I Am The bread of life

John 6:22–52 CSB

22 The next day, the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea saw there had been only one boat. They also saw that Jesus had not boarded the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone off alone. 23 Some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. 25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” 26 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. 27 Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.” 28 “What can we do to perform the works of God?” they asked. 29 Jesus replied, “This is the work of God—that you believe in the one he has sent.” 30 “What sign, then, are you going to do so that we may see and believe you?” they asked. “What are you going to perform? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” 32 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, Moses didn’t give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 Then they said, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35 “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again. 36 But as I told you, you’ve seen me, and yet you do not believe. 37 Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 39 This is the will of him who sent me: that I should lose none of those he has given me but should raise them up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” 41 Therefore the Jews started grumbling about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Isn’t 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, “Stop grumbling among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: And they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has listened to 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 “Truly I tell you, anyone who 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 anyone may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 52 At that, the Jews argued among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

We probably all know the story of the burning bush where God told Moses to go free the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt… and Moses asks God, “Who He was to say sent him”…and God replied, “I Am who I Am sent you!

Exodus 3:13–14 CSB

13 Then Moses asked God, “If I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what should I tell them?” 14 God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.”

So one of God's many names is The Great I AM, meaning I Am a Personal. Ever-Present God.

The whole reason I wanted to go back to the burning bush story in Exodus is because Jesus makes 7 statements in the book of John known as the I AM statements.

See one thing people who don't believe in Jesus argue, is that He never claimed to be God or the son of God, particularly people of the Muslim belief. Jesus, without a doubt, makes claim to be God and the Son of God in several places. This is why the wording and phrasing Jesus uses when He makes these 7 statements are so crucial to understand because it's more than just a simple statement… it's a declaration. He's declaring His divinity in these statements.

The word Declaration means; an act of formally or confidently stating something.

So Jesus is formally and confidently saying I AM the Son of God. I AM, the eternal, Unchanging, Self-Existent One, Infinite and Glorious in every way, and above and beyond all created things.

When Jesus applies the title “I AM” to himself, He claims to be God… Not a helper to God or a great teacher, but the Divine, Eternal, Pre-Existent, Infinite, Perfect Being. The Great I AM.

When Jesus said I AM the Way, everyone knew exactly what He was saying. It didn't matter what was said after it. They knew He was saying I AM God… that's why they picked up stones to kill Him, and it's also why a whole bunch of His followers left Him… because to everyone present He had just said. “ I AM God, the bread of life.

Every time He made one of these 7 statements, He declared that;

· I AM God, the Light of the world…

· I AM God, the Door or Gate…

· I AM God, the Good Shepherd…

· The Resurrection and the Life…

· The Way, the Truth, the Life, and the True Vine

So if someone ever tells you Jesus never claimed to be God, you can tell them that He claimed it more than 7 times in the book of John alone.

The woman at the well asked Him if He was the Messiah, and guess what He said, I AM!

Probably my favorite time He said it was when they came to arrest Him and the guards asked Him if He was Jesus of Nazareth, and He replied I AM… and the entire group who had come to get Him fell back! Because there's a heavenly power behind the name I AM!

Jesus used another variant of a pretty common word in the English language which is life. In English we only have one word for life but in the Greek there's two words. One is BIO'S meaning physical life. It's where we get the word Biology from.

The Greek also has another word for life, ZOE. Zoe is the word you would use if two of your favorite things in the world is pizza and the beach, and you were sitting on the beach eating a pizza you would be living the Zoe.

Jesus used the word Zoe so keep in mind that Jesus is saying that He's the Bread of Quality Life. That Whole Life and Life More Abundantly type of life. That whole Jesus nourishing bread of eternal life, that this is the zoe that only one kind of bread can produce… the bread that starts with I AM.

Another thing we need to clarify is that here in America bread is something we have while we wait for the main course. We think of bread in a basket to tide us over until we get what we really want… until we get the main course, but in Israel it's not that way. Still to this day, but especially back in Jesus' day, bread is the main course.

