John 6:42 - Printer Friendly

ESV: They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?"

NIV: They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?"

NASB: And they were saying, 'Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?'

CSB: They were saying, "Isn’t this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?"

NLT: They said, 'Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph? We know his father and mother. How can he say, ‘I came down from heaven’?'

KJV: And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven

NKJV: And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

Jesus' boyhood home of Nazareth was probably just to the southwest of the Sea of Galilee. Capernaum was a fishing town situated along the northwest edge of Galilee. During Jesus' earthly ministry, these were relatively small towns, and all Jewish men were obligated to attend certain festivals in Jerusalem (Deuteronomy 16:16). This meant Jesus had been known, for years, by some of the people of the region prior to the start of His public ministry. This familiarity turns out to be another roadblock to the people's faith.

When Jesus began to contradict the people's traditional attitudes, they demanded a miracle from Him as proof (John 6:30). This was mere hours after Jesus had performed a very public miracle; such a request was fundamentally dishonest. The people had already seen more than enough (Matthew 12:39). Here, as Jesus continues to offend with His teaching, people begin to dismiss Him as just another common man.

Claiming to have "come down from heaven" confused those who misunderstood His meaning. Some rabbinic traditions held that the Messiah would virtually appear out of nowhere (John 7:27–28), so the idea that a thirty-year-old peasant from a small village could be the Promised One seemed absurd (John 1:46).

John 6:41–51 uncovers the true motivation of the crowd following Jesus: selfishness. This passage is part of a long dialogue where Christ clarifies the meaning of His miracles. Jesus has just explained that He, Himself, is the ''Bread of Life'' which people are meant to seek. In response, the people complain amongst themselves. Jesus will give further explanation of what He means by claiming to be the ''Bread of Life.'' This will make the crowd even more agitated, as the people move from seeking, to complaining, to outright argument.

In chapter 6, Jesus feeds thousands of people who had been following Him. He does this by miraculously dividing the contents of a small meal, leaving more left over than He had to begin with. At first, the crowd is amazed and they enthusiastically praise Jesus. After sending the disciples across the Sea of Galilee and rescuing them from a storm by walking on the water, Jesus once again addresses the crowd. This time, He emphasizes the spiritual lesson behind His prior miracle. In response, most of those who had been praising Jesus turn away in disappointment.

John chapter 6 occurs some months after the events of chapter 5, bringing the narrative to about one year prior to Jesus' crucifixion. As with the rest of the gospel of John, the purpose is not to repeat information from the other three Gospels, but to focus on Jesus' status as God incarnate. This chapter continues to expand the list of Jesus' miraculous signs and the witnesses to His divine nature. Here, Jesus also gives the first of seven ''I am'' statements found in this gospel. Chapter 7 will once again skip ahead to a major public step in Jesus' path to the cross.

The disciple John wrote the gospel of John decades after the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke were written. The author assumes that a reader is already familiar with the content of these other works. So, John presents a different perspective, with a greater emphasis on meaning. John uses seven miracles—which he calls "signs"— to prove that Jesus is, in fact, God incarnate. Some of the most well-known verses in the Bible are found here. None is more famous than the one-sentence summary of the gospel found in John 3:16.