Jn 6:25-40: I am the bread of Life
The key to understanding the whole of John 6 – the chapter of our Gospel reading revolves around one of Jesus’ famous “I am” statements – I am the Bread of life.
Indeed, by choosing these words, I AM Jesus was pointing his hearers to something special about himself – his claim to divinity
When he said “Before Abraham was “I am” (Jn 8:58) – the Jews picked up stones to kill him for blasphemy because he claimed to be God with that statement.
By the use of the term I AM his hearers would have been pointed back to the story in the book of Exodus where Moses asked God – “Who shall I say sent me” and God replied “Tell them “I AM“ sent you.
And that is about all we can, of ourselves, really comprehend about the nature of God.
He exists – and what we know of him is revealed in Christ
The philosopher Rene Descartes, the father of modern philosophy once said: “ I think, therefore I am”.
And perhaps in our modern materialistic society we might say: “ I shop therefore I am”
But God makes no such qualifications.
He simply assets of himself “I AM”
All of Jesus’ I AM statements are found in John’s gospel.
1. I am the bread of Life which came down from heaven (6:35,41,51)
2. I am the light of the world (8:12; 9:5)
3. I am the door of the sheep (10:7,9)
4. I am the good shepherd (10:11,14)
5. I am God’s Son (10:36)
6. I am the resurrection and the life (11:25)
7. I am the way, the truth, and the life (14:6)
8. I am the (true) vine (15:1,5)
And each one of the I AM ‘s represents a particular relationship of Jesus to the spiritual NEEDS of men and women.
Jesus is the Light in the darkness, the Gate to security, and the Shepherd that guides.
He is the way, the truth and the life.
In every one of these I AM we see that Jesus wants us to receive him, NOT for the gifts he can give us, but for what he can BE to us.
John Chapter 6 opens with the feeding of the five thousand and is followed quickly by Jesus’ astounding statement “ I am the Bread of life”
Bread – that universal leveller. We all need it!
People HAD COME to Jesus because he fed them – but Jesus wants to take them further.
In Chapter 6 Jesus speaks to four types of people
1. The Nationalist
2. The Materialist – those who simply wanted to be fed and no more.
3. The Sensationalist – who wanted to see more miracles. And finally
4. The Eternalist - His true Disciples.
I wonder what you might have thought yourself if you had been one of the people listening to Jesus that day when he said:
I am the Bread of Life
What responses would Jesus’ words have triggered in you
What would you have understood by Jesus’ words
“I am the Bread of Life” ?
To answer that question I need to first put this passage in context.
1. Introduction
There was significance in WHERE he made this momentous statement and WHEN he said it
1.1 WHERE
Let us start by considering where it was that Jesus speaking - in Galilee
Jesus was speaking in Galilee, one of the trouble spots of the Roman Empire.
Feelings against the Roman rulers ran high in these
northern hills of Galilee.
It was prime terrorist country – where bands of zealots planned their raids.
It was the “Helmand” province of Israel
1.2 WHEN
Next let us look at when was Jesus speaking
John tells us in Jn 6:4 that this all happened at Passover time.
Passover was a time of a fiercely nationalist flavour.
It was the time of year when the Israelites remembered God’s deliverance of HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE
Earlier in the Chapter we read of Jesus feeding the five thousand from a little boy’s lunch box of five loaves and two little fishes.
(Aside: You could imagine the News of the World reporting this with the headline:
“Preacher steals little boy’s food and gives it away”)
Not unnaturally – the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand had sparked the interest of the zealots - who were looking for Jesus as a possible “political Saviour”
Perhaps the closest analogy to us is the nationalist feelings of the Ulster Unionists in Northern Ireland on 12th July when they remember the Battle of the Boyne (1st July 1690).
Story: I used to live in Northern Ireland as a boy and my father took me to see Schomberg’s grave at the site of the Battle of the Boyne.
The Duke of Schomberg was William III’s second in command who was killed in the Battle.
Even today, the Battle of the Boyne rouses passions of the Orangemen of Ulster today, so Passover was a time of intense national fervour for the first century Jew.
As I mentioned earlier, Jesus was speaking to four different types of people
1. The Nationalist
2. Materialist – those who simply wanted to be fed and no more.
3. The Sensationalist – who wanted to see more miracles
And finally
4. The Eternalist - His true Disciples.
Let’s have a look at the hopes and aspirations of each.
1. The Hope of the Nationists
For some, the nationalists, Jesus words
“ I am the bread of life” –
coupled with Jesus saying that he was the
“true bread that from came down from heaven”
would have triggered thoughts of Moses the freedom fighter.
Moses one of their great leaders had delivered them from slavery in Egyptian slavery and kept them alive with bread from heaven – manna as it was called
If Jesus was making such a claim surely Jesus could liberate them from the Romans.
Shades of first century liberation theology,
In short, if you were going to start a revolution in Judea, the best place was Galilee and the best time was Passover.
For the zealots – I am the Bread of Life meant revolution.
