NOTES for Joh 6:44-51
Today's Gospel reading continues the discussion of how an encounter with Jesus is a mystery hidden in every person's heart. In today's reading Jesus tells us how this happens. “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” Thus it is not only, nor even primarily, the human being who seeks God: it is God who seeks the human being. C. S. Lewis put it this way: “You would not have called to Me unless I had been calling to you.” We come to Jesus after hearing God's voice in our heart. Moreover, Jesus says that the one who comes to Him has “learned from the Father.” Even before a person has come to faith, communion with God may already have begun in that person's heart. The Lord teaches us even when we do not realize it.