John 6:62Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

One who says only one great thing about himself can, of course, still be suspected of lying. But one who, after that, declares so many things removes every suspicion.

He does and says all this to remove them from the thought that Joseph is His father. Therefore He did not speak in this way to increase the scandal, but to destroy it.

Whoever considered Him Joseph's son would not accept His words. But whoever was convinced that He came down from heaven and would ascend there again could more readily give heed to His words.

For this too is just as impossible for flesh. But if it ascends contrary to nature, what will prevent it also from giving life, though it does not have a life-giving nature as far as its own nature is concerned?

He who made the earthly heavenly can also make it life-giving, although by its own nature it is subject to corruption.

At the same time, one must observe that here too He does not allow a division into two christs, as some foolishly desire. Everywhere He preserves Himself undivided, even after becoming man.

He says precisely that "the Son of Man" ascends to where He "was before," although His earthly body had not been in heaven before this. Only the Word, by Himself, was there before His union with the flesh.

Therefore Paul well stated in his Epistles that there is "one Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor 8:6). For the Son is one, both before the Incarnation and after the Incarnation. We must not regard His own body as alien to the Word.

For this reason the Word, who came down from heaven above, also calls Himself the Son of Man. He "became flesh," according to the teaching of the blessed Evangelist, not by being changed into flesh through transformation. For as God He is by nature unchangeable and immutable.

Rather, He dwelt in His own temple, I mean the temple from the Virgin, and became a completely true man. And when He says that He will ascend to where He "was before," He partly enables His hearers to understand that He came down from heaven.

Having understood the meaning of the word in this way, they ought not only to listen to Him as a man. They should now acknowledge in Him God the Word in the flesh and believe that His body too must be life-giving.

What does this mean, if not that we should understand that Christ is one Person, the God-man, and not two? Otherwise our faith would be not in the Trinity, but in a quaternity.

Therefore Christ is one: Son of Man in time, yet one Christ by the unity of Person. He was in heaven when He spoke on earth. Thus the Son of Man was in heaven when the Son of God was on earth. The Son of God was on earth by receiving flesh; the Son of Man was in heaven in the unity of Person.

But Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples were murmuring about this (Jn 6:61). They spoke among themselves so that He would not hear them. Yet He, knowing them in Himself and hearing them in Himself, said: "Does this offend you, that I said, 'I give you My Flesh to eat and My Blood to drink'? Is this what offends you?" Cf. Jn 6:61, 51.

"What then, if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?" (Jn 6:62). What does this mean? Did He resolve what troubled them? Did He disclose what had offended them? Yes, if only they could have understood.

They thought He was going to distribute His body. Therefore He told them that He would ascend into heaven, naturally, unharmed, meaning that His Body would remain whole and undivided.

"What then, if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?" Plainly, then you will see that He does not distribute His body as you suppose. Plainly, then you will understand that His grace (gratia) is not eaten with the teeth.

By this every scandal is removed, if only you had faith for it. "The Spirit gives life; the flesh," He did not say "My flesh," "profits nothing." Do not be fleshly; rise to what is spiritual. "My words are spirit and life."

Here the Lord speaks of His ascent to the Father in the broad sense, as His ascent into glory through sufferings (Lk 24:26). In the visible sufferings lies the beginning of His glory. Having suffered, He died, rose again, and ascended.

It is precisely this starting point of His glory, His sufferings and shameful death, that He indicates here. It will be a cause of offense to the Jews still greater than the offense caused by His present discourse.

If you are now offended by My word about the bread of life, My Flesh, what will happen when you see My sufferings and shameful death? Will this not be a still greater offense to you, since, in the carnal tendency of your views, you do not understand that these sufferings and death are the path to My glory and the ascent to where I was before?" Bishop Michael, Explanatory Gospel.

Speaking to the murmuring disciples, the Lord says that the end of His earthly course will offend them still more. They will see Him crucified on the Cross, although this death on the Cross will be only the beginning of His ascent to where He was before.

The Lord said: "You think only of the earthly and the fleshly. You cannot free yourselves from it, even when I speak to you of heavenly things and of the salvation of your souls.

Understand, then, that true life, eternal life, is given not by bodily food, nor by the manna your fathers ate. It is given by that spiritual food, that heavenly bread, which I give you.

