church spreads out across the earth.  It is in fact the only Christian Church with a central authority and hierarchy.

The woman is now "looking to the light".  Even though she diverts the "rays of the light" away from her own life to something less personal, in opening the topic of worship she is beginning to think on a spiritual rather than a material level.  Unlike Nicodemus she will seem to more readily accept Jesus' teaching once she has understood His meaning.

John 4:21-24 "Jesus said: 'Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.  Your worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know; for salvation comes from the Jews.  But the hour is coming, indeed is already here, when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth: that is the kind of worshipper the Father seeks.  God is spirit, and those who worship must worship in spirit and truth.

God established the center of worship for the Church at His Temple in Jerusalem ( 1Kings 7-8).  When the 10 Northern tribes of Israel broke away to form a divided kingdom they established worship in a Temple on Mt. Gerizim, forming two centers of worship of Yahweh.  Jesus confirms that there is One Church established by God in a holy Covenant, and salvation is through that One Church.  That One Church had one geographic center and one man as mediator between men and God.  That center was Jerusalem and the High Priest in Jerusalem who sat on the chair of Moses was the mediator between God and man.  But the Old Covenant Church was founded upon the physical rock of Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem and through physical descent to the children of Israel.  In the New Covenant, Jesus explains, true worship can come only from men and women who are begotten by the "Spirit of Truth".  In the New Covenant Church there will be one geographic center and one man as mediator, the man who sits on the chair of Peter, but Peter, the Rock, will be our spiritual Father and we will be "begotten" from God's Spirit and become inheritors of the Covenant through a spiritual birth.  Only through the Spirit does God the Father "beget" true sons and daughters.

"God is Spirit": this is not an essential definition of God but is a description of God's dealing with men; it means that God is Spirit toward men because He gives the Spirit which "begets" them in spiritual birth through baptism.  This expression is used in the same way John uses the words "God is light" (1John 1:5) and "God is love" (1John 4:8).

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well (Giacomo Franceschini)

In Scene II, John 4:25-38: Jesus reveals His identity as the Messiah and teaches His disciples:

John 4:25-: 25 The woman said to him, 'I know that Messiah–that is, Christ–is coming; and when he comes he will explain everything.'  26 Jesus said, 'That is who I am, I who speak to you.'  27 At this point the disciples returned and were surprised to find him speaking to a woman, though none of them asked, 'What do you want form her?' or, 'What are you talking to her about?'  28 The woman put down her water jar and hurried back to the town to tell the people, 29 'Come and see a man who has told me everything I have done; could this be the Christ?'  30 This brought people out of the town and they made their way towards him.

John 4:25-26 "The woman said to him, 'I know that Messiah'that is, Christ'is coming; and when he comes he will explain everything.'  Jesus said, 'That is who I am, I who speak to you.'"

This is Jesus' 7^th statement to the woman of Samaria.

Question: What is the significance of the words Jesus uses to reveal Himself as the Messiah to this woman who lives in the land of the old kingdom of Israel?

Answer: His words "I am" recalls God's revelation to Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3:14: "This is what you are to say to the Israelites, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

Question: With Jesus last statement what has happened to the woman?

Answer: The woman has come into the "light".  She finally recognizes who has offered her this living water and Jesus affirms her declaration that He is the Messiah.  The last part of the challenge that Jesus made the woman in verse 10 has now been completed.

It is interesting that Jesus did not acknowledge Himself as the Messiah when it was offered to Him by the Jews but now accepts it from a Samaritan.  

John 4:27-30 At this point his disciples returned and were surprised to find him speaking to a woman, though none of them asked, 'What do you want from her?'  or, 'What are you talking to her about?' The woman put down her water jar and hurried back to the town to tell the people, 'Come and see a man who has told me everything I have done; could this be the Christ?'  This brought people out of the town and they made their way towards him.

By this time the disciples have already learned not to question Jesus when He breaks with custom or tradition but John wants us to understand that this was unusual behavior for a religious Jew. 

Question: Why do you think John includes the detail that the woman left her water jar?

Answer: She has recognized that the spiritual water Jesus promises is much more valuable than the material, natural water she was going to collect in her earthen vessel.

St. Augustine in his commentary on this passage suggests that the water jar is the fallen desire of man that draws pleasure from the dark wells of the world but is never satisfied for long.  He compares that desire, symbolized by the water jar that does not satisfy, to conversion to Christ which moves us to renounce the world, leave behind the desires of our earthen vessels, and to follow a new way of life. (St. Augustine, Homilies on St. John, 15, 16, 30).

Scene II, part 2: Jesus' dialogue with the disciples:

John 4:31-38 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, 'Rabbi, do have something to eat'; but he said, 'I have food to eat that you do not know about.'  So the disciples said to one another, 'Has someone brought him food?'  But Jesus said: 'My food is to do the will of the one who sent me, and to complete his work.  Do you not have a saying: Four months and then the harvest?  Well, I tell you, look around you, look at the fields; already they are white, ready for harvest!  Already the reaper is being paid his wages, already he is bringing in the grain for eternal life, so that sower and reaper can rejoice together.  For here the proverb holds true: one sows, another reaps; I sent you to reap a harvest you have not labored for. Others have labored for it; and you have come into the rewards of their labor.'"

Jesus may have been showing the signs of weakness from lack of food.  He is fully human and feels all the human physical effects of lack of food and sleep. 

My food is to do the will of the one who sent me, and to complete his work.  

Question: What "food" is Jesus talking about?

Answer: The will of the Father is always the driving force behind Jesus' mission.  

Look at the fields; already they are white, ready for harvest!  Jesus is literally looking out at the fields around Samaria.  He is speaking both literally and figuratively.  This helps us determine the time of year.  Jesus and His disciples were in Jerusalem for the Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread in late March/early April.  That is the time of year that the barley is harvested.  It is the "firstfuits" offered at the Feast of Firstfruits during the week long celebration of Passover/ Unleavened Bread. The wheat harvest is 50 days later at the Feast of Weeks which was known by the Greek word "Pentecost" (fiftieth day) in Jesus' time.  If Jesus and His disciples left Jerusalem immediately after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the barley is still being harvested from the fields.  If they stayed in Jerusalem until the Feast of Pentecost (one of the 3 Pilgrim feasts which every man of the Covenant must attend) then this is the wheat harvest.

Question: But what is it that Jesus is telling the disciples is ripe for being harvested?

Answer: The Samaritan people.  The Samaritans who are coming to Christ are His first harvest of souls for God's storehouse; Jesus' "firstfruits".

Question: Who are the reapers and who are the sowers?

Answer: The reapers are the disciples and the sowers are those who have labored before them, the prophets of the Old Testament and Jesus Himself.

Samaritan Woman (Annibale Carracci) 

Scene III: The Samaritans come to believe in the Messiah

John 4:39-42: Many Samaritans of that town believed in him on the strength of the woman's words of testimony, 'He told me everything that I have done.'  So, when the Samaritans came up to him, they begged him to stay with them.  He stayed for two days, and they said to the woman, 'Now we believe no longer because of what you told us; we have heard him ourselves and we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.'

If this encounter with the woman occurred at 6PM it would have been the end of one day and the beginning of the next day when the revelation of the Messiah came to these people...a very symbolic gesture for these people (the day began at sundown).  It was the end of their rejection and a new beginning in their relationship with Yahweh.  It is significant that they no longer only believed on the basis of the woman's testimony but believed for themselves.  The two-day visit could be symbolic of the humanity and divinity of the Messiah.

"the Savior of the world" The Samaritans are the first to recognize that the salvation Jesus is offering is for all the nations of the world! 1 John 2:2 Jesus Christ, the upright.  He is the sacrifice to expiate our sins, and not only ours, but also those of the whole world.

St. John uses marital imagery in chapters 2, 3, and 4 to present Jesus Christ as the Bridegroom of the New Covenant Church.  That Jacob's well is the location of His encounter with the Samaritan woman is to remind the reader that in the Old Testament a well was the place where a bride is courted, as when Jacob first saw his beloved Rachel.  In Chapter 4, through the Samaritan woman Jesus, the Bridegroom is speaking to His beloved, Israel, and calling her back into a Covenant relationship.

The Presentation of the Son of God in Galilee

John 4:43-45 "When the two days were over Jesus left for Galilee.  He himself had declared that a prophet is not honored in his own hometown.  On his arrival the Galileans received him well, having seen all that he had done at Jerusalem during the festival which they too had attended."

 Jesus and the disciples continue on their journey back to the Galilee (4:2).  You may have noticed that John gives many geographic references in his Gospel.  Geography plays a symbolic role in John's Gospel.  The northern regions of the Galilee and Samaria accept Jesus in faith but the southern region of Judea and Jerusalem become increasingly antagonistic toward Him as His ministry continues.  It is because of this that John will classify the enemies of Christ as "the Jews", those of Judea who are the unbelieving leaders of Judea and Jerusalem.

The saying John quotes Jesus as repeating is also mentioned in Luke's Gospel when Jesus is rejected by his hometown of Nazareth in Matthew 13:57 and Luke 4:24.  John is probably not referring to His rejection in Nazareth but is commenting on the irony that although Jesus is a Jew (from the tribe and nation of Judah) He is rejected by kinsmen from his own country of Judea but welcomed in the Galilee.

John 4:46-47 "He went again to Cana in Galilee, where he had changed the water into wine.  And there was a court official whose son was ill at Caperanum; hearing that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went as asked him to come and cure his son, as he was at the point of death."

Question: If Jesus left Samaria after two days (verse 46) what day is it that He comes again to Cana and what link is there to the first mention of Cana in chapter 2?

Answer: Once again it is the third day!  This 3^rd day reconnects us to the first sign at Cana when the water was turned into wine. 

Question: Is it a coincidence that both Cana miracles take place on the third day? What are the similarities between this incident in chapter 4 and what happened in chapter 2

Answer: both Mary (chapter 2) and the royal official (chapter 4) are petitioners and both have faith that Jesus can fulfill their request.  In this passage John reminds us of the miracle of the "best wine" at Cana.  This wine announces the "hour" of Jesus' glorification and manifests the fulfillment of the wedding feast in the Father's kingdom where we will drink the new wine that has become the Blood of Christ. (see CCC# 1333-1335)

The village of Caperanum was more than 15 miles from Cana.  In the Synoptic Gospels this village is the center of the activity of Jesus' ministry in Galilee and Matthew states in 4:13 and 9:1 that Jesus established His own home there in Peter's house.

