Thank you for the question on the meaning of John 6:60–69, “What is the message of John 6:60-69?”
The message of John 6:60–69 is that no human being can come to the Father unless the Father draws that person to himself.
In John 6, Jesus had a large crowd following and listening to his words. They were awed at his words. When Jesus multiplied the the fishes and loaves, the motivation for following Jesus shifted from hearing his words to “eating” from him. They became more interested in physical food than the spiritual words of Jesus. Jesus wanted to offer them eternal life to those with ears who can hear.
Jesus says these words in verses 35–40, “Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day” (NIV).
Those verses are re-iterated in the passage when Jesus says, “61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit[e] and life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them” (NIV).
Hearing the Word doesn’t equate to believing the Word or receiving Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. There are many who hear but still do not believe for various reasons. Unless the Spirit of God works in that person’s heart and mind that person can’t respond to the spiritual truths of the Word.
The Apostle Paul says this in I Cor. 2, “The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.[c] 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?”[d] But we have the mind of Christ” (NIV).
SUMMARY: Anyone can hear the Words of God, but no one can respond to the Words of God unless the Spirit of God works in that person’s heart and mind.
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