John 6 - NIV First Century Study Bible
6:14 The Prophet who is to come. This is a reference to Moses’ prediction of a future prophet (see note on Dt 18:15).
6:31 Manna. In Jewish thought, the future Messiah would provide manna, whether symbolically or literally. Philo interpreted the passages about manna to really be about logos or Wisdom (see note on Ex 16:15). He wrote, “You see now what kind of thing the food of the Lord is, it is the continued word of the Lord.” (Philo, Allegorical Interpretations, 3:169–176.)
6:32–41 The bread of life. Pr 25:21 says, “If your enemy is hungry, give him food [literally bread] to eat.” The rabbis interpreted this passage to be a reference to the Torah, and “bread” became an important metaphor for Torah/Wisdom. (Genesis Rabba 54:1; 70:5.) Jesus echoed this tradition in his discourse, and John also seems to have been pointing back to his opening lines “The Word became flesh” (Jn 1:14).
6:53 Eat the flesh . . . drink his blood. This strange language could not have been taken seriously by Jesus’ audience if understood literally. The Torah and the book of Acts directly forbid the consumption of blood (see note on Ge 9:4–6). But even if one reads Jesus’ words as mystical and symbolic, it’s difficult to be certain what his original audience would have understood Jesus to be saying. The allusions to the Eucharist, or communion, would have only been decipherable to a later Christian, a postresurrection reader. Jesus’ words at the Last Supper, which are nearly identical to those here, do not appear to have been understood even by his own disciples. The radical nature of Jesus’ teachings, which were provocative and often misunderstood, is powerfully evident in this scene.
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