Question: Do you see any symbolism in the fact the Jesus made Peter's house His headquarters, the center of His ministry?  Is Peter's house still His headquarters?

Answer: Jesus founded a "house" for Peter and He still resides in that "house" which is the universal, Catholic Church.  Peter's house is the Vatican in Rome.  The high altar is built over Peter's tomb.

 John 4:48-54 "Jesus said to him, 'Unless you see signs and portents you will not believe!'  'Sir,' answered the official, 'come down before my child dies.'  'Go home,' said Jesus, 'your son will live.'  The man believed what Jesus had said and went on his way home; and while he was still on the way his servants met him with the news that his boy was alive.  He asked them when the boy had begun to recover.  They replied, 'The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.'  The father realized that this was exactly the time when Jesus had said, 'Your son will live', and he and all his household believed.  This new sign, the second, Jesus performed on his return from Judea to Galilee."

Despite the numerous "signs" we are told that Jesus performed in Jerusalem (see 2:23), John singles this out as the second of the 7 public "signs" Jesus will perform in John's Gospel.  As with all the "signs" John will identify, it points beyond this supernatural event to a future revelation of God.  The first sign of the "best wine" points to the blood will flow from the side of Christ at the crucifixion, the abundant flow of God's grace and the most holy Eucharist to the world. 

Question:  What future event does this "sign" point to?

Answer: Jesus resurrection from the dead.

Notice that the royal official shows the same genuine respect for Jesus as the Samaritan woman in addressing Jesus as kyrios, lord [translated here as 'sir'].

Question: What challenge of faith does Jesus make to the official?

Answer: To believe without visible proof; to believe by faith!  

Question: Does Jesus give us the same challenge? 

Answer: Yes.

Jesus' reply does not deter the official in his mission. Despite his imperfect faith and his superior position in society he did travel the 20 miles to find Jesus, and his love for his child is so great that he is not too proud to beg this Jewish rabbi for help! 

Question: His faith, persistence, and humility are rewarded by what promise?

Answer: His child will be healed.

The details in all three accounts are quite similar; however there are also a few differences.

                                               

St. John's account	Matthew's account	Luke's account
Jesus is in Cana	Jesus went to Caperanum	Jesus went into Caperanum
Court official from Caperanum comes to Jesus	A centurion comes to Jesus	Centurion sent Jewish elders to speak to Jesus
Requests Jesus to heal his son who has a fever	Servant paralyzed at home	Request is to heal a favorite servant who is sick and near death
Jesus challenges the crowd to have faith without the proof of signs	Jesus offers to come to his home	Centurion is credited with building the synagogue
For a second time the royal official pleads with Jesus	Centurion humbly submits that he is unworthy to have Jesus in his home but has confidence that Jesus can heal his servant from a distance	Centurion comes to Jesus himself
Jesus sends the father home with the promise that the boy will be healed	Jesus commends his faith and pronounces that his request is granted	Humbly offers that he is not worthy to have Jesus in his home
The father believes and returns home	The man returns home	vs. 8 "Let my boy be healed by your giving your word" (perhaps an indication that the "servant" was a young son)
He is told the boy was healed at the hour he was with Jesus	The servant is cured before the man arrives	Jesus commends his faith The boy is healed

The major differences are the identification of the son as a servant [which can be explained], Jesus' location at the time of the encounter, and the humble declaration of the Centurion that he is unworthy to have Jesus in his home that is missing from John's account.  Since he had built the Synagogue at Caperanum it is possible that the centurion in Luke's account was a Jewish convert but it is more likely that he is what Jews called a "God-fearer", a gentile who believed in Yahweh and followed His laws as much as they were able but who had not submitted to circumcision.  In that case, he would have understood that for Jesus to enter his Gentile home would have made Jesus ritually unclean according to the Law of Moses. 

Question: In addition to the child's salvation, which is Jesus' second "sign", what other work of salvation is there in this family?

Answer: The miracle is so convincing that all this man's family becomes believers in Christ.  This is, of course, should be the goal of all Christian parents. 

Question: To what does this "sign" point"?

Answer: This "sign" points to God's gift of salvation that will be offered all believers who accept Jesus as the Savoir, Jew as well as Gentile.

In His encounter with the woman of Samaria Jesus literally offers the woman "spiritual water".  But when Jesus offered "water" to this woman He also wanted her, and his disciples, to think of the multiple symbols that are connected with water in Sacred Scripture.  He expected them to think of water as refreshment and as a symbol of salvation in the sense that water is to natural life what eternal water is to spiritual life and to connect that image to other Biblical references to water.  St. John also expects us to look deeper into this story of "living water" and Biblical symbolism associated with "water".  Of course, in the most general sense we think of water as it is associated with the Spiritual but there is much more Biblical symbolism associated with "water imagery.  " 

BOOK 3 – OPPOSITION TO THE SON OF GOD 5:1-12:50

JUDEA - JERUSALEM

U      F	I.   OPPOSITION IN JERUSALEM	5:1-47
N      E	(pool of Bethesda, Jerusalem)
N      A	A.  SIGN #3 – Jesus heals the paralytic man	5:1-9
A      S	B.  Jesus' homily/ Jews of Jerusalem reject Christ	5:10-47
M      T	1. Greater than John the Baptist	5:31-40
E  D	2.  Unbelief of the Jews	5: 41-47

John 5:1-9, The Second Feast at Jerusalem and the First Opposition to Jesus:

1 After this there was a Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  2 Now in Jerusalem next to the Sheep Pool there is a pool called Bethesda in Hebrew, which has five porticos; 3 and under these were crowds of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed.  4 One man there had an illness which had lasted thirty-eight years, and when Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had been in that condition for a long time, he said, 'Do you want to be well again?'  7 'Sir,' replied the sick man.  'I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I am still on the way, someone else gets down there before me.'  8 Jesus said, 'Get up, pick up your sleeping-mat and walk around.'  9 The man was cured at once, and he picked up his mat and started to walk around.

One always travels "up" to Jerusalem since the holy city is located in the mountains approximately 2,600 feet above sea level.  

Some ancient MSS (hand written manuscripts) add ..crowds of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the water to move; for at intervals the angel of the Lord came down into the pool, and the water was disturbed, and the first person to enter the water after this disturbance was cured of any ailment from which he was suffering.  This passage is assigned as a footnote in most Bible translations because it does not appear in the most important Greek codices [unbound pages, the precursor to our modern books] and papyri scrolls, nor does it appear in many ancient translations but St. Jerome who translated from the oldest Greek and Hebrew texts he could find in the late 4^th century, included this passage in his Vulgate Latin translation and St. John Chrysostom also included this passage.  St. John wrote An angel came down and troubled the water, and endued it with a healing power, that the Jews might learn that much more could the Lord of Angels heal the diseases of the soul.  Yet as here it was not simply the nature of the water that healed, (for then this would have always taken place,) but water joined to the operation of the Angel; so in our case, it is not merely the water that works, but when it has received the grace of the Spirit, then it puts away all our sins.

In chapters 3-4 we had the themes of "new birth" and healing of the soul through "water and the spirit." Now John leads us to the "healing waters" of the famous pools of Bethesda.  This pool, located on the outskirts of Jerusalem, was also called the "Probatic Pool" because it was beside the Probatic Gate also called the Sheep gate (see Nehemiah 3:1-32 and 12:39).  It was only through this gate that the animals, which were approved for the sacrifices in the Temple, entered the city.  [Other ancient authorities render the word Bethesda as "Bethsaida, or Belsetha, or the most favored by scholars today, Bethzatha]. 

It is interesting that John clearly states that there "is a pool called Bethesda" using the present tense.  Scholars who support and dating of this Gospel prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD use this verse as evidence of this earlier dating since the pools no longer existed after that date. If he was writing after the destruction of Jerusalem, which was the end of the world for the Old Covenant, these scholars argue John would have noted that this pool used to be there before the destruction, but instead he clearly uses the present tense telling us the pools still exist at the time of the writing of his Gospel

St. John Chrysostom taught that the pool of Bethesda was a symbol of the promise of Christian Baptism, but like so many Old Covenant symbols and institutions it was incomplete.  This ancient healing pool only cured physical ailments and only cured one person now and then. But Baptism, St. John assures us, heals the soul and is available to everyone who comes to Christ in faith.  However, St. John reminds us, in both cases, in Baptism and at the pool of Bethesda, God's power is shown through the natural element of water! [Homilies on St. John, 36, 1].

The Pool  of Bethesda (Robert Bateman)

John 5:5-9 One man there had an illness which had lasted thirty-eight years, and when Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had been in that condition for a long time, he said, 'Do you want to be well again?' 'Sir,' replied the sick man. 'I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I am still on the way, someone else gets down there before me.'  Jesus said, 'Get up, pick up your sleeping-mat and walk around.'  The man was cured at once, and he picked up his mat and started to walk around.

Question: Why would Jesus ask a man who is so obviously suffering if he wants to be healed?

Answer: Jesus will connect the man's suffering to sin in verse 14. The man must sincerely want to be healed just as all of us must make a sincere act of contrition in our desire to be healed of sin through the sacrament of Reconciliation.

In his notes that accompany the St. Ignatius Bible study of John's Gospel Dr. Scott Hahn reminds the Bible student that the supernatural meaning underneath the natural meaning is the greater meaning.  He also comments that the deception of the 10 spies of imperfect faith who led Israel into rebellion against God and refused the gift of the Promised Land would have resonated with 1^st century Christians.  They saw the 10 unbelieving spies who deceived the people as symbolic of the 1^st century Jews who rejected Christ as the Messiah and who were deceiving the Old Covenant Church and leading them into rebellion against Christ and the New Covenant Church.

John 5:10-18: 10 Now that day happened to be the Sabbath, so the Jews said to the man who had been cured, 'It is the Sabbath; you are not allowed to carry your sleeping mat.'  11 He replied, 'But the man who cured me told me, "Pick up your mat and walk around."'  12 They asked, 'Who is the man who said to you, "Pick up your mat and walk around"?'  13 The man had no idea who it was, since Jesus had disappeared, as the place was crowded.  14 After a while Jesus met him in the Temple and said, 'Now you are well again, do not sin anymore, or something worse may happen to you.'  15 The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had cured him.  16 It was because he did things like this on the Sabbath that the Jews began to harass Jesus.  17 His answer to them was, 'My Father still goes on working, and I am at work, too.'  18 But that only made the Jews even more intent on killing him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he spoke of God as his own Father and so made himself God's equal.

