(Back) The Reception at Gennesaret Not Peace, But a Sword (Next)
This is a series of lectures given by Mr. Edward Rabel, member of the faculty of S.M.R.S.
Winter semester 1976 - 2nd. Yr. Class. Part of Lecture 19 given on February 22, 1976
6:22On the morrow the multitude that stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, save one, and that Jesus entered not with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples went away alone 6:23(howbeit there came boats from Tiberias nigh unto the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks): 6:24when the multitude therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they themselves got into the boats, and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.
6:25And when they found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither?6:26Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw signs, but because ye ate of the loaves, and were filled. 6:27Work not for the food which perisheth, but for the food which abideth unto eternal life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him the Father, even God, hath sealed. 6:28They said therefore unto him, What must we do, that we may work the works of God? 6:29Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. 6:30They said therefore unto him, What then doest thou for a sign, that we may see, and believe thee? what workest thou? 6:31Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, He gave them bread out of heaven to eat. 6:32Jesus therefore said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, It was not Moses that gave you the bread out of heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread out of heaven. 6:33For the bread of God is that which cometh down out of heaven, and giveth life unto the world. 6:34They said therefore unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
6:35Jesus said unto them. I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. 6:36But I said unto you, that ye have seen me, and yet believe not. 6:37All that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. 6:38For I am come down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 6:39And this is the will of him that sent me, that of all that which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 6:40For this is the will of my Father, that every one that beholdeth the Son, and believeth on him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
6:41The Jews therefore murmured concerning him, because he said, I am the bread which came down out of heaven. 6:42And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how doth he now say, I am come down out of heaven? 6:43Jesus answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. 6:44No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him: and I will raise him up in the last day. 6:45It is written in the prophets, And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that hath heard from the Father, and hath learned, cometh unto me. 6:46Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he that is from God, he hath seen the Father. 6:47Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth hath eternal life. 6:48I am the bread of life. 6:49Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 6:50This is the bread which cometh down out of heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. 6:51I am the living bread which came down out of heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: yea and the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.
6:52The Jews therefore strove one with another, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 6:53Jesus therefore said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have not life in yourselves. 6:54He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life: and I will raise him up at the last day. 6:55For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 6:56He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me, and I in him. 6:57As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he that eateth me, he also shall live because of me. 6:58This is the bread which came down out of heaven: not as the fathers ate, and died; he that eateth this bread shall live for ever. 6:59These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.
6:60Many therefore of his disciples, when the heard this, said, This is a hard saying; who can hear it?6:61But Jesus knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at this, said unto them, Doth this cause you to stumble? 6:62What then if ye should behold the Son of man ascending where he was before? 6:63It is the spirit that giveth life; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, are are life. 6:64But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who it was that should betray him. 6:65And he said, For this cause have I said unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it be given unto him of the Father.
6:66Upon this many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. 6:67Jesus said therefore unto the twelve, Would ye also go away? 6:68Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 6:69And we have believed and know that thou art the Holy One of God. 6:70Jesus answered them, Did not I choose you the twelve, and one of you is a devil?6:71Now he spake of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve.
This is the first of the magnificent long discourses which are contained in the Gospel of John. These discourses are for the most part so deep, so powerful, and so very esoteric that much of what they contain cannot be comprehended by conventional thinking; that is, we cannot simply read them, memorize, and quote parts of them and just think of them as literal statements made by a literal man.
These are messages of spiritual food for thought spoken through Jesus from the high level of Christ Mind within him, but remember that the Christ Mind dwells in all and speaks to all. Now, in this first discourse, Jesus dwells on the theme of Him being the bread from heaven which is also the bread of life which we are to eat if we would realize eternal life. When reading this it is helpful to regard the Jesus who speaks in these discourses as representative of the Truth regarding God and man, which is the Christ. Here he transcends spiritual awareness of the Christ and becomes the actual voice of the Christ in these discourses. When you read this, try to rise above the level of Jesus, even the symbol Jesus, and think of the Christ, the embodied Christ, the verbalized Christ. The acceptance of this Truth is eating of it and when we eat this body, accept this Truth fully, it becomes the very substance of all our thinking, the bread from heaven and then the drinking of this Truth, the incorporating the essence of it into our very being, of our feeling, of our living. It becomes the very life-essence of all our vital processes, the blood of Christ; in other words, we eat the body of Christ called the bread of heaven and we drink the blood of Christ when we consciously and willingly accept the Truth of the vitally alive presence of Christ within.
During this discourse Jesus makes an interesting comment to His listener. He says, I am the bread of life, your fathers did eat the manna in the wilderness and they died. He is indicating here that anything less than a conscious and growing realization of the total presence of Christ within and total oneness with the Father will always result in something less than total life for an individual; that is, the degree of your life depends on the degree of your acceptance of the reality of Christ and your oneness with God, anything less than total will result in a less than total life for you. Everything that you and I have ever been in our human nature and development, everything we have tried or believed in the past which was less than the Truth of Christ has died.
Text of the original transcript of the second paragraph of page 116 through page 117.
Transcribed by Margaret Garvin on 04-01-2014