But that ISN’T what Jesus was talking about
Let us look at the next group.
2. The Hope of the Materialists
But many of the local people weren’t zealots - keen to turn the Romans out by armed rebellion.
Many of them worked simply to put food on the table for their families.
They were simply materialists
But Jesus wasn’t talking about materialism either - that is putting food on the table
We must not misunderstand Jesus either.
Jesus NEVER said that issues of political freedom racism or economic justice weren’t important.
No one could accuse Jesus of being indifferent to the plight of the poor and the oppressed.
But Jesus was not and is not a political Messiah or simply an Economic guru.
Jesus rather challenges us to be
less concerned about our physical bodies and
more concerned with our eternal souls.
For the majority of our nation are materialists – simply looking for material answers to human problems.
3. The Hope of the Sensationalist
The third group of people that would have come to see Jesus are the Sensationalists – those who wanted to see miracles happen.
They applaud from the side lines – but don’t want to get involved
Jesus doesn’t want us to be involved – he wants us to be committed
Let me illustrate this with a story.
In the late 19th century (1859), Blondin a famous tightrope walker had a tightrope placed across the Niagara Falls in the USA. He then proceeded to walk across it with a wheelbarrow in front of him.
Having reached the other side, he stepped down to the applause of the crowd.
He went up to members of the crowd and asked: "Do you believe that I can walk back on that rope without falling off?" "Yes" they each replied.
"Do you really believe I can make" he asked. "Yes" they replied. "We’ve just seen you do it"
"Then" said Blondin "Will you please step inside my wheelbarrow and come with me".
"Oh no" they replied "It is far too dangerous".
This is the difference between being involved on the sidelines and being committed
4. The Hope of the Eternalist
The final group of people were the eternalists – those who are COMMITTED to follow Jesus
These are his true disciples
Many turned away when Jesus came up with hard sayings –but his true disciples stood by him.
Peter summed it up very well when he said when asked by Jesus asked if even the inner circle - his 12 too would leave:
Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God (Jn 6:68-69)
But the level of commitment that Jesus seeks is not at the level of the materialist – who comes to God to have a comfortable life.
When Britain was a “Christian “country many came to church on Sunday – because it was good for business to be seen in church!
But that isn’t the level of commitment that Jesus is looking for.
Did the 12 apostles really understand Jesus’ mission by this stage.
Probably not – but they stuck with Jesus.
Or perhaps the ONLY ONE that day WHO really understood what Jesus meant when he said:
I am the Bread of Life”
was Jesus himself
Jesus made a number of claims in Jn 6.
3.1 Jesus Claims a Divine Origin Jn 6:38
He said: "I came down from heaven."
For the first century Jews it was as preposterous as if somebody told you they had arrived here today on a flying saucer.
In this Jesus was and remains unique.
In this regard there are no parallels with other religious leaders.
In his famous book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis made this statement,
"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg--or he would be the devil of hell.
You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.
You can shut him up for a fool or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us."
(my thanks to the Campus Crusade website)
It was Karl Marx who popularised the expression, "religion is the opium of the people".
Yet according to Jesus the truth is the very opposite.
It is materialism that is narcotic.
Materialism anaesthetises people to the reality that real contentment and real satisfaction bring.
Real security are found only in the spiritual realm.
Materialism renders these deepest needs permanently inaccessible.
The only thing that the pursuit of material things does is to drive us to want more.
This year it is a new car,
Next year it will be a new washing machine, a new TV, or video.
Advances in technology, new designs and planned obsolescence are used to fuel this insatiable desire.
No amount of physical bread will appease it.
It was Jean Paul Sartre, the famous Nobel Prize winner for Literature and avowed atheist who wrote about this human dilemma with painful honesty when he said:
"That God does not exist I cannot deny, but that my whole being cries out for God I cannot forget."
We all feel that cry.
God has set the desire for eternity in our hearts.
And Jesus claimed to meet it.
"I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."
"If only you would open your eyes," Jesus was saying, "that supernatural bread you are looking for is staring you in the face.
It is not a something but a Someone.
But for many this bread was just too hard to swallow.
If Jesus had said that eternal life is a matter of giving to charity, there would be plenty who would go out and buy their spiritual insurance.
If Jesus had said that eternal life is a matter of practising yoga in your bedroom three times a day, there would be thousands who would be willing for that discipline.
But Jesus didn’t.
He said that eternal life was not a possession but a gift.
A gift received through a personal relationship with Him.
A gift that was made possible by his death on the Cross
The cross is not just a pretty piece of jewellery.
The Cross isn’t just a beautiful symbol of heroism and self sacrifice.
It was a cruel, shameful death – and it reminds us that Jesus took the punishment and death that should have been ours.
The message of Jesus is simply this.
If you want to be right with God,
If you want to have assurance about sins forgiven, and if you want eternal security, then Jesus is that Bread of Life for you.
As St John records – all you have to do is to receive him into your life
12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. (Jn 1:12)
It is a simple as that .
