Jesus is the Bread of Life

Take Every Passage to Prayer - Volume 2, The Gospels
^{Thursday July 25, 2024}

John 6:22-71

Father, help me not to lose sight of the forest because I'm studying the bark on one of the trees. Help me not to lose sight of the gospel message because I'm hung up on the detail of the songs the worship team chose to sing this past Sunday. It doesn't matter how Jesus traveled from the region of Bethsaida to Capernaum. The only thing that matters is His message that He is the Bread of Life. Father, help me not to be entrapped by the pleasures and desires of this world so that I cast aside the Kingdom of God. Help me to focus on eternal things, things of the Kingdom of God. Father, I believe that Jesus Christ shed His blood for my sin. I internalize ("consume") that truth into my soul, knowing that His shed blood has washed away all of my sin. Father, the only thing that will truly satisfy my soul is Jesus. Please fill me with the Bread of Life, the Son of God who came down from heaven to rescue a sinner like me from the consequences of my sin and rebellion. Amen.

Father, an unknown number of the people from the crowd that had dispersed the night before across the sea returned to the location of the feeding of the “5,000”. They knew that Jesus had come to the area in a boat with His disciples. They also knew that Jesus had sent His disciples back across the water from whence they had come. Therefore, they concluded Jesus must still be in the area. They searched for Him but could not find Him or His disciples. They concluded that somehow Jesus had returned to Capernaum, and they were eager to go there on a mission to find Him. The text tells us that boats came from Tiberias , a town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Having concluded an unmentioned deal with the owner of the boats, the people got into the boats and were taken to Capernaum.

When the people located Jesus, they asked Him how He was able to travel to Capernaum without getting into the boat with the disciples. Jesus ignored the question . Instead, He focused on the real reason that these people had sought Jesus: He was the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. He was Santa Claus. He was a genie. If Jesus lived next door, they would have whatever they wanted whenever they wanted it. They saw Jesus not as their savior from their sin but as the one who could satisfy their cravings and desires. If Jesus were with them 24/7, they would always have plenty of bread to eat and they would never be hungry again.
Jesus responded to them:

1. Don’t strive for the things in life that do not last, such as food that will spoil.
2. Strive for that which I give you. It endures to eternal life. The Father approves of what I give to you.

The people asked Jesus what they can do to please the Father. Jesus replied with arguably the most important quote He ever spoke in His ministry:

Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent. (NIV)”

What pleases You, Father? We please You when we believe in Your Son, Jesus Christ. A man can feed one million homeless. He can be the most outstanding citizen in his nation. He can exhibit every admirable character trait there is. However, he doesn’t believe in Your Son, Jesus Christ. A second man does nothing to help other people. However, he does believe in Your Son, Jesus Christ. The second man pleases You more than the first. All the people who ignore or reject Jesus Christ as their savior are wasting their time by trying to be religious and doing good works to please You.

Father, humans are stubborn fools. How many miracles did Jesus have to perform before people would finally understand that He is the long-promised Messiah, the Son of God, who has come into the world to save the people from their sin? Apparently, the feeding of the “5,000” from five loaves of bread and two small fishes was not enough for the crowd. They continued to treat Jesus as if He is a mere man who hasn’t yet proved He should be worshipped.

So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ (NIV)”.

In short, they are asking for Jesus to send manna from heaven.

Knock. Knock. “Uh, hello? Is there anybody in there?” we could ask the people in this crowd. What had they just experienced? The Father had miraculously produced enough food to feed over 10,000 people from five loaves of barley bread and two small fish. What they just witnessed was manna from heaven.

The people had apparently praised Moses for orchestrating the manna. Jesus corrected them. “No, it was not Moses that provided the manna. It was My Father, and He is doing it again. I am the manna from heaven that has come to give life to the people.”

Jesus = manna from heaven.
Jesus = nourishment for life.

The crowd, still not getting it, asked Jesus for a lifetime of bread that is like manna – food always available every day without the people having to make bread from wheat and barley. It is the perpetual human desire to receive good without working for it.

Jesus responds with a summary of the gospel.

1. Jesus is the Bread of Life, the only one who can satisfy the human soul. Whoever believes in Him will never hunger or thirst for fulfillment in their life.
2. You, our Father, sent Jesus down from heaven to do Your will and to save each and every one of those who You have chosen to be saved from their sin and rebellion.
3. Those who were chosen will come to Jesus for salvation, and He will not reject them because it is Your will that whoever places their faith in Jesus shall have eternal life and will be resurrected on the last day. Not one person whom You have chosen to be saved will be rejected by Jesus.
4. However, many have seen Jesus, but they still don’t believe in Him.

