From the desk of Pastor Ben
The Jews’ Unbelieving Complaint

Therefore, the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.” They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?”         (John 6:41-42)

“The Jews were grumbling about” Jesus, just as their ancestors had grumbled against God (Exodus 16:2, 8-9; Numbers 11:4-6). First, they were upset about His claim to be the source of eternal life (John 6:35). Second, because they thought of Him only as a fellow Galilean, they were angry at Jesus’ assertion that He came “down out of heaven.” In the same way, they were also upset because He came from the scorned town of Nazareth (John 1:46).

God will oftentimes harden the hearts of those who continually reject the truth. For instance, Jesus obscured the truth by means of parables for those who persistently did not believe His teaching (Matthew 13:10-15). John elaborates further on this:

“But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: ‘Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’ For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, ‘He has blinded their eyes and He hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and be converted and I heal them.’” (John 12:37-40)

Jesus had already done enough that if the Jews had been so inclined, they would have believed. Had He elaborated on His heavenly origin, the Jews’ hard hearts would have simply rejected that truth once again.

Ask Yourself:
How would Christ want us to respond to those in our lives who have never met a loophole they didn’t like, who work harder at disproving what God has revealed than at simply believing Him? What have you learned from your dealings with such people?