Unbelieving grumblers John 6:41-42
Why all the Grumbling?
John 6:41-42 (NASB) 41 Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.” 42 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’?”
What were the Jews grumbling about?
41 Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him…
The Jews were grumbling about Jesus Himself! The Greek word that is translated grumbling, means to speak against someone in a complaining way. The BDAG lexicon shows it this way:
Just like their fathers
Just as the Israelites in the wilderness grumbled against God, so the Jews in Jesus’ day showed their unbelief by grumbling against Jesus.
What was it that Jesus said that caused all the grumbling? John doesn’t leave us guessing.
41 …because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.”
John gives us the reason for the grumbling. It was because of Jesus’ words about His being God’s bread that came down from heaven. John quotes the Jews to show the source of the grumbling.
John 6:42 (NASB) They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?
The Jews looked at Jesus’ earthly origin and they believed he had an earthly father and was just an ordinary man, a sinner, like any ordinary man. In their assessment of Jesus, no ordinary man could have a heavenly origin. Yet they were disregarding the signs that Jesus gave to show that He was not just an ordinary man. Their unbelief in Jesus showed they never knew the Father.
Jesus had already said spoken about the Jews’ unbelief in John 7:28.
John 7:28 Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “You both know Me and know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.”
The grumbling is about origin
Jesus claimed to be from Heaven and the Jews did not believe Him. Their unbelief is key to understanding the verses that follow.
The next post will cover John 6:43-45.
One thought on “Unbelieving grumblers John 6:41-42”
Thank you for pinpointing the issue of doubt and grumbling. John 6 is humbling. I began studying John last month when I was searching for reasons Christ was not considered born in Bethlehem (by Sanhedrin I think). When I got to chapter 6 – wow. His humility, and His focus in the cross leaves me in awe. Folks started grumbling pretty early on.