I am the Bread of Life Ps 34:1-9; Isa 43:1-11; 1 Cor 10:14-22; John 6:25-45
Introduction https://youtu.be/VLLGi_40utc
This is the second in our series on the “I am” statements of Jesus in the Gospels. Last week we looked at Jesus “I am” statement in Matthew which accompanied his walking on the water and moved the disciples to worship him (Matt 14:22-33)[1]. The discourse on “bread” in John 6, “bread from heaven…bread of God…bread of life” (31, 34, 341-42), follows immediately after this story. We might think that talk about bread is simple, but nothing about Jesus’ identity is straightforward. In fact, if we were to read a little bit further in this chapter, we would see that it is Christ’s self-description which divides Israel in two. The majority[2] will turn away form following him, leaving the few faithful who confess, ““Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (6:68). This is quite a painful story, but also one for those who can see things by the help of the Spirit[3] full of very great and precious promises (2 Pet 1:4). This conversation highlights the unbridgeable gulf between a natural and a spiritual way of understanding the identity of Jesus and the final consequences of the difference[4].
Material Thinking
The crowds locate Jesus on the other side of the lake, and he gets straight to the point[5], “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” These were men and women moved not by hearts filled with a vision of the Son of God but filled bellies who wanted more food. Like Israel of old[6] they had no comprehension that something better than free food was on offer[7], the miracles of Jesus progressively unveil the mission and identity of the Son of God[8]. Jesus directs them away from labouring for what perishes (v.27)[9], the lot of most people’s lives up until today, and exhorts them to put their faith in him. Despite him saying he will in fact “give” them[10] imperishable nourishment (v.27), they insist on doing something (v.28). They completely ignore that he testifies that he is the “Son of Man…on him God the Father has set his seal.” They don’t understand that the seal of the Father’s approval are his miracles which attests to the reliability/trustworthiness of his words[11]. 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
What is it about human beings, that moves them to always want to do something in the religious realm? Remember the words of the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable, “I thank you that I am not like other men…I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’” Whereas the sinner who went home “justified before God” merely prayed, “‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’” (Luke 18:9-14). The “I…I…I” of religious activity indicates we always want something to boast of beyond God’s amazing grace in Christ (Eph 2:8-9)!
Unwilling to follow Jesus by faith alone the crowds demand of him another sign” [12] 30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? They seem to have no awareness that they need liberation from sin.
Next, they compare Jesus unfavourably to Moses (v.31). If he were like the ancient prophet, he should be able to provide them with food from heaven on a regular basis as Moses did (Ps 78:24). Jesus of course, always “ahead of the game” refers them to the work of his heavenly Father. His generation needs something more than their ancestors, he is the one who can satisfy their need. “my Father[13] gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
As the “true =reliable/faithful/genuine bread”[14] Jesus can do what material bread never can, satisfy our need for God. Through Christ the Father gives life “to the world”[15], in giving of his Son God doesn’t just give some-thing, like health, wealth and a peaceful life, God gives God. The crowd is keen, “Sir, give us this bread always.” (v. 34)[16] But as things unfold it is clear that they still don’t understand that Jesus himself is the ‘Bread’ from heaven.
Spiritual Understanding
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.
In saying “I am the bread of life” Jesus presents himself as the One who sustains life at the very roots of its existence. The “life” that Jesus sustains in himself (John 1:4) is the life of the world to come, eternal life, available now (John 3:16, 3; 10:10). To come to Jesus is another way of describing becoming a Christian. The concept of “coming to” Jesus and “believing in” him are the same[17]. And if elsewhere Christ says his own spiritual food is doing the Father’s will (John 4:32-34) our food/feeding on him must be doing his will. The well-known words,” whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” are emphatic [18] never ever hunger/thirst, this is a forever promise (Isa 49:10; Rev 7:16), when one follows Jesus one gets all that is available from God[19]. By the very phrase Jesus has shifted the emphasis from a human work to the work of God—the initiative which God took in sending the Son into the world. What follows is a series of remarkable promises.
37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. This “all” is inclusive of everyone of God’s purposes in heaven and earth (Eph 2:9-10) [20] and “never cast out” is emphatic never ever cast out. Jesus makes this promise with the authority of God because he has v.38 “come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.” The perfect harmony of Father and Son is the witness/guarantee of the authenticity and finality of his pledge.
39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
To grant those who believe in Jesus’ resurrection life is not only the Lord’s gift to us, far more than that, that none of us will be lost the Father’s gift to Jesus. Four times in this passage 6:39, 40, 44, 54) Jesus says he is the one who will raise us up from the grave! I find this an especially thrilling truth. To “look” (v.40) on Jesus involves something more than a material consideration, it is a spiritual act that grants inner comprehension of Christ’s mission and identity. The crowd’s response is, sadly, predictable.
The Division
41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 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’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—
The mob that followed Moses into the desert repeatedly grumbled about their living conditions (Ex 15:24; 16:2; Num 14:2 etc.), but here despite being fed and pledged eternal life and everlasting satisfaction they rebel. Dragging up their acquaintance with Mary and Joseph (v.42)[21] they refuse to believe that Jesus is “the man of heaven” (1 Cor 15:49). What then does Jesus mean by “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” (v.44). there is a mysterious dimension to this “drawing”, but what we can say is that wherever this word appears elsewhere in the New Testament such a drawing is resisted, but never successfully[22]. A little later Jesus explains more fully, “I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” (6:65). In conclusion “Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father[23] comes to me—“; who could ask for more than that.
