I Am the Bread of Life

John 6:25–40 NIV

When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, 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. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.” Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

Bread means something different to us today than it did for the people of Israel in the time of Jesus.  Maybe you think of bread as that rather tasteless sliced loaf that holds a sandwich together.  Or it is something used to make toast only functioning as a vehicle for some kind of topping like jam or peanut butter.  Maybe bread is more about that first choice you have to make at the Subway counter when ordering your six-inch or footlong favorite.  Maybe bread is the thing that accompanies a meal as some kind of dinner roll or baguette.  We use breads to accompany our menus in all sorts of ways.  But it’s probably pretty safe to say that your typical daily menu includes more than just bread.  For those among us with gluten allergies, the menu contains very little or no bread at all.

But people in Israel who heard these words of Jesus had a different version of bread than we do.  Bread was a very regular part of their daily eating.  It wasn’t just a vehicle to hold jam or to keep a sandwich together.  Bread was often the main course.  It was the meal.  That’s hard for us to wrap our minds around.  We live in a place where there is more variety of food than we could ever imagine.  You and I have no idea what it means to look at a few dinner rolls as the only thing you get to eat today. But for the people who heard Jesus say these words, the bread of life had different meaning.  Bread meant survival.  There were not grocery stores.  There was no refrigeration for keeping meat and dairy.  There was not canning for fruit or vegetables.  All those foods could only be had at the time of harvest or slaughter.  But grain was one of the few things that could be stored for long periods of time after growing.  The regular provision of bread was always a staple on the menu because they could always have grain available for making the flour.  Bread meant survival.

The meaning of manna

This was especially true for the people of Israel.  The stories had been written and passed down from one generation to the next of the freed slaves who wandered in the desert for forty years.  The desert was a place where there was not even grain available.  So, in that place, it was by a miracle of God that bread was given every day for the survival of God’s people.  They called it manna.  Every day for forty years there was a layer of thin bread-like wafers that covered the ground of the desert all around the camp of the Israelites.  Every day for forty years this manna was the menu for all the people.

manna held a special reminder that all of our daily bread comes from God

By the time of Jesus, manna held special meaning.  It wasn’t just about the bread that people ate every day.  But manna in particular was bread that was especially given as a gift from God.  Manna held a special reminder that all of our daily bread comes from God.  Even as the people pf Israel would store up grain so that there could always be the provision of bread, the manna was thought to come directly from the storehouse of God.  For forty years God opened up the storehouse of his manna every single day for his people.

Israel was supposed to keep that as a reminder.  Moses was given instruction by God to take a jar of the manna and keep it in the Ark of the Covenant along with the tablets of the ten commandments.  The people were to always remember that the storehouse of grain from which they found their daily supply of bread comes in direct relationship to the storehouse of God which provides daily bread for his people.  This connection between the storehouse of God’s manna and the people remained so strong that it was considered among the rabbis that God’s chosen Messiah would once again open the storehouse of God’s manna to feed the people of Israel again.

Jesus opens storehouse of God’s manna – more than lunch to a hungry crowd

And of course, this is exactly what Jesus does.  It was only a few verses back in chapter six of John’s gospel when Jesus gave thanks to God for the five loaves of bread, and distributed the pieces which were enough to feed five thousand people.  This miracle was more than giving lunch to a hungry crowd.  This was an opening of God’s storehouse of manna.  This was a sign that pointed to Jesus as the Messiah.  After lunch, the disciples gathered up all the leftovers and filled twelve baskets.  This is not a mistake.  The number twelve in scripture is always used symbolically to represent the people of God.  There were twelve tribes of Israel in the Old Testament.  There were twelve chosen apostles in the New Testament.  The miraculous feeding of five thousand people with twelve baskets left is meant to point directly to Jesus as the one who fulfils the provision of manna with enough to spare in order to provide for all God’s people.

More than a sandwich

Jesus is making a point here in chapter six.  Let’s catch up to the story.  In the beginning of chapter six Jesus miraculously feeds five thousand people.  Later that night Jesus sends his disciples off in a boat.  In the middle of the night, Jesus comes walking on the water to his disciples.  The next morning, they are all on the opposite shore of the lake near the town of Capernaum.  The crowd of people who had all eaten the free lunch from Jesus the day before all come across the lake in search of Jesus.  That’s where we pick up this story in verse 25 today.  This is what Jesus is calling out in verse 26 when he says to the people, you were not looking for me, you were looking for another free lunch.

people coming to Jesus just looking for another free lunch

The conversation continues.  The people ask what it is that God requires.  Jesus answers, believe in the one whom God has sent.  The people respond, how do we know?  Our ancestors had the sign of manna.  What will you do?  Stop here.  Catch what this crowd of people are trying to do with Jesus.  God sent manna every day.  Give us another free lunch.