Question: On what day does this 3^rd sign occur?

Answer: On the Sabbath, this is the 7th day.

Question: How does this information link us to the 2^nd sign and the first sign?

Answer: The royal official's son was healed at the 7^th hour and the sign at Cana was the 7^th day counting from 1:29 as day 2.  7 is the number symbolic of spiritual perfection.  The healing of the royal official's son shows Jesus' power over suffering and death and that He is transforming believers into a New Creation.  Now this healing on the 7^th day of a Jew suffering from sin that the Old Covenant cannot remove (there was no forgiveness for mortal sin, only for unintentional sin see Numbers 15:27-31) signifies that the imperfect Old Covenant will be transformed into a New Covenant where Jesus, in His perfection, will offer complete healing and restoration.

Question: Why were the Jews disturbed that Jesus told the man to rise and walk with his sleeping-mat?  See Exodus 31:12-14, and Jeremiah 31:12-13.

Answer: According to the Law of the Sinai Covenant no work was to be done on the Sabbath.  Jewish theologians taught that God rested on the 7^th day of creation [Genesis 2:1-3], therefore they observed Sabbath was the human counterpart of this divine "rest."

Question: Is Jesus rejecting the Old Covenant Sabbath?  If not, why does He seem to be in violation of the Law?  See John 9:16 and Matthew chapter 12

Answer: He is not in violation of the Law.  Jesus is demonstration the real meaning of the Sabbath. It is His teaching that we are expected to refrain from the material and from sinful works on the Sabbath.  The priests still perform their duties on the Sabbath.  People are born and people die on the Sabbath.  Since only God has the power over life and death it follows, therefore, that God still "works" on the Sabbath.  The concept of entering into "God's rest" is our communion with the Father on the Sabbath in which we lay aside our labor and worship God because that is the way we express our faith that He will supply us with our needs.  But the real significance of the Sabbath is for God to manifest Himself in our lives and for us to reflect His love by doing acts of mercy in the lives of others, even when we see that need on the new Covenant Sabbath, the Lord's Day.

In Matthew chapter 12 Jesus addresses this same issue of the Sabbath restrictions where he reminds those who condemn Him for breaking the Sabbath of the story in 1 Samuel where David and his men, when being pursued by Saul, were allowed to eat the Bread of the Presence in the Tabernacle and then added ...have you not read in the Law how the priests in the Temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless...  Jesus' point is that those who have been anointed by God are not bound by the Sabbath restrictions because they are fulfilling the will of God.

Question: What statement does Jesus make in verse 17 that enrages the Jews to the point that they conspire to kill Him?

Answer: By calling God His Father Jesus is claiming the status of divine son-ship for Himself.  He is declaring Himself equal with God for although the Son is less than the Father in His humanity (John 14:28) He is equal to God the Father in His divinity (John 10:33). CCC# 253-54

John 5:19-24:  19 To this Jesus replied: 'In all truth I tell you, by himself the Son can do nothing; he can do only what he sees the Father doing: and whatever the Father does the Son does too.  20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he himself does, and he will show him even greater things than these, works that will astonish you.  21 Thus, as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to anyone he chooses; 22 for the Father judges no one; he has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all may honor the Son as they honor the Father.  Whoever refuses honor to the Son refuses honor to the Father who sent him.  24 In all truth I tell you, whoever listens to my words, and believes in the one who sent me, has eternal life; without being brought to judgment such a person has passed from death to life.

In verse 21 Jesus is talking about the nature of the works that He has seen the Father do and which He is doing.  They are the same works that, according to Jewish theology, it was proper for the Father to do on the Sabbath.  There are two "works" mentioned in these verses.

Question: What is the first work that Jesus does following the Father's example?  How does that work relate to the "signs" of the healing of the son of the royal official and the healing of the man who was paralyzed 38 years?

Answer: Giving life.  Now we can understand the reason that Jesus gave life to the royal official's son.  It was a "sign" of the life from above that He can truly give because the Father has empowered Him to give life.  The connection between the healing of the paralyzed man and the order to stop sinning (in vs. 14) is the connection between the greater, eternal death that sin can bring and Jesus' power over sin to forgive and grant life. 

Question: What is the second "work" and to whom has the Father given the power to judge man?

Answer: The second of the works (verses 22-23) is the power to judge sin.  This power belongs to the Son.  The power over life and death is the power of Christ the judge.  Jesus is the supreme judge of the Last Days [John 5:36-40; Matthew 25:31-46; and Romans 2:5-10]. 

Question: For each of us where does the struggle over life and death begin?

Answer: It begins in this life with the choice one makes with respect to belief in Jesus Christ.

Question: Who are the "dead" who are referred to in verse 21? What is the "death" we must fear?

Answer: The spiritually dead.

 John 5:25-30: 25 In all truth I tell you, the hour is coming–indeed it is already here–when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and all who hear it will live.  26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself; 27 and, because he is the Son of man, has granted him power to give judgment.  28 Do not be surprised at this, for the hour is coming when the dead will leave their graves at the sound of his voice: 29 those who did good will come forth to life; and those who did evil will come forth to judgment. 30 By myself I can do nothing; I can judge only as I am told to judge, and my judging is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

This is the third double "amen" in this dialogue.  This is the 4^th time Jesus has referred to Himself as "the Son of Man". 12 times the title "Son of Man" will be used to refer to Christ in this Gospel [1:51; 3:13; 3:14; 5:27, 6:27; 6:53; 6:62; 8:28; 12:23; 12:34 (twice); 13:31] and Jesus will refer to Himself 10 times by this same title, "the Son of Man." Each time this title is used it refers back to the vision of Daniel 7:13-14, a vision of the Messiah as the Kingly judge of all nations: I was gazing into the visions of the night, when I saw, coming on the clouds of heaven, as it were a Son of Man.  He came to the One most venerable and was led into his presence.  On him was conferred rule, honor and kingship, and all peoples, nations and languages became his servants.  His rule is an everlasting rule which will never pass away, and his kingship will never come to an end.  

Question: Who has been given the power to give judgment = absolute authority over life and death?

Answer: The Son has been given authority by the Father to "judge the living and the dead" [Nicene Creed] and to decide each man and woman's eternal destiny [Matthew 25:31-46; Acts 10:42 and CCC# 679].

Question: What is it that the dead will hear that calls them back to life?

Answer: The voice of Jesus the Messiah.  We will address that call in the discussion of the next few verses. 

John 5:28-31 Do not be surprised at this, for the hour is coming when the dead will leave their graves at the sound of his voice: those who did good will come forth to life; and those who did evil will come forth to judgment.  By myself I can do nothing; I can judge only as I am told to judge, and my judging is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

the hour is coming...  This is the second time that phrase is used in this dialogue [5:25 and 28].  Up to this point "the hour" has been referenced five times.   

I. The Historical Hour: The first importance of "the hour" is that it points in this Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels to the climax of Jesus' earthly ministry, to the appointed time of His Passion and glorification.  Before the appointed "hour", set by the Father, the attempts of Jesus' enemies to harm Him have all been in vain because "His hour has not yet come" [7:30; 8:20].  The countdown of that hour, the point at which the clock starts ticking, is at the start of Passion week when Jesus rides into Jerusalem on the day the Passover lambs are selected for the sacrifice [Palm Sunday].  In John's Gospel "the hour" of Christ's humiliation and death on the cross is "the hour of his exaltation that becomes the source of everlasting life for the world."  [Ignatius study Bible page 26].

II. The Liturgical Hour: Christ's "hour" reaches beyond the historical events of His Passion and glorification and into the liturgical commemoration of these events as they are reenacted in the life of His Church.  Biblical scholars point to several passages in sacred Scripture that illustrate the connection of His "hour' with Christian worship:

1. John 2:4, at the wedding at Cana Jesus responds with His mother's request for additional wine for the wedding feast with the response "My hour has not yet come", suggesting that when the hour does come He will provide that "best wine" of the wedding feast in abundance. Christian scholars down through the centuries have always seen this statement as a reference to the ordinary wine that becomes the perfect blood of Christ in holy Eucharist when "he pours Himself into the Eucharistic cup under the visible sign of wine." [St. Ignatius Study Bible –the Gospel of John page 26].


2. John 4:21-23 in the encounter with the Samaritan woman Jesus insists that his coming "hour" is associated with worship that is superior to any previously know worship including the Jews' worship under the Old Covenant in the Temple in Jerusalem and the Samaritan's imperfect worship at Mt. Gerizim.


3. John 5:25-29 in our current passage where Jesus announces his "hour" as the time when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of Man and will be resurrected to judgment.  In the reading of the Gospel and other Biblical passages in the Liturgy of the Word at Mass we continue to hear the "voice" of the Son of Man speak to us and to awaken our souls.


4. John 12:20-24 in which Christ's final "hour" will bring in a harvest of souls from every nation on earth because Jesus, like a grain of wheat the dies and is buried in the earth only to rise again to new life, will give that gift of new life to Israel and every nation on earth.  It is His Church who continues to sow the seed and reap the harvest of souls: 4:37-38 "I sent you to reap a harvest you have not labored for..." and Matthew 28:19-20 "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations; baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you.  And look, I am with you always; yes to the end of time."

The gift to the Father of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross cannot be divided from the sacramental gift of Christ to His Church in divine Liturgy.  

Question: See verse 28.  Are you surprised that Christ will raise both the righteous and the wicked?  Why will both be raised?

Answer: Christ has been given the power and authority to raise all from death, both the saints and the sinners [see Acts 24:15].  This future event at the End of Time was prophesized by the prophets Daniel [Daniel 12:2] and Ezekiel [Ezekiel 37:1-4] as well as by St. Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:16. In Daniel's vision he sees the final separation of the righteous and the unrighteous once their bodies have been awakened from death.  Ezekiel, who is called the "son of man" by God has a vision where he is commanded to speak to piles of bones and when he speaks flesh is joined to the bones and the bodies rise and are made to live again.  The prophet Ezekiel is unique among all the prophets in the title God give him: "son of man".  This is the title Jesus will use for Himself.  Jesus is the supernatural Son of Man [John 5:27] whose voice [5:25] raises the dead from their graves [5:28] and who will separate "those who come forth to life" everlasting and those who "come forth to Judgment" eternally. See John 15:29 and CCC# 997-1001

St. Athanasius writes "And for this very reason there is also a word of the Savior to prepare us for that day, in these words: 'Be ready and watch, for He comes at an hour you do not know.'  For, according to the blessed Paul: 'We must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, that each one may receive according as he has done in the body, whether it be good or bad.'" Incarnation of the Word, 56.5 [Athanasius quoting Matthew 24:42 and 2 Corinthians 5:10 & Romans 14:10, 4^th century AD]

The Catechism offers a very clear teaching on the resurrection of the dead and the "hour" of our judgment: CCC #1038 "The resurrection of all the dead, 'of both the just and the unjust,' will precede the Last Judgment.  This will be the hour when all who are in the tombs will hear [the Son of man's] voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.'  Then Christ will come 'in his glory, and all the angels with him...Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand but the goats at the left...And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into internal life."  Scripture quotes = Acts 24:15; John 5:28-29; Matthew 25:32, 46].