Just about everywhere you go in Israel there's a different type of bread to try. They are baking it fresh every morning, and they have these booths where you can buy fresh bread, and they have these little packages of herbs and spices they give you with it to dip the bread in. and it's delicious!

Back in Jesus' day a meal most of the time was bread. The last supper Jesus broke the bread and shared the wine because that was the meal.

Mrs. Barbara bakes this amazing bread and brings it to us sometimes, and it's so good that you don't even want to put anything other than some butter on it… because to put meat on it would take away from the amazingness of the bread!

So when Jesus says I Am the Bread of Life, He's not saying I AM something to tide you over until the main course is served, He was saying I AM the Main Course. I AM all you need, I will fill you up, the more you feast on me the more you’re going to realize that I Am the Bread of Life, or I Am the Main Course of Quality of Life. You feed on me and you will have Eternal life. As a matter of fact, I'm the only thing that will give you eternal life.

So when we pick up in chapter 6:22 a lot has just happened. Jesus had just fed the 5 thousand which was more like 15-20 thousand. After Jesus fed the 5 thousand, He slipped out, because He knew that they were going to make Him king. In that day, food wasn't abundant and they're thinking this guy needs to be King because He can end our struggle for food. But, that's the exact opposite of why Jesus did that miracle, as we are about to see.

Following the feeding of the 5 thousand miracle is the miracle of Jesus walking on water. It's important to note that the crowd in verse 22 is aware that Jesus got across the sea of Galilee in a supernatural way. They don't know exactly what happened, but they know there was only one boat and He wasn't on it when it left.

So, in the past 24 hours they've seen the feeding of the 5 thousand and then they had seen enough and knew enough about Jesus to know that He got across the sea in a supernatural way.

In verse 24 they find Jesus in Capernaum and they ask Him when did you get here? Jesus being Jesus doesn't even acknowledge that they asked but He says;

26 “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. 27“Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.

So right off the bat Jesus calls them out because He can see the motivation in their heart! The condition of our hearts is the difference between Loving the Blesser, thus being blessed, and Seeking a Blessing, thus missing out on a relationship with the Blessed One! They were looking for what Jesus could do for them.

We have to pursue more OF God, not more FROM God. A relationship with Jesus is the best blessing any of us has ever had the opportunity to enjoy!

Then Jesus tells them you are so worried about your physical hunger that your missing out on being filled with eternal life! There again He says eternal ZOE, so He's saying I AM offering you the main course of a quality eternal life!

Then he makes another awesome statement. He says “Work for the food that gives you eternal life which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on Him. He’s saying I AM the main course of a food that gives you eternal life, and I AM the only source of this eternal life, because God the Father had put his stamp of approval on Me.

They hear the word Work and immediately they ask, “What can we do to perform the work of God”… and Jesus tells us that the only way to work for God is to believe in the One He sent!

So He makes it clear that He is the Son of God, the One who has been sealed with a stamp of approval from the Father and they say "What sign are you going to do so we may see and believe"? “What are you going to perform?” I can see Jesus just shaking His head in disbelief...this is crazy, He literally just fed the 5 thousand… they literally gorged themselves on the miracle… they were ready to force Jesus to be King… they were so amazed by this sign or miracle that they got in boats and went to Capernaum to find Jesus… and they find Him and they have this conversation where Jesus says I AM the Bread that came down from heaven… meaning I AM God… and after everything I just said they ask “What sign will you show us?”

As long as you are looking at Jesus for what He can do for you, as a way out of a bad spot, as a last resort when life is tough… you will always be looking for a sign that He's truly God,,, you'll always be seeking a blessing, but missing the fact that Jesus is the blessing… and all the time missing the signs that are all around you.

You'll be seeking more bread to fill your stomach, instead of feasting on the Bread of Life and remaining full spiritually. You'll be looking for the next sign, instead of living in a place of never having to hunger or thirst.

People watched Jesus do miracle after miracle, and it wasn't enough to convince them. You will never be satisfied if you use Jesus as a tool to get what you want when you want it. Jesus is the Bread, the Bread satisfies a hunger that only Jesus is capable of satisfying.