I Am The Bread of Life

 

I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. (John 6:35).

This is the first of Jesus’ “I am” statements in the Gospel of John. We will study this passage in John 6 in the NKJV. First, let’s look at the context as to why Jesus said this.

At the start of chapter 6, we read about the feeding of the 5,000. People were excited about this miracle—it reminded them of the manna that their forefathers ate in the wilderness (31).

This excitement, coupled with Moses’ prophecy in Deuteronomy 18:15 caused them to want to take Jesus and force Him to be their king.

14-15. Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.

 The next day (the day after they were fed), the crowds again came looking for Jesus (22-25).  

26. Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

This was why the crowd was looking for Jesus. Moses gave manna to their forefathers every day (Exodus 16). They must have expected Jesus to feed them daily too. If He was the Prophet that Moses prophesied, they had certain ‘expectations’ from Him. 

27. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, [don’t just look at materialistic and earthly things but look to spiritual things as well] which the Son of Man [Jesus used a term that will not  identify himself with the Messiah that the crowd expected] will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him. 

28-29 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

Notice the simplicity of this statement—believe in Jesus. This is what God wants us to do. All we ever needed to do was believe in Jesus and who He says He is (Romans 10:9). 

30. Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do?

From the other gospels, we saw Jesus’ responses to those who asked for a sign. These are found in Matt. 12:39, 16:4; Mark 8:12; Luke 11:29.

31. Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’

They probably remembered the feast from the previous day and wanted to compare Jesus to Moses. They were still seeking to make Jesus their “political messiah,” one who would free them from Rome’s subjugation. 

32-33. Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

It was obvious that Jesus was talking about Himself and not some loaf of bread. He might even have been gesturing to Himself when He said this. He also continued using the bread analogy to connect with their understanding of manna and their forefathers. 

34. Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”

The NIV is more appropriate here: “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.” The people respected Jesus, and ‘sir’ is a more appropriate translation for the Greek kyrios, because, as seen in verse 36, these people did not believe in Jesus.

It’s also almost as if they did not want to understand or accept what Jesus was saying (to believe in Him, 29). They were fixated for things to be like in the days of Moses—for Jesus to give them bread that fell like the manna from heaven. 

We now have the context for Jesus’ statement in verse 35. 

35. I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst

Seeing that the crowd still did not understand—or rather they did not want to understand and believe (36: But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe), Jesus plainly stated that He is the bread of life and anyone who believes in Him will never hunger and thirst. 

Verses 37-40 are His promises to those who believe in Him. 

41-42. The Jews then complained about 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 says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

The Pharisees took offence at what Jesus was saying in verse 35. Familiarity breeds contempt; this was likely the case here. This conversation took place in a synagogue at Capernaum (59), Jesus’ base of operations. Many of them knew who Jesus was; they knew his family background. They refuse to believe who He says He is and why He came. 

44-50. These are similar statements and promises to verses 37-40. The promise of everlasting life to those who believe in Him. Once again, Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life” (48). 

51a. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever;

As in verses 35 and 48, Jesus made a very clear proclamation of who He is—that He is the living bread and those who ‘eat of this bread’ (35: who believe in Him) will live forever (everlasting life: 39, 40, 44, 47, 50) 

51b. and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.

This was the first instance in this passage where Jesus was saying that He will give His body for the life of the world; He will die for this world. 

52. The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?”

This was the second offence that the Pharisees took to what Jesus was saying. They must have understood clearly what Jesus was saying in verses 35, 48, and 51 but they probably wanted to cause confusion among the crowd. And they succeeded to some extent, as we will later see in verse 66. 

53. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.

Jesus knew their motives for their question in verse 52. I imagine that rather than explaining again like He did earlier in verses 44-51, Jesus now speaks of eating His flesh and drinking His blood. The Pharisees wanted the people to take offence at Jesus for suggesting some sort of cannibalism. Jesus took that thought even further by also talking about drinking His blood. (Read Gen. 9:4 and Lev. 17:14 to understand why this was offensive to the Jews). 

54. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

55. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.

56. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.

57. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.

Jesus did not want anyone to misunderstand what He was saying. He repeatedly talked of eating His flesh and drinking His blood. If anyone wants, let them take offence at it.   

58. This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.

Like in 50, it’s very likely that Jesus pointed to Himself when He said this. Since verse 35, this was the fifth record of Jesus making this statement. 

It is worthwhile to remember that John was not giving us a word-for-word account of Jesus' speech. This gospel was written about 60 years after Jesus ascended to heaven. He wrote this gospel for new believers and its purpose was: these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name (20:31).

In the first century, there was no such thing as bold, italics, or any other way to emphasize. If the writer wanted to emphasize something, they would repeat the writing. We should appreciate John for his repetitions here, for emphasizing the importance of our understanding that Jesus is the bread of life, the living bread that came down from heaven. 

60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?”

This was not a difficult statement to understand, it was a difficult statement to accept. And if we go by the earlier passages and the people’s fixation of the manna of heaven, then the thought of “eating” Jesus’ flesh and “drinking” His blood was not only a hard statement to accept but an offensive one too. 

61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you?"

Jesus had many disciples, not just the 12. This statement was not directed at the 12 (cf. 67) but rather to the larger group of His disciples. When they realize that Jesus was not the type of Messiah that they wanted Him to be (a political leader who would overthrow Rome’s dominance of Israel and give them independence), they did not want to follow Him anymore. These disciples understood what Jesus meant and, like the Pharisees, took offence not only at what He said but also at what He expected from them. 

63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

This is the key verse for the interpretation of this passage. Jesus was not talking about literal flesh and blood. It is the Spirit who gives life. Eternal life is not in the literal eating of the flesh or drinking of the blood; eternal life is a life led by the Spirit. The literal flesh and blood are worthless. 

64-65 "But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”

Even after all the explanations, some will still not believe because they were not led by the Spirit. No one can come to Jesus unless the Father gives them the Spirit to lead them to Him. That was true then, as it is today. None of us, from our own strength, can come to Jesus unless the Spirit draws us first. 

66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.

Jesus only wanted real disciples; not those who follow Him for what they stand to gain. 

What kind of disciple are you? Do you follow Him out of obligation? Do you follow Him because it’s convenient? Do you follow Him because that is what is expected of you? Or do you agree with Simon Peter when he said, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God."