Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”
Jn 6: 60-69
v. 60 -- Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”
It is the disciples who found, as many still find, the contents of this discourse hard! The final phrase should read ‘listen to him?’ rather than ‘listen to it?’
v. 62 – What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?
‘Where he was before': A plain reference not only to the continuing existence of Jesus after his death, but also to his pre-existence (cf. 3:13; 13:3 and 17:5).
v. 65 – And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.”
The verb ‘said’ is in the Greek imperfect: 'he kept on saying all the time'. This underlines the importance of 6:37and 44 as basic Johannine doctrines. Belief in Jesus is impossible without the work of the Father. Unbelief is not some strange human behavior; belief is a miracle of God. 'No one can say "Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit is Paul's recognition of the same truth’ (1 Cor. 12:3).
v. 66 – As a result of this, many [of] his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.
‘As a result of this’: offers both a chronological and a logical basis for interpretation. It was after the discourse, and because of it, that many left Jesus.
v. 68 – Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
'Master': Here, in contrast to its use in 6:34, rightly so rendered. In v. 34 it should read 'Sir'.
v. 69 – We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”
'We have believed, and are convince”: Evidently the reference is to some real 'belief' at 1:39ff, that has now grown in depth and in their continuing association has bred the certitude of faith, a knowledge that has an integrity of its own.
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