John 5:31-38: 31 Were I to testify on my own behalf, my testimony would not be true; 32 but there is another witness who speaks on my behalf, and I know that his testimony is true.  33 You sent messengers to John, and he gave his testimony to the truth'34 not that I depend on human testimony; no, it is for your salvation that I mention it.  35 John was a lamp lit and shining and for a time you were content to enjoy the light that he gave.  36 But my testimony is greater than John's: the deeds my Father has given me to perform, these same deeds of mine testify that the Father has sent me.  37 Besides, the Father who sent me bears witness to me himself.  You have never heard his voice, you have never seen his shape, and his word finds no home in you because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent. 

Question: Who is this witness?

Answer: The Father.

Question: The Jewish legal tradition required that a claim to be substantiated in court must be substantiated by 2-3 witnesses [Deuteronomy 19:15].  In verses 31-46 what 5 witnesses does Jesus list, beyond the legal requirements?

Answer:

1. John the Baptist (5:33)
2. The deeds He works (5:36)
3. the Father (5:37)
4. the Scriptures (5:39)
5. Moses (5:46)

John 5:35 John (the Baptist) was a lamp lit and shining...

Question: What was the purpose of John's ministry and how can it be compared to a lamp?

Answer: John the Baptist's ministry was to light the way for the Old Covenant Church to see and accept Jesus as the promised Messiah (John 1:31).  He came in the spirit of Elijah who was described in similar terms in Ecclesiasticus/Ben Sira 48:10, Then the prophet Elijah arose like a fire, his word flaring like a torch.

Question: Notice that John is a lamp that is lit; he is not "the Light."  What is the difference?

Answer: The Baptist did not shine like Jesus of his own light but as a lamp he is powered through a source and that source is Christ.

John 5:39-47  39 You pore over the Scriptures, believing that in them you can find eternal life; it is these Scriptures that testify to me, 40 and yet you refuse to come to me to receive life!  41 Human glory means nothing to me.  42 Besides, I know you too well: you have no love of God in you.  43 I have come in the name of my Father and you refuse to accept me; if someone else would come in his own name you would accept him.  44 How can you believe, since you look to each other for glory and are not concerned with the glory that comes from the one God?  45 Do not imagine that I am going to accuse you before the Father: you have placed your hopes on Moses, and Moses will be the one who accuses you.  46 If you really believed in him you would believe in me too, since it was about me that he was writing; 47 but if you will not believe what he wrote, how can you believe what I say?

Question: Can you recall when Jesus has used sacred Scripture to teach that He has come to fulfill those prophecies? 

Answer: Throughout the Gospels, the Book of Acts, and the letters of St. Paul and the other Holy Spirit inspired authors Old Testament texts are continually used as testimony of Jesus as the promised Messiah.  Some examples found in the first four chapters of the Gospel of Matthew:

• Matthew1:22    = Isaiah 7:14;
• Matthew 2:5     = Micah 5:1;
• Matthew 2:15   = Exodus 4:23;
• Matthew 2:18   = Jeremiah 31:15;
• Matthew 3:3     = Isaiah 40:3;
• Matthew 4:4     = Deuteronomy 8:3;
• Matthew 4:6     = Psalms 91:10-12;
• Matthew 4:7     = Deuteronomy 6:16;
• Matthew 4:10   = Deuteronomy 6:13;
• Matthew 4:14   = Isaiah 8:23-9:1. 

St. Peter used Old Testament Scripture in his great homily at Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 to teach the crowds that Jesus was the Messiah.  It is truly as St. Jerome taught: To be ignorant of Scripture is to be ignorant of Christ.  After His resurrection Jesus taught the Church by using sacred Scripture:

• Then starting with Moses and going through all the prophets, he explained to them the passages throughout the scriptures that were about himself [Luke 24:27]


• Then he told them, 'This is what I meant when I said, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets and in the Psalms, was destined to be fulfilled.' He then opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, 'So it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that, in his name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem' [Luke 24:44-47].

It is as wrong for our Protestant brothers and sisters to teach "sola Scriptura" –Scripture alone, as it is for Catholics to only teach "sola" Tradition and ignore the teaching of sacred Scripture that was written by the Holy Spirit solely for our instruction and enlightenment; for as Jesus taught in John 5:39: 'it is these Scriptures that testify to me'.[New Jerusalem translation]

In chapter 5 Jesus is teaching us how essential the Father-Son relationship of Jesus and the Father is for our own salvation.  Jesus, the Son of God, becomes the "Son of Man" of Daniel's vision so that sons and daughters of men can become through their rebirth in Baptism, the sons and daughters of God! 

BOOK 3 – OPPOSITION TO THE SON OF GOD 5:1-12:50

P A S S O V E R #  2	Jesus in the GALILEE  just before the Feast of  PASSOVER #2
	A.  SIGN #4 – Christ feeds 5,000 men	6:1-14
	B.  [private sign for the Apostles] – Christ walks on the water	6:15-21
	C.  The Bread of Life Discourse  - #1 "I AM the bread of life" (6:35, 41, 48, 51)	6:22-71

Chapter 5 ended very somberly with Jesus telling the crowd in verse 40 "...you refuse to come to me to have life" and in verse 47 "but if you will not believe what he [Moses] wrote, how can you believe what I say?" Jesus sees that the Jews have reached the point of conscious and deliberate refusal to believe. Jesus' comments about the prophet Moses will be the link between chapter 5 and chapter 6 where Jesus, the "new Moses" will bring the promise of the "new manna".

Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes (Jacopo Tintoretto) 

John 6:1-15 – Jesus Feeds the Multitude

1 After this, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee or of Tiberias 2 and a large crowd followed him, impressed by the signs he had done in curing the sick. 3  Jesus climbed the hillside and sat down there with his disciples.  4 The time of the Jewish Passover was near.  5 Looking up, Jesus saw the crowds approaching and said to Philip, 'Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?  6 He said this only to put Philip to the test; he himself knew exactly what he was going to do.  7 Philip answered, 'Two hundred denarii would not buy enough to give them a little piece each.'  8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said, 9 'Here is a small boy with five barley loaves and two fish; but what is that among so many?'  10  Jesus said to them, 'Make the people sit down.'  There was plenty of grass there, and as many as five thousand men sat down.  11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were sitting there; he then did the same with the fish, distributing as much as they wanted.  12 When they had eaten enough he said to the disciples, 'Pick up the pieces left over, so that nothing is wasted.'  13 So they picked them up and filled twelve large baskets with scraps left over from the meal of five barley loaves.  14 Seeing the sign that he had done, the people said, 'This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.'  15 Jesus, as he realized they were about to come and take him by force and make him king, fled back to the hills alone.

The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the feeding of the multitude is the only miracle besides the Resurrection that is recorded in all four Gospels.  But, in John's account it is not only a miracle, it is a "sign" that serves as a preface to Jesus' teaching on the true Bread of Life and points to the greater miracle of the gift of Himself in the Eucharist. There are only two food miracles in John's Gospel: the miracle that involves bread in chapter 6 and the miracle involving wine in chapter 2.  Together they anticipate the Eucharistic liturgy where Jesus who is both the "new Moses" and the "new manna" gives Himself as food for the multitudes under the visible signs of bread and wine. [see CCC#1333-35].

Word is spreading about Jesus' miracles.  It is now almost impossible for Him to avoid crowds of people following Him in their desire to witness His miracles. 

Question: What events in the New Testament are significant "mountain events" where God manifests His redemptive acts and revelations?

Answer:

1. The Mt. of Temptation: Where Jesus resisted the temptation of  Satan in Matthew 4:8-11
2. Mt. of Beatitudes: Jesus' first sermon where He, as the mediator of the New Covenant, delivers the "law" from "a mountain" as the new Moses [Matthew 5].
3. The Appointment of the 12: In Mark 3:13-19 Jesus takes the disciples up a mountain where He officially appoints the 12 as Apostles.
4. Caesarea-Philippi: Where Jesus takes the Apostles up on a mountain and appoints Simon/Peter as the Prime Minister [Vicar] of His Kingdom and the keeper of the Keys [Matthew 16:16-19]
5. Mt. of Transfiguration: Where Christ is transfigured before Peter, James, and John, revealing His glory [recalling the association with Mt. Sinai where Moses saw God's glory] in Matthew chapter 17.  Peter calls this "the holy mountain" in 2Peter 1:16-18.
6. Mt. Moriah: Where Jesus cleansed the Temple [John 2:13-22 , Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:11, 15-19; Luke 19:45-46] and condemned the faithless and unbelieving representatives of the Old Covenant people [Matthew 23].
7. Mt. of Olives: Where Jesus passes judgment on the Old Covenant people for their rejection of the Messiah and prophesizes the great tribulation that will fall on Jerusalem [Matthew 24].  Where Jesus, after the Last Supper, ascends the mountain with His disciples to pray [Matthew 26:30].  And where Jesus ascends to the Father 40 days after His resurrection [Matthew 28:16-20; Acts 1:11-19.

Question: Do you see a connection between the commemoration and reenactment of the sacrifice of this Exodus Passover event and sacrificial meal and the practice of your Catholic faith?

Answer: The sacrifice of the Mass is the commemoration and reenactment of Christ's sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection. Since His sacrifice was complete and sufficient it does not have to be repeated as the imperfect sacrifice of the lambs and kids in the Passover festival and in the other sacrifices in the Temple. Jesus' sacrifice was complete and perfect in every way but His sacrifice is ongoing because sin and redemption is ongoing and is represented, commemorated  sacramentaly, and applied in the unbloody sacrifice of the Mass.  Just as in the celebration of the Passover Feast and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the faithful did not have to be present at the actually event of the sacrifice of the victim at the Temple on the 14^th of Nisan but they did have to be present at the reenactment of the sacrificial meal at the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  We do not have to be present at the sacrifice 2,000 years ago to receive the grace which flows from the event of Christ's self-sacrifice but we do have to be present at the sacrificial meal in which His one perfect sacrifice is represented, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity to the faithful.

