35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away, 38 for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 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 This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day.”
41 Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise that person up on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day, 55 for my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which the ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever” John 6:35-58.
One reason why Moses delivered the Law in the midst of the wilderness and not in a city was that he intended to show that it was not his own invention but the oracles of God. To this end he led the people into a wilderness where their lack of water and food was miraculously supplied by God, and this manna convinced them of the divine authority of what was said to them through Moses.
John in a similar way moves from the miraculous satisfaction of hunger (6:5–13) to a teaching on the Bread of Life, in which Jesus speaks of the true bread from heaven with an authority greater than that of Moses.
In verses 26ff. the main theme is simply spelled out: Men and women are foolishly concerned not with the truth, but with food for their bodies. They must learn that there is a bread which gives not earthly but eternal life, and this eternal bread we cannot earn, for it is the gift of the Son of Man, whom God has promised. This whole discourse (in chapter 6 of John) of the bread of Life is summarized in this way: Jesus is the Son of man, and it is in communion with him that men and women have eternal life (verses 28–40).
Notice that the next step taken comes through a misunderstanding. The crowd hear the word, and mistake it, because their own religion, which they take seriously, consists in ‘working’ works which, they hope, will be pleasing to God. In fact there is only one ‘work’ which God requires, and that is not a work in the ordinary sense; it is that men and women should put faith in Jesus. But why should they do so? The hearers of Jesus require a sign from Jesus, which recalls Moses and the Old Testament story of the manna, the bread from heaven, which was a mighty sign! But Jesus identifies the bread which comes down from heaven with Himself, who as Son of Man has come down from heaven. He is the Bread of Life, which delivers men and women from hunger and thirst; men and women take this bread by coming to Him and believing in Him. This ‘believing’, this ‘coming’, are not works which, like others, lie within the power and will of men and women. Notice John’s reference to the will of God; it is always by the will of God that we believers should by faith have eternal life. (verses 41–51). Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise that person up on the last day” (v.44).
Jesus continues to speak of himself as the Bread of Life, but adds that the bread he will supply is his flesh, and his flesh given for the life of the world. This is a plain reference to his sacrificial death on the Cross, and clearly points to the eucharist in the final verses of chapter 6 (verses 52–59). Once more the Jews, shocked by the word ‘flesh’, ask the question, How? Once more the question is met, not by explanation, but by reassertion and addition, this time by the addition of blood - You must eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood! This emphasizes the death of Jesus, and points to the eucharist. John makes it clear, does he not, that his main thought is of the mission of Jesus from the Father, and of the reciprocal indwelling of Christ and the believer.
In verses 35, 37, & 38 it is only by coming to Jesus and living in union with Him that men and women may attain eternal life. This coming and this living, however, are possible only in virtue of God’s Divine initiative, the grace of God: (a) Jesus has come down from heaven as the Bread of Life, which supplies life to those who assimilate it; (b) God draws to Jesus all those who are to be united with Him in eternal life (See v.40: …All who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day). The seeing and believing is Jesus’ way of speaking about living in Christ. Notice too in John the Divine action of God that runs throughout the whole process, from the initial coming to the last day, when Jesus himself will raise up the believer who is dependent on Him from beginning to end.
It is of primary importance that we remember the manna in the desert was interpreted by Israel in terms of word and instruction - the Torah is bread. John wants to say that the Logos, the Word, is food - who is Jesus! God feeds men and women by His Word, and Jesus is His Word. We are now and forever fed by the new manna - Jesus Christ! That’s why Jesus says: “I am the bread of life!”
A man and a woman is ‘taught of God’ by hearing Jesus, hearing the Word, the Logos, and by eating the bread and drinking the blood of the Eucharist. And the result of this is that we are drawn to Jesus by the grace of Jesus. The process is circular, and John wishes to assert that this “coming to Jesus” is set in motion not by our human volition but by Jesus, by God’s initiative in Jesus. We don’t stand up and walk down the aisle to receive communion on our own effort, or by our own choice, but rather, we are drawn to the banquet table by the body and blood of Jesus on the Cross! To limit communion is to chose and to behave, inaccurately, as if we are the authors and definers of the eucharist. We do not define or “allow” others to receive communion based on our theologies, because in communion we are draw by Jesus who is The Bread Of Life! Jesus, who is the bread of life, is the feeding miracle recorded on the Cross and at the Last Supper. Communion is about who Jesus is!
We receive life by union with Christ effected by faith. All of this is grace, all of this is Jesus who is the bread of life. When Jesus draws us to the eucharist He draws us to Himself where we will never be hungry or thirsty. In Jesus, in eating the bread and drinking the wine, we are drawn to God by Jesus who has “come down from heaven not to do His own will but the will of Him who sent Him” (v. 38)!
So the next time communion is offered, take it. It is pure grace. Jesus Christ himself in the form of bread and wine. It is the Bread of Life!
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy win me a sinner.
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