For true eternal life is the life of the spirit, not of the body. The spirit enlivens the body; the Spirit gives life, but not the flesh. The flesh profits nothing and does not lead to the blessedness of eternal life.

You think only of the earthly and fleshly. The words that I speak to you are spirit and life. They lead to the perfection of the spirit, to the perfection of your souls, and secure for you the blessedness of eternal life.

But faith in Me is needed to understand them. I see that there are unbelievers among you. They are the ones who do not understand Me. Since they do not understand Me, they do not follow Me.

By refusing to fulfill the will of God, they cannot come to Me. The will of My Father is that all should believe in Me and all should come to Me.

The one who comes to Me comes according to the will of My Father, and this coming is, as it were, given to him by the Father. But whoever rejects the will of God has not been granted by My Father to come to Me.

For this reason I told you that no one can come to Me unless it is granted him by My Father."

But this would be contrary to the context of the discourse. Here the Lord speaks of His ascent in the broad sense, as His ascent into His glory through sufferings (Lk 24:26). In the visible sufferings lies the beginning of His glory. Having suffered, He died, rose, and ascended.

It is precisely this starting point, so to speak, of His glory that He indicates here: His sufferings and shameful death. These would be a cause of offense to the Jews still greater than the offense caused by His present discourse.

If you are now offended by My word about the bread of life, My Flesh, what will happen when you see My sufferings and shameful death? Will this not be a greater offense to you, since, in the carnal tendency of your views (Jn 6:63), you do not understand that these sufferings and death are the path to My glory and to My ascent to where I was before?

The death of the Messiah on the Cross was indeed always the greatest offense for the Jews (Jn 12:31; 1 Cor 1:23; Gal 5:14; cf. Mt 16:21 and following).

When He instituted the Mystery of Holy Communion at the Mystical Supper, the Lord also answered the perplexed question of the Jews. How, and in what manner, can believers eat the Flesh and Blood of Christ? Under the form of bread and wine, believers will eat the Body and Blood of Christ.

The Lord did not reveal this mystery in His discourse with the Jews because not only they, but even the chosen among them, the apostles, could not yet receive it. They did not yet have firm faith in Christ as the Son of God, incarnate for the salvation of mankind through His sufferings on the Cross and His death.

Indeed, at the end of chapter six, the Evangelist John notes that not only the Pharisees and scribes began to murmur. Many of the disciples of Jesus Christ also did so, though they were disposed toward Him and free of Pharisaic hostility.

The disciples secretly exchanged words of mistrust among themselves (Jn 10:20). The Savior saw what was taking place in their souls. To instruct them, He says that with their own eyes they will see His ascension into heaven.

The disciples were scandalized that His flesh would be food. Equally, if not more, incomprehensible was that His body would ascend into heaven. But if they were convinced by the experience of their senses of the reality of the flesh's ascension, they should also believe that His power extends to making His flesh wondrous food for the faithful.

There is a similar instruction in Jn 3:12. "The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing." By flesh and spirit some, such as Klee, understand a sensible and a spiritual way of thinking, showing in the first an incapacity for understanding spiritual things.

But the Savior is not speaking about what can find the truth. He is speaking about what can give life or bring no benefit. He wishes to clarify His words about the flesh and remove the cause of scandal.

Christ's Flesh gives life because in it there is the life-giving and all-powerful Spirit. But the flesh of which the Jews are thinking, can it be useful for anything? See 2 Cor 5:16; 1 Pet 3:18.

"The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." His words referred to His body and blood. Therefore "words" should be replaced by "body and blood." His body and blood, of which He spoke, are spirit and life. The body bears the Spirit in itself; the blood bears life in itself.

Cyril of Alexandria and Leontius understood Christ's words in this way. "But there are some of you who do not believe." "For this reason I said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him by My Father."

Therefore many of the disciples departed from the Lord (v. 66). Meanwhile the Son of Man and the Son of God, the one Christ, was revealing through His words both His future sufferings and His future glorious resurrection.

"I ascend," the Lord said to Mary, so that she might pass His words on to the disciples, "to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God" (Jn 20:17).

But those who could not believe deprived themselves of the joy of seeing the "ascent of the Son of Man." They deprived themselves of a portion with the Lord (Jn 13:8), because they did not understand that one must give oneself wholly to the Lord.

In due time He will also send understanding to the one who has faith. "You shall understand afterward," the Lord said to Peter.