Jesus is the ultimate manna.  Jesus is the bread from heaven, the bread of life

Jesus doesn’t take the bait.  Instead he takes the moment to launch the entire manna episode into its eternal fulfilment—the thing to which manna was always meant to point. Jesus himself is the daily provision from God given enough for all of his people.  Jesus is the ultimate manna.  Jesus is the bread from heaven, the bread of life.

Let’s get to the point.  What is Jesus saying about himself?  What does this statement teach us about who Jesus is?  It seems that the lesson is pretty pointed towards this crowd of people who only saw Jesus as a free lunch.  Just give me another sandwich and I’m good. I suppose we shouldn’t be too hard on the crowd for that.  After all, Jesus had given them something to eat the day before.  Is it really so wrong to look in expectation to God as the provider of our material blessings?  Seems like that is what we ought to do.

Jesus is provision not only for what we need here today, but also an eternal provision for our souls for all eternity

But does it go any further than that?  Jesus is making the claim that the bread he provides is so much more than just a sandwich for today. It is a provision not only for what we need here today, but also an eternal provision for our souls for all eternity.  It is not an either/or proposition; it is both/and.  Yes, God does faithfully provide for his creation through the seasons of growing and harvest.  He faithfully provides for his creation in caring and maintaining what is necessary for his world to thrive and to flourish.  These things are not our inventions; they are the everlasting handiwork of our creator God.  The warmth of the daily sun reminds us of this.  The air we breathe reminds us of this.  The water we drink reminds us of this.  The bread we eat reminds us of this.

But these daily provisions of bread are also markers pointing us towards the eternal provision of Jesus’ own righteousness freely given for each one of us.  That through his sacrifice and resurrection, Jesus himself provides another type of nourishment for our souls.  Jesus himself becomes the manna from heaven, enough for each and every day, enough for all of God’s people; a storehouse of heavenly bread which will never run out.

This is what we celebrate every time we gather at the communion table and each of us takes and eats that piece of bread.  This is supposed to be what we remember every time we sit down to a meal and give thanks to God for the provision of his blessings.  We remember that we are nourished by God with material blessings to sustain us.  And we remember that we are nourished by God with spiritual blessings to sustain us.

The bread of life

Jesus says, “I am the bread of life…All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.”  This is not bread we can ever purchase in any way, because none of us would ever be able to pay its cost.  This is not bread that can be earned or deserved.  This is not bread to which we have any entitlement because we are the right sort of people or because we do the right sorts of things or live the right sort of life.  You and I do nothing except show up with an empty plate.  And whoever comes before Jesus receives the provision of his nourishment.

There is no secret formula here.  There is no hidden path.  There is no resume that is required.  All you need to do is come to Jesus.  That’s it.  All any of us can ever do is come before Jesus and admit that we cannot ever do enough of anything on our own to provide our own bread of life.  There is only one bread of life; and that is Jesus.

When Jesus broke the bread and fed five thousand people, he gave instructions to his disciples to assist in the process.  It was the disciples who gathered the twelve baskets.  It was the followers of Jesus who were told that none of this manna goes to waste.  It was the followers of Jesus who retrieved and were entrusted with the twelve baskets—symbolically enough bread to share with all God’s people.

Those of us in this place today who call ourselves Christians are followers of Jesus.  We are his disciples.  We are those who even today receive the manna of Jesus.  And we are the ones called by that same instruction; do not let any of it go to waste.  God gives to his church twelve basketsful of his provision.  He gives to us more than what we need with the mission of sharing his life-giving manna with all who will come.  Jesus never drives anyone away.

how have you been fed by Jesus? 

how have you been called to share of that manna with someone else?

How have you been fed by Jesus?  In the time that you have, in the skills and abilities you have been blessed by God to receive, in the possessions you hold onto, in the bread which sits in our pantries.  What has God provided for you?  And how have you been called to share of that manna with someone else?  In the excess of our many blessings, who is there around you needing to hear and respond to that call from Jesus to come?  How can you share a gift that not only meets someone’s provision for today, but shows the open door to a path that will spiritually nourish for all eternity?

Jesus says I am the bread of life.  May we share the feast as it is has been given so graciously to us.