Manfred Diefenbach - THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS, THE CHRIST AND THE SON OF GOD, ACCORDING TO JOHN

v. 34:As the request of the Samaritan woman in John 4:15 “Lord , give me this water …”, the Jewish people also request: “Lord 551 , [ ] give us (this) bread ( ) [ ]”.

v. 35:JESUS himself appears as “the giver of ‘ bread ’” with His self-revelation: “ I am ” (cf. Exodus 3:14 – note vv. 35b, 48 as the first of seven I-am-metaphors in John 8:12; 10:7, 9, 11, 14; 11:25–26; 14:6; 15:1, 5) the/this “ Bread of ” – note verse 40: “ eternal , everlasting ” – “ Life ” (vv. 35b, 41c, 48, 51c). Jesus is both the (personified 552) “giver” (more: the “life-giver”!) with the help of a self-prediction and the “gift” itself in God’s name/order. According to (eschatological 553) Jewish tradition/viewpoint, the Messiah/Christ will enter Jerusalem 554(cf. vv. 14, 44–45) like the new Elijah through the so-called “Golden Gate” of the old city of Jerusalem. In our context Jesus, the Christ, is the Messiah in the form of the “ Bread of Life ” which can satisfy both (cf. Isaiah 49:10; 55:1; Matthew 5:6) “physical” (cf. John 6:1–15) and “spiritual” “ hunger ” (in Greek “ pe ɩ náo ”) and “ thirst ” (in Greek “ d ɩ psáo ” in 4:13–15; 7:37 [; 19:28]) – note the parallel structure of verse 35c, d. The prerequisite is to “ come to ” Him (vv. 35c, 37a, b – cf. Jesus Sirach 24:9, 19–21) respectively to “ believe in ” Him 555(vv. 35d, 36c, 40b). The receiver of this “ Bread of Life ” could be everyone 556– then and now.

v. 36:Jesus continues with the saying in a negative way: “ You have seen ” (in Greek “ horáo ”) and “/ yet do / not 557 believe ” 558(cf. vv. 30d, 64b and John 4:48; 15:24) in contrast to His sayings in verse 40b (“ everyone who looks on ” [in Greek “ theoréo ”] “ the Son … believes in Him … ”) and in 20:29: “ Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed ”.

v. 37:However, He emphasizes in a positive way: “ Whoever comes to ” (vv. 35c, 37a, b, 44a, 65c) Jesus s/he “ will never be cast out 559” in the eschatological/soteriological sense because of His divine relationship with His “ FATHER ” (vv. 37a, 40a) who “gives” (present tense) Him “all” (vv. 37a, 39b, 65d and John 10:29; 17:2, 6–9, 12, 24; 18:9 – cf. Ephesians 4:6; Colossians 1:16–20).

v. 38:Jesus underlines with the help of a correction 560(“ n o t … b u t ”) that His earthly works in word and deed are not an end in itself so that He “ has come down from Heaven ” (cf. vv. 33a, 41d, 42e, 50b, 51b, 58b)

“ n o t / to / do ( my ) / own / will 561( )

b u t the will of Him who sent me” (in Greek “ pempo ” in vv. 38c, 39a, 44b and in John 4:34; 5:30 – Mark 14:36; Matthew 26:39, 42; Luke 22:42).

v. 39:Verses 39–40 as quintessence of verses 26/34–40 have the parallels in words and in structure as follows:

“This … is the will /of /” (vv. 39a 1, 40a 1) “ Him who sent me” (vv. 38c, 39a and John 5:23–24; 12:45)

“ that all who has given me” (vv. 37a, 39b)

“/ that / ( ) I should lose ( n o thing ) of them

b u t 562I raise [ it ] up [ ] on the last day” (vv. 39c, 40c, 44c, 54c).

v. 40:“This … is the will /of /” (vv. 39a 1, 40a 1) “( my ) FATHER ( )

that all who looks on the Son and believes in Him ” (vv. 30c, 36c, 40b)

“ should have eternal life ” (cf., for example, 5:24–25),

“ and [ I ]” = (egó) “raise (them) up ( ) [ ]” (cf. 11:24) “on the last day” (vv. 39c, 40c, 44c, 54c and 12:48).