• CCC# 1330 and 1324: The Eucharist is the 'source and summit of the Christian life'.  1330 [it is] 'The Holy Sacrifice, because it makes present the one sacrifice of Christ the Savior and includes the Church's offering.  The terms 'holy sacrifice of the Mass', 'sacrifice of praise', ' spiritual sacrifice',  'pure and holy sacrifice' are also used, since it completes and surpasses all the sacrifices of the Old Covenant.....


• CCC# 613 : Christ's death is both the Paschal sacrifice that accomplishes the definitive redemption of men, through "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world," and the sacrifice of the New Covenant, which restores man to communion with God by reconciling him to God through the "blood of the covenant, which was poured out form any for the forgiveness of sins.

Question: Why does John mention this feast and what is its connection to Jesus and His mission?

Answer: Jesus will give new and greater meaning to the Passover.  Jesus is the true "Lamb of God" [John 1:29] which the Passover lambs only foreshadowed.  It is Christ's redeeming work that will accomplish a new deliverance from slavery, the slavery of sin [John 8:31-36] in a sacramental and liturgical meal we call the Eucharist [John 6:53-58; 1Corinthians 5:7-8].

Question: Why did Jesus test Philip and what was the test?

Answer: In 1:45 Philip identified Jesus as "the one that Moses and the prophets wrote about," the Prophet/Messiah, but Jesus' question is to test Philip to help him to fully understand the dimensions of Philip's first revelation of Jesus' true identity.  All Philip has to do is to petition Jesus to feed the crowd. 

Philip should have realized this by the way Jesus framed the question.  He should have been reminded of the miraculous feeding of the multitude in Exodus chapter 16 in the feeding of the manna and the quails.  But with the way Jesus framed His question there was another passage that should have come to mind for Philip.

Question: What Old Testament passage concerning Moses should have occurred to Philip?  Hint: see Numbers 11:1-32; especially notice verse 13.

Answer: In Numbers 11:13 Moses asks Yahweh a question very similar to the one Jesus asks: "Where am I to find meat to give all these people....?" In this event Yahweh accepts Moses' question as a petition and provides food for the Children of Israel.  Philip should have understood that the Messiah has the power to do the same miracle.

Question: Besides the miraculous feeding of the multitude what other similarities do you see between Numbers 11 and John 6:1-63?

Answer:

1. people grumbling [Numbers 11:1 and John 6:41, 43]
2. description of the manna coming from above –heaven [Numbers 11:7-9 and John 6:31ff]
3. Who will give us meat to eat  [Numbers 11:5 and John 6:52ff; although Numbers uses the word 'meat' instead of 'flesh'= sarx is the Greek word for flesh, as in the John passage].
4. Where am I to find meat to give all these people..? Numbers 11:13 and John 6:5
5. If all the fish in the sea were collected, would that be enough for them? [Numbers 11:22 and John 6:9].

Philip should have realized that just as God saw to the needs of the Children of Israel in ancient times so too could He meet their needs that day. Instead of petitioning Jesus to feed the crowds Philip thoughts are too earth bound and he comments on the vast amount of money it would take the feed this crowd.  Two hundred denarii is a great sum when you consider that 1denarii is equal to one day's wage [Matthew 20:2].

Question: Do you remember the connection between Andrew and Philip in chapter 1?

Answer: Andrew went to find Philip and brought him to Jesus. Once again they are linked.

Now Simon-Peter's brother, Andrew, perhaps remembering Elisha's miracle, offers Jesus the barley loaves and fish that will become the meal that will be multiplied to feed the great multitude of men, women and children.  Wheat bread was more desirable than barley bread, and since barley bread was cheaper it was the food of the poor.  Luke 11:5 seems to indicate that the loaves were small and that 3 loaves were an adequate meal for 1 person.  The Greek word used for "fish," opsarion [Strong's Exhaustive Concordance # 3795], indicates that the two fish were salted and dried.  That there were 5 loaves may indicate 5 as the number of grace and that there were 2 fish may indicate division between those who will believe and those who will not come to belief even with this sign.  Two is the number of division in the Old Covenant and the number of Christ in His humanity and divinity as the Son of God in the New Covenant.  Together the number of loaves and fish yield the number 7, which is the number that symbolizes fullness and spiritual perfection.  It may also be important that a fish was a sign of the Church in the Old Covenant and will become the sign of the Church in the New Covenant. Here we have the Old, which will become the nucleus of the New Covenant in Christ: the two transformed into one covenant–one Church in Christ.

'make the people sit down'......five thousand men sat down.  Jesus organizes the crowd.  Luke's Gospel tells us that He organized them into groups of about 50 people [Luke 9:14].  Notice only the men are counted; there were also women and children so Jesus will miraculously feed well over 5,000 people.  So why mention only 5,000?  5 is a symbolic number and multiples of symbolic numbers indicates abundance.  Five is the number of grace; therefore in this "sign" there is a super abundance of grace, which prefigures the super abundance of the Eucharistic meal that spiritually feeds the multitudes of all races for all generations until the return of the King.

 "gave thanks" in this passage is the Greek word eucharistein from the verb eucharisteo.  It is from this word that the English word "Eucharist" is derived. This word is the same in both common and classical Greek = eucharistia / eucharistein = bless / blessing [the New Testament is written in common, koine, Greek; see Strong's #2168; 2169].  It cannot be missed that there is a relationship here to the most holy Eucharist, which is an act of thanksgiving. It was the custom of Jews and Israelites to bless the meal before eating.  This act of Jesus in giving thanks reflects the Jewish use of barak/ berakah "to bless/ blessing" [Strong's #s 1288; 1293], but more than a simple Jewish blessing His words foreshadow the institution of the Sacrament of the Eucharist first received at the Last Supper.  His blessing also looks beyond the Last Supper to the blessing of the Eucharistic prayer that prepares the New Covenant Body of Christ to receive Him, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity at every Mass.  

 John 6:16-21 Jesus walks on the waters

16 That evening the disciples went down to the shore of the sea 17 and got into a boat to make for Caperanum on the other side of the sea.  It was getting dark by now and Jesus had still not rejoined them.  18 The wind was strong, and the sea was getting rough.  19 They had rowed three or four miles when they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming towards the boat.  They were afraid, 20 but he said, 'It's me [literally =  "I am"].  Don't be afraid.' 21 They were ready to take him into the boat, and immediately it reached the shore at the place they were making for.

This is a revelation of Jesus' divinity and a connection to Moses through whom God worked several "water" miracles [the parting of the Red Sea and water from the Rock in Exodus 17].  Jesus restored order and harmony to nature and calmed the sea.  Only God can control the natural world.

Question: Jesus reassures the disciples by calling out "I am", but these words are also a self-revelation.  Why?

Answer: Jesus' words, "I AM" recall the holy name that Yahweh revealed to Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3:14. 

Question: How does Jesus further establish His claim to divinity inherent in this holy name?

Answer: By exhibiting His power over the laws of nature [John 6:19; Job 9:8].  Jesus will use the words "I am" 23 times in John's Gospel; in 7 metaphors [i.e., "I am the Bread of Life"], and five times in the claim of the divine name for Himself [ 6:20; 8:24; 8:58; 13:19; 18:6].

This miracle is Jesus' private "sign" to His Apostles.  There are 7 public signs of His divinity.

The Public Seven Signs of Jesus in St. John's Gospel

#1  2:1-11	The sign of water turned to wine at the wedding at Cana
#2  4:46-54	The healing of the official's son
#3  5:1-9	The healing of the paralytic
#4  6:1-14	The multiplication of the loaves to feed the 5,000
#5  9:1-41	The healing of the man who was born blind
#6  11:17-44	The raising of Lazarus from the dead
#7  2:18-20*	The Resurrection of Jesus that will be fulfilled in 20:1-10

*this sign is prophesized by Jesus in 2:18-20 but not fulfilled until chapter 20.

The miracle when Jesus walks on the Sea of Galilee and calms the storm is a private revelation for the Apostles which again identifies Jesus as the prophet "greater than Moses" [Deuteronomy 18:18].  

Sermon on the Mount (Carl Bloch)

John 6:22-40, Jesus in the Synagogue at Caperanum: The Bread of Life Discourse part I:  The Invitation to Faith

22 Next day, the crowd that had stayed on the other side saw that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that the disciples had set off by themselves.  23 Other boats, however, had put in from Tiberias, near the place where the bread had been eaten.  24 When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into those boats and crossed to Capernaum to look for Jesus.  25 When they found him on the other side, they said to him, 'Rabbi, when did you come here?'  26 Jesus answered: 'In all truth [literally = Amen, amen] I tell you, you are looking for me not because you have seen the signs but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat.  27 Do not work for food that goes bad, but work for food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of man will give you, for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.'  28 Then they said to him, 'What must we do if we are to carry out God's work?'  29 Jesus gave them this answer, 'This is carrying out God's work: you must believe in the one he has sent.'  30 So they said, 'What sign will you yourself do, the sight of which will make us believe in you?  What work will you do?  31 Our fathers ate manna in the desert; as Scripture says: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'  32  Jesus answered them: 'In all truth [literally= Amen, amen] I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, it is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven, the true bread; 33 for the bread of God is the bread which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.'  34 'Sir,' they said, 'give us that bread always.'  35 Jesus answered them: 'I am the bread of life.  No one who comes to me will ever hunger; no one who believes in me will ever thirst.  36 But, as I have told you, you can see me and still you do not believe.  37 Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me; I will certainly not reject anyone who comes to me, 38 because I have come from heaven, not to do my own will, but to do the will of him who sent me.  39 Now the will of him who sent me is that I should lose nothing of all that he has given to me, but that I should raise it up on the last day.  40  It is my Father's will that whoever sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and that I should raise that person up on the last day.'

