Jesus answered them and said, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but
because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat
which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which
the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
Then said
they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
Jesus
answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him
whom he hath sent.They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then,
that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? Our fathers did eat
manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I
say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you
the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from
heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore
give us this bread.
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of
life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me
shall never thirst. But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe
not. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out.
For I came down from heaven, not to do mine
own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which
hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but
should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent
me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have
everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
The Jews then murmured at him, because he
said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. 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?
Jesus therefore answered and said unto them,
Murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to me, except the Father which
hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written
in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that
hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. Not that any man
hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers
did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
This is the bread which cometh down from
heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which
came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever:
and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of
the world.
The Jews therefore strove among themselves,
saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? John 6: 26-52
In the
gospel of John Jesus gives us an autobiography of Himself in seven statements of
who He is. Some have referred to these lessons as the “I am” statements; they
include the bread of life, the gate, the shepherd, the vine, the way, the
truth, and the life. Consider with me for a moment this statement of the bread
of life.
Wheat has
been called the staff of life in recognition that it is easily the most
sustainable food source at man’s disposal. Fruits, vegetables, and animal flesh
have a very limited shelf life but wheat can be stored for decades. Any food
source may help man survive but it is wheat that made it possible for man to
become more than nomadic tribes. In the story of Joseph it is stored wheat that
not only saved Israel from death during the seven years of famine, but also
made Egypt into an empire. For modern man bread is just one more item we pick
up in the grocery store but for those who were listening to Jesus that day
bread was the definition of the ability to sustain life.
For the
context of Jesus statement and the ensuing debate about Moses and Messiah we
should know that this same crowd to which He was speaking are those who were present
when two fish and five loafs feed five thousand. Jesus had departed from these
men because He knew they intended to take Him to Jerusalem and make Him king.
This was the determination of men as to who Messiah was to be and what benefit
He was to be to them.
The modern
church would do well to consider the wrong thinking and attitude of this group.
Their own carnal desires and how their carnal thoughts of how things should be
caused them to be blind and eventually reject the gift of God standing before
them.
We often
speak of Gods blessings as health, wealth, favor, and all that these things
entail but these things are only a shadow of the true blessings. Those things
which we receive from our Father that are perishable may be needful in the
short term but the true blessings are those things we will bring with us in the
resurrection; love, life, oneness with God, righteousness, holiness of such
things there shall never come an end.
Jesus tells
these men that they must not follow Him because of the miraculous bread that
filled their stomachs. Jesus is the true sustainer of life so He is the true
bread. Jesus by His teachings and example shone forth a light into men’s
darkness but this is not the bread. He is the bread; his very life essence for
lack of better terminology is what we have been given. The call to by faith be
joined to Him and the Fathers life is the offer of true bread. They were
looking at a manifestation in man’s flesh of the life of the Father because
Messiah and the Father are one.
These blind
followers scorn Jesus as a man and would rebuke Him that if He makes claim as
Messiah then they should receive from Him as the Fathers received bread from
Moses. Jesus quickly corrects them that Moses gave nothing but the Father in
heaven was the source of all that was done through Moses; just as the life in
Messiah was not from a carnal providence but came down from heaven.
The manna
only served to sustain the body for a season but it could not sustain life.
When we become one with the life of Jesus we become one with the life of the
Father. In like fashion Jesus bore the death of Adams inheritance in us to the
cross where it was judged and found its end. So we have died in Him that the
old man who’s so called life was found in sin is done away with. We have consumed
His body which was killed and His blood which was shed that we should become
one with His life through the Spirit.
This is a
life that cannot die even if the body is destroyed. This is why Jesus is the
bread of life.