- Part II: “The Jews” and Jesus (vv. 41–59 563 )

+ The Dialogue between “the Jews” and Jesus (vv. 41–51 564 )

In the first part (cf. vv. 26–40) the dialogue between the crowd and Jesus was an open, positive discussion. Verses 32–51 give a development of the biblical quotation of verse 31 in the form of a Jewish “midrash”, a special homiletic technique. Therefore the atmosphere changed 565to a negative attitude because of their religious, biblical disagreement with regard to Jesus’ viewpoint: “ I am the Bread from Heaven !” (vv. 38a, 41c). In the eyes of “ the Jews ”, only the heavenly God, the Creator of all can be a “life-giver”. The so-called “ Jews ” (vv. 41a–42e, 52a–b – the Torah-oriented Jewish people including their leadership) and also some disciples of Jesus (cf. vv. 60–61, 64, 66) interrupt 566and contradict Jesus’ self-revelation.

v. 41:The protest of the Jewish people in the form of murmuring 567(in Greek “ goggúzo ” in vv. 41a, 43b, 61b and 7:32 – note also the Jewish tradition in Exodus 15:24; 16:2, 7, 12; 17:3) as a result of His divine self-revelation (“ I am … ”) that He is “ the Bread of Life ” (v. 35b) which “ came down from Heaven ” (vv. 33a, 41d, 50b, 51b, 58b).

v. 42:In their eyes, Jesus, the Jew, is only an ordinary man 568(cf. John 3:4, 9) and a Galilean 569(cf. 7:27, 41, 52) carpenter’s son (cf. John 1:45; Mark 6:3; Matthew 13:55), the “ son of Joseph ” 570(cf. John 1:45; [Matthew 1:16, 18–20, 24; 2:13, 19;] Luke [1:27; 2:4, 16, 33, 43;] 3:23; 4:22) and His “ mother ” 571(v. 42c and Mark 3:31–32; Matthew 12:46–47; Luke 8:19–20) who grew up in Nazareth. Therefore they rejected Jesus, and also in rejecting Him, rejected eternal life. Before their discussion about His identity, the crowd (of 5,000) emphasizes that He “ is indeed the ‘ prophet ’” (v. 14c).

v. 43:Jesus interrupts their “ murmuring ” in taking up the argument with His viewpoint in the form of a speech for His defence (cf. vv. 44a–46c, 47a–51g).

v. 44:God is the centre, reason – or in the words of the translation of the Greek text: “ attractive power, pull ” like the “ gravitation ( al pull )” or the “ appeal ” of a person (cf. John 12:32 [; 21:6, 11]) – for the relationship between Jesus and the believers who believe in Jesus, but we do not believe in Him but in God (cf. 12:44). In the context of the monotheistic discussion we have to read this passage according to “John” that God “ the Father ” is the first ONE who “ sent ” (in Greek “ pempo ” 572in vv. 38c, 39a, 44b) Jesus (in the world [in Greek “ kósmos ”]). Jesus is like His messenger for us – on earth and in Heaven “ on the last day ” (vv. 39c, 40c, 44c, 54c and 12:48) – our resurrection (cf. v. 54c and 11:24).

v. 45:The Fourth Evangelist comments with help of the prophets Isaiah 54:13a (LXX) and Jeremiah 31:33–34: They will “ all be taught by God ” (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:9) about Jesus in a universal way through Him, our teacher/Master/exegete/catechist – the nourishment of God’s (eschatological) word (cf., for example, Deuteronomy 8:3; Amos 8:11; Jeremiah 11:16; Wisdom 16:26).

v. 46:In the same pre-existential sense of John 1:18 or especially 12:45, Jesus is the presence of the heavenly “ God ” (v. 46a) on earth (cf. 7:29; 9:16, 33; 17:7) like the “ Son ” of God 573(v. 40b) as “revealer” – note especially the verb “ horáo ” in verse 46a, c and in 14:9– of the “ Father ” (v. 46a, c – note the chiastic structure 574). This statement has to be a scandal in the ears of the Jewish people – blasphemy (cf., for example, 10:36).