Who Is This Jesus?
6. The Bread of Life
John 6:25-60
October 16/17, 2004
Don Jaques
MAIN IDEA:
As the bread of life, Jesus’ highest concern is our spiritual nourishment, not our physical appetites.
Background: Jesus taught a large crowd of people on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, and then performed the miraculous feeding of the crowd of thousands with just a few loaves of bread and some fish. This made the crowds extremely happy, as you can imagine, and they wanted to make him their king (wouldn’t you want a king who could provide food for free?)
That evening, the Disciples got into a boat and headed back to Capernaum on the other side of the lake, but Jesus wasn’t with them. Instead he joined them later by walking across the water and bringing them safely to the other side.
The next morning – the crowds realized that Jesus wasn’t there anymore, so they went looking for him.
John 6:25-31
25When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?"
26Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval."
28Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"
29Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
30So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ’He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’"
32Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
34"Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread."
35Then Jesus declared, "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. 36But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."
41At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." 42They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ’I came down from heaven’?"
43"Stop grumbling among yourselves," Jesus answered. 44"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. 45It is written in the Prophets: ’They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. 46No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
52Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
53Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever." 59He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
60On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"
Who is this Jesus? He is the bread of life. But what does that mean? First it means that…
1. Jesus’ primary concern is satisfying your spiritual needs, not your physical appetites.
Early on in this story, the crowds catch up with him (the same crowds who had been fed miraculously the day before) and they ask Jesus “What sign will you give us that we might believe in you?”
What do you mean, “What miraculous sign will you give us?” He had just fed the 5000 with a few loaves and fishes! Isn’t it interesting that if you are looking for Jesus to be a kind of “Santa Claus” for you – the key to having your physical appetites satisfied, you’ll have a hard time being satisfied. These people had just experienced a miracle, but how quickly they forgot about it.
We can be like that too, can’t we? “So God, what are going to do for me TODAY!”
Or the opposite can be just as true: “God, since you haven’t done anything miraculous for me lately why should I follow you??”
Jesus knows this about them. He knows they are following him, but that they are doing it for the wrong reasons. He’s not interested in gathering a crowd. He’s not interested in being made a king. He wants people who will follow him because of who he is, not because of what he will do for them. So he does the occasional miracle – but the point is to authenticate his identity as the Son of God, not to become a supernatural vending machine!
Last week we looked at the story of the lame man who Jesus healed at the pool of Bethesda. One thing I didn’t mention last week was the fact that there were many sick and invalid people by the pool. Jesus didn’t do a miracle healing for every single one of them. For some reason he chose that man.
But was he still worthy of the worship of all those others? Of course.
The crowd of 5000+ who were fed miraculously by Jesus wanted him to keep meeting their needs just like that. But he taught them what was more important than getting their bellies filled was to discover that He was the bread of life – the very sustenance their souls needed, and the key to their experiencing eternal life.
There may be some miracle you’ve been waiting for in your life. Financial blessings. Physical healing. Restoration of a relationship. What will you do with Jesus if, in his sovereign plan, he decides NOT to grant you the answer to your prayer at this time? Or what will you do with Jesus if perhaps you feel like you can’t understand everything he says?
2. In order to “eat” the “bread of life” you must believe in Jesus. (John 6:35, 47-51, 28-29)
Jesus says “I am the bread of life”. And I’ve been sent here by my Father to provide what you need for the sustenance of your soul. I’ve come to give you what you need for eternal life.
But let’s think about bread for just minute. Bread nourishes those who take it in. It does nothing for those who smell it or look at it or know how to bake it. If it is to do any good, it needs to be taken into the body. (use fresh loaf of bread as prop) So Jesus has come to the world to be the bread of life – to be our spiritual nourishment – but we’ve got to eat that bread if it’s going to do any good for us.
So the question is, “What does it mean to ‘eat’ the bread of life, or as Jesus put it so graphically, to ‘eat his flesh’ and ‘drink His blood’?” (I was thinking this would make a good message for Halloween weekend!!)
We find the answer by taking a closer look at Jesus’ words.
35Then Jesus declared, "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.”
47I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.
28Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"
29Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
What does it mean to “eat the bread of life”? It means to believe in him. But as we see throughout the book of John, that is a loaded term. It means to receive him as the authority in your life in chapter 1. It means to place your faith in him in chapter 3. Here in chapter 6 it means to take Jesus into you just like you take food into you. It means to come to him as your source of spiritual nourishment. It means to follow him because you believe he is the Son of God – and not just because you think you can get something from him.
3. You can be Jesus’ disciple even if you don’t understand everything. (John 6:66-69)
I think the disciples of Jesus were tested this day by the difficult to understand message Jesus was sharing. As verse 60 relates, “Whoa – this is a hard teaching to accept!” Skipping down to verse 66 we see what happens next as a result of this difficult teaching.
66From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
67"You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve.
68Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."
At this point I imagine the disciples were still a bit perplexed about this whole “eat my flesh” teaching. It sounded strange to them just as it does to us. But they understood enough from their interaction with Jesus to know that he was who he claimed to be. They didn’t let their confusion about some of what Jesus said keep them from affirming their belief in Him as the Holy One of God, who possessed the words of eternal life!
Maybe you’re here today and you’ve been considering turning your life over to Jesus’ authority. You want to have eternal life – and you’re pretty sure Jesus really is the Son of God. But you’ve got some questions that are still unanswered. Perhaps there are parts of the Bible that confuse you or you simply don’t understand.
You don’t have to understand everything. What you need to understand is that Jesus is the bread of life, and without Him, your soul will never be satisfied, and you will never be able to attain eternal life.
You may never understand everything about what Jesus says or why he does or does not answer certain prayers we pray. But if we come to him believing he is the Son of God – he will satisfy our souls. For he is the Bread of Life.
