The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (119 page)

6:23 from Tiberias:
i.e., from the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.
See note on Jn 6:1
. 
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6:25 Rabbi:
A Hebrew title for respected Jewish teachers (1:38). 
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6:27 food which perishes:
Earthly food is necessary to sustain earthly life, but because it is perishable it does not suffice to give us supernatural life or to safeguard against death (6:49). Only Christ can give us food that satisfies our spiritual hunger and gives everlasting life. The subsequent narrative will identify this heavenly food as the Eucharist (6:50-58). 
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6:31 He gave them bread:
A reference to Ex 16:4. • Jesus is challenged to match the provision of manna by Moses. He responds by stressing that although the manna had a heavenly origin (6:32), it did not bring the Israelites to their heavenly destiny (6:49). Manna is rather a food that perishes, since it melted away every morning (Ex 16:21) and turned foul if it was stored overnight (Ex 16:19-20). 
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6:32 the true bread:
The wilderness manna was not false bread; it was merely a sign of the imperishable eucharistic bread that the Father sends down from heaven in Jesus (6:51; CCC 1094). 
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6:35-59
The Bread of Life discourse. Interpretations of this sermon often take one of two positions. Some think of the discourse as an extensive invitation to faith, so that eating the bread of life is seen as a metaphor for believing in Jesus. Others interpret the discourse along sacramental lines, so that eating the bread of life means partaking of the Eucharist. Both of these views are true and can be correlated with a natural and symmetrical division of the sermon into two parts.
(1)
Invitation to Faith
(6:35-47). The first half of the discourse opens with the statement "I am the bread of life" (6:35). This is followed by a string of invitations to come to Jesus and believe in him for salvation. The metaphorical import of Jesus' teaching is so obvious that it stands out in the response of the Jews, who ask him, not why he calls himself bread, but how he can claim to have descended from heaven (6:42).
(2)
Invitation to the Eucharist
(6:48-58). The second half of the discourse likewise opens with the statement "I am the bread of life" (6:48). This is followed by a string of invitations to eat the flesh of Jesus and drink his blood. Here the literal import of Jesus' teaching is so obvious that it, too, stands out in the response of the Jews, who ask how it is possible to consume his flesh (6:52). In the end, these two halves of the sermon work in tandem, since without faith we can neither be united with Christ nor recognize his presence in the Eucharist. If eating is believing in 6:3547, then believing leads to eating in 6:48-58 (CCC 161, 1381). 
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6:37 All that the Father gives:
Alludes to the mystery of predestination.
See note on Rom 8:29
. 
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6:38 not . . . my own will:
The human will of Jesus and the divine will of the Father are in such perfect harmony that there is never any tension or competition between them (4:34; 8:29; Mk 14:36; CCC 475, 2824). 
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6:41 Jews then murmured:
Recalls how the Israelites complained against the Lord and Moses in the wilderness (Ex 16:2; 17:2-3; Num 11:1). 
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6:45 taught by God:
A paraphrase of Is 54:13. • Isaiah envisions the messianic age as a time when Yahweh will restore, prosper, and teach the children of Israel. Other passages, such as Jer 31:34, may be included in Jesus' broad reference to the
prophets.
 