Notice the interesting juxtaposition of these three events: the feeding of the multitude; Jesus' water miracle; and the "Bread of Life" discourse.  The key to these 3 seemingly unrelated events is John's statement in 6:4 that it was near the time of the Passover Feast.  The holy feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits celebrated the liberation of the Exodus experience when Moses led his people out of Egypt and across the Red Sea to freedom.  The "baptism" of the children of Israel in the Red Sea [Sea of Reeds] was another creation story.  In Creation the division of the waters created land but in Moses' Red Sea miracle the divided waters create a nation as Israel emerges for the waters of chaos no longer as slaves but as a free people.  In celebration of this great liberation and miracle of the waters Moses and the Israelites sing a song in Yahweh's honor, the Song of Victory found in Exodus 15:1-18.  As Moses leads the people of God across the wilderness God continues to care for His people by miraculously feeding them manna, bread from heaven.  Moses' Song of Victory was always sung in the liturgy of the Covenant people, in the Temple and in the Synagogue on the Sabbath.  Within these 3 events in John chapter 6, during the time just preceding the Passover, John shows us Jesus miraculously feeding a multitude, like Moses; making a water miracle, like Moses, and now in the Synagogue in Capernaum those who witnessed the miracle of the feeding of the multitude the day before, have just sung Moses' Song of Victory.  John is presenting Jesus as the new Moses who will lead the new Exodus.  He will lead His people out bondage to sin and death.  Jesus is the promised prophet of Deuteronomy 18:18-19 when God promised Moses a future redeemer: " From their own brothers I shall raise up a prophet like yourself; I shall put my words into his mouth and he will tell them everything I command him.  Anyone who refuses to listen to my words, spoken by him in my name, will have to render an account to me."

The city of Tiberias is located on the western shore of the Sea about 2/3rds of the way down.  Caperanum is on the northwestern side of the Sea.

Question: Why do they ask Jesus this question?

Answer: They had been watching for Him ever since the multiplication of the loaves miracle when they wanted to make Him king.  They realize He had somehow, perhaps by another miracle, eluded them.

Question: Why does Jesus tell the crowd not to "work" for ordinary, earthly "food"?  What does He mean?

Answer: He is using "food" as a metaphor for earthly, material wealth.  All earthly "works" will perish.  Even though earthly food is necessary to sustain earthly life it's use is limited because it is perishable and therefore is not able to safeguard us beyond its earthly limitations...it cannot safeguard against death [6:49].  Even the manna that came down from heaven in Exodus 16:20 was perishable.  Only Christ can give the food that satisfies eternally, sustains our spiritual hunger, and gives eternal life.  He offers what Isaiah prophesized in Isaiah 55:2-3,  Why spend money on what cannot nourish and your wages on what fails to satisfy?  Listen carefully to me, and you will have good things to eat and rich food to enjoy.  Pay attention, come to me; listen, and you will live.

Question: What is this supernatural food which Christ promised and Isaiah prophesized?

Answer: It is His very own Body and Blood = the Sacrament of Eucharist.  This teaching will become clearer as the narrative continues [6:50-58].

Question: Why does Jesus use the title the "Son of man" for Himself?

Answer: It is to remind His listeners of the passage in Daniel 7:13 of the glorious figure who was to receive from God the eschatological kingdom and eternal rule. Jesus will use this title for Himself 10 times in John's Gospel. 

Question: What is the "seal" that God has set on the Son? Hint: see Matthew 3:16 & John 1:32-34; 5:27; and Daniel 7:13-14.

Answer: It is the seal Jesus received at His baptism; that is, God the Holy Spirit.  It is the third Person of the Most Holy Trinity who is the power of God operative in Jesus' signs.

There may also be a connection to the seal placed on baked bread by the baker.  The Greek word used for "seal," the Greek word sphraagizo, means "to stamp (with a signet or private mark) for security or preservation (literally or figuratively); by implication to keep secret, to attest" [Strong's #4972], and also means "baker's mark".  It was the assurance that the bread was "sealed" by the baker who made the bread just as Christ, the true bread has been "sealed" or marked by the Father [Raymond Brown, The Gospel According to John, page 261].

The Greek word for "do" or "doing" is used three times. The literal translation is "What must we be doing to be doing the doings of God?" [Interlineal Bible: Greek-English volume IV, New Testament; page 267].  The people still do not understand that it does not only depend on them.

Question: What does Jesus tell them they must do?

Answer: They must believe in Him and stop trying to do it all themselves.  If they continue to do everything under their own power they will miss the "doings" of God = Jesus the Messiah.

The "new Moses" is telling them what Moses told the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 8:3.  It is the same verse Jesus quoted Satan in the Temptation when Satan challenged Him to turn stones into bread.  Jesus said, "Human beings live not on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."  Moses was telling the people it was not the manna that would continue to feed them but the 5 books of the Torah [connection to the 5 barley loaves in 6:9], the words of God.

Question: Why do they ask for a "sign."

Answer: Prophets work "signs" to signify their authority from God.

Question:  They are asking for "works" from Jesus but what is He asking of them?

Answer: Faith!  Their faith in Him will be the "sign" that He is God's representative.  Jesus is telling them that faith in itself is a "work" of God.  The "work" of God is to believe in Him. 

The people fail to understand what Jesus is telling them about "belief" [verse 29] so they ask again, implying that if they saw a really convincing sign, something even greater than anything they had yet witnesses [verses 2, 14, 26] they would believe Him, that is believe His words.

'Our fathers ate manna...'  The crowd already sees Jesus as the "new Moses".  His multiplication of the loaves and fishes links Him to Moses' greatest miracle, the feeding of the multitude with the heavenly manna, the bread from heaven [as does His walking on the water witnessed by the Apostles].  Therefore, they think that He is referring to manna and so they ask Him to provide the manna as Moses did as a "sign". Their challenge to Jesus is "What Moses gave us was bread from heaven, if you are the "new Moses" can you do the same?" In order to appreciate the significance of this request it is important to keep in mind that there was a general belief that the Messiah, when He came, would come as one "greater" than Moses the great national prophet-hero of Israel, in the signs that He would accomplish.  A Jewish commentary on Ecclesiastes [Midrash Koheleth, 73] states: The former redeemer caused manna to descend for them; in like manner shall our latter redeemer cause manna to come down, as it is written, 'there shall be a handful of grain in the earth.' [quoting from Psalms 72:16]."   What His questioners are looking for is a miracle greater than the miracle of the loaves and fishes from one who claims to be the Messiah!  The key to understanding this challenge is of course linked to the whole situation of the national expectation of the "prophet greater than Moses" promised in Deuteronomy 18:15-19.

John 6:32-35,  Jesus answered them: 'In all truth [Amen, amen] I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, it is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven, the true bread; for the bread of God is the bread which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.' 'Sir', they said, give us that bread always.'  Jesus answered them: 'I am the bread of life.  No one who comes to me will ever hunger; no one who believes in me will ever thirst.'

Question: How does Jesus identify Himself in verse 35 and what does that particular choice of words recall?

Answer: "I am" in Greek, Ego ami, recalls the name that God revealed to Moses.  But here and elsewhere in John's Gospel it forms the prelude to the explanation of a parable.  In this case the parable is in action and not in words.  The gift of the manna and the multiplication of the loaves are explained by Jesus as parables of His gift of Himself, the true bread from heaven.  Also see John 8:24 [Jesus speaking] 'I have told you already: You will die in you sins.  Yes, if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.'

Question: What two-fold misapprehension on the part of His questioners does Jesus correct and how does Jesus emphasize the importance of the second statement?

Answer: First, with another solemn "amen, amen, He tells them it was not Moses who was the giver of the manna. Moses was only the instrument of God's action.  Secondly, Jesus tells the people that the manna, while it was in a sense "bread from heaven", was not the "true" Bread of God.

the true bread.... While all bread is the gift of God, the Bread which can be described as peculiarly of God is that bread with not just give bodily nourishment but gives a greater gift.

Question: What is that greater gift?

Answer: "Life!" What distinguishes the "true Bread" from the manna is that the Bread of God brings life, in the present tense [Brown, page 266] indicating that which is continually giving life, and it is offered to all men, not only to a particular nation or people.  It is the Bread of Life that is ever descending and "gives life to the world" [verse 33]. 

The expression in verse 33 which comes down from heaven  sometimes translated as who comes down from heaven  is repeated 7 times in this discourse [verses 33, 38, 41, 42, 50, 51,58].

Question: What explicit announcement does Jesus make in verse 35?

Answer: "I AM the Bread of Life."

The crowd was quite prepared for the idea of uniquely heavenly bread, but they were not prepared for such a mystical statement as "I AM the Bread of Life" and the claim such a statement carried.  "The Bread of Life" means primarily bread that gives life but with Jesus' next statement this becomes Bread that is life itself!

Question: What 2-fold promise that was similar to the promise made to the woman of Samaria [John 4:14] does Jesus give in John 6:35?

Answer: No one who comes to Him will ever hunger; no one who believes in Him will ever thirst.

Jesus is going to take up Satan's challenge in Matthew 4:4.  The Living Word of God is going to transform "hearts of stone" by feeding them the Word, the true Bread which has come down from heaven! 

The Sermon on the Mount (Cosimo Rosselli)

John 6:36-40,  But, as I have told you, you can see me and still you do not believe.  Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me; I will certainly not reject anyone who comes to me, because I have come from heaven, not to do my own will but to do the will of him who sent me.  Now the will of him who sent me is that I should lose nothing of all that he has given to me, but there I should raise it up on the last day.  It is my Father's will that whoever sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and that I should raise that person up on the last day."

Question: Seeing is not enough; what must one do?

Answer: One must come to Christ''anyone who comes to me' [verse 37].  To come to Jesus in faith is accepted as belief in Him without any formal declaration [see Mark 2:5; 5:34, etc].  Jesus is speaking of those who have been "begotten by the Holy Spirit" as sons and daughters of God and who are now collectively "one" in Christ.

'I will not reject'; a more literal translation could be the very strong negation: "I shall surely not cast out" [Brown page 276]. 

Question: Cast out from where?

Answer: Heaven–eternal life.

Question: What three-part claim is Jesus making in John 6:37-40?

Answer:

1. Everyone whom the Father gives to Him comes to Him (vs. 37)
2.  He will not reject anyone who comes (vs. 37) because He came from heaven to do His Father's will (vs. 38)
3. The Father's will is that none should perish of those whom He has given to the Son; they are in the safe keeping of the Son and will be given the gift of eternal life and will be resurrected in the final judgment (vs. 39).