Conclusion
In the passage before us “bread” and “heaven” are repeatedly linked (vv. 3, 41, 48, 51, 58) not because it is natural to make such a connection because Jesus consistently declares himself to be the bread who brings heaven down to earth, not primarily through his miracles, but by making himself available as the object of human trust. To put the same point more simply, Jesus is the sort of person you can put your faith in. Believing in Jesus is a dominant theme in the Gospel of John[24]. Is faith a dominant aspect of our lives? As the story proceeds most of Jesus’ disciples decide that despite his mighty works Christ is not the sort of person they want to follow and most forsake him[25].
At one level this seems to us mysterious, because we like to think if we lived in Christ’s day we would have believed. It’s natural for us to think of ourselves like this, but in the Bible the natural understanding is often a block to a spiritual understanding (1 Cor 2:14). There is hope however, for when Christ goes on to say, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” (John 6:63), he joins together something as natural as words with something as supernatural as Spirit. It is in listening to the words of Jesus (through his story in the scripture) that God imparts faith to us hearers (Rom 10:17) and gives us the gift of eternal life[26]. It is in giving us a sense that Jesus’ words are words of eternal life (John 6:68-69) that the heavenly Father draws us to Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Let us pray for such revelation.
[1] This was itself preceded by the feeding of the 5,000 and the attempts of the crowd to make him king by force 6:15.
[2] “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.” (John 6:66)
[3] “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” (John 6:63).
[4] The parables present an excellent example of spiritual incomprehension, Incomprehension. Jesus explains to the disciples, ““To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, 12 so that “‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’’’ (Mark 4:11-12)
[5] As he does that of Nicodemus’ greeting, who didn’t understand spiritual things (John 3:1-3).
[6] Moses’ signs induced a certain sort of “faith” (Ex 4:30-31), but later on the same people rebelled in the wilderness.
[7] At the start of Jesus’ miraculous ministry we read, “Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.” (John 2:23-25), likewise at the end. “Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him” (John 12:37). What the crowds, unlike the disciples, do not see, is the glory of the Lord (John 2:11; 11:40).
[8] There are 7 “signs” in John. 1. Changing water into wine at Cana in John 2:1-11; 2. Healing the royal official’s son in Capernaum in John 4:46-54; 3. Healing the paralytic at Bethesda in John 5:1-15 4. Feeding the 5000 in John 6:5-14; 5. Jesus walking on water in John 6:16-24; 6. Healing the man blind from birth in John 9:1-7; 7. The raising of Lazarus in John 11:1-45. The first speaks of a whole new order/covenant, the last points to Christ’s own resurrection.
[9] In John’s Gospel Jesus came to save us from perishing (John 3:16; 10:18).
[10] An important theme in John’s Gospel (1:12; 3:16; 4:10, 14; 6:51-52; 10:28; 14:16; 15:16; 16:23; 17:2, 8)
[11] “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.” (John 14:11). Though it could refer to the Spirit descending on Jesus sent by the Father (John 1:32-33)
[12] Much like the unbelieving Jews in John 2:18 and Paul’s comment, “Jews ask for signs” (1 Cor 1:22).
[13] “my Father” indicates that Jesus stood in a relationship with God that his hearers did not. But note the fruit of his death and resurrection, “go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”” (John 20:17).
[14] The adjective “true” is in an emphatic position in Greek and important in John’s exposition of Jesus’ identity; “true light” (1:9); “true vine” (15:1). Cf. “I am…the truth” (14:6).
[15] Cf. John 3:16-17; 4:42; 6:51
[16] See also John 2:23-25, and Jesus’ response, “Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.”
[17] The parallelism shows this.
[19] ‘So it is final, says St Paul, the whole total Godhead dwells bodily, that is personally, in Jesus Christ. Therefore the fellow who does not find or get God in Christ shall never again and nowhere else have or find God outside of Christ, even if he goes, as it were, over heaven, under hell, or into space.’ ‘I know of no God other than the one who became man; and I will accept no other.’ (Luther)
[20] Since the word here is neuter (panta), it can be rendered “all things”, that is, creation is given to the Son by the Father. In line with John 3:34-3 and Col 1:16. Jesus in fact knew that “the Father had given all things into his hands” (John 13:3).
[21] The “we” is emphatic.
[22] The verb elko, “drawing”, appears in other places in the New Testament (18:10; 21:6,11; Acts 16:19; 21:30; James 2:6). In each case resistance is involved, but the resistance is never successful. The ultimate “drawing” is through the cross (John 12:32-33). See also God’s drawing of Israel (Jer 31:3; Hos 11:4).
[23] The ultimate end-time people of God will learn directly from God and come to Jesus. Isa 54:13 is the clearest old covenant promise of being taught by God.
[24] 48 appearances in the ESV, compared to only 28 in the New Testament letters and Revelation.
[25] “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.” (John 6:66).
[26] This isn’t automatic (Heb 4:2).