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6:51 I shall give:
The future tense points both to the Cross, where Jesus surrenders his life for human sins, and to the eucharistic liturgy, where Jesus offers himself as living bread to a starving world. 
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6:52 his flesh to eat?:
The crowd is thinking of cannibalism, i.e., the sin of eating a human corpse, an idea thoroughly repugnant to them (Deut 28:53). This is a misunderstanding. Jesus gives us, not his mortal flesh as it was during his earthly ministry, but his glorified humanity as it was after rising from the dead. This is why he calls himself the "living bread" (6:51). 
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6:53 eat the flesh . . . drink his blood:
Jesus is speaking literally and sacramentally. If he were speaking metaphorically or figuratively, his words would echo a Hebrew idiom where consuming flesh and blood refers to the brutalities of war (Deut 32:42; Ezek 39:17-18).
no life in you:
i.e., divine life. • Drinking the blood of animals is forbidden under the Old Covenant (Gen 9:4; Lev 17:10-13; Deut 12:16). To do so is to consume "life" that is merely natural and of a lower order than human life. Jesus' injunction does not fall under these prohibitions. The "life" he imparts is not natural but supernatural; it does not pull us down to the level of animals; it elevates us to become sharers in his divine nature (2 Pet 1:4) (CCC 1391). 
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6:58 will live for ever:
The expression occurs rarely in the Bible, only twice in John (6:51, 58) and once in the Greek version of Gen 3:22. • A comparison is thus implied between the Tree of Life, which bore the fruit of immortality, and the Bread of Life, which tradition calls the "medicine of immortality" (CCC 1331). 
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6:62 the Son of man:
The heavenly figure described in Dan 7:13. See topical essay:
Jesus, the Son of Man
at Lk 17. 
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6:63 the Spirit . . . the flesh:
A contrast between the Spirit's ability to enlighten our minds (14:26) and human reason's inability to comprehend revealed truths apart from faith (8:15). It is this earthbound perspective that is profitless in the face of divine mysteries. Note that Jesus is not speaking of his own "flesh", which does in fact give life to the world (6:51; Eph 2:13-16; Heb 10:10) (CCC 737). 
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6:66 his disciples drew back:
This is the only instance in the Gospels where followers of Jesus abandon him in such large numbers. Even so, Jesus still makes no effort to soften his words or clear up potential misunderstandings about his eucharistic teaching (CCC 1336). 
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6:69 the Holy One:
A title for Jesus also in Mk 1:24, Lk 4:34, and Acts 3:14. Here it is a confession of faith by Peter, who believes the words of Christ from the heart, even though his head does not yet understand the mysteries revealed in the discourse (6:35-58). 
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6:71 Judas:
Anticipates the defection of the betrayer during the Last Supper (13:21-30). 
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7:2 feast of Tabernacles:
Also called the "feast of Booths" (Lev 23:33-43; Deut 16:13-16). It is a seven-day fall festival held annually in Jerusalem. The feast of Tabernacles commemorates both the completion of the autumn harvest and Yahweh's provisions for Israel during their Exodus journey through the wilderness. Throughout the week, Jewish pilgrims dwelled in small huts made of tree branches called "booths". Two liturgical ceremonies from this feast hang as a backdrop behind Jesus' teaching in chaps. 7 and 8.
(1)
Each morning Levitical priests drew water from the pool of Siloam in the southern quarter of Jerusalem, carried it in procession into the Temple, and poured it out as a libation next to the altar of sacrifice. This is connected with Jesus' teaching about "water" in 7:37-39.
(2)
Giant candelabras burned in the sanctuary (Court of Women) that illuminated the Temple courts; at the same time dancers with flaming torches processed through the Temple amid singing and music. This is linked with Jesus' teaching about "light" in 8:12. 
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7:3 his brethren:
Close relatives of Jesus, but not biological siblings. Although lacking in faith here, they later become believers (Acts 1:14).
See note on Mt 12:46
. 
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7:6 My time:
Jesus is not scheduled to manifest the fullness of his glory until the "hour" of his Passion (7:30; 13:1). His earthly relatives, therefore, cannot dictate the timing or direction of his heavenly mission. 
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7:7 The world:
i.e., the family of sinful man. The relatives of Jesus are still part of the world because they are not hated by it as he is (15:18-19).
See note on Jn 1:10
. 
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7:8 I am not going up:
The expression has two levels of meaning:
(1)
It is not yet time for Jesus to travel up to Jerusalem,
(2)
nor is it time for him to ascend in glory to the Father (20:17). 
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Word Study

Eats
(
Jn 6:54
)

Trōgō
(Gk.): A verb meaning "chew" or "gnaw". It is used five times in the Fourth Gospel and only once elsewhere in the NT. Greek literature used it to describe the feeding of animals such as mules, pigs, and cattle, and in some cases for human eating. In John, the verb is used four times in the second half of the Bread of Life discourse (Jn 6:54, 56, 57, 58). This marks a noticeable shift in Jesus' teaching, which up until Jn 6:54 made use of a more common verb for eating (Gk.
esthio,
Jn 6:49, 50, 51, 53). The change in vocabulary marks a change of focus and emphasis, from the necessity of faith to the consumption of the Eucharist. The graphic and almost crude connotation of this verb thus adds greater force to the repetition of his words: he demands we express our faith by eating, in a real and physical way, his life-giving flesh in the sacrament.