 John 6:41-47: The Invitation to faith continued

41 Meanwhile the Jews were complaining to each other about him, because he had said, 'I am the bread that has come down from heaven.' 42 They were saying, 'Surely this is Jesus son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know.  How can he now say, "I have come down from heaven"? ' 43 Jesus said in reply to them, 'Stop complaining to each other.  44 No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise that person up on the last day.  45 It is written in the prophets: They will all be taught by God: everyone who has listened to the Father, and learnt from him, comes to me.  46 Not that anybody has seen the Father, except him who has his being from God: he has seen the Father. 47  In all truth I tell you, everyone who believes has eternal life.'

The crowd is thinking only of Jesus' earthly origins. They know His family.

Jesus is continuing the teaching of His divinity when He quotes Isaiah 54:13 where the prophet describes the promised "new Jerusalem": All your children will be taught by Yahweh and great will be your children's prosperity.  [14] In saving justice you will be made firm free from oppression....  This passage continues in chapter 55:1 with Oh, come to the water all you who are thirsty –the promise of the Sacrament of Baptism and verse 55:2 "Listen carefully to me, [repeated in John 6:45] and you will have good things to eat and rich food to enjoy.  Pay attention, come to me; listen and you will live." = the promise of the Sacrament of Eucharist [John 6:42, 48] and the promise of eternal life in John 6:44 & 47.

The Sermon on the Mount (Cosimo Rosselli)

John 6: 48-58 The Bread of Life Discourse part II: The Invitation to the Eucharist

48 I AM the bread of life.  49 Your fathers ate manna in the desert and they are dead; 50 but this is the bread which comes down from heaven, so that a person may eat it and not die.  51 I AM the living bread which has come down from heaven.  Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.'  52 Then the Jews started arguing among themselves, 'How can this man give us his flesh to eat?'  53 Jesus replied to them: 'In all truth [Amen, amen], I tell you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.  54 Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise that person up on the last day.  55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.  56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in that person.  57 As the living Father sent me and I draw life from the Father, so whoever eats me will also draw life from me.  58 This is the bread which has come down from heaven; it is not like the bread our ancestors ate; they are dead, but anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.'

This is the second statement [see verse 35] Jesus makes identifying Himself as the "Bread of Life."  The giving of Christ's flesh in sacrifice for the life of the world connects the Incarnation, "the Word made flesh" [John 1:14] and the Eucharist.  The identification of John 6:51 as a true Eucharistic formula was recognized in the earliest years of the Church. 

Question: Notice the future tense in verse 51: the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.  To what does this future tense point?

Answer: To His sacrifice on the altar of the Cross and to the miracle of the Eucharist where Jesus' sacrifice becomes present for every generation, beginning at the Last Supper.

Jesus is the true bread not only because He is God's Word but also because He is the spotless victim whose flesh and blood is offered in sacrifice for the life of the world.  Ever since man's fall from grace sacrifices were offered for sin.  The animal offered in sacrifice died in the place of the sinner:

• Leviticus 17:11: For the life of the creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you for performing the rite of expiation on the altar of your lives, for blood is what expiates for a life.
• Hebrews 9:18-22: That is why even the earlier covenant was inaugurated with blood, and why, after Moses had promulgated all the commandments of the Law to the people, he took the calves' blood, the goats' blood and some water, and with these he sprinkled the book itself and all the people, ......In fact according to the Law, practically every purification takes place by means of blood; and if there is no shedding of blood, there is no remission [of sins].

Animal sacrifice for sin ended with the Old Covenant and the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70AD.  We have the sacrifice of the New Covenant, the blood of Christ.  But for that sacrifice to be effective and celebrated the Lamb of God must still be eaten, not just by the priests but by all of us because we have all been called by our High Priest, Jesus Christ, into a royal priesthood of believers, and we must still eat the sacrifice. 1Peter 2:9: But you are a chosen race, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, a people to be a personal possession.... Also see 1Peter 2:5; Revelation 1:6; 5:1-10, and CCC#1546.

John 6: 52-58 Then the Jews started arguing among themselves, 'How can this man give us his flesh to eat?'  Jesus replied to them: 'In truth [Amen, amen] I tell you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood. You have no life in you.  Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise that person up on the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in that person.  As the living Father sent me and I draw life from the Father, so whoever eats me will also draw life from me.   This is the bread which has come down from heaven; it is not like the bread our ancestors ate: they are dead, but anyone who eats this bread will love forever."

Jesus is speaking literally and sacramentality, and He is using extremely strong language: His flesh ["sarx" in Greek] that must be eaten, and it is His blood that we must drink.  Father Brown points out that Jesus is not speaking in a Hebrew idiom as some scholars have suggested.  There were two Hebrew/Aramaic idioms.  One was much akin to our expression of "flesh and blood" meaning "life". We, for example, express family relationships as "they are my kin, my flesh and blood" or "flesh and blood" as a reference to the human condition.  The second, "to eat the flesh" or "drink the blood of the enemy" referred to the horrors of war.  If Jesus was using either of these idioms He would have to uses the words "flesh and blood" or "eat the flesh" together in one phrase but instead He very distinctly separates these word and phrases the statement in such a way that leaves no doubt as to His meaning: "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in that person."  To eat His flesh and drink His blood is to consume "life" that is supernatural and in doing so we are elevated to become sharers in His divine nature. 

These are the words, from verse 51 to this passage, that the disciples will recognize when they receive Eucharist from the hands of Jesus in the Upper Room a year later at the meal of the Feast of Unleavened Bread [the Passover sacrifice is during the day and that night is the sacramental meal which is the beginning of the first day of Unleavened Bread]: Jesus said, 'The bread that I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world'[6:51]; and in the Upper Room the night of the Feast of Unleavened Bread: 'Take it and eat', he said, 'this is my body.'  ..... 'Drink from this, all of you, for this is my blood..' [Matthew 26:27-28].  

What Jesus is teaching is not cannibalism [a charge for which Christians were executed in the 2^nd century for insisting that they were indeed eating the flesh of Jesus the Christ]. The definition of cannibalism is the eating of a human who is dead.  Jesus is not dead; He is more alive than we are in His glorified flesh.  

It is interesting to note the different verbs for "to eat" which are being used in the dialogue.  In the earlier part of the dialogue [verses 49-53] Jesus uses the normal Greek verbs for "eat or consume" = phago/ ephagos.  He continues using the normal word for "eat" until, becoming frustrated with their lack of understanding, He increases the intensity of His words [beginning in verse 54] and He abruptly changes the verb.  Now when He speaks about Himself in verses 54, 56, 57, and 58 He uses the verb whose Greek root trogo means to "chew or gnaw" .  This word is used in Greek literature to describe the feeding of animals such as mules, pigs, and cattle. It was not used in the 1^st century to describe the eating habits of people.  In chapter 6 this verb is used four times in the second half of the Bread of Life discourse.  It is used 5 times in the Fourth Gospel [5^th time is in John 13:18] and in every case it is used in connection with Christ. It is clear that the use of this verb marks a change of emphasis from ordinary eating to the necessity of faith in the consumption of the Eucharist.  The graphic and almost crude connotation of this verb adds even greater force to the repetition of Jesus' words as He demands we express our faith by eating in a real and physical way His body and by consuming in a real and physical way His blood in the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist.

Here is a breakdown of the verbs used in the discourse:

• trogo  = chew, gnaw, as and animal eats
• phago (ephagos) = to eat, consume food

Verse 49	"Your fathers ate [ephagon] manna in the desert and they died"
Verse 50	"... that a person may eat [phage] it and not die"
Verse 51	"Anyone who eats [phagon] this bread will live for ever..."
Verse 52	"How can this man give us his flesh to eat [phagein]?"
Verse 53	"If you do not eat [phagethe] the flesh of the Son of man..."
Verse 54	"Anyone who does eat [trogon] my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life.."
Verse 56	"Whoever eats [trogon] my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me..."
Verse 57	"whoever eats [trogon] me will also draw life from me.."
Verse 58	"..it is not like the bread our ancestors ate [ephagon].." "but anyone who eats [trogon] this bread will live forever."

Another interesting Greek word is the verb menei/meno meaning "to remain or abide" [translated as "live" in the New Jerusalem translation] found in verses 56: Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives [menei] in me and I [live] in that person.  When one receives Christ in holy Eucharist He "remains"/ abides/ lives, in that person.  The Greek verb "meno" is one of the most important theological terms in John's Gospel.  The Father "menon" (remains-lives-abides) in the Son [John 14:10], the Spirit "emeinen" on Jesus [1:32], and believers "menei" in Jesus and He in them [6:56 and 15:4]. Just as Jesus has His life from the Father and the Father is in Him, so too believers who receive Christ in the Eucharist have life because Jesus remains/abides/lives in them.  It is His promise to us along with His promise to remain with us always, until the end of time [Matthew 27:20].  [Reference: The Interlinear Bible: Greek-English, volume IV: New Testament; The Gospel of John; Logos Library system].

CCC# 787 From the beginning, Jesus associated his disciples with his own life, revealed the mystery of the Kingdom to them, and gave them a share in his mission, joy, and sufferings.  Jesus spoke of a still more intimate communion between him and those who would follow him: "Abide in me, and I in you...I am the vine, you are the branches."  And he proclaimed a mysterious and real communion between his own body and ours: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.

 CCC# 789 When his visible presence was taken from them, Jesus did not leave his disciples orphans.  He promised to remain with them until the end of time; he sent them his Spirit.  As a result communion with Jesus has become, in a way, more intense: "By communicating his Spirit, Christ mystically constitutes as his body those brothers of his who are called together from every nation.

John 6: 59-71: Conclusion

59 This is what he taught at Capernaum in the synagogue. 60 After hearing it, many of his followers said, 'This is intolerable language.  How could anyone accept it?'  61 Jesus was aware that his followers were complaining about it and said, 'does this disturb you?  62 What if you should see the Son of man ascend to where he was before?  63 It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer.  The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.  64 But there are some of you who do not believe.'  For Jesus knew from the outset who did not believe and who was to betray him.  65 He went on, 'This is why I told you that no one could come to me except by the gift of the Father.'  66 After this, many of his disciples went away and accompanied him no more.  67 Then Jesus said to the Twelve, 'What about you, do you want to go away too?'  68 Simon Peter answered, 'Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the message of eternal life, 69 and we believe; we have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.'  70 Jesus replied to them, 'Did I not choose the Twelve of you?  Yet one of you is a devil.'  71 He meant Judas son of Simon Iscariot, since this was the man , one of the Twelve, who was to betray him.