When the Jewish leaders heard Jesus say He had come from heaven, they contradicted Him:

“He’s not from heaven! He’s from Nazareth. His father is Joseph, and his mother is Mary. How can He claim to be from heaven when He was born a baby just like the rest of us?  He’s a nutcase, people.”
Jesus responded once more (paraphrased):

1. Oh, stop your grumbling amongst yourselves. Be brave and speak to me directly.
2. It matters not if you believe I am from heaven. The truth of the matter is that no one will ever receive salvation from Me unless the Father in heaven draws them to Me. If the Father has chosen them, they will believe I am from heaven and that I will raise them up on the last day.
3. As it says in Isaiah 54:13, the Father will teach His children about Jesus Christ, and they will come to Jesus and experience true peace.
4. I know what I am talking about because I know the Father and I know His will. I am the only one who has seen the Father since I have come down from heaven.
5. Whoever believes in Me has eternal life. It’s as simple as that.
6. I am the Bread of Life. The manna your ancestors ate in the desert didn’t give the people spiritual life. In fact, all of those who ate the manna eventually died. However, this time, the manna from heaven is different. I am the manna, the living bread. Whomever eats Me will have eternal life. This bread is My very body, which I will sacrifice soon on the cross for the eternal life of all who believe in Me.

“What did He just say?”

“He said we are supposed to eat His body!”

“This guy needs to be put in a padded cell. He’s now calling us to be cannibals and eat His dead body.”

“I’m not taking back what I said,” Jesus said. “Your salvation depends upon you eating My flesh, which is real food, and drinking My blood, which is real drink. Those who do, I will raise up on the last day. Those who do can have a true relationship with Me. Just like I live because of the Father, those who feed on me will live because of Me. Your ancestors ate manna and died. You eat me and you will live forever.”
Many people rejected Christianity in the first and second centuries because it was accused of being a cannibalistic religion. They said that Jesus, the founder of the sect, actually called upon His people to eat His body and drink His blood. Many of His listeners here came to the same conclusion.

However, Jesus is using metaphors for His sacrificial death. A sacrificial lamb in the Old Testament must die and have its blood shed before the sinner can be forgiven. The meat of the animal is then consumed. Similarly, Jesus must die and have His blood shed before we can receive the spiritual nourishment of everlasting life through Him. Just like a sinner in the Old Testament laid his hand on the sacrificial animal to say, “this animal was slain for my sin” , so a sinner in the New Testament says, “Jesus was slain for my sin.” The metaphor of eating bread (Jesus’ flesh) and drinking wine (His blood) is a statement that the believer has internalized the gift of salvation.

In short, salvation comes only to those who believe Jesus was slain for their sin. There is no salvation for the person who rejects the crucifixion of Jesus, the shedding of His blood, and the atonement for sin. The metaphor of eating His flesh and drinking His blood represents a sinner consuming, that is “internalizing”, the meaning of the cross so that it will apply to his or her sin.

Father, I can imagine many of the disciples hanging their head in despair. Has their teacher gone mad? Have they hitched their wagon to a lunatic? They wanted to believe Jesus. They talked amongst themselves, trying to come up with a way they could accept what Jesus has just said and continue following Him. However, they admitted it was extremely hard to do. How can they accept that they are to eat His body and drink His blood? Who wants to do that?

Jesus interrupts their conversation:

“Did My words offend you? I’ve got something else for you to consider that will also offend you. You will see Me one day ascending into heaven, returning to where I was before. I say what I say because I am full of the Holy Spirit, and He is the one who gives life to what I am saying. Why do some of You not believe? Because you have not been chosen by the Father and you do not have the Holy Spirit and you never will.” The text tells us that Jesus knew that some of His disciples were not believers, and they never would be.  In fact, the text tells us Jesus was well aware which disciples were on the cusp of leaving Him.

At that moment, many of Jesus’ disciples abandoned Him. They concluded He had lost His mind and they were jumping off the Jesus bandwagon. As former disciples of Jesus grabbed their things and headed for the exits, Jesus said something interesting to the Twelve (the core disciples). He didn’t ask if they were going to leave Him as well. He told them that He knew they weren’t going to leave Him. Jesus knew their hearts and He knew that these twelve disciples would be with Him through the Last Supper. Father, these twelve men were chosen because You knew they would not abandon Jesus, at least not before the crucifixion. It is also true that these twelve men didn’t abandon Jesus because You made sure they would not, and Jesus had confidence in that.

Peter said to Jesus something wonderful:

“Why would we leave You? We know You are the Holy One of God. The Messiah. You have come to save us all from our sins. We believe and we will continue to walk with You.”

“I chose You twelve because I saw something in each of you,” Jesus replied. “I knew you would remain with me. However, there is one of you who will betray me. He is of the devil.”

Jesus was referring to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. I can imagine each of the men saying, “it’s not me.” However, Judas knew that Jesus was referring to him. Judas was already stealing money from the treasury.  Amen.