John 6

Go Deep

(I Am the Bread of Life: John 6)

Read John 6. What about the text (whether from Sunday’s sermon or not) strikes you as interesting or important?

For background, read Exodus 16:14-31 and Isaiah 25:4-9.

Why did people go looking for Jesus (John 6:24)? Is there any evidence that different people looked for Jesus for different reasons?

In what way does the dialogue and teaching (John 6:26 and following) relate to the miracle (John 6:1-15)?

If the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 was a sign (v. 14) to what did the sign point? A sign of what?

Many scholars have understood the teaching (especially from 6:48-58) to be about Holy Communion? Can you think of any problems with that interpretation?

Look for key words and repeated words in John 6. Which ones seem important to you?

Four times Jesus speaks of people who “come to him” in this discourse. What is the idea behind this? Come to him for what? Come to him how?

John 6 uses the word “believe” (or “trust”) nine times. What does Jesus have in mind when he speaks of people believing in him?

John calls some of the people disciples (6:66). Does this mean they believed in Jesus? Why or why not?

Read John 2:23-25. Did the people in verse 23 believe in Jesus in the same sense Jesus had in mind in John 6?

How can a person know if he/she is trying to use Jesus as a means to an end?

Based on what you see here, what you have learned from other passages or from Christian teaching, and from your own experience, describe what it means for a person to trust in Jesus, as God intends.