Question: What was Jesus teaching that was intolerable to an orthodox Old Covenant Jew or Israelite?  Hint: read Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 3:17; 7:26; 17:10-12; and Deuteronomy 12:16.

Answer: The people believed He was speaking literally and demanding cannibalism, which was forbidden, but there was more to their outrage than that.  Under the Noachide Law [Laws set down for all mankind after the flood] and the Law of the Sinai Covenant, no flesh or blood of any kind was to be consumed or the offender was to be completely cut off from the community: 

If any member of the House of Israel or any resident alien consumes blood of any kind, I shall set my face against that individual who consumes blood and shall outlaw him from his people.  For the life of the creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you for performing the rite of expiation on the altar for your lives, for blood is what expiates for a life. Leviticus 17:10-11

To consume flesh and blood will cut them off from the Old Covenant community.  In the holy Eucharist, believers are eating Christ's glorified body and drinking His glorified blood; however, He absolutely does intend that New Covenant believers be cut-off from the Old Covenant.  After His Resurrection and Ascension the Old Covenant will be fulfilled and transformed. The purification and sacrificial rites will be fulfilled, the liturgy will be transformed and only the moral law will remain, but a moral law that is intensified and internalized and a covenant that is internationalized–offered to all nations on earth.

Question: What is Jesus suggesting when He asks what if you should see the Son of man ascend to where he was before?  Will they every see this site and would that event be proof enough?

Answer: Yes, at the Ascension, the fulfillment of the Old Covenant when He takes His place before God the Father offering Himself to the Father as the perfect sacrifice for man [see Revelation 5:3-10].  Jesus is referring once again to the Daniel 7:13 vision and is asking them if that would be enough proof for them to accept for His authority.

John 6:63 'It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer.  The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.'

It is this passage that is the stumbling block to those who resist accepting the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

the flesh has nothing to offer. This is the crucial line that is often misinterpreted. 

Question: Whose "flesh" is Jesus referring to?

Answer: It cannot be His flesh or He would be contradicting what He has already taught in verses 50-53. Verse 53: In all truth [Amen, amen] I tell you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.  In verse 63 Jesus has just spoken of God the Holy Spirit giving man life.  Man is God's greatest creation and yet that creation has nothing to offer that can compare with what Jesus is offering. There is no salvation through that human flesh.  The "flesh" Jesus is referring to is the "flesh" of man = mankind.  Man cannot work out his own salvation.  It is through Jesus' glorified flesh and His glorified blood made present by the power of the Holy Spirit that our souls will be nourished and will receive life:  The Father in heaven urges us, as children of heaven, to ask for the bread of heaven. [Christ] himself is the bread who, sown in the Virgin, raised up in the flesh, kneaded in the Passion, baked in the over of the tomb, reserved in churches, brought to altars, furnishes the faithful each day with food from heaven.  St. Peter Chrysologus, Homilie 67: PL 52, 392

Even if you do not accept that Jesus is not referring to His own flesh, it must be conceded that it is not just His human Jewish flesh that gives us life.  When we receive Christ in the holy Eucharist we receive all of the glorified, resurrected Christ, body, blood, soul, and divinity, which is effused without limit with God the Holy Spirit.  This is the "flesh" that gives life.

'The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.'  Jesus' teaching about the promise of eternal life through the gift of His body and blood, when He said: 'the bread which comes down from heaven, so that a person may eat it and not die' [in verses 50-53], reveals something divine which only God the Holy Spirit can supply.  It is from the Spirit that the source of life for all people of the world will come and it is only He who can provide the complete understanding of that gift. We cannot fully understand this miracle without the power of the Holy Spirit acting in our lives. Jesus will teach the disciples in John 14:26 the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, [He] will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you."  The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches "The Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth and will glorify Christ.  He will prove the world wrong about sin, righteousness, and judgment. [Also see CCC# 729 also 728].

Dr. Hahn in his Ignatius Catholic Study Bible commentary [page 31] points out that this is one of three "scandals" or stumbling blocks which prevents belief in the crowd of Passover pilgrims:

1. The first was the expectation at the feeding of the multitude that Jesus was going to be a nationalistic military leader who would become their king and defeat the Romans. 
2. The second was the refusal to accept His divine nature in verses 41-43. 
3. The demand that we must consume Jesus as a sacrifice, body and blood is the third.

John 6: 64-66 'But there are some of you who do not believe.'  For Jesus knew from the outset who did not believe and who was to betray him.  He went on, 'This is why I told you that no one could come to me except by the gift of the Father.'  After this, many of his disciples went away and accompanied him no more.

This is undoubtedly the crucial point of the text.  It is obvious that the crowd, including some of Jesus' disciples [meaning from the larger group of disciples not the Apostles] believed Jesus was speaking literally and not symbolically.  The crucial point is that when they walked away Jesus did not stop them!  If He was only speaking symbolically and then let them leave, He would be perpetuating a lie which is a sin.  Jesus is without sin.  They left and He let them leave because He was not speaking symbolically but literally.

John 6: 67-71, Then Jesus said to the Twelve, 'What about you, do you want to go away too?'  Simon Peter answered, 'Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.'  Jesus replied to them, 'Did I not choose the Twelve of you?  Yet one of you is a devil.'  He meant Judas son of Simon Iscariot, since this was the man, one of the Twelve, who was to betray him."

"the Holy One" is one of the expressions which designates God Himself in the Old Testament [Isaiah 40:25; Hosea 11:9; Habakkuk 1:12; etc] and in the New Testament the divine Messiah [Mark 1:24; Luke 1:35; 4:34; Acts 2:27],  Peter is affirming his belief in the divinity of Jesus.

Peter's affirmation of faith is a lesson for us all.  When we become frustrated with the Church because we do not understand why certain abuses continue or when priests disappoint us in their pastoral missions, it is good to remember what Peter voiced in this passage.  Where would we go?  It would have been better, down through Church history if others had remembered those words.  The Church is the Body of Christ.  We are the Body because we consume the Body.  There can only be but One Body.  It is our duty to safeguard, reform when necessary, and protect that Body.  If you had known Judas, would you have walked away from Christ?

The Old Covenant of Mt. Sinai could instruct and prepare the Church for the coming of the Messiah but the old Law was imperfect because it was powerless to offer the gift of salvation [CCC# 1962-63].  Jesus, the new Moses, surpasses the miracle of the manna, which could only temporarily satisfy the physical body and could only temporarily sustain life.  Jesus gives life with a gift of food that sustains the soul eternally, Himself.  He has come to fulfill and to replace imperfect Old Covenant sacraments by giving us the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist which separates us from sin which brings death, and instead brings us the gift of eternal life by giving us Himself, body, blood, soul, and divinity. 

CCC# 1393 Holy Communion separates us from sin.  The body of Christ we receive in Holy Communion is "given up for us", and the blood we drink "shed for the many for the forgiveness of sins."  For this reason the Eucharist cannot unite us to Christ without at the same time cleansing us from past sins and preserving us from future sins: 'For as often as we eat this bread and drink the cup, we proclaim the death of the Lord.  If we proclaim the Lord's death, we proclaim the forgiveness of sins.  If, as often as his blood is poured out, it is poured for the forgiveness of sins, I should always receive it, so that it may always forgive my sins. Because I always sin, I should always have a remedy.'" [the CCC is quoting St. Ambrose, The Sacraments 4,6,28; and 1 Corinthians 11:26].

Archbishop Fulton Sheen, in The Life of all Living, explains why Jesus' Flesh and Blood are meant to be consumed: "Communion is not something contrary to the workings of nature, but rather, the crowning glory of its orderly processes.  It is the law of all living things which have not perfect life within themselves.  If the chemical could speak, it would say to the plant, unless you eat me you shall not have life in you.  If the plant could speak, it would say to the animal, unless you eat me you shall not have life in you.  If the animal and plant and the air could speak, they would say to man, unless you eat me you shall not have life in you.  With the same logic, but only speaking above and not from below, because the soul is spiritual, Jesus Christ can and did actually say to the soul, 'Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you.'  Having called manna to a supernatural end, God gave the means to that end.  And among these means, the one we hear singled out, to show how it perfects nature, is the communion of Himself in the Eucharist. The Law of Transformation works consistently throughout the whole order of nature and supernature.  The lower transforms itself into the higher.  The plant transforms itself into the animal when taken into it as food.  But man is transformed by grace and love into Christ when he takes Christ into his soul as food, for it is the quality of love to transform itself into the object loved. In the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Bread and the Wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ.  The word transubstantiation has been properly applied to that act.  It means that the substance of the bread becomes the substance of the Body, and the substance of the wine becomes the substance of the Blood.  But the outward appearances, taste, color, weight, shape, in a word, all of the sensible appearances, still remain."

+++

A Daily Defense

DAY 100 The Mathematics of the Last Day 

CHALLENGE: “Christianity proposes that a number of implausible things will happen at the end of time: Everyone who ever lived will be resurrected (John 5:28–29); the faithful from all history will be gathered to Christ (1 Thess. 4:16–17); the New Jerusalem will be a cubic city 1,500 miles long, tall, and wide (Rev. 21:16). The math for these claims doesn’t add up.” 

DEFENSE: These objections falsely presume that the world will continue to operate the way it presently does. Paul compares the difference between our present bodies and our resurrected bodies to the difference between a seed and the plant that grows from it (1 Cor. 15:37–44). He also suggests we will not need to eat (1 Cor. 6:13–14). At the end of time there will be a renovation of the world order that is comparable only to its original creation. 

Thus Scripture speaks of there being “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21:1). We should not assume the new order will be subject to the same limitations of space and time the present order is.

Even now, God is not bound by these limitations, as shown when Jesus’ body appears in many locations at once in the Eucharist or passes through physical barriers (John 20:19). 

In the next age, everyone’s bodies will be similarly free of limitations (Phil. 3:20–21). The general resurrection will be a major miracle, but God is omnipotent and his infinite (unlimited) power is not taxed by the size of a particular miracle. If he could create the entire universe, he can fundamentally restructure its laws and contents to accomplish these things. 

The next age transcends what we can imagine, and we should recognize the symbolic nature of the images used to describe it. They are hints meant to convey a much greater reality (see Days 198, 201). 

In particular, numbers in Revelation are symbolic, as shown in the case of the 12,000 stadia by the fact that the next verse says the wall of the city is 144 cubits (216 feet) high (Rev. 21:17). Why would a city 1,500 miles tall need a wall only 216 feet tall to